Page 101 of Kicks

“Me too. How is he?”

“A bit lost, to be honest,” Crystal said. “He’s done a deal with my arsehole of a dad but the shop’s going. I know he’s got some work with those architects. I don’t know what else he’ll do.”

Eddie frowned. “What do you mean?”

“He put everything on hold for me. He’s lost touch with most of his friends.”

In the time they’d spent together, Billy had never mentioned a social group. Eddie couldn’t imagine going through anything without Scott and now Tyler by his side.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Eddie said. “Maybe this is his chance to find a whole new group of people.”

Crystal stared hard at him. “You don’t think I’m being ungrateful?”

“Darling, of course not. Billy doesn’t expect anything from you. He raised you because he loves you.”

“I thought he loved you too.”

“I think he might have done,” Eddie replied. “It was me that ruined everything. Don’t do the same thing.”

She got up and hugged him again.

“Shall I say hello from you?” she asked, hopefully.

He shook his head. “Probably best not. He’s made his feelings perfectly clear. Now you go and conquer the world. I’ll be watching.”

She smiled and walked over to the lift. It appeared almost immediately. As she stepped in, she looked back. Eddie waved as cheerfully as humanly possible.

By the time the lift door closed, he was sobbing.

“Use my loo. Get it all out,” Charlotte said, unlocking the door behind her. “No one need know.”

“Thanks,” he sobbed.

He dashed into the little bathroom for Charlotte’s or rather whoever was on reception’s personal use. It meant the phones were left unattended for the least amount of time.

Eddie stared at his reflection in the tiny mirror. Nothing in his life was secure. Eddie hated this feeling of helplessness. He succumbed to the tears that had sat, lodged in his chest, all morning.

James sat across the meeting room table from Eddie. They’d worked well together for years and Eddie genuinely respected James. Although he wished he had never had the idea of pitting him and Brad against each other.

He couldn’t really blame him for what happened. It had been Eddie’s choice not to offer Billy the cheaper deal.

“Why did you lose the Webster brothers’ deal?”

Eddie shrugged. “They got cold feet. It happens.”

“Bullshit,” James replied. “Now tell me the real reason.”

Oh great, he’s reading my mind now.

“Fine,” Eddie said. “The gossip is true. I did get involved with Billy, one of the brothers. When he found out that I had let him fall for twenty percent when we normally take fifteen or even ten, he spat his dummy out.”

James frowned. “You had a signed contract.”

“It wasn’t signed.”

“By us or them?”

He might as well go down in a blaze of glory. If this was the pressure having a high-flying career brought, Eddie would be scanning the job adverts for something far removed from selling dildos.