Is she really ill after all?
“Is it… is it…?”
I can’t quite bring myself to say the word. Beside the bed, Jett looks pale.
Please don’t let it be what I think it is.
“Well, not all of us are happy to be as flat as… well,you, Alexandra,” Mum says, looking pointedly at my chest. “So I decided to do something about it. But they got infected, so they brought me in here to give me antibiotics.”
I feel like I’m having an out-of-body experience. I can almostfeelthe outrage on my own face.
“Are you… are you telling me you’re in here for aboob job?” I ask incredulously. “Are you shitting me right now?”
“No, ofcoursenot, Alexandra,” Mum snaps impatiently. “Don’t be ridiculous. They don’tdoboob jobs on the NHS. I had to go private. But, like I said, the implants got infected, so—”
“That’s it, I’m done here.”
I stand up and march towards the door, not caring whether Jett decides to follow me. I need to get out of this room. I need to get away from my mother. I need to be on my own, so I can process this, and the verylastthing I need is—
“Scarlett.”
I throw open the door, only to find Heather Bay’s answer to Perez Hilton standing on the other side, her hand raised as if she’s about to knock, although it’s equally possible that she’s just been standing there with her ear pressed to the door. Behind her stands a man with a giant camera slung around his neck, and behindhimis Mary McNamee, frantically mouthing the words “I’m sorry,” at me.
“Oh, Lexie, there you are.” Scarlett smiles like a woman who knows she’s won as she brushes past me. “That’s great. We can get photos of all of you together.”
“Photos? What do you mean?”
Scarlett raises her hands and pantomimes the act of someone using a camera.
“Photos, Lexie,” she explains kindly. “They’re a digital likeness of someone. Or, in this case, three someones. Hi, I’m Scarlett,” she exclaims, offering her hand to Jett, who shakes it much more eagerly than is really necessary given that this woman has just become my mortal enemy. “I’ve been chatting to your assistant, Grace? It’s so nice to meet you. I’m a big fan.”
“Oh, didn’t he tell you?” she asks, her green eyes widening with faux-innocence as she turns back to me. “Seeing as the Gazette was the paper that broke the story of your Mum’s condition, Jett’s people thought it would be a good idea for us to be the ones to cover your big reunion. It’ll be syndicated to all the nationals, of course, but we’ll have the exclusive. I’m surprised they didn’t tell you.”
I’m not.
Jett’s the only person whocouldhave told me, and he’s barely spoken to me all morning, so it’s not really surprising to find out I’m the last one to know about his intention to involve my newest nemesis, Scarlett Scott, in his plans for the day. I look over at him, but he doesn’t meet my eye. He’s still all cozied up with Mum, and as Scarlett joins the pair of them, throwing her head back to laugh at something Jett says to her, I feel suddenly murderous towards all of them.
I wish I hadn’t agreed to this. Not the whole ‘fake-relationship’ thing, not the trip back to Scotland, and certainly not this visit to the hospital.
I wish I hadn’t met Jett Carter at all, in fact. And as the photographer Scarlett’s brought with her raises his camera and starts organizing us all into a ‘happy family’ group shot, which Jett has to reluctantly pull himself away from his conversation with Scarlett to join, I have a suspicion the feeling is probably mutual.
Chapter 28
“We need to get some security. Is there someone you can talk to about that?”
We’re back in the kitchen of my cottage, and it’s the first time Jett’s spoken to me since we left the hospital after our visit with Mum. It figures he would just be asking me to do something for him.
“Let me see,” I say, pretending to scroll through the contacts on my phone. “Which of my other celebrity friends could I ask about that one? Oh wait, I don’t actuallyhaveany other celebrity friends, silly me!”
I slap myself on the forehead and watch as Jett’s eyebrows come together in a frown. He’s been standing by the kitchen window for the past ten minutes, peering through the curtains while I sip coffee at the table, trying to avoid the impulse to read whatever the gossip sites are saying about us today.
What a weird situation to find myself in.
“You must knowsomeonewho could do it?” Jett persists. “Like, isn’t there a cop or someone who’d be willing to do a bit of extra work on the side?”
I snigger at the thought of Young Dougie, Heather Bay’s one and only policeman, doing any workat all, let alone “on the side”, as Jett puts it.
“If he’s young, surely he’s got some friends who’d be interested?” Jett says when I tell him I don’t think Dougie would be up for a spot of protection work.
