I, Spy? (Sophie Green Mysteries, No. 1) (Sophie Green Mystery)

said.
    “I thought he was your boyfriend,” Harvey said, pointing at Luke, looking confused.
    “Who? Chalker?”
    “Who’s Chalker?” they both asked.
    “Yeah, who is Chalker?” asked Alexa in my ear. I’d forgotten about her.
    “He’s my brother,” I said firmly.
    “So who’s your boyfriend?” Harvey asked.
    “No one,” I said.
    “That’s not what you told me,” Luke said.
    “You said it was him,” Harvey said, pointing again. Didn’t the boy know it was rude?
    “You told me it was the other guy,” Luke said.
    “ What other guy ?”
    “The one you were talking to. At your parents’.”
    “That was my brother!”
    “You’re sleeping with your brother?” Alexa said. “How Greek.”
    “Not this guy?” Harvey pointed at Luke, and I grabbed his hand to stop him.
    “No. This is Luke. He’s not my boyfriend. He’s not my brother. He’s just my…my tormentor.”
    “So who am I?” Harvey asked, reclaiming his hand and massaging it pointedly.
    “Yes, who is he?” Luke asked.
    “We met in Rome,” I said.
    “Oh, you’re the guy.” Luke folded his arms and leaned back against the wall, looking Harvey over.
    “What guy?” Harvey asked.
    “Yes, what guy?” Alexa asked.
    “No guy!” I half yelled. “We had dinner. That’s all.”
    “Not totally all,” Harvey said.
    “I love this,” Alexa said.
    I looked at Luke. “Can we go now?”
    He shook his head, looking highly amused.
    “We have popcorn,” Alexa informed me.
    “Is there a boyfriend?” Luke asked.
    “No!”
    “Then why’d you say there was?”
    “To piss you off!”
    “Why?”
    “Because you were being annoying.”
    “So why did you—” Harvey began, but I’d already had enough. I started walking away.
    “Sophie, wait,” they both yelled.
    I suppose under other circumstances it might be nice to have two handsome men running after me, but I’d had a really long day. The week seemed about eight days long already. My feet were truly killing me—her Ladyboat’s shoes were too small and not really designed to be worn this much.
    “No,” I said, determined not to cry although my eyes didn’t seem to know that. “I’ve had enough. I’m going home.”
    “Can I take your number?” Harvey asked hopefully.
    “No,” Luke and I said at the same time. I glared at Luke and carried on walking. I was almost at the lift now.
    “Sophie, calm down,” he said.
    “No, I will not.”
    “Look, I’m sorry—”
    “But you’re not, are you, Luke? This isn’t funny. You keep laughing at me and none of it’s funny. I’ve had enough, I’m going home, goodbye.”
    “How?” Luke asked.
    “What?”
    “How are you getting home?”
    “Same way I got here.”
    “Last train leaves Liverpool Street in ten minutes. You’ll never make it.”
    Shit. I hadn’t realised it was so late. Damn Angel, making me take my watch off.
    “I’ll—I’ll get a taxi.”
    “It’ll cost you a fortune!”
    “I’ll manage.”
    “After Rome and everything? Do you even have any cash on you?”
    I said nothing. The lift doors opened and I stepped in.
    “I’ll figure something out,” I said.
    “I’ll give you a—”
    “No,” I said. Luke tried to follow me into the lift and I glared at him. “Go away.”
    “No.”
    He was just like Chalker. So I did what I do with Chalker. I gathered my skirts and planted my heel in his chest.
    I just had time to see his astonished face as the lift doors closed.
    I stared at my reflection in the mirror as I pulled out my earpiece and switched off the wire. I no longer looked gleaming and expensive. I looked tired and miserable. Luke and Harvey would probably be fighting over who didn’t get me.
    Well done, Sophie. Well done.
    I stomped into the ladies, where the attendant probably thought I fancied her or something, and peeled the contact lenses off my eyeballs. They were making my eyes sting.
    That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
    As I left the hotel, I tried to figure out my route home. Maybe if I got the tube back to Liverpool Street I could get a taxi and it’d be cheaper. Or maybe a night bus. Or something.
    I stood on the steps of the hotel, shivering, the wind blowing bits of my hair around, trying to think.
    A car pulled up in front of me. A silver Vectra. Luke’s silver Vectra.
    “How did they even let that in the car park?” I said as he rolled his window down and leaned over to me. “Don’t they have a fifty grand minimum?”
    “I showed them my badge.