Page 91 of The Facilitator, Part 2

“Oh no, whathappened?”

“Well, Dad started to regale us of stories from when they were young; seems it was a day of confessions. They’d had aflingin their youth. The more the wine flowed, the more gossip was spilled. Gabriella had her mother nearly faint when she confessed to beingrandier than a bull in a cow pen, thanks to pregnancy hormones, at which point Alex took her home. Sandra fell off her chair, you laughed, and she laughed as you tried to help her up then fell yourself. I think you might have bruised knees. Dad decided all the women were being silly so he took Vivienne and Sandra home, and then it was justus.”

“What did wedo?”

“I fucked your ass,” he said, with asmile.

I gasped and, stupidly, grabbed my backside as if I’d feel him stillthere.

“Of course I didn’t. You declared your undying love for me. You proposed, I decided you’d had way too much to drink to take you seriously, soI…”

“Wait, back up a little,” Isaid.

“To the ass fucking? I’d love to back up to thatpoint.”

“No, forward just a little from there,” Isaid.

“Lauren, you were drunk, you probably still are. Drink your tea and then I’m going to make you eggs. I’m sure your stomach would object to anythingmore.”

He took my cup and stood. I was gutted, absolutely gutted. I’d marry that man tomorrow if he’d ask me. Instead, I’d asked him while drunk. I could have kickedmyself.

“You didn’t do anything to my arse, did you?” I calledout.

“Sadly, I did not. See how you feel later,yeah?”

“Never,” Iwhispered.

He couldn’t have heard me. “Never say never,” he called out,though.

Mackenzie made scrambled eggs on a slice of toast; he added herbs to garnish. He placed the plate on the table with a jug of iced water. I appreciated the light meal. I was more thankful for thewater.

I ate in silence for a while, thinking of how fucked up the past few days had been. Ichuckled.

“What’s funny?” heasked.

“I think I need a holiday to get over this one,” Isaid.

“We don’t need to rush home, you knowthat.”

“I have a job, commitments, meetings scheduled, obligations tofulfil…”

“All of which can wait a couple of days,” hesaid.

“We’ll see.” I didn’t want to discuss itanymore.

Sure, I could take time off whenever I wanted and, as I’d discovered, Trymast would run perfectly okay for a couple more days, but I had a sense of duty I just couldn’t shake off as easily. It was okay for Mackenzie, he had a strong team to do the everyday things, and although I had team leaders, it wasn’t the same. I was forever trying to justify myself—my place at Trymast—my huge fucking salary and benefits package, which I was sure was more than my colleaguesreceived.

God, I needed a dose of self-confidence!

“Call Jerry. He’s upset that he’s upset you,” Mackenzie said. “Vivienne transferred that money to him today. I don’t suppose he would know just yet, you could break the news tohim.”

“How much has he lost in total?” I asked, diverting the conversation alittle.

“He said he gave Addison a little under two mil. He’s got back about seven hundred thousand, in pounds, from Vivienne; allowing for a shit exchange rate and bank fees, obviously. I bought the offshore company shares and paid him directly for them, so he would have got another five hundred thousand from me. He’s out of pocket a lot, but there’s nothing more I can do. He’s never going to see that money again, it’s longgone.”

“I feel guilty for not warning him,Mackenzie.”

“What would have happened if you had? Let me tell you, she had him fucking brainwashed; he would have ditched you in a heartbeat. I bet he would have rushed into her arms and she would have taken the rest of hismoney.”