Shafted by Unknown Read Free Book Online Page A

on by watching girls who didn’t know they were being watched. Laughable, really, when you considered that girls always knew when they were being watched.
    ‘Get dressed,’ Larry spat, sickened by the sight of her preening herself.
    Turning, Tania gave him a questioning smile. ‘Sorry?’
    Barking ‘You heard!’ Larry got up and marched out of the room.
    Staring after him in disbelief, Tania winced when the front door slammed a couple of seconds later. Chilled by his angry tone, she rubbed at her arms, wondering what had happened to make him bite her head off like that. She’d heard him raise his voice a couple of times when he was on the phone, and wondered if it had been a woman – one of his girlfriends, maybe – who’d found out about him taking Tania to the club and had rung to have a go at him about it. If so, it hadn’t sounded like he’d been begging for forgiveness, which had to be a sign that he wanted Tania more than he wanted the girlfriend. And it would certainly explain his sudden mood swing, because he was too nice to dump a girl without feeling even a little bit guilty about it, so she wouldn’t hold it against him for taking it out on her.
    Just as she’d managed to convince herself that everything would be okay, Larry marched back into the room, with the Sunday Herald he’d just borrowed off a neighbour clutched tightly in his hand.
    Flapping the paper in Tania’s face, he said, ‘Just tell me one thing . . . were you in on this from the start, or did they persuade you to do it after we got to the club?’
    ‘In on what?’
    ‘Don’t play the innocent with me! This what you wanted, was it? To make me lose my fucking job?’
    ‘I haven’t seen the papers,’ she reminded him, stepping nervously back because he looked like he was going to hit her. ‘I’ve only just got up. What’s wrong?’
    ‘Like you don’t know!’ Marching away from her to put distance between them – because he did feel like throttling her – Larry threw the paper down onto the bed and snatched up yet another cigarette with shaking hands.
    Hardly daring to move in case he shouted at her again, Tania tilted her head and peered at the paper. She couldn’t see the headline, but there were two pictures: one of her and Larry kissing; the other of her smiling and Larry looking confused, while the guys from Unreal looked shocked and angry as their minders scrambled to their feet. She couldn’t see details, but she genuinely didn’t see anything wrong with what she could see – nothing to make Larry so angry, anyway. In fact, she thought she looked particularly pretty.
    ‘I don’t know why you’re looking so proud of yourself,’ Larry spat, noticing the way she was studying the photos. ‘You’ve destroyed my life with that little stunt of yours.’
    Looking up at him, Tania frowned. He was being absolutely horrible about this, and she really didn’t understand why. He’d been photographed with thousands of women, so why get so mad about two little shots with her? He certainly couldn’t be ashamed of her, because she was way better looking than half the women he’d been seen with. And none of them had been celebrities, either, so it couldn’t be that Tania didn’t match up in that department.
    ‘Was that the point of coming onto my show?’ Larry demanded now, his tone cold and accusing. ‘To get me drunk and manipulate me into taking you out, so that your friend could take pictures of us?’
    Stunned that he was trying to blame her for whatever was eating him, Tania gasped and said, ‘ I didn’t get you drunk. You were already plastered. That’s why they sent you off.’
    ‘Convenient,’ Larry muttered, knowing full well that she was right – about that bit, anyway. But she’d definitely had a hand in setting him up, he was sure about that. Scowling at her now, he said, ‘For Christ’s sake, get dressed. I feel sick enough without having to look at that !’
    Humiliated by the contempt in