Rotten to the Core (33 page)

His
palms
were sweating.
Paul
took a deep breath,
trying
to control his nerves. He wasn’t sure
whether
letting his feelings be known to
Kate
was the right thing to do, but to be honest he wasn’t sure if he could keep them to himself for much longer. He had to fight the urge he had to hold her when he saw her looking upset
,
a
lthough she did a good job of trying to hide it
. At times
he could see that she looked lost, and it
took
every ounce of his willpower to stop himself from wrapping his arms around her and telling her she would be alright. Yesterday
,
he had felt sure that now was the right to time to tell her, but
today
he wasn’t
feeling
confident. He was losing his bottle. What if she didn’t find him attractive
,
o
r simply didn’t look at him that way
?
Kate
was nice and kind
, she would never set out to le
a
d
someone
on
:
she was just so
sweet
to everyone, what if the vibes he had picked up from her were just her being nice
and
n
othing else
? Paul
was going to tell her how he felt and tell her about Sophia, his beautiful little daughter. He knew that he wanted Kate, but she would have to accept that he ha
d
a child. They were a package,
but
after everything that Kate had gone through losing her baby, Paul was not sure how Sophia would be received by Kate.

Pacing the room, he looked at the clock in his office, it was quarter to eight
;
even if he did call her to say not to bother coming in, he
would
probably
be
too late, she would
probably
have left by now. He quickly poured himself a shot of whiskey from the bottle he kept in the top
draw
er
and gulped it down in one
then
made a note to calm it down on the drinking front at work, it was slowly becoming a habit and not one he intended on keeping
.
H
e liked to stay in control
;
after tonight
, he was going to
try and curb it
at work
. Drinking
the whiskey
, he was surprised that it did nothing to stop his nerves
;
h
e felt like a fifteen
-
year
-
old schoolboy going on his first date. Strumming his fingers on the desk, he glanced around as he waited for her. The place was immaculate, he had never seen it so organised. Normally there were piles of paper stacked up all over the place
and
falling on the floor, bills scattered amongst junk mail, scrap paper and e
-
mails. Kate had
devised
a great filing system
,
so everything from wages, stock takes and invoices all had their place and the whole club was running more smoothly. They ma
de
a great team, she was so good at the things he wasn’t
.
Paul
had the contacts, the funds and the vision, but he had realised that he had needed someone to work alongside him,
doing
the organisation, event planning and PR
;
he was crap at that. He just hoped that by telling her how he felt
,
he wouldn’t make her run a million miles from him
;
the last thing he would want to do
was
scare her off
;
even if she didn’t want him, he hoped she would want to be part of the club.

Across town
,
Emma was winding Kate up as
she
was getting ready to leave
.
S
he had done her hair and makeup and was wearing a new white blouse that wasn’t too revealing but flattered her figure and looked very stylish.

             
“Ooh, going in early for a bit of one
-
on
-
one?” Emma giggled
.

Kate
rolled her eyes but then
grinned
.

             
“I told you, it’s not like that
;
I think Paul just wants to run something by me
.
”

             
“Yeah, I bet he does
,
”
said
Emma sarcastically
, winking.
Secretly hoping that the two would get it on, they were clearly besotted with each other, she hoped that all her hinting and teasing would push the idea along a bit in Kate
’
s head
.
Paul
Goldie
would be perfect for Kate,
Emma
just knew it
;
he was a real man, a gentleman. Someone like Paul
c
ould
show
Kate that not all men
were
cheating shits; some of them
were
decent, with a backbon
e.
Keeping her fingers crossed
,
Emma
added
,
             
“Perhaps he has an indecent proposal for you
?”

             
“W
ell, I’ll find out soon enough
,
don’t you worry, and when you get in to work later, I promise you’ll be the first person I tell
.
”
Smiling as confidently as she could
,
Kate
opened the front door
but
then
glanced back at her friend
.

