“I-I’m in the car, Kasia sent someone to pick us up.”
“I know, we’ve been talking all morning.” She says something to someone else, and the voice that replies sounds like Jordan. “The car’s bringing you here.”
“To your place?” I look at Dominic, whose face is like thunder as he talks to someone on his phone.
“Yes, the press has swamped your house, and Dom’s. Ezra and Troy went to check.” Char sighs. “I’m so sorry, Mia. This is all so unfair.”
“Archie, does he know?”
“We’ll talk when you get here,” Char interjects. “It’s going to be alright, I promise you.”
“Yeah. I’ll see you soon.” I hang up, and my head falls back against the leather headrest. I watch Dominic as he nods, saysYeaha few times, then hangs up. He glances over at me, and I give him a smile. “Fine mess we’ve got ourselves into, ey?”
Dominic takes my hand and shakes his head. “It’s… it’s going to be alright.”
“How did he even get those photos?”
“Should have fucking clobbered him harder,” Dom mutters. “If he still had the energy to go skulking around your bloody garden at night.”
“Archie knows, doesn’t he?”
Dom sighs, and squeezes my hand. “I had some messages from him, I didn’t have the heart to check them.”
I look out the window at the falling rain, watching the streets fly past us. How different the streets look from the ones we just traversed in Paris when we still thought our little tryst was a secret.
We were stupid to think we’d be able to keep this quiet. I always hated the thought that I was a celebrity - even the word made me cringe - but that was the reality of it. Two famous people foolishly taking risks, thinking we could hide from the lights constantly shone on our lives.
And now the spotlights have been turned on everything we’ve been trying to hide.
The car pulls up outside Char’s place in Chelsea, and the security detail that was tailing us springs from their vehicle and rushes to ours. Two of them keep an eye on the street as the other two usher us inside the building. There are no reporters here, no flashing lights or yelling, just regular Saturday morning traffic and people going for brunch. Dom places a firm arm around my shoulders, guiding me through the double doors of Char’s building.
I don’t want to feel small and helpless right now, I really don’t. But it’s nice having him shielding me like this all the same.
Inside, Char and Jordan are waiting for us. They both look tired, and I feel ridiculous all over again, as well as guilty.
Char rushes over to me and pulls me into a hug.
“Oh babes,” she murmurs. “Let’s get you inside.”
“You can all stop acting like someone died,” I say with a half-hearted laugh. “I think the war was worse, wasn’t it?”
Jordan throws me a smile, which makes me feel a little better.
In Char’s kitchen, she pours us all a coffee, and I collapse into one of her leather armchairs.
“What the bloody hell happened?” Dom asks, perching on the armchair beside me but not looking anywhere near relaxed. “Gordon said that Archie broke the news?”
Jordan shrugs and looks at Char. “It all happened kind of fast. Late last night, Troy rang me and asked if I’d been on Archie’s instagram lately, and I said no. When I went to check, his last post was of Mia’s kitchen window, and the caption was something creepy like,Wait til you see what happened here.”
Char rolls her eyes. “Tosser.”
“So Archie knew.” I look over at Dom. “Hardcastle went to him with the photos.”
Dom says nothing, just shakes his head, his jaw set in such a hard line, I half expect teeth to come flying out of his mouth.
“Then the club chat exploded,” Jordan goes on, rubbing the back of his neck, and casting a brief, wary glance in Dom’s direction. “Ricky saw someone share an article with… the picture.” His eyes flicker to mine for a second, and he clears his throat. “He sent it to me, and then everyone seemed to have seen it. Barry was-” He stops himself quickly. “I, uh, I mean-”
“Furious?” Dom offers, his voice gravelly. “That tracks. His moral compass points due bloody North and never wavers.” He slumps back into the chair and runs a hand over his face. “Shit.”
