The third and final time had been last year, in the aftermath of his and Lottie’s breakup. They’d been together for over two years when they’d split, and Lottie had been just as entwined in our lives as Adrian had been. When he’d turned up at our flat, looking for a place to stay for the night because they’d decided that he needed to move out, I’d texted Lottie to check that she was okay too. Rory was not an inflammatory person – it took a lot to rattle him – but apparently knowing that we’d been in contact was enough to cause argument number three. It hadn’t been a huff like the first time, or a prolonged cold front like the second, but a different kind of anger entirely. He’d been defensive, hurt that I’d reached out to her instead of standing by him.
It was this kind of look in his eyes now, as he stood in front of Daniel and me.
‘What the hell are you playing at?’
I immediately jumped up, a rabbit caught in the headlights. Daniel, caught between two relative strangers, took his time rising to his feet, and immediately sprung to my defence.
‘Look, I don’t know who you are, but she’s not doing anything wrong.’ He looked at me with a grin. ‘She’s mingling.’
I knew better than to laugh at the joke, but I had to bite my lip to stop it.
‘Oh, I’m sorry.’ Rory’s face was deadpan. ‘I forgot that the best way to network was to stick your tongue down someone’s throat. Clearly, I’ve been doing it wrong all evening.’
Daniel straightened up almost imperceptibly so that he was closer to Rory’s height. ‘Well, if you’ve been like this all evening, I can’t imagine you’ve made any firm business connections. Now, do you mind? We were a little bit busy.’
All credit to Rory, he barely batted an eyelid. ‘Right. Busy. Looked important.’
He didn’t make any move to leave. Harriet shot me a warning look, one that clearly said ‘do something’.
‘Look’ – the prosecco was catching up with me again and I made a conscious effort not to stumble over my words – ‘it was just a kiss. No harm done.’
‘No harm done.’ Rory repeated the words back to me. His arms were crossed, hands gripping his biceps so tightly that I could see the veins in his hands. I swallowed. Bad prosecco. Bad, bad prosecco. He narrowed his eyes. ‘Pen, can I speak to you for a minute?’
Daniel stepped in front of me. ‘Mate, who even are you? She doesn’t have to go anywhere.’
Even in my current state, I registered how annoying this show of testosterone was. ‘I don’t have to, but I’m going to. This is my business partner, Rory.’
Again, I didn’t elaborate on what our business was. This was all part of the game. A modern-day Cinderella. Should I leave behind my shoe? I was pretty sure I’d stepped in a deconstructed croque monsieur on my way to the bathroom earlier, so maybe not.
‘If that’s what you want.’ Daniel nodded and stepped back. ‘Don’t let him make any decisions for you.’
Rory barked out a laugh. ‘That’s rich. Come on, Pen.’
He took my hand, but the grip was firm, not affectionate. Harriet was watching the whole thing like a tennis match, eyes narrowed at my new friend.
Daniel cleared his throat. ‘I need to leave anyway. Too many pompous idiots at these things.’ The intention behind his words was obvious.
‘It was great to meet you, Penny.’ Daniel leaned in and kissed my cheek, pausing for a second. ‘Can I just …’ He wiped at the skin just below my bottom lip with his thumb.
Rory dropped my hand like it was on fire. ‘Classy.’
I could only assume that my lipstick had gone AWOL.
‘Nothing wrong with a bit of smudged red, don’t you think, Pen?’ I hadn’t told him my nickname but he’d clearly picked it up from Rory, who was glaring at him, a thunderous expression on his face.
We all watched him wander back into the crowd, picking up another glass with ease and turning back to raise it in Rory’s direction.
‘Okay, so that was …’ I felt a rush of embarrassment for the first time since Rory had appeared.
He just held up a hand, signalling that he needed a minute. He went over to the bar and came back with a whisky on the rocks. He downed it.
‘Right. Go on.’
‘I think I can hear Ella shouting me …’ Harriet looked over vaguely to the other side of the room, desperately searching for an out.
I snorted. ‘You have permission to leave.’
‘Fabulous.’
She strode off, wasting no time in leaving us behind. If this had been any other context, we’d both have found this hilarious. Instead, Rory just stared at me for a second before he erupted. ‘What on earth are you doing?’
I looked anywhere but directly at him. ‘I’ve had a really shit day.’
His expression softened for a second before he was back on the attack. ‘Then come and find me! I was right there, on the other side of the room. What you did tonight was incredibly stupid.’
I reeled back, affronted.
‘Who the hell was that guy?’ He wasn’t avoiding eye contact in the same way that I was, looking at me with laser focus.
Something inside me clicked, and I was suddenly just as angry as he was. I hadn’t spoken to anyone important about my concerns about Level, I hadn’t caused a drunken scene and vomited on someone’s shoes. All I’d done was have fun. For once, I’d been carefree Penny. I was starting to forget that she even existed.
‘Why do you care who he is?’
Rory paled. ‘I don’t.’
‘You don’t?’ There was a moment of tense silence.
‘I care because this is our public image.’ He gathered himself. ‘I care because we’re still a fledgling company. We need people to respect us. And they won’t, not if our CEO gets a reputation for disappearing into dark corners at parties.’
