The Hating Game (21 page)

‘
Well,
Kyle and Mattie will return to the village where they first got together,’ Nate said quickly before Baz could beat him to the punch. He needed more, he thought frantically. Something guaranteed to shock. Desperate, Nate’s mind flipped to the worst thing he could do. Suddenly a plan formed in his head.

He sat up in the chair and outlined the idea, watching Silver’s face come alive.

‘
Yes.’ S
he nodded slowly. ‘Yes. It might be spectacular.
If
you can pull everything together in time. Baz will help you out.’

‘
But I already have something
–’ Baz whined.

Silver shot him a look. ‘Help Nate.’

Nate tried to hide his grin.
Ha! For once he’d one-upped Baz! Surely Nate would be Silver’s pet now.

‘
Get the private investigator involved if you need to. And tell me when you have it all set up. I want to let the network’s sales and marketing team know what we have planned. They can run some extra promos to pull in even more viewers.’ Silver looked at her watch. ‘Meet me back here at seven with updates.’ She walked out.

Nate turned to Baz
and rubbed his hands together. ‘Let’s get started. We have a lot of work to do.’

*

Back at her flat, Mattie gulped some
whisky, noticing the glass shaking in her hand. She had to calm down! It had been hours since her confrontation with Kyle earlier that day but she could still feel the anger curling around her stomach.

It wasn’t like she cared. Kyle could do whatever he wanted, and if he wanted to do Chloe that was fine by her. Mattie squeezed a pillow tightly as his confused face flashed before her. What could he possibly want to explain? Did he think she didn’t know? Even if she had an ounce of doubt about what had happened in the office that day, the first-hand account straight from the sly bitch’s mouth had set her straight.

Mattie shuddered as she remembered running into Chloe at one of those insufferable media dinners she’d had to start going to after returning from Italy to find that Kyle had killed her business.

‘
So Kyle got me a great position,’ Chloe had said during the pre-dinner cocktails, shaking back her long blonde hair and arranging a ruffled dress that barely covered her nipples.

‘
Probably underneath someone. I’m sure you’re good at that.’ Mattie smiled, grabbing a drink off a tray from a circulating waiter.

Chloe narrowed her eyes. ‘Oh, I am, I am. Better than you, according to Kyle.’

Mattie flinched but kept her gaze steady, taking a sip to cover the flare of anger inside. It wasn’t enough to cheat on her? He had to blab to Chloe about their sex life too? Clenching her jaw, Mattie scanned the room. Was he here? When she got her hands on him she’d twist his balls off. One by one.

Chloe shook her head. ‘Poor Kyle. You know, I’ve never really understood what
frigid
actually is. Is it when he can’t get it in because you’re, like, frozen? Or is it just that you don’t like sex?’

Mattie stared. Kyle never would have told Chloe that, would he? In the few months before their break up, their sex life had fizzled out a bit. But when they did make love, it was as good as it always had been. She was far from frigid!

Chloe swigged her champagne and burped. ‘What, you don’t believe he said that?’ She looked at her watch. ‘He’s going to be here in, like, fifteen minutes. Ask him yourself.’ Chloe shook her head. ‘Poor man. No wonder he practically attacked me in the office that day.’

Mattie was itching to
smack her. ‘Why I would want to be anywhere near that snake is beyond me. You two deserve each other.’ She turned her back on Chloe’s victorious smile and walked out of the packed room as quickly as possible. Her face was hot and her mouth dry despite the drink she’d gulped. Her heart ached like it had been impaled on her ribs and left there to cure.

Since she’d been back from Italy, she’d wondered if she’d been too quick to jump to conclusions about the incident in the office that day. It had all happened so fast, and she had to admit her anger might have blurred the reality. Had Kyle put his arms around Chloe, or had it been the other way? Part of her had hoped Kyle
had
been telling the truth. He’d never lied before – at least not that she’d known about.

But
after her run-in with Chloe, she’d had no illusions. Kyle was a wanker, a
cheating
lying wanker of the top order, and she would
never
ever forgive him.

So why couldn’t she get his face out of her head?

The psycho
tic version of
I Want You Back
blasted through her laptop’s tiny speakers and Mattie sat back, banging the machine against the coffee table as it froze. She’d been hoping to watch that night’s instalment of
The Hating Game
over at Jess’s place in Clapham – although Jess’s ancient television was almost as bad as trying to watch it on her stupid laptop.

She’d called
Jess and left a few messages – between the bailiff, the mudwrestling with Giovanni, the
Daily News
and Kyle, there was so much to tell her. But, today of all days, Jess hadn’t rung back. Where on Earth was she?

Oh, dear God.
She cringed as she spotted Mattie-the-hooker on the screen. And just look at her covered in that mud! The edits quickly cut to her and Giovanni in the café, then Giovanni chucking the pizza dough and his confrontation with Ali – all set to dramatic music, of course. Was that really her? She squinted at the small laptop screen as she and Giovanni threw pizza ingredients willy-nilly on their wonky dough base. With her red curls and high-street gear, she hardly recognized herself.

That pizza
had
been delicious and she’d rather enjoyed cooking it. Once Giovanni calmed down, she’d chucked a bit of flour at him. He’d dumped a cup over her head – and the whole thing had escalated into a full on flour fight. It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if she ended up with Giovanni for those two weeks.

‘
Meanwhile, back in the studio . . .’ Seamus’s voice intoned as the video cut to Kyle emerging from the pod. In a close-up of her face, she looked stunned – and angry. Mattie took a giant swig of whisky, staring at the screen as she jerked away from Kyle when he bent down to kiss her. She looked every inch the woman scorned – and scarred, as Seamus said. Why hadn’t she just smiled blandly, kissed him, and acted like she didn’t care? Because she didn’t!

