Just My Luck (18 page)

They’d managed to squeeze him in, accommodate his request for a quiet corner, as he’d known they would. He tried not to ask for special treatment, but he needed this. Now all he had to do was get her there. He didn’t think she’d be impressed just because he spent money on her, but he wanted to show her that he was making an effort. That this mattered to him. That
she
mattered to him.

“I’d like that,” she said, and he could tell from the serious look she gave him that she knew what he was doing. That this was a big step. “But a bit later, do you think?”

“Yeh,” he agreed. “As it’s only five now. And I wasn’t thinking about popping out for fish and chips. I thought we could get togged up a bit, go on a—what do they call those things? Oh, yeh. A date.”

“That sounds fun,” she said, and her expression looked to him like anticipation, mixed with a bit of nerves. A bit of adrenaline. “And if it’s going to be a while, maybe you wouldn’t mind belaying me for a few routes first. I’m off the clock now, and I haven’t had a chance to do any real climbing for days. Would you be willing?”

She’d taught him to belay, of course, but had always kept her routes short, saying that he wasn’t paying to watch her climb. Even though he would’ve, and gladly. He realized that this might be the biggest step of all. She was trusting him with her safety, asking him for help, asking him to do something just because it would give her pleasure.

All he said, though, was, “Course. Long as you want.”

She started with the route he’d just done, the hardest in the gym. And went up it the same way she’d climbed the first time he’d seen her. Like a cat, so sure and so fast that he, who’d just struggled up the thing, could hardly believe it.

“Thanks for doing that,” she said at the end of forty minutes or so, during which he’d lost count of the number of climbs she’d done. She was sweating just a bit, her cheeks pink with effort. “It was great. You’re very patient.”

He had to smile at that. “Don’t you know how much I like watching you? Thought that would be pretty obvious by now.”

“You do?” she asked, the flush deepening a bit more. “Even climbing?”

“Definitely climbing,” he assured her. “It’s not just that you’re so good at it, though that’s hot too. It’s the climbing harness. How it looks. What it draws attention to. Why d’you think I was up on that thing, the first day? When I got stuck?”

“Why?” she asked with fascination. “You mean . . . me? You weren’t just climbing that because you assumed you could do the hard stuff?”

“That too, probably,” he admitted. “Because I was a boofhead, as I may have mentioned. But the real reason?” He looked straight at her, not smiling now. “It was you. I thought you were sexy as hell. I still do, in case you were wondering.”

 “Wow,” she said, lifting her hands to pull the elastic out of her ponytail, shaking her hair out. Which was a sexual signal if he’d ever seen one. And his own climbing harness was going to be showcasing too much itself if he kept up this line of chat. He turned away, loosened the straps and pulled it off. Looked back and saw her doing the same, but looking a bit self-conscious about it. He had a feeling that dinner with her was going to be good.

Ally walked to Nate’s car with him, feeling as if her head were spinning. She’d hoped that today would go something like this, but now that it was happening, she was definitely nervous.

A feeling that wasn’t helped at all at the sight of the man approaching on the busy Saturday-evening pavement. Devon.

It wasn’t the first time she’d seen him. Wellington was too small, too centralized, too pedestrian-friendly to avoid him. All good things, except when you really didn’t want to run into somebody. She normally either pretended she didn’t see him, if that was feasible, or gave him a curt nod. While he, on the other hand, always looked perfectly comfortable at seeing her. Well, he was probably used to seeing his one-night-stands on the street. She’d bet there had been a lot of them. But seeing him when she was with Nate—

She felt Nate stiffen beside her, and knew he’d seen Devon too. And, to her surprise, Devon
didn’t
look comfortable, not this time. He glanced between the two of them, his expression hardening. And Ally was glad to see it. She hoped it made him sweat, thinking about her with Nate. She looked straight back at him, sent the message as hard as she could.
He’s bigger and better than you. In every . . . single . . . way.
She’d bet it was true, too.

Nate glanced down at her, but she kept walking. Speeded up, if anything. Averted her gaze now, with her best look of contempt. And walked right on by.

Nate didn’t say anything until he’d opened the car door for her, put her bag, which he’d insisted on carrying, into the backseat with his own, and climbed in on his side. Until they were driving over the hill to Aro Valley.

