Liar

10

"Oi. Dipshit." Emmett turned his head to me from the kitchen counter. "Gym?" He didn't respond, just nodded, walking out and down the hall, feet hitting the stairs quickly. Yesterday sucked. I'd gotten home, showered and gone to bed. It took me ages to fall asleep and even then it wasn't for long and then I didn't sleep well last night either. I couldn't quite pinpoint what the hell had triggered this sudden insomnia. It had been years since I'd had it this bad. I wasn't going to let it win though. So, no naps, everything carries on as normal.

I had a conscience. I'm very aware of how my actions 100% have effect on people. It's why I follow those rules so religiously. Because it just makes it easier to handle it. Getting in the car the morning after always left me with a sense of accountability. A slither of regret. Thinking maybe I was leaving these guys with problems. As if I didn't have ones myself.

It wasn't like this was an addiction or anything. It just allowed me to relax for a little while. Dating was out of the question but I'm still a very physical person with needs that I know there's people willing to fill with a little bit of work. Leaving them gave me excitement, pride and the look on their face when they saw me going made me feel like I'd made an impact on their life. One they wouldn't forget soon. That was a powerful feeling.

It was different yesterday morning though. The look on Ash's face wasn't one I'd seen before. Not on a one-night stand. Normally they were confused, shocked, amazed even. He looked hurt. And angry. Maybe pissed off is more the word. He wasn't happy to say the least and I felt guilty? Like I'd fucked up.

But I told him. I told him that I only do one-night stands. I said that I'd sneak out, leave him with marks on his body but that he'd never see me again. I gave him the chance to break out of that agreement and he decided he wanted to try and change my mind, not giving me the chance to tell him it wasn't going to happen. I'm not guilty here. He had plenty of notice. I made it perfectly clear.

"Earth to Victoria." A hand waved in front of my face and I looked up, Emmett's smiling face laughing at me. "You alright?"

"What? Oh. Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. You ready?" He raised an eyebrow on his forehead and I turned, marching down to our home gym at the bottom end of the house. Me and Emmett had forked out for this. We were more likely to work out if it was at home rather than needing to go to the gym. I didn't have much free time so needed to squeeze in work outs before and after work. That was easier to do if the gym was less than 200 steps from my room.

I liked working out with Emmett. He had a lot more experience in this kind of thing than I did so he was forever giving me pointers and pushing me to lift more or go a little harder. We weren't the closest pair of siblings in the world but I certainly preferred him over a lot of people. As much as I wouldn't call him a confidant, I trusted him with a lot more than I'd trust anyone else. I wasn't about to spill all of my secrets to him, but I also wasn't going to treat him like he was my dad.

"Dad said you got in at like 8am yesterday morning."

"That would be correct." I lifted the weights again.

"Hold it." I grunted, focusing on my breathing as opposed to the burn. Slow and steady. "Okay." He waited until the weights were back on the floor before continuing. "Who were you with?"

"A guy."

"Which guy?" I shrugged.

"Just some guy I met on the tube. Bumped into him a few times since and then last night in a bar with the girls." I climbed out from under the weights, drinking from my water bottle slowly, staring him in the eyes.

"What's his name?"

"What's it matter?"

"Because I don't think you should be running around with total strangers every weekend." I rolled my eyes. "Dad's worried."

"Why now?"

"He said you snapped at him last week and have been avoiding him since."

"I haven't been avoiding him. I've been busy."

"You weren't in office Thursday."

"Yes I was. I was at King's Cross." He stared, using the tried and tested trick of keeping silent to encourage me to speak. "What? I was. Ask Annie. I nearly broke the printer. I needed to work on the presentation for tomorrow and I needed to do it without being disturbed for once." I walked over to the treadmill, stepping on and setting it going slowly as he stepped onto the second one beside me, doing the same.

"He told me what you said you know? About me getting all the good shit whilst you're landing with the hard work." Here we go. "You're right." I nearly slipped, pulling the treadmill to a stop a stared at him.

"I'm sorry?"

"You're right. I spoke to a few of the girls in the office and the general consensus is if it's from you it's bad news or something that's going to cause problems. Whereas if it's my name they see in their inbox, that's the first email they're going to read because it's normally something they want to hear." He stopped running, sighing as I continued to stare. "I want to be better at it Tori, I swear. This whole management thing is just super hard for me. It comes so naturally for you, making the tough decisions and everything. It doesn't come easy for me. Dad passes it all to you because he knows you're the best at that."

"I know."

"It's shit having people be mad at you all the time right? Is that why you're jealous of it?" I sighed.

"I'm not jealous Emmett. You're dad's favourite. It is what it is."

"You're mum's favourite."

"Mum isn't around enough to have favourites and even if she was, it would be you and you know it. She's still pissed at me about Leon." He didn't respond. Still a touchy subject for everyone. "I know you are too."

"I'm not pissed about you turning him down Tori."

"No but you're pissed it was happening in the first place."

"You were sleeping with my best friend behind my back. Of course, I was pissed." He sighed, running a hand through his perfectly trimmed hair. "Let's not get out of hand again Tor. It happened, it's in the past."

"It never happened to start with. We weren't together."

"He proposed Victoria."

"WE WEREN'T TOGETHER." I stood in the middle of the gym, struggling to keep myself calm. "WHY THE FUCK CAN'T PEOPLE GET THIS THROUGH THEIR HEAD. I am sick to the back teeth of people telling me it was my fault when it wasn't. You can't just drop that on someone."

"Tori-" Emmett sighed.

"No. I'm not fucking doing this all over again. It was nearly a year ago. Leave it alone." I slammed the door behind me, leaving my work out half finished.

"What are you and your brother-"

"Fuck off dad."