Page 111 of More Than Just Friends

‘I have no idea who they are, but do you know them well?’ Trish asked.

‘No, but⁠—’

‘I rest my case. Look, I’m not trying to rain on your parade. This wasn’t why we came. I thought I’d be doing the right thing by putting on a brave face and showing our support for Stella and Max, but it was a mistake. Brian and I can’t even stand to be in the same room together, so it’s been impossible to pretend that we’re okay in front of everyone.’

‘Did something else happen?’ I asked.

‘Oh, what you mean the fact that he ended up screwing his “work wife”?’

‘Brian cheated?’ I gasped. ‘No!’

I couldn’t get my head around any of this.

Brian worshipped the ground Trish walked on. He was so into her. If anyone needed persuading to take the next relationship step, it wasn’t him. It was Trish.

‘Yep! He was horny and bored apparently. Remember the whole brother-sister thing I mentioned before?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Well, that. After the initial fireworks of getting together, we stopped having sex. We became more like flatmates. Things were just too comfortable for us. We ran out of things to talk about. The funny thing is, I can’t even blame him for fucking out on me. He did it long after things started to go south between us, so surprisingly, the infidelity wasn’t what broke us. If I’d had the opportunity, I might’ve done the same to him.’

I staggered backwards. This wasn’t happening.

This felt like the adult equivalent of discovering that the tooth fairy and Father Christmas weren’t real all on the same day.

‘Anyway,’ Trish started walking away. ‘I’m gonna call it a night. I’ve changed my flight to leave first thing in the morning. Staying in a romantic setting like this is too painful. Good to see you though, Ali, and remember what I said. Don’t risk it.’

She squeezed my shoulder as she left.

I stood there. Rooted to the spot.

My head was spinning.

This was too much to take in.

I leant against the wall, attempting to steady myself and calm my racing thoughts.

What if Trish was right?

If someone as besotted as Brian could cheat, if Trish and Brian could grow apart so spectacularly, that meant that no relationship was safe.

They hated each other.

What if that happened to me and Noah? I didn’t want to lose his friendship. I couldn’t. The sex was amazing, but was it worth putting everything on the line?

His friendship meant more to me than anything else.

‘Ali?’ Noah’s voice sounded. I didn’t even hear him coming. ‘Are you okay? I’ve been looking for you.’

Noah went to kiss me, but I quickly turned my head.

‘We shouldn’t do this,’ I blurted out.

‘Do what?’ He frowned.

‘This.’ I gestured between our bodies. ‘Us. I know I said before that we should see how things go and discuss having a relationship once we’re in London, but it’s too risky. We should just go back to being friends. We’re in too much of a bubble here. The amazing sex has clouded our judgement. We’re not thinking clearly.’

‘What?’ Noah barked. ‘I know you said you wanted to take things slow, but that was before. It’s different now. Last night was⁠—’