At last, though, he spoke, seeming to choose his words carefully.

“You don’t have to ignore him for my sake,” he said. “I don’t like him, that’s no secret. But I know you do, and that you did that Heat thing with him. I can be civil if I have to be.”

“I don’t, though,” she said emphatically. “You were right. He’s a . . . He’s not a good person.”

He looked across at her, arrested. Then turned his attention back to his driving.

“What did he do?” he asked, and she could see that his hands were gripping the wheel a bit too tightly. “Something with the shoot? He’s ambitious, I told you that. He’ll use people to get what he wants.”

“Yeah,” she said bitterly. “I figured that out.”

They were outside the block of flats now. Nate pulled into a parking spot, but didn’t move to get out of the car.

“What happened?” he asked again, turning to her. “I should’ve told you more about what he was like. I don’t like to talk about him, but I should’ve warned you.”

“I’m not sure I would have believed you,” she said honestly. “He comes across so well, doesn’t he? Seems so . . . interested.”

Realization began to dawn on his face. “Ally. What did he do?”

She shrugged, tried to pass it off. “It wasn’t any big deal. Happens to women all the time, I know. It’s just that it had never happened to me before. He acted interested, like I said. And turns out he wasn’t. I think, looking back at it, that he wanted to get some kind of introduction to Drew, once he realized who Kristen was. Or he could have even known about that before. I wouldn’t put it past him. Anyway, he tried with her, and when that didn’t work, he tried with me. And when
that
didn’t work . . . ”

She sighed, not wanting to admit how stupid she’d been. Wished she didn’t have to tell him, but she’d asked him to be honest with her, hadn’t she? And that went both ways. With the way he felt about Devon, she didn’t want him to find out later and think she’d lied to him.

“He decided he might as well get the consolation prize,” she said at last. “Because I think he was . . . mad at me about that, somehow. And he wanted to win.”

“So he slept with you,” Nate said slowly. “Gave you the full treatment to get there, I’m sure. Made you think it meant something. And once he got it, made it clear that he didn’t want it anymore. Went out of his way to make you feel cheap.”

“That’s about it.” She hated that he knew this, but tried to keep her tone light. “Which should maybe make you reconsider. Could be I’m just not good in bed.”

He didn’t answer her directly. His face, his tone were grim. “This is my fault. I should’ve told you, so you’d have been warned about what kind of scungy dickhead he is.”

“How can it be your fault that I slept with the wrong guy?” she protested. “I’m a big girl. I made a mistake. I don’t go around sleeping with random guys, though.” She knew she shouldn’t have to defend herself, but she couldn’t bear to have him think of her that way. “I really thought he . . .”

“You thought he was serious,” he finished for her. “Because he took care that you thought so.”

“But how do you know?” she asked. “Is that why you don’t like him? Because you saw what he was like, when you were flatmates?”

“Yeh, nah, not exactly,” he sighed. “That is, I saw what he was like. How he is with women, I mean. At least how he was then, and I doubt he’s changed much. I don’t think he likes women at all, really. Seems to enjoy . . . hurting them. Not physically,” he hurried to explain. “But making them fall in love, or at least sleeping with them, and then dropping them. He likes that, I think.”

She winced a bit, hating to remember how gullible she’d been. She really had been nothing but prey. And that hurt.

“But I let it go,” he went on. “Just like I did with you. Which is on me. I told myself it wasn’t my business, until it was.”

She waited to hear more, though she already had a glimmer. And his next words confirmed it.

“Because I had a girlfriend back then,” he said. “During Uni, a couple years there. I was mad for her. When I said I’d never been passionately in love . . . that was a lie. Or something I’d rather forget. And Devon . . .”

“He slept with your girlfriend,” Ally said slowly. “He turned that charm on her. And she cheated on you with him.”

“Yeh,” he admitted. “Tore me up at the time. Her too, when he dropped her. Just did it to see if he could, I think. And to score on me. Because he was jealous of me, of what I had. What I’d done, I guess. Even though . . .”

“Even though you’d earned it,” she finished for him. “Since you had it and he didn’t, it was unfair. Is that about it?”

