‘You know there’s a rumour going around that you shagged Milo Jax?’
‘What?’
‘Now I have your attention.’
‘What do you mean there’s a rumour? From who?’
‘Is that why you ditched me on girls’ night?’
‘Was it Tessa?’
‘Who?’
‘I didn’t ditch you. But I really have to go to work,’ Rose replied, walking towards the front door.
‘Rose. What the fuck? Are you serious? You actually slept with him?’
‘If I did, would you suddenly take an interest in my life?’
‘Are you kidding me? I’ve been trying to talk to you for weeks. You’ve just been so …’
‘I’m sorry. But I’ve been dealing with a lot of stuff too, Luce.’
‘Like what?’
Rose could feel her body stiffening in preparation to say his name. ‘Milo.’
Luce laughed. ‘Let me get this straight. I am dealing with a horrendous break-up yet again while you’ve been bonking one of the hottest men on the planet. And you’re the one that’s going through something? Are you high?’
Rose’s whole body was vibrating now, her breath quickening. ‘I can’t remember what happened, Luce.’
‘You mean you fucked him and you can’t remember it?’
‘No, I mean, yes. I guess—’
‘Honestly, Rose. Do you know how many strangers I’ve woken up next to? The number of women that would murder puppies to have been in your position.’
‘It’s not like that.’
‘I’m not sure you’ve had enough sex to make that judgement.’
‘I really have to go.’ Rose moved further out of the door, fighting back tears.
‘Oh, come on, you know I didn’t mean it like that,’ Luce said, resting her hand on Rose’s shoulder.
‘Please just let me go to work,’ she replied, her face hot and wet.
‘Okay. We do need to talk though.’
Rose sighed, wiping her cheeks with the back of her hand. ‘About what?’
‘I have to up your rent.’
Rose turned around.
‘Yeah, Mum wants to do a loft conversion,’ Luce continued. ‘I asked if she could find the money somewhere else but she’s being pretty stubborn about it.’
This was too much for her to compute. ‘How much?’ Rose whimpered.
‘A thousand a month.’
‘That’s double.’
‘Yeah,’ Luce said and shrugged.
‘Do what you want,’ Rose replied, slamming the door behind her.
Tears poured in abundance on the Tube, even when her eyes were closed. Rose wiped them away from underneath her sunglasses for the duration of the journey.
She’d pulled herself together by the time she arrived at the office, ready to play pretend and be distracted by literally anything. But just as she walked in, Oliver grabbed her by the arm and took her to one side.
‘Finally. Right, there’s been a problem.’
‘What?’
‘Milo Jax has gone completely AWOL.’ Rose’s stomach flipped. ‘I need you to get him to come.’
‘What, why?’
