by Sofia Grey
Holy shit. That implied something more than just a drunken fuck.
His mind offered helpful suggestions. Commitment. Relationship. Long-term. Girlfriend.
Exclusive.
Hell, no. This was a step too far. Daisy was making inroads into his life, and he seemed powerless to resist.
He reached out for his phone, to check the time. 07:15. They had to fly down to Christchurch today, for sound checks, and he felt like roadkill. His head pounded like Mick’s bass drum, and he hadn’t even made it upright yet.
He had serious need of strong coffee and Panadols. Maybe washed down with some tequila. Hair of the dog usually worked for him.
With a bundle of clean clothes under his arm, he tried to creep out of the room for a shower. Tripping over the tequila bottle didn’t help. Fuck. He threw out his arm to save from falling over, and rapped his knuckles against the bedside cabinet. The crack sounded like a gunshot.
Daisy sat up, staring around with bleary eyes.
Double fuck. Pretending he hadn’t noticed, he staggered to the door and fell over his bag. This was not the best morning ever.
“Hey, Charlie.” Her voice, roughened with sleep, coaxed him back toward the bed. For a split second, he wavered. Daisy, the delights of her amazing body, and the distinct possibility of a morning shag, or shower and coffee—and escape?
To his shame, he ignored her, and this time staying on his feet, left the room. Outside, in the corridor, he leaned against the wall, fists pressed against his eyes. She was too good for the likes of him. He had to make her understand that.
He showered and dressed, then went in search of coffee, and found AJ sitting in the kitchen with a blonde he recognised. Jordan’s cousin. Fucked if he could remember her name.
“Hey,” said AJ. “There’s a fresh brew in the pot.” He held out his mug. “I’ll have a refill as well, please.”
“What did your last servant die of?”
“It wasn’t exhaustion.”
Charlie grunted. He really didn’t feel up to conversation. He managed to pour the drinks without sloshing coffee all over the counter, handed one to AJ, and then slumped into a chair at the table.
The blonde gave him a wobbly smile. What the fuck was she called? Lulu? Leanna? Louisa.
“Hey, Louisa. When did you get here?”
“Marcus and I arrived last night.”
“Did you hear the news?” Alex was talking to him now. Couldn’t they see he wasn’t up to it?
He wrapped his hands around the mug of coffee, waiting for it to be cool enough to drink without searing the inside of his mouth. “Uh, no.”
“Jean-Luc escaped,” said Louisa. “Jordan and the others were all okay when he last saw them.” She let out a shaky breath. “The security team are going in tonight. They’re going to be rescued.”
Huh? Did he venture into some alternate universe? Charlie rubbed his eyes. Maybe the tequila was a mistake. If he hadn’t drunk so much, he’d have sent Daisy back to her bed. “I don’t understand,” he mumbled.
AJ punched him in the arm. “While you were sleeping off your jetlag, we learned Jordan and the others were kidnapped. The plane didn’t crash. It was a diversion.”
“That’s good news, right?”
“Yeah, man It’s fuckin’ amazing news. And now Jean-Luc’s got out, they know where the hostages are being held. Like Lou said, they’re going in tonight. They should all be home by morning.”
“Don’t jinx it,” said Louisa. “I’m still scared.”
The coffee was drinkable at last, and Charlie took a long slurp. Next on his list was Panadol. Sylvie would have some. She was super organised like that. Daisy probably did too, but he couldn’t ask her. Thinking of Sylvie and his future niece or nephew, he joined the conversation again. “Sylvie doing okay?”
“Yeah,” said AJ. “She’s sleeping at the moment. Her morning sickness has come back with a vengeance, and she was throwing up again at first light.” He paused. “You look like shit.”
“Jetlag.”
“You didn’t stay for the funeral, mate. He was your dad. What happened?”
Fuck. This was a subject he couldn’t handle right now. Maybe in twenty years’ time. Or maybe never.
Charlie took a deep breath. “What time are we leaving for Christchurch?”
*
Jack figured Yanni must trust him a little by now. After talking through the encounter with the police with him, he was assigned to the graveyard security shift. Midnight until six, with Scarab again.
Scarab’s inherent laziness ensured Jack was given plenty of opportunities to explore. He learned which building held the hostages, which rooms they were locked in, and how little security was in place at night. Yanni’s weapons’ store had yet to be located, but that was only a matter of time.
By the time his shift finished, the sun had risen, and the compound was starting to wake. Two of the other guys took over, while Jack went for a shower before breakfast.
Lucky should be back with Tanner by now. They’d be making plans for a rescue operation, and Jack needed to be ready. They wouldn’t risk a daytime raid. On that premise, the earliest would be tonight. If he could be scheduled for night duties again, that would suit him just fine.
He finished breakfast and sat waiting for Yanni to appear, watching idly as Scarab sulkily handed over some of his precious cigarettes to one of the older guards.
Tish approached with a huge tray of food. “You take?”
