Page 77 of Never Tell Secrets

I couldn’t do this.

I turned on my heel and headed straight for the lift, but Alfie followed, blocking my way.

“You’re running. Again.” He glowered, his tone dark, warning.

“Yes, because you—” my words cut off as he reached for me, to calm me down or keep me still I didn’t know. Fear spiked inside me, sharp and painful. “Don’t touch me!” I hissed, pulling away. He backed off immediately, hands raised.

We glared at each other, chests heaving with exertion. Tension hummed between us, a thick rope wound with cords both sexual and angry.

“Okay.” Priya stood, grinning from ear to ear, not phased in the slightest by our outburst. “Well, I think you might just be one giant trainwreck waiting to happen.”

“Trainwreck already happened,” I snapped, “Or did he skip that part?”

“No, he didn’t. But I wasn’t talking about your relationship, I was talking about you.”

My head whipped around to face her. “Me?”

She held my gaze, calm. Too calm. “Let’s sit.” None of us moved. “Alfie, I’d like you to sit down please.”

“She’ll leave.”

“She’s left you before and the world didn’t end. Besides, if I remember correctly, you walked out of our first session too.”

Alfie’s jaw ticked, his teeth grinding together before, to my shock, he backed off and went to sit down. Leaving me standing there holding the remnants of a fight. Priya sat too.

“Alright, Alfie. Explain to me why Lola doesn’t have the right to make decisions over her own life?” Priya asked, Alfie’s fists clenched in his lap.

“She does.”

“Then why do you make them for her? Is she stupid?”

“No.”

“So, your opinion just matters more?” Her tone was steady. She wasn’t arguing with him, merely posing different scenarios, trying to gauge which one fit his mindset best. Alfie huffed, frustrated.

“Jesus, Alfie. Just apologise,” I snapped, crossing my arms. Priya glanced at me.

“Would that solve the issue for you?”

“No, but at least we could get off this topic,” I muttered. She gazed at me, examining me in a way I didn’t like. Silence settled around us as she waited. Apparently she wasn’t letting me off the stage until I’d given her more. I sighed. “Alfie has a lot of good qualities, but he’s arrogant and narcissistic. What he thinks will always matter most. When it comes to getting what he wants, he’s ruthless. That’s his best and worst quality. You’re fighting a losing battle trying to change it.”

Alfie turned his head to look at me. “You think I’m a losing battle?” His voice was filled with a pain I had to steel myself against.

“I think you knew it was shitty to trick me into coming here but you did it anyway because it’s what you wanted. Which is your M.O. So, no one is surprised.”

“Well, I?—”

“Enough. Alfie.” I was so tired of doing this. “We had all of these fights two years ago. This is basic communication. I’m not doing this again.” I pulled my arms tighter around myself, willing my body to keep him out.

“Alfie, what’s Lola’s M.O?” Priya sat back in her chair, not in the least phased by the tension humming in the air.

“She runs when she’s scared,” Alfie answered, keeping his eyes on me, “She lashes out when she fucks up and unless your name is Keira Larson, she’ll keep you at arms length.”

I narrowed my eyes at the grim picture he painted of me. “I didn’t keepyouat arms length.”

“You never told me about college.”

“Because I didn’t trust you not to fuck it up for me. Which you admitted yourself, you probably would have done.”