Dirty Laundry

I knew something terrible had happened as soon as Liam willingly entered my office. He didn’t even flinch when I asked him what he was doing, and he sat down without being invited. Immediately, I assumed he was giving me his two weeks’ notice and informing me he took a job elsewhere, one with better pay and without a boss he was in love with. But he didn’t. He took a series of deep breaths and blinked a few times and all of a sudden I wished he was quitting instead of trying to avoid crying in front of me.

All I could muster was an exasperated sigh.

The corners of his mouth twitched. He wanted so badly to tell me but he couldn’t. I knew he didn’t trust me the way he trusted Mia. I wasn’t exactly a beacon of friendship and trust, and I accepted this, so I wasn’t as offended as I probably should’ve been. However, I wasn’t stupid. Maybe we weren’t more than business associates or mere acquaintances, but I knew the only thing that’d get Liam so riled up was Mia.

“For fuck’s sake, Liam. Spit it out.”

“I—” He paused, trying to find the right words to correctly sum up what’d happened. “I ruined everything.”

I rolled my eyes when I knew he wasn’t looking and occupied myself with trying to find a cigarette. Mia coined it Get Elle to Stop Smoking week in the office and had ordered Sloane to hide my paraphernalia. No one thought to take into consideration why I smoked, however. It wasn’t because I was expected to sometimes close quarter-million-dollar deals or somehow fly under the radar of every gold digger in town when I went out in public with a married millionaire; it was because I didn’t know how to do anything else.

I didn’t know what to say to Liam to ease his anxiety. I’d never had to deal with moping friends or coworkers because, in my profession, being so was a vulnerability. Mia and I couldn’t let ourselves become emotionally attached because it set off a chain of events that ended in disaster no matter how you looked at it. But it wasn’t just because of my job. That was of the chicken or the egg? variety. Had my job turned me into a heartless homewrecker-for-hire, or was I a successful one because I already was heartless?

“Uh, why?” I countered stupidly.

Liam seemed genuinely surprised by my response. “You—you really want to know?”

Yes, but I couldn’t tell him that. I pretended to check my watch for the time and do mental math. “I don’t have anything to do for a half-hour or so,” I lied. “If you need to talk, here’s your one and only opportunity.”

“But you never care about my troubles.”

I pretended his statement didn’t hurt my feelings. “Then don’t waste my time. I was just trying to—”

“No, no, I’m sorry,” he interrupted. “I just…I don’t know why I even came in here, but I wasn’t expecting you to…you know—”

“Give a shit,” I finished for him.

“Something like that.”

I sighed. “Well, I’m sorry you have such a low opinion of me, but contrary to popular belief, I genuinely do care about my employees.” I lowered my glasses. “Especially Mia, and I can’t believe you being here has anything to do with her, but humor me.”

Liam shook his head. “Can I ask you something, Elle?”

His tone caught me off guard. I should’ve been used to it, what with it being Liam and all, but he sounded more pathetic and depressing than usual. “Sure.”

He didn’t look at me as he picked at his fingernails. “Were you lying before? About what you said when you realized I, uh…” He began picking more diligently. His nails weren’t dirty. “You told me that doing what you do, you can’t be in love. Do you remember telling me that?”

I shrugged. All I remembered was telling him to remember his place and meeting Genevieve, then cursing my shit luck for both occurring in the same day. “I guess,” I said. “Liam, what does what I said have to do with—”

“Because I believed it,” he snapped.

“I’m confused.”

His dark brown eyes shot to my own. “I tried to tell her. She was on her way to meet that Zayn douchebag and I helped her carry some boxes and I almost told her, but then I remembered what you said and—”

My face fell. “Jesus Christ, Liam! What’d you say to her?”

“I—I asked if she ever felt bad about not being able to love anyone. She didn’t take it so well.” He huffed out a breath. “Obviously.”

“God, you really are a fucking idiot, you know that? How did you think she was going to take it? Did you expect her to fall into your arms with stars in her eyes and thank you for rescuing her?”

“I don’t—”

“I don’t even know what to do with you,” I said. “You’ll be lucky if she ever talks to you again, but granted she does and you’re still not over this grade school crush you’ve got on her, you can’t be a goddamn imbecile about it.”

Liam, unsurprisingly, looked like I’d just smacked him across the face. “You almost sound like you’re willing to help me.”

“This isn’t for you,” I replied. “Mia isn’t like me; she actually deserves for someone to love her—”

Liam cut me off, muttering the four words I never expected to hear: “So do you, Elle.”

Whatever I’d planned on saying went right out the window. “What?”

“Everyone does.”

I felt my face soften at his words. “Anyway, as I was saying, you…you can’t force her. She’ll resent you for it and that’s kind of the opposite of what you’re going for. You have to be patient.”

“What if she never leaves? What if she wants to do this forever and she’s doomed to a life of wooing blokes who cheat on their wives and I’m left by the wayside?”

“No one wants to do this forever, Liam. Not even me.”

“But you said it yourself, Elle: you do it because you’re good at it and it makes you a lot of money.”

I gaped at him. “Listen to me, because I’m about to fuck you up with some truth, kid. Having a lot of money is just about the only glamorous part of what we do. Trust me, this life isn’t for everyone. Mia won’t do this forever and if she’s as smart as I know she is, she’ll realize that sooner rather than later. And if you’re as smart as I know you are, you’ll be there at the end.”