             
“
D
on’t get too excited though
,
h
un
, it’s probably just some event he
’s
planning, probably wants my opinion on it, something like that
.
S
ee you in a bit
.
”
Once
the front door
had
close
d
, Emma grinned and shook her head
.

Boy oh boy, they both had it bad.

Kate made her way to the club
.
I
t was only a ten
-
minute walk and th
e
evening was gorgeous, the sun shining as it set and everyone Kate passed look
ing
happy, it was funny how a bit of sunshine did that. Kate didn’t
feel particularly happy
,
though, she felt anxious. She wasn’t sure what Paul wanted to see her about, and she had definitely felt
that h
e
had been
acting very strang
ely
towards her
over
the
p
ast few days
, a
lmost
as if
he was trying to avoid her,
as if
he felt a bit uncomfortable around her.
Kate
hadn’t wanted to worry Emma by saying anything, not now they had moved in and had the flat together, but she had an awful feeling that he was going to let her go,
that
he didn’t need her to work for him. She knew she had done a fantastic job, and she was
almost
sure that she hadn’t done anything
wrong
, but she just couldn’t be
certain
.
She didn’t know w
hat else could it be
, and
h
e had looked serious when he
had
asked her to come in before her shift.
She also had heard him talking about a Sophia on the phone, and Kate had felt a knot of jealousy in her stomach at his tone. He hadn’t mentioned a girlfriend, and Kate had never seen him with anyone, but whoever this Sophia was she meant something to him
,
as he spoke her name in a tone that made Kate realise that no matter how she might be feeling, he
liked
someone else. There
had been
moments when she had wondered at Paul
’
s thoughts towards her,
but
she had believed that he was too much of a gentleman to mix business with pleasure, so she had not pursue
d
the matter
.
Cl
early he was a decent guy who looked out for her
:
nothing
more
and
no
thing
less. Glancing at her watch
,
she saw that it was just gone eight
; she
pick
ed
up her pace
:
she wanted to get this over with, whatever it was about.

39

Arriving at the club
,
Emma
was
dying to find out how the little meeting had gone
.
S
he had her money on Paul declaring his undying love and
sweeping Kate into his
muscl
y
arms,
with
them both running off into the sunset and living happily ever after
:
well
,
something like that. Kate
had been
supposed to text the minute the meeting was over, so that Emma
could find out what had been said
, but maybe it was
a
more serious
matter
than
she had thought
,
or
maybe it hadn’t gone well, as Emm
a
had not heard
anything
.
She wandered around a bit but
didn’t
spot Kate, maybe Romeo and Juliet were in a cupboard somewhere, having a bit of time out.
Emma
was early for her shift
,
so she
decided
she would grab a quick drink before she started. Plopping herself up on a stool
,
she asked Jake, the barman she had been working alongside for the
p
ast few weeks, who
was
a seriously funny guy, for a
n
orange juice with lots of ice and gratefully sipped it while she caught up on the gossip of the evening so far.
Then s
he spotted Paul coming towards her with the mother of all frowns etched on his forehead
:
it was not the look of a happy man
.
S
he felt a bit guilty
that she was
sitting on her butt, even though technically she wouldn’t be paid for her shift for another fifteen minutes
. She
wondered if
he had assumed she was drinking alcohol while she was supposed to be working,
and
maybe that
was
why he seemed so hacked off. But as he approached her
,
she could see that he didn’t even seem to
have
notice
d
what she was doing
.

             
“Hey Paul, you ok
ay
?” Emma was a little concerned
,
as she could see Paul was very pissed off, and it was the last thing she had expected
.
S
he
had
thought after seeing Kate
,
he would be floating around the place, smitten.

             
“I will be
.” L
eaning down to her ear
,
he continued
,
“
C
an you let Kate know
:
next time she decides not to bother turning up for work, a phone call wouldn’t go amiss
.
I wouldn’t mind
,
only we
’
re short staffed as it is
,
and I’ve been running round like a blue
-
arsed fly for the last hour
.
”