“Sure.” Jack stood and smiled at her. “Upstairs again?”
“No. Lab.” Huh? She pursed her lips and tugged his sleeve, so he’d follow her into the corridor. “Lab.” She pointed toward the back of the building, an area he hadn’t seen yet. “Two.” She touched the tray he carried. “Two.”
“Two trays of food?” Jack followed her pointing finger and saw a second tray with coffee and juice. He nodded and set off down the corridor.
Paydirt. Lab meant laboratory, a brightly lit workroom with whiteboards and laptops, and—to his relief—the hostages. A bored looking guard sat by the door, while Juli and the others clustered around a pile of documents.
Juli looked exhausted, her face pale with red rimmed eyes. She stared at him anxiously, and Jordan and Nick both looked wary. They had to be unsure of his allegiance, and that had to change.
He placed the tray on an empty table. “Breakfast,” he said in a cheery voice. “There’s coffee too. I’ll fetch that now.”
Juli flinched when he came close, and it made him feel like shit.
Looking at her, he spoke as evenly as he could manage. “You really don’t need to be afraid of me.” With his back to the guard, he caught Jordan’s gaze and winked at him.
Jordan stared and inclined his head slowly. Did he understand? Jack needed to make them ready for the rescue op. It would be much smoother if it didn’t come as a surprise.
As he delivered the second tray, Yanni entered the room with him. Jack was careful to watch Juli’s reaction. She looked equally anxious about seeing him. That was good. He hadn’t mesmerized her yet. Stockholm syndrome was a bitch.
Scarab looked upset when Jack walked across the yard to the bunkhouse. Jack was planning to get some sleep, but it didn’t hurt to find out the man’s problem first. Because Scarab was the youngest, the older guys pushed him around, Merlot in particular. They kept cadging cigarettes but never replacing them, and Scarab ended up buying twice as many as he needed. And now he’d almost run out again.
Scarab told him he had to go into the village today, to take a parcel to the post office. Would Jack go with him? And buy his cigs while Scarab took care of the shipment?
Jack yawned, pretended to be bored at the idea, then eventually agreed. “You owe me, man,” he teased. In reality, the prospect of leaving the compound for a few hours and possibly making a discreet phone call was too good to be missed.
*
What was it about Charlie? As soon as Daisy thought she’d figured him ou
t, he threw a wobbler again.
It hurt when he ignored her this morning. When he almost ran out of the bedroom to get away from her. She waited as long as she could, but when she got up, she found him dozing in a patch of sunlight on the deck. He stunk of booze.
He didn’t speak to her in the limo. His body seemed too tense for him to be sleeping, but with sunglasses covering his eyes, she couldn’t tell if he was awake. He avoided her at the airport, made sure he sat apart from her on the plane, and then ignored her completely when they drove to the arena.
Was this because of that stupid letter? Or was there something else?
Last night was so good. She refused to believe he regretted it.
It was a major struggle to stay optimistic when she saw him at the stadium, lapping up the adoring welcome from the groupies. Two in particular caught his eye. Little Barbie clones, they worked in the Hospitality Suite and had been attached to Charlie, to look after his needs. A little too well. They barely looked old enough to be out of school.
Charlie flirted with them blatantly. This was deliberate. He intended to hurt her, and it worked.
Alex and Sylvie looked puzzled at his behaviour with the girls, and Daisy had to look the other way. She pretended she didn’t care, but inside, she wept.
She had two choices. Either make a fuss, and potentially lose him forever, or turn a blind eye as though she wasn’t bothered.
How often was he going to hurt her like this?
*
The guard collected Juli early in the morning and led her to the main building for breakfast. To her immense relief, Jordan and Nick were already in the workroom. If it came to a choice of trusting Jordan or Yanni, there was no contest. It was Jordan all the way.
And of course, it had to be Jack that delivered their breakfast. She couldn’t bear to look at him after what he did.
She was sick of being played for a fool. First Jack, and now Yanni trying to get her on side, with his chamomile tea and his funny stories about Manchester. Did she believe him that they’d go free when they’d finished with the oscillator design?
She wanted to. But that wasn’t enough to risk her life on. She needed to figure out a way for them to escape.
Yanni’s plan for the day was to figure out how to use Byzantium as a power source for the oscillator. He assured them that he had access to all the workshops they had. As soon as the blueprints were complete, he’d get the revised device made up.
“And what happens then?” Jordan asked.
“We test the prototype. If it works, you go home. If it doesn’t, you work on it until it does.” He came to stand next to Juli and rested his hand on her shoulder as he spoke. It took everything she had not to wriggle free. “With all three of you working on this, you’ll do it in no time. You may be home by next week.”
Fuck. He’d been about to kiss her the night before. She couldn’t fend him off much longer.
They had to get out of here. Could she drug him tonight? That’s what they did in the movies. What with? Maybe she should just whack him over the head when his back was turned, and run like hell. If she found car keys, she’d take one of the vehicles.
