Page 26 of Total Creative Control
“Well. I mean, technically, I broke things off, but he wasn’t exactly surprised or heartbroken.” He shrugged. “You know how it goes. Sometimes, relationships just drift on when they should have ended ages ago.”
Jason nodded. “Yeah,” he said, although Aaron doubted that he did know. Jason and Liu had been together since uni, had got married last year, and were excitedly expecting their first child.
At their wedding, Colin had taken Aaron’s hand during the vows and squeezed hard, giving Aaron a meaningful smile. And Aaron…
Aaron had imagined Skye and Faolán at the altar, wondering what they’d wear, how they’d say their vows. ‘Till death do us part’ takes on a different meaning when one partner is immortal. Later, he’d framed a 50k-word fic around the wedding, which had ended with Faolán forcing Skye to turn him so that death would never part them.Death Do UsPartgot a fantastic response and won the Best-Angst category in that year’s Skylán fic awards.
“You need to be careful,” Jason said. “Or you’re going to get stuck.”
“Stuck?” He glanced around the lift.
“Doing this. You’re what? Twenty-five?”
Aaron grimaced. “Twenty-seven.”
“Well, then. Do you want to be a PA your whole life?”
Truly, Aaron didn’t know. As much as he enjoyed his job, what he enjoyed most about it was working with Lewis. But in terms of what he produced, the work that mattered most to him, that provided him with the deepest satisfaction, was his writing. And sharing his writing with theLeechesfan community. Of course, Jason wouldn’t understand that. Most people didn’t.
Feebly, he said, “There’s more to life than work.”
Jason dismissed the cliché with the disdain it deserved. “You need to ask yourself why you’re staying in this job,” he said, watching the numbers on the lift as they made their juddery descent. “And whether it’s a good enough reason.”
Aaron studied him, took in the uncomfortable jut of Jason’s jaw, the way he was purposely not making eye contact, and his stomach pinched. Shit, did Jasonknow? Was Aaron’s weird obsession with Lewis obvious? He forced an unconvincing laugh. “Are you saying Lewis’s charming personality isn’t a good enough reason?”
As the doors opened, and they walked out into reception, Jason said, “Loyalty’s one thing, Aaron. But if you don’t move up now, you might never move at all.”
Aaron didn’t have anything to say about that because Jason was right. Of course he was bloody right. But the idea of leaving Lewis… Even the thought left him winded, and he was sharply reminded of Mason’s plaintive words that morning:when he’s gone, he leaves quite a gap. Lewis and Mason had only been together for a month. Aaron had been with Lewis for three years.
Once they were outside, they paused, standing a little awkwardly together, and Jason reached over and squeezed Aaron’s shoulder. “Just think about it, yeah? It’d be a really good move for you. I’d hate to see you miss your shot.”
“I will.” He nodded, trying to look sincere. “Thanks, Jase.”
With that, they parted. Jason strode towards the bus stop, and Aaron headed for the tube, turning Jason’s words over in his mind as he walked.
Part of him knew that he should go for the script development role, that he’d be good at it and would enjoy it. Those late-night sessions with Lewis, doctoring scripts or brainstorming story ideas, was the most fun he had at work, and working on theBow Streetpilot would be a fantastic opportunity to use that experience and develop further. But whenever he imagined leaving his job, leaving Lewis andLeeches, a larger part of him recoiled. Just thinking about someone else doing his job—someone else benefitting from Lewis’s extraordinary creative energy—left him feeling angry and resentful.
Sometimes people told Aaron they thought he was a saint for putting up with Lewis, marvelling at his patience and his ability to tolerate Lewis’s moods. They didn’t seem to see Lewis’s good points. How passionate he was, how talented and creative. How he charged the very particles in the air around him with that creativity, making everything more exciting, more interesting, more energetic… justmore. Aaron didn’t care about Lewis's grumpiness—that was just a surface-level thing anyway, Lewis’s way of dealing with anyone or anything that got between him and what he was trying to achieve. Because Lewis was single-minded. Absolutely focused on what he was trying to achieve.
If Aaron and Lewis stopped working together, Aaron would miss that.
He could envisage exactly how it would play out. Once they were in different parts of the building, working on different projects, their interactions would inevitably dwindle to quick hellos as they passed in the corridor or awkward catchups at the Christmas party.
Aaron frowned, not liking the thought. Not liking the way it made his stomach clench and his chest ache. And not wanting to examine why he felt that way. Shoving the thoughts back into their box, he slammed shut the lid and began to walk more quickly.
His spirits rose as he hurried down the steps into the underground, swept along by the great throng of people heading home or out for a night on the town. Now wasn’t the time to be agonising over his future. He had a night out with friends to look forward to, and after that a weekend with Lewis Hunter at a multimillionaire’s country estate.
All in all, life was pretty bloody good.
Tomorrow could take care of itself.
Chapter Seven
Lewis
Lewis didn’t call Mason that night. He meant to do it, but the thought of the inevitable questions that would follow practically brought him out in hives. Even if he did manage to spit out some kind of acceptable reason, Mason would start trying to analyse what he said, and he’d end up being rude. Instead, he arranged to send an expensive arrangement of flowers with a brief but clear explanation that—considering he was a writer—took him an embarrassingly long time to compose.
“That’s the message?” the woman on the phone said when he gave her the order. She sounded disapproving.