I checked my watch, seeing that my time with Liam was almost up. “Now get out of here and go plan an apology. I have an appointment in ten minutes.”

Liam nodded, mind still reeling over what I’d said to him. He was halfway out the door when he turned and nodded in thanks. All I could do was nod back.

Sloane, who had been in earshot of the end of my conversation with Liam, poked her head in. “Who’s he apologizing to?”

As dramatically as I could, I heaved a sigh and rolled my eyes. “His mother. Forgot to call her for her birthday and customs lost her package. Spent a lot of money on it, too.”

A look of pity took over her features. “That sucks. Should I give him some money to replace it?”

I shook my head. “Nah, not necessary. I’m going to give him his holiday bonus early.”

“But Christmas isn’t for a couple months.”

“Let’s just say I’m feeling more Cratchit than Scrooge this year,” I shrugged.

Sloane cocked an eyebrow but thankfully dropped the subject. “O-kay. Anyway, your appointment’s here. Should I send them in early?”

I nodded.

I hadn’t been looking forward to meeting with Louis and Genevieve at the same time. In fact, I’d rescheduled it twice before Gen threatened me with bodily harm. To her credit, she could be quite convincing and downright scary when she wanted to be. To my credit, I still held all the power. She needed a service only I could provide and it was that one tiny fact that I was banking on for sanity.

The first thing I noticed was that Genevieve wasn’t wearing her engagement ring. The shimmer of the large diamond didn’t catch my eye as it should’ve when she ushered Louis into my office—much smaller and less impressive than his own, I was sure. But I didn’t question it. The look on Louis’s face told me he would’ve rather been anywhere else.

“Mr. Tomlinson,” I greeted, extending a hand. He didn’t shake it. I kept my smile plastered on and repeated my greeting with Genevieve. “Always a pleasure to see you.”

“Likewise,” she replied.

I stood from behind my desk. “Can I get you two anything? A drink, perhaps?”

Genevieve requested a glass of wine. Louis, on the other hand, wasn’t as impressed with my graciousness. “I’ll take a glass—full, please—of the strongest you’ve got.”

I tried to steady my nerves as I poured Louis’s drink. Genevieve was in the background explaining the specifics to him and I avoided his stare. The last thing I needed was his judgment; having a woman do it was one thing because at least they were going to pay me. Louis was different. He wasn’t Harry. He wasn’t a pawn in my game and my proverbial fate was in his hands.

“—and that’s why I hired her” was all I caught of Genevieve’s speech. Louis took the drink from my hand and turned his attention back to his best friend’s fiancée who could’ve been talking about her private chef or maid for all I knew. I looked between the two of them before resuming my seat behind my desk, saying a mental prayer for this meeting to end as soon as it began.

Gen turned to me with pleading eyes. “Maybe you can explain this a little better than I can.”

“Genevieve thinks Emma is still fucking her fiancé and playing you for a fool.”

Louis seemed taken aback by my honesty. He took a large gulp of the whiskey I’d given him. “I know it probably looks bad to you, but—”

Genevieve seemed about ready to rip out her hair as she placed her hand over his. “Louis, why do you make excuses for her?”

“Why do you make excuses for Haz?” he countered, calm as ever.

I couldn’t believe the look of pure sadness on Genevieve’s face. She’d explained the situation to me the last time we talked, but it was obvious it wasn’t one she’d had with Louis.

“Because Harry Styles is a cheating, lying dog and Emma’s a nobody,” I said. Gen shot me a thankful smile.

“That isn’t fair.”

“Isn’t it? She gets her power from fucking the CEO of a multibillion dollar company. Who, may I remind you, also happens to be your best friend.”

Louis glared. “I don’t need any reminding, love.”

“Then you know I’m right.” I smirked as he rolled his eyes. “Genevieve seems to be the only one looking out for your best interests. I’d be a bit nicer if I were you.”

“She’s right, Lou—I’m just trying to help.”

Clearly outnumbered, Louis gave up fighting. “I don’t want this coming back to me. I don’t care what you have to do to keep that from happening.”

“Fine,” I shrugged.

“Regardless of what happened, Harry’s still one of my best mates.” He turned to Genevieve. “I know you don’t think so, but it’d kill him if anything happened to you…if you left him.” Gen scoffed. “I mean it, Genny. He’s proper shit at showing it, but he loves you. I know that.”

“And Emma,” I cut in.

Louis glared again. “Just shut up for a minute, yeah? She needs to understand that what she’s doing isn’t without consequence.”

“I know that, Lou,” Gen said.

“He slept with the love of your life and you’re defending him?”

His eyes burned with the hatred of a million souls as he stared at me. “He was my best mate before all this mess. It’s not worth throwing all that away.”

My jaw hung open. “I thought you were kind of an idiot before, but now I’m convinced you’re a full-blown asshat.”

“You’re doing a terrible job at convincing me I need you to sort my dirty laundry,” Louis snapped.

“You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t.”

Game, set, match.

Louis swallowed the words on the tip of his tongue and reluctantly agreed to a trial basis. If I could prove myself—whatever that meant—within a week’s time, he’d bite the bullet and admit he needed my help.

After he’d signed the contract I’d drafted and wolfed down two more drinks, he and Genevieve gathered their things and I thanked them for their business. I walked them to the door, unable to help noticing that Liam was looking up florists on his computer. I slipped him a scrap of paper on my way back.

She likes pink roses. -E