Chapter 80

The next morning, we didn’t talk about almost having car sex. Because obviously, pretending nothing happened was the mature thing to do. The silence stretched across the table like a bad wifi connection—patchy, tense, and just begging to crash. I was the first to crack. ‘Can I ask you something?’ Ashton looked up. ‘Sure.’ ‘I went to LGH that day, and Dominic said you were out on a date with some actress. Octavia Grey, he’d said. But then she told me last night you two are just mates. So, who was the mystery woman you were actually hooking up with?’ I’d told myself I didn’t care. Turns out I was full of shit. His silence had been gnawing at me all morning. He was the one who’d kissed me like he wanted to memorise the taste of my tongue, and now he was sitting here, sipping his coffee like we hadn’t nearly dry-humped in a Maybach. Ashton choked. Full-on, coughing-up-a-lung choked. He grabbed a serviette and wiped his mouth, coughing out, ‘I never went on a date with any actress. Dominic