Daydreamer

Lucy

Felix didn’t ring or text me that night. It was the first time we hadn’t seen each other in the evening since we got together, and I felt a bit weird about it. But I didn’t want to be the clingy girlfriend who couldn’t go one night without her man. We’d only been together for a couple of weeks. I shouldn’t be at the stage when I couldn’t sleep properly when he wasn’t in my bed. That would make me a bit of a desperate case, and the last thing I wanted to do was scare Felix off. He’d had a few stalkery-type situations in the past – I knew that one woman was permanently banned from his building by the doorman after she let herself into his penthouse unannounced when he’d broken up with her. He wouldn’t tell me her name, but I got the impression she was a minor celebrity. Maybe the gloriousness of Felix could turn me into an obsessed weirdo that hung around his building too. The thought was terrifying, but to be honest, I was so in love with him at this stage that I couldn’t guarantee my dignity staying intact if he dumped me either.

So the next day when I went into the office, I did it in my smarter stuff – silk shirt and everything. It wasn’t the warmest, but I decided that I could sacrifice a bit of warmth to make a good impression for one last time. I strode in there with purpose, leaving my huge puffa at reception so I wouldn’t be tempted to sneak it on halfway through the morning, as was my wont. Adrenaline was keeping the blood pumping to my fingers anyway. This was my last day, and I was going to make the most of it.

I started with HR and went directly down there to report Will. Martha, the head of the department, was the one to speak to me after one of her assistants realised what a big deal this was going to be. I could see Martha becoming steadily more and more incensed as I catalogued the ongoing targeted and systematic bullying that I had endured from Will. When I showed her the bruise on my wrist, her face went red with fury and her voice was thick with restrained anger as she asked if I wanted to report him to the police. I didn’t want to go down that road, which disappointed Martha, who was now clearly out for Will’s blood. She told me to go home for the rest of the week, reassuring me that it would all be dealt with officially and that I didn’t need to do anything more. I said that I wanted to grab my notebook from my desk and say bye to a few people, but that I’d leave straight after. I knew Will was due to be at a meeting across London all morning, so at least I wouldn’t have to run into him.

Unfortunately, when I did make it to my desk, there was a very smug-looking Will sitting behind it. My heart dropped and I felt like I might throw up with fear.

“You’re late as per fucking usual,” he said with a self-satisfied smile on his stupid face.

“Will,” I said in as firm a tone as I could muster. “I’ve just come to get my things then I’ll be leaving. I’m not going to be working for you anymore. Your behaviour has been unacceptable. You should know that I’ve reported you to HR.” There, I said it. I felt unbelievably proud of myself.

Will’s face twisted in anger as he pushed up off my desk. “You little shit,” he sneered. “Whingeing about nothing. I’ve been the best boss to the shittiest employee in the history of shit employees. You should be grateful, not crying wolf to HR.”

“I wasn’t crying wolf. You⁠—”

“Don’t think you can threaten me,” he said, taking two long strides towards me. He was in my space so fast I didn’t have a chance to retreat further. “I’ve got some serious shit on you, and now that Felix knows what you’ve been up to there’s no way anyone’s going to believe a word that comes out of your mouth.”

I frowned at him, my eyes darting to the desk where my notebook was now sitting and then back at his scowling face. I had no idea what he was on about, but I needed my notebook. It had all my outlines in it, and I stupidly hadn’t made any copies. I really didn’t want to take the chance that Will would destroy it out of spite. He’d clearly been rifling through my stuff. So I took a stupid risk. I darted around him to make a grab for the notebook.

“I’ve worked too hard to let some cock-tease little shit fuck everything up for me,” he said as I rounded him and snatched up the book, holding it to my chest. He lunged at me before I could clear him and grabbed me by the shoulders, giving me a rough shake. “You’ll regret making accusations about me. Go back to HR and take it back.”

I was gripped by real panic, so thick I couldn’t think clearly. So instead of screaming like I should have done, I kicked him in the shin in an attempt to get him off me.

“Ow, you bitch!” he spat out, a wild, furious look flashing in his eyes. Everything from then happened really fast. He threw me back against the wall so hard that I was winded and couldn’t scream even if I tried. Pain burst from the side of my head, shoulder and chest. Then he slammed his body against mine, pinning me there. I thought I was going to be sick as his mouth moved to my neck. He licked me over my pulse point before whispering in my ear. “It doesn’t end well for girls like you that get in my way.” Then he let me go and stepped back so suddenly that I had to brace myself to not slide down the wall. I was still wheezing to try to get air into my lungs.

As he slammed the door to his office, there was only one thought in my mind and that was to escape. So I stumbled down the corridor, feeling too shocked to cry even though I could feel my eyes stinging. I made it to Felix’s door and lifted my hand to knock on it, but it was yanked open before I could make contact. I let out a huge sigh of relief as I took in Felix in all his glorious, solid handsomeness, holding the door open. But my relief was short-lived.

