Detained by Ainslie Paton

the interview was a bust from the moment he’d started trading truths with Darcy and had chosen not to lie. Omit, hell yeah, but outright lie, no. He’d told the truth. It was something about pretending to be a stranger, about being in that artificial detention. And then, later in the suite, he hadn’t been able to help it but talk to her, really talk to her. He’d told her things he’d never told anyone. Things only Pete knew. Worse, he’d let her see parts of himself he kept walled off from the world, parts that could still wake him in the middle of the night in a cold sweat.
    And he’d loved every freaking minute of it. Even knowing it would come to this. To packing her off with her tail between her legs through no fault of her own. He pushed back in the chair. He wanted out of this room. Out of this morning. Out of this day. He was kidding about not lying to her. He’d promised he wouldn’t do anything to hurt her, but he was going to hurt her, possibly hurt what she cared most about; her career, her big break. Getting the first interview with the press-dodging Will Parker, and he was going to do it without a second thought.
    “Will?”
    “What?” he snapped at Aileen.
    “Pete said you wanted him to meet Darcy.”
    He looked around. Pete had decamped. “Yeah, as a courtesy. Is that okay with you? In fact I’d be happy if he’d just do the interview.”
    “Pete’s briefed. Of course he can do it, but it’s supposed to be you. By rights, she’ll refuse. It’ll depend on how hard-nosed she is. I’ll prep Pete.” Aileen stood to go. “I wish you’d tell me what’s going on.”
    “You’d hate me.”
    “I hate you some days anyway.”
    That made him smile. “Do you really?”
    She shrugged her slim shoulders in her designer suit. “Why not? Someone has to do it.”
    He groaned. “I think there’s a queue, you can join the end of it.”
    “Oh Will,” she laughed. “Who do you think started it?” At the door to Pete’s office she turned back. “I’ll set up something with the Financial Record . And you remember about tonight?”
    “Monkey suit.”
    “Yes, black tie and try to look happy about it. Are you bringing a date?”
    “No.”
    “Are you ever going to have a date again?”
    “Don’t I pay you to do more important things than worry about my love-life?”
    “You pay me to make sure your business is positioned well with stakeholders, here and internationally. You are the business, Will. Of course I worry about you.”
    “I might have to start paying you more then. Danger money.”
    Aileen laughed. “You already pay me a fortune, but go ahead, if it makes you feel better. Who am I to say no?”
    When the door clicked shut and Will was finally alone, he measured his options. He should go through the connecting door to his own office. He had two engineer’s reports waiting and a full inbox of emails unanswered. He could just fuck the day off and hit the gym or go home and sleep, it was going to be another late night. He reached for Pete’s phone to call Bo. He’d have him drive him out to the plant, he could burn off some angst doing an inspection. He let the phone handset drop back into the cradle before Bo answered.
    There were a thousand ways to mask cowardice and they were all open to him. Each one was preferable to the further mess he’d make if he faced up to Darcy Campbell. He couldn’t afford to compound his mistake by seeing her again, even knowing she’d want to spit in his face and he’d deserve it. Neither Pete nor Aileen had earned the extra hassle either.
    He swung the chair around to face the windows, closed his eyes against the sun and saw her face, flushed from the heat of the bath where she’d sung a Green Day song mostly off-key, making him laugh till he got a cramp in his side. He felt her hands on his back, tracing the edge of the big tat, resting her cheek there when he told her what it meant to him.
    He’d had a weekend full of crystallised moments