Page 30 of Total Creative Control
“Hmmm,” Lewis said. “Didn’t takehimlong.”
Aaron shot him an odd look—as well he might. Lewis was coming off like some sort of Victorian maiden aunt.
“It was after the breakup,” Aaron said, shrugging. “Besides, it’s fine. If Colin has someone else, I’m happy for him. He likes being coupled up.”
“And you don’t?” Lewis heard himself say the words almost as though it was someone else speaking. What was he thinking asking something so personal? They never talked about stuff like this.
“Um, well,” Aaron prevaricated. “I’m not really sure, to be honest. I had my first boyfriend at uni, and that lasted three years, then a break, then Colin. I might need to play the field a bit to find out what it is I like.” He gave an oddly breathless little laugh. “I should probably call Tag, shouldn’t I? At least that would be a start.”
No, Lewis wanted to say.You shouldn’t.
Instead, he waited until another employee bustled up to the counter with Aaron’s order and started setting down paper bags and drinks and offering cutlery and napkins. He waited until Aaron was good and distracted before he leaned in and said quickly, “Can I see that receipt for a sec?”
Aaron, busy confirming that, yes, he would like a drinks tray, unthinkingly pulled the receipt out of his pocket and handed it to Lewis without pausing. Lewis pretended to check it, then crumpled it in his fist.
“Shall I grab the hot drinks?” he asked before Aaron could remember to ask for the receipt back.
Aaron—who was trying to balance two bottles of water, a large freshly squeezed orange juice, a half dozen paper bags containing breakfast sandwiches and pastries, and a tub of yoghurt and granola—smiled gratefully.
“That would be great. Thanks.”
“No worries,” Lewis said, lifting the tub of yoghurt and granola from its precarious position on top of the pile of paper bags Aaron was carrying and settling it into a gap on the drinks tray. “Let’s go.”
As they left the coffee shop, he dropped the receipt in the bin.
Chapter Eight
Aaron
“Jesus!” Aaron exclaimed when they swept round the final bend of the drive and he got his first glimpse of Safehaven. “It’s not small, is it?”
He’d expected a pretty English manor house with some nice gardens, but this was something else. The grounds were extensive—they’d passed through the security gate a good half mile back—and the house itself was huge. Huge and very square. Two great square towers on either side of a square entrance, and all of it in red brick with mullioned windows.
It looked surprisingly formal and forbidding, considering how very informal the man standing on the drive waiting to greet them was.
Charlie Alexander wore baggy green harem pants, an orange vest, and a multicoloured Fair Isle cardigan. His feet were bare, and his dirty blond hair was pulled back into a messy bun. He was practically bouncing.
Lewis sighed, and Toni said quietly. “It’s just two nights. This too shall pass.” Unclipping her seatbelt, she climbed out and stepped forward to greet Charlie with air kisses and a big smile.
Lewis climbed out after her, and Aaron brought up the rear.
Once Charlie had greeted Toni, he stepped forward to grasp Lewis’s hand.
“Lewis, glad you could make it,” he said in that way the very rich had of sounding both sincere and indifferent. Then he nodded at the Mercedes and added, “But did you have to come in the gas guzzler? There’s a train station ten minutes away.”
Aaron itched to point out that Charlie had a helipad at the side of the house and had flown in from the US for the weekend. He pressed his lips together to stop any words escaping.
“It’s electric,” Lewis said. His tone was mild, but Aaron heard the faint note of irritation in it and wondered whether Lewis would be able to keep his temper at bay for the whole weekend. It wasn’t his strongest suit, but RPP needed to keep Telopix sweet. In this case, keeping Telopix sweet meant keeping Charlie Alexander sweet: he’d be the one greenlighting theLeeches: USA deal. Aaron wasn’t sure how close the deal was to completing, but things were definitely heating up, and although neither Lewis nor Toni had given much away on the drive here, it was obvious this weekend was important.
It didn’t help that Charlie was an insufferable prick who presented himself as a chilled-out hipster when he was really a complete control freak who always expected to get his own way.
“Andy, isn’t it?” Charlie said to Aaron, his head cocked to one side in query.
“Aaron,” he corrected shortly.
“Aaron, right. Like the great Sorkin.” Charlie grinned at him and slapped his shoulder, and Aaron smiled stiffly.
Charlie was one of those almost-but-not-quite-good-looking men. Everything about him was just a little average. A littlemedium. On the two or three occasions he’d come into the office to see Lewis, he’d always seemed to Aaron to be trying to make up for that somehow, with his overbearing manner and his ridiculously pretentious outfits.