“Come in, Lucy,” he said in a cold tone that caused a shiver to run down my spine. Felix never spoke to me like that. I walked into the office on shaky legs and blinked as I noticed Vicky and Tabitha both standing by Felix’s desk facing me. I was still in shock from Will’s assault, and my brain was feeling sluggish so I was slow to feel the hostility in the room and notice that Vicky, Tabitha and Felix were all glaring at me.

“Felix,” I said in a shaky voice, deciding to ignore the atmosphere and that we weren’t alone and get to the point. “Will just⁠—”

“We know all about what’s happened with Will,” Felix said, cutting me off. I blew out a sigh of relief. Oh, thank God. Somehow, they’d seen what had happened. I wouldn’t have to go over it again. Felix would look after me. He’d sort it all out. Everything was going to be fine now. But then, if he knew, why wasn’t he coming to me? Why wasn’t I in his arms already? My back, shoulder and head were throbbing and I wasn’t feeling up to trying to understand what was going on. “He told us all about it.”

Wait, Will literally just assaulted me. He couldn’t have confessed already. And to be honest, he didn’t seem in a very remorseful mood when he’d thrown me against the wall.

“I don’t understand,” I said in an unsteady voice.

“How could you, Lucy?” Felix snapped, and I blinked in confusion. My head was starting to swim now and I felt shivery with cold and shock. Feeling behind me for the chair, then all but collapsing into it, I winced when pain shot through my shoulder and head.

“W–w–what?”

“How could you betray us like this?”

I did a slow blink, trying to focus on Felix’s angry face and make out what he was on about. “I don’t know what you mean. Felix, Will just gra⁠—”

“Of course you bloody well know what I mean! I thought there was a weird vibe between you two in that board meeting, but I just put it down to Harry being another sucker who found you attractive. I had no idea that he was paying you off for information.”

“Harry York?”

“Don’t deny it, Luce,” Felix’s voice was still tight with fury but also heavy with disappointment. “Will told us everything. He filmed you guys yesterday at that coffee shop.” Felix stepped towards me then, but not to give me the hug that I needed. No, he just loomed over me and shoved his phone in my face. I watch a video of myself, Harry and his wife at the coffee shop. I was sketching a map of the Southern Territory for him in one of my notebooks, and then I ripped out the page and passed it to him. He looked at it reverently for a moment then carefully folded it to put it in his laptop bag. He’d told me he was going to frame it. Why was Felix angry about this? Had he found out I was an author now? I knew he’d be cross when he realised I hadn’t corrected him, but it wasn’t like I’d ever outright lied.

“Look, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you that I⁠—”

“You’re sorry?” he snapped. “Just a casual sorry? Lucy, you completely broke my trust.”

I frowned. “I think that’s going a bit far, Felix. I just⁠—”

“You’ve potentially cost me millions in lost revenue. Cost us millions. Hasn’t she, Vicky?”

Vicky was looking at me with her head tilted to the side. She no longer had a cold expression on her face. Now, looked more curious than anything, like she was trying to piece together a puzzle. “Felix, maybe⁠—?”

“Don’t make excuses for her,” Felix snapped, slashing his hand through the air and making me flinch in my chair.

“I’m not—” Vicky was looking more unsure than I’d ever seen her before now. “I think I need to speak to Lottie, and then⁠—”

“We don’t need Lottie here,” snapped Felix.

“How on earth could I have cost you millions?” I said, genuine confusion threading through my words. Felix’s eyebrows went up in disbelief.

“You’ve been passing information to Harry York. Information that his clients other than Ollie would be very interested in. It must have been going on for weeks. I wondered why there was another party trying to poach the Hyde Park project. You’ve been handing him the information straight from the company. Even all the way back when you were at my house party. I just thought it was cute and quirky that you hid away in my library, but that’s where the computer was, wasn’t it? Those notes you were making on my blotting paper were stolen information from there.”

“Why would I give Harry York your company information?”

“For money!” Felix shouted, and I flinched again. “You sold me down the river for money. No wonder you can afford a whole flat in Putney. Telling me that bullshit story about low rent. You’ve been taking a cut from this grubby little deal for weeks and living the high life as a result. I checked with Tabitha. You paid for all those clothes yourself. That’s thousands of pounds worth of stuff you were supposed to put on the company credit card. But no, you didn’t need to use it, did you? You were already stealing more than enough money for that.”

“Felix,” my voice had a pathetic pleading quality to it now that made me feel sick to my stomach, but I needed to make him understand. “You’ve got to listen to me. Will is⁠—”

“Will might be a prick, but he’s nothing compared to what a low-life you are. At least he’s looking out for the company.”