She grabbed the phone and dialled Jess’
s number, listening to the tinny ring. Where
was
she? If ever Mattie needed support, it was now, the night before facing off with her cheating ex.

‘
Lines are now open for your Date Rat
e! Let us know how you feel about Mattie and Giovanni. And tune in tomorrow . . . when Mattie faces the only man she’s ever had a serious relationship with . . . and gets the shock of her life!’ The music blared again and Mattie switched off her laptop.

The shock of her life?

Hardly, she snorted. Been there, done that.

*

‘
You going to get that?’ Deniz Grady from the
Daily News
asked after Jess’s phone rang for the millionth time. Mattie’s name flashed up on the screen.

‘
No, it’s fine.’ Jess
angled the mobile away from her, as if Mattie could see through the phone. ‘What was the question again?’ She tried to focus back on Deniz, feeling a bit nauseous.

She never should have let the reporter through the
door in the first place, but Deniz had said she just wanted to ask a few questions about Mattie, then barged right in. After all that awful stuff about Mattie’s father in the paper today, Jess had thought maybe she could set the reporter straight. But Deniz only seemed interested in asking questions about her relationship with Kyle.

When she
got Mattie’s message she’d be dating Kyle tomorrow, Jess could barely believe it. She’d been so sure Kyle wouldn’t want to hurt Mattie any more than he already had. Maybe he
did
want to get back together. And if so, this article could help smooth things over before tomorrow’s date.

Deniz crossed her long legs and brushed the lapels of her tightly fitting blazer. With her sleek dark hair and perfectly made-up face, she was a dead ringer for Courtney Cox. Jess felt like a country bumpkin beside her.

‘
I said, how did they meet?
’ Deniz repeated loudly and slowly, as if Jess
was
a country bumpkin with hearing problems.

‘
I think it was some kind of networking event for recruitment people,’ Jess said.

Deniz huffed. ‘Can you make it a bit more exciting? What was the name? When was it? Come on, give me the nitty-gritty.’

‘
I’m not sure I remember,’ Jess said, worried now she might not be able to give Deniz what she wanted and slightly terrified of the impatient woman in front of her.

‘
Loo
k, it doesn’t matter if it’s not one-hundred per cent accurate.’ Deniz tapped her pen against her voice recorder and flipped open a notebook. ‘Just do the best you can.’

‘
All right,’ Jess said slowly. ‘Well, it was the UK Recruitment Society, or something like that. A power breakfast at The Wolseley.’ Jess surprised herself; she didn’t even know if that’s where it had been held. But it sounded good. ‘Kyle approached Mattie to congratulate her on winning a contract his company had bid for. And he asked her if she had any positions opening up in her agency.’ That much, at least, was true. Jess remembered Mattie being impressed that Kyle wanted to work for her. When it came to business, most men ran in the opposite direction when they saw her coming.

Deniz looked up from
her notes. ‘And then?’

‘
She needed someone since the business was
expanding quickly, so she took him on. At first she was really paranoid he was a spy for his old agency. But Kyle worked hard – harder than Mattie, which is almost impossible – and the business grew and grew.’

‘
And their relationship?’

‘
Mattie hadn’t had a long-term relationship since, well, forever. She couldn’t find a man who would live up to her expectations. Actually, I’m not really sure she wanted to.’ Much as Mattie said she wanted a boyfriend, Jess always thought Mattie was too scared to trust someone. Until Kyle.

‘
Anyway, Kyle surprised her one day and took her off for the weekend – out to the Cotswolds to some small village where he’d booked a cottage.’

Deniz raised an eyebrow. ‘Gutsy man.’

‘
Yeah, he’s a pretty cool guy
,’ Jess said. ‘I didn’t think they’d last long. Kyle was just as strong-willed as Mattie; he wouldn’t let her push him around like she did other men. He stood up to her, dragging her off to dinners even when she said she was too tired. She was really happy – although she never admitted it. They even moved in together.’ Jess smiled, remembering the day Mattie sheepishly told her Kyle had transferred his things to her flat.

‘
Ah
hmm.’ Deniz kicked off a high heel as she scribbled. ‘So why did they break up, then?’

‘
Well, Mattie thought Kyle cheated on her.’ The words were out of Jess’s mouth before she realised what she was saying. She bit her lip, wondering if she should reveal more. She was supposed to be smoothing things over, not stirring them up. But now that she started, she’d have to explain.

‘
Go on.’ Deniz’s eyes lit up.

‘
Mattie came into the office one day when she was meant to be at a client meeting. And she saw Kyle snogging a woman he was supposed to be placing with one of their biggest clients.’ Even now, Jess still wasn’t sure exactly what had happened that day. Mattie claimed she’d caught Kyle red-handed. But when Mattie was away in Italy, Kyle had rung up Jess and told her his side of the story: the woman had thrown herself at him. He’d begged Jess to explain to Mattie what had happened, since Mattie wouldn’t even answer his phone calls. Jess had made a few tentative attempts but quickly backed off under the power of Mattie’s fury.

‘
Cool,’ Deniz said, her pencil scrawling across the notepad. ‘What else?’

‘
Well, Mattie fired Kyle on the spot – both from her life and the business. She
took off to Italy without even giving him the chance to explain. And when she got back, half her clients had gone to Kyle. He’d set up his own recruitment agency.’

De
niz let out a low whistle. ‘Wow! He cheated on her
and
stole her clients?’

Jess swallowed. This wasn’t exactly going the way she planned. She didn’t want to make Kyle look bad. ‘Well, I don’t think he really stole the clients. When they heard he was starting up on his own, they wanted to go with him.’ That’s what Kyle had told Jess, and she believed him. She couldn’t picture him stealing clients anyway, particularly as he’d been so desperate to get back with Mattie.