Rory squeezed my leg. ‘You heard her.’
I grabbed my phone, hightailing it out of the boardroom and hoping for a moment to regroup and cry in the toilets whilst Ella dealt with the collateral damage. I didn’t get the reprieve.
‘Penny, wait.’ Daniel followed me out of the room, ignoring Ella’s protests. Rory met my eyes from where he was rising from his seat. Do you need me?
He seemed to sense that I wanted to take back control of this situation myself. I gave a quick shake of my head.
‘Penny.’ Daniel caught up with me. ‘Don’t make a stupid business decision based on some fling.’
Some fling? Okay, I was allowed to diminish it, but he had some audacity to say that himself.
‘You’re lucky I’m not calling security up here.’
Daniel scoffed. ‘You’re being overly dramatic. This is a great opportunity for you and Level, and you said it yourself, you didn’t even want a relationship. It was just business.’
My blood boiled. ‘Business? I don’t think it counts as business if one party doesn’t even know what’s on the table. You getting into my pants and poking around my brain was not business. That was a betrayal. And it will never happen again.’
Daniel rocked back on his heels. ‘I’m doing you a favour. You’re losing faith in the app. Don’t pretend that’s not true.’
There it was. The real stab in the back. I hadn’t just shared a bed with this man; I’d shared information that I never, ever should have. I willed him to speak just a little bit quieter. Behind us, Ella and Harriet were still in the boardroom with the other members of Link. And it looked like they were giving them a royally good telling off.
Daniel followed my eyeline. ‘None of them were in on it.’
I raised an eyebrow. ‘A lone ranger, are you?’
He glanced down, having the good grace to look a bit sheepish, but only for a second before the steely look was back in his eyes. ‘You know what it’s like. That constant pressure to do the next big thing. I needed to do something to impress dad –’
‘Fuck me.’ I folded my arms. ‘Why does everything come back to men and their daddy issues?’
Daniel’s upper lip curled slightly. ‘Right. Well, clearly you wouldn’t understand. I saw a chance, and I took it. Sue me.’
He froze, probably calculating whether I could.
‘You are full of such bullshit, Michael.’ I jabbed my finger into his chest and he grabbed it.
‘You know what, Penny?’ He narrowed his eyes. ‘You’ve been looking for a way out of this company for weeks. You might not be telling the truth, but you’re glad I’m here.’
I scoffed, ignoring the tiny part of my brain that wondered if he was right.
‘If you think you’re ever getting into bed with me again, you’ve got another thing coming.’
He gave a short, sharp laugh. ‘Right. I may have been dishonest on the business front, but there are a few lies you’ve been telling too. I never stood a chance with you longterm.’
I rolled my eyes even though he was definitely correct. ‘I have no idea what you mean.’
‘Sure. Because that Influence article was completely full of shit, wasn’t it?’
I paled, hoping Rory was nowhere near us.
Daniel laughed, but it was void of humour. ‘And for the record, I thought we were on the same page. It was just sex. No strings. So what if I mixed business with pleasure? You should be flattered that Link wants to work with Level. I know you’ve been doubting Level’s ability to make a success of itself …’
‘Doubts that I never would have shared with you, had I known that you were poaching our conversations for business intel.’ I pinched the bridge of my nose. ‘This is ridiculous. I can’t even believe I’m entertaining this conversation.’
‘Is it?’ Daniel stood up straight. ‘I don’t think it’s ridiculous, and I think deep down that you don’t think it is either. I know that Ella had to convince you both to let us up here, and I can’t imagine that it was Rory who cracked. At Link we know how to successfully maintain a dating app’s popularity. We’ve been doing it for ten years. You, on the other hand, know how to keep a dating app new and fresh, and you’ve caught the attention of your audience. I think joining forces is a brilliant next step for both of us. Why should users be diluting their success – and our success by proxy – by flicking between two different platforms? I think once you let me expand on what I spoke to you both about today, you’ll agree with me that this is best for your business, and for mine.’
He was a little out of breath from his outburst, tugging gently on his tie, as if trying to force more oxygen down his throat. I imagined tightening it.
‘It doesn’t matter how I feel. I started this as a project with my best friend, and you’ll never convince him that this is a good idea.’ I lessened the distance between us. ‘You can let yourself out.’
‘Just for the record’ – Daniel caught my shoulder on the way past – ‘I might not be able to convince Rory, but there’s one person who could. And we both know that it’s you.’
I walked out of the room and didn’t look back.
32
Rory slammed the boot shut, having successfully stacked enough food for five people as well as Isla’s excessively large suitcase in there like a game of Tetris.
‘That was impressive.’ Maeve squeezed his arm, heading to the other side of the car to climb into the passenger side. She’d called shotgun this morning whilst we’d been running around throwing things into our cases (well, I had been running around, Maeve had been packed for days, her suitcase stacked with packing cubes and outfits categorised by activity). I’d been all too happy to let her be passenger; I still had no idea where I stood with them both, and Rory had excused himself to call her as soon as Daniel had left the office. It seemed we all had someone to turn to in our darkest moments, except both of mine had decided to create a private members club.
‘You okay?’ Joe hovered near me whilst the other three manoeuvred themselves into the car. Isla had agreed to go in the middle since she was the shortest, and I’d let her. It was her wedding, after all.
‘I’m fine.’ I smiled up at him, repeating the same phrase I’d had on autopilot since Wednesday. I felt like one of those teddy bears with the recorded voice box inside, destined to only say the same thing for years and years until I fizzled into non-existence.
My brother had an infuriating ability to read my mind. ‘As you keep saying. Just not sure I believe you.’
I looked at Rory, who was busy straightening the sat nav in the front seat. ‘It was a shock. I’m still a little rattled.’
His eyebrows rose, and he was right to be sceptical. I wasn’t in shock. I’d had time to process everything. Including the complete humiliation – processing that had involved a lot of red wine – and the offer from Daniel. Or whoever he was. It was a real head–heart dilemma; before the version of myself with a horrendous track record when it came to dating, I’d been the version of myself who’d dreamed of starting a successful company. And that Penny had a horrible feeling that the offer on the table from Link required more than immediate dismissal. I’d doodled a pros and cons list in my planner, making sure to slam the pages shut when Rory walked in the room. I had to be sure it was what I wanted before I said anything.