“No, you don’t understand. Felix, he’s a total psycho. He⁠—”

“Just get out,” Felix snapped.

“I’m not leaving until you hear me out,” I tried to make my voice as firm as possible, but it still sounded ridiculously shaky.

Felix didn’t bother to respond. He just moved to his desk and pressed the intercom. “Yes, could you come in now, please? Miss Mayweather needs to be escorted to the exit. No stops on the way. We’ll send her stuff onto her after we’ve verified that it doesn’t contain any sensitive information.”

“Maybe we should listen to her,” Tabitha said in a small voice. When I looked over at her, she didn’t look hostile anymore. In fact, she looked thoroughly spooked. All the colour had drained from her face and her expression was more worried concern than the cold hatred from before.

“Really, Felix,” said Vicky. “I do think we should wait for Lottie.”

“I’m not being taken in again!” Felix bellowed as the two security guards that I recognized from downstairs came into the room. Dave and Riley were nice guys. Dave was a single dad and Riley liked to restore old motorbikes. But now here they were, summoned to throw me out of the building. To be fair, they both looked extremely uncomfortable.

“Er, Luce,” Dave said, shooting a quick look at a still furious-looking Felix, who just crossed his arms over his broad chest and nodded for them to get on with it.

Riley cleared his throat. “Want to come with us, love?” he asked gently. Too shocked to move, I sat there dumbly for a minute but then flinched when Riley touched my elbow. Oh my God, I was going to be forcibly ejected from the building. Me, Lucy Mayweather, official goodie-two-shoes and teacher’s pet, was practically under arrest.

“Er… don’t worry,” I said in a small voice. “It’s okay, Riley. I can stand up under my own steam.” I levered up out of the chair, wincing at the pain in my shoulder again then I thought I’d try one last time. “Felix, if you’d just listen to⁠—”

“I’ve heard enough, Luce,” Felix shouted, his face flushed with anger and his hand slicing through the air again. I snapped my mouth shut. Right, well then. I’d had quite enough of arrogant tossers who felt they had the right to be randomly angry with me for one day. I turned and walked away from him. Dave shot forward to open the door for me.

“I’ll need to pick up my⁠—”

“You’re not picking anything up,” Felix snapped. “Take her straight outside the building. No stops.”

What? I needed my notebook, and my bag was by my desk; it had everything in it. This stupid outfit didn’t even have pockets.

“But—”

“Out!” The word cracked across the room, and I flinched back as if he’d hit me before spinning around and running out of there.

I slowed to a walk on the way to the lifts. I was in a bit of daze. Dave and Riley shifted awkwardly next to me. When they asked me if I was okay, I didn’t really have the strength to answer. After reaching the ground floor, we walked in silence through the lobby. I was still too numb and shocked to speak. They took my swipe card at the exit, and I just handed it over without any protest. It was only when I was outside on the pavement, and the freezing wind whipped my hair in front of my face that I realized I hadn’t been able to grab my coat from reception. My phone and wallet were still in the building, and my fingers were rapidly turning a ghastly white.

“Mikey?” I said through my chattering teeth. Thank God I remembered his number. I’d been so shocked and numb after I was thrown out that I hadn’t been able to come up with a plan quickly enough. Then the cold had been so extreme, the shivers so violent that it seemed to cloud my thinking even more. I’d never been the most practical person anyway – I definitely wouldn’t survive in the wild. My little dreamer was what Dad used to call me. Well, being a daydreamer is not helpful when you need to think on your feet before your hands freeze off. Seeing as I had no phone, no money, no coat, I didn’t really know how I could get home.

After the humiliation of trying to get back in the building to at least get my coat, and being turned away by the doorman who told me it was “more than his job’s worth”, I started walking in the direction of home. Half an hour of walking later, huddled over with my hands tucked under my arms and my head ducked against the cold wind, I realized that this was not a good plan. In fact, I was in big trouble if I didn’t get warm very soon. My fingers had never looked so blue before – it was starting to get scary. So that’s when I swallowed my pride again and ducked into a café that looked friendly from the outside. The staff seemed a little scared of this shivering weirdo who was asking to use their phone – I must have looked a right state.

“I’m in a bit of a pickle.” My teeth were chattering so hard that it was difficult to get the words out in a coherent fashion. But once they got a look at my hands, they were quick to set me up on a table next to a radiator, give me a cup of tea and lend me a phone.

“Luce, is that you, love?” Mikey’s strong voice made me feel better. Relief washed over me. My big brother would sort this out. “You okay?”

“Er… no, not really. C–c–can you come get me?”

Mikey lived in Little Buckingham, about an hour outside London.

“What’s happened?” he said, and the concern in his tone made my throat close over. For the first time that day, I let the tears fall. Unfortunately, that meant getting more words out was even more tricky, but I knew I had to tell him everything.