“Yeh. I never could understand that, but that’s how it was. So that’s what he did. And he was right, it worked. It hurt. And it broke us up, of course. Afterwards, she wanted to come back to me. Told me she still loved me, that she was sorry. But I couldn’t look at her the same way again. Not after she’d been with him.”

Ally felt sick inside as the full realization of what he’d said hit her. Of what it meant.

“OK,” she said, wishing her voice sounded stronger. “I see why you don’t like him. And . . .” She made a helpless gesture. “Thanks for the coffees, and the beer, and everything. I’ll see you.”

She reached back for her bag, got out of the car, walked hurriedly to the front door, pulling out her keys with eyes that were blurred by tears. It wasn’t enough that Devon had . . . had seduced her, she thought, the old-fashioned word seeming like the only appropriate one. Now he’d wrecked things with Nate too. And she
liked
Nate. She liked him so much.

“Ally.” He was beside her, his hand on her arm. “Wait.”

“It’s OK.” She shook his hand off, got the key into the door. “I know it seems awkward, but it doesn’t matter. Better that you found out now.”

“It
does
matter,” he insisted. “And I’m not going to let you go. Not till we talk this over.”

“Then come upstairs,” she sighed. She didn’t have to worry that he’d jump her, after all. Not any more. All her caution seemed ridiculous now anyway. There was only one good guy in this scenario, and it was pretty obvious which one he was. How could she have got it so backwards?

He didn’t try to talk to her until they were in her flat. Kristen wasn’t home, Ally registered briefly. Out with Liam, she thought.
Kristen
wasn’t reading guys wrong. She’d been right about both Nate and Devon all along.

“Sit down,” she told Nate now, gesturing to the couch. “Do you want a beer or something? I think we have some.”

He waved a hand. “Nah.” He waited until she was seated beside him, then began to speak. Sitting forward in his typical pose, legs apart, elbows on his knees, hands clasped, head turned to look at her. “I should’ve told you about Devon at Drew’s,” he said. “When you . . . mentioned him.”

She winced. “When I told you what he’d said about you.”

“Yeh.” He didn’t look any happier than she felt, was looking down between his feet now. “And I didn’t, because it’s not something I like to think about. It sure as hell isn’t something I like to talk about. Or that I wanted to tell you about. But if I had, you’d have known, wouldn’t you. You’d have known what kind of man he is, and he couldn’t have done that to you.”

She shrugged helplessly, surprised at how miserable she felt. She’d told herself she wasn’t sure if she wanted Nate. Who had she been kidding? “It’s not your fault. I guess I needed to have that experience. I haven’t dated much, like I said. Turns out there’s a type of man that I didn’t recognize. Kristen did, but I didn’t listen to her.”

“I suspect Kristen’s met her share of Devons,” Nate said with a little smile, the first he’d shown since they’d started talking about this. “Who want to score off her, be able to tell their mates they’ve had a woman that gorgeous. Happens the other way round too, you know. Get a bit of fame, and a man gets that same thing. Course, men seem to be able to live with it.”

“I’ll bet. And you’re right, Kristen’s a lot smarter than I am in some ways. And I didn’t know what I didn’t know. Now I do, and I can be more careful. So like I said,” she went on more briskly. “No harm done.” Except, of course, that their almost-romance wasn’t going to happen.

He looked at her searchingly. “Hope that’s true. That he didn’t hurt you too much.”

“Yeah, well,” she said wryly. “Kinda hard to get your heart broken after a few dates. I was embarrassed, but that was about it. He wasn’t exactly memorable, or all that regrettable either, if you know what I mean. I think I have a pretty good idea of why your girlfriend wanted to come back to you.”

He smiled again. “Good to know, I guess.”

“But I’m wondering,” she said slowly. “If that’s the case, if he did that to you, why does he seem to hate
you?
It’s like it was the other way around, that you did something to him. Is that just the jealousy? Or did something else happen?”

“Just one thing. Hard for me to see how he can resent me for it, but who knows how he thinks. A couple years ago, he asked me for an intro to our head of PR. I couldn’t believe it. Said no, of course, and he wasn’t too happy.”

“He did say something about that. But seriously? He thought you’d help him?”

“That’s what I thought! He seemed to think it shouldn’t matter anymore. That I’d somehow have forgotten it, or forgiven it, or something. Couldn’t believe it.”