It was the only option left. She had to be friendly with him, but anything more was impossible.
*
It felt as though someone had flicked a switch in Charlie’s head. Big Bad Charlie had come out to play after a long absence, and boy, could he party... The two blondes from hospitality couldn’t have been more perfect. Frankie had delivered a wrap of coke along with more hash, and there was a fresh bottle of tequila in the dressing room.
With rehearsals over, while AJ, Sylvie, and Mick got down to the business of signing posters and programmes, Charlie took the blondes to his dressing room. He was careful to hang the Do Not Disturb sign on the handle.
Rachelle and Leonora were sisters, and so keen on a threesome, it was scary. Man, could life get any better?
Charlie poured generous shots of tequila and shared the wrap of Frankie’s excellent coke. Sex was totally on the menu. This was what he wanted, right?
Rachelle—or was it Leonora?—announced it was her birthday today, and she wanted Charlie for her birthday present. They both insisted on taking selfies with him on their cell phones. Normally he’d object. But today, in his devil-may-care mood, he didn’t give a monkey’s ass who saw what.
Common sense had vanished, if it was ever there in the first place.
He needed the booze and drugs. The girls were pretty enough and his usual style, but they were skinny things, with twigs for legs and no tits to speak of. They screeched and chattered, vying with each other in the noise department, and it threatened to exhaust him. He was still hungover from the night before, was all.
What the fuck was the matter with him? He had two gorgeous blonde girls naked on his sofa. They wanted him. He should be getting his rocks off.
No. They weren’t Daisy.
He didn’t want this. Not anymore.
It was time to call a halt to this performance.
His reactions were sluggish after the tequila. He didn’t notice the door opening. He was too busy trying to come up with the right words to get rid of the Barbie clones.
One of them squealed and grabbed Charlie’s abandoned T-shirt to cover her miniscule tits. The other snapped more pictures of Daisy, standing in the doorway.
They couldn’t have missed the utter devastation on Daisy’s face.
He was a shit. And now, hopefully, she understood it as well.
*
Jack’s plan worked like a dream. He drove into Paraparaumu and dropped Scarab at the post office, then carried on to the seafront village. He had probably fifteen minutes, time enough to buy cigarettes, and to make a rapid phone call.
He was confident they hadn’t been followed, but also wary of using a public phone on the street. He ducked into a small, dimly lit café, and they were happy to let him make a call, as long as he reimbursed them.
He called Tanner.
The conversation had to be kept short, but Tanner confirmed the rescue team would be coming tonight. They’d set an explosion in the nearby hills at midnight. Jack should take the chance to grab the keys to free the hostages, and meet the rescue team at the front gate fifteen minutes later.
Jack reported he’d seen five hostiles plus Yanni and Tish, and briefed Tanner on the night-time security arrangements. There were no visible alarms, two night guards on patrol, but unknown levels of weaponry. Jack assured him that all three hostages were fit and well, described their location, and warned Tanner he might have to stay in place as part of Yanni’s operation, at least for the time being.
Jack left money for the phone call, bought two large coffees for Scarab and himself, and the cigs Scarab craved, and then headed to the post office.
He had just over twelve hours to prepare the hostages for their rescue.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Daisy had been asked to take Charlie a message. To tell him Alex wanted to leave in ten minutes.
He didn’t reply when she knocked, so she ignored the sign hanging from the handle and took a peek around the door.
Why?
Why did she do that? She’d rather not have known what he was doing.
Why did he do that?
Gods. She sank her head into her trembling hands. Stay calm. Stay calm. Alex didn’t know what she was going to walk into. He wouldn’t trick her like that. And it wasn’t his fault his best friend was a Grade-A complete and utter bastard.
After standing in that doorway for a couple of ice ages, the images burning into her retinas, Daisy fled. The ladies’ bathroom was the only place she could hide, and she locked herself into a cubicle.
Her eyes were hot, and her cheeks burning with shame. And wasn’t that crazy? For seeing first hand that he wasn’t worthy of her care. Of her love.
He should be ashamed for treating her like he did. For fucking her, and then—hours later—getting it on with two complete strangers.
They were blonde and pretty, with straight, glossy hair and perfect white teeth. And young. So young. Not chubby, like she was, with hair that refused to hold a style, and enormous breasts.
Alex wanted to get back to Wellington, and that meant Daisy was now making him late. She needed to get her act together, and get her ass moving.
She stayed where she was.
She knew this day would come. She knew it. Charlie would pull some dumb stunt, and Daisy would have to decide if she could continue with her job. Because for as long as Charlie was friends with Alex, she couldn’t avoid seeing him.
She tugged her phone from her pocket and thought about calling her mum. Or one of her sisters. One of her old friends. Anyone with a sympathetic voice that would take her side without question. That was what family did. They stuck together.
That letter in Charlie’s bag—that was something to do with his mum. Was that why he’d gone off the rails today?
No matter his reasons, Daisy couldn’t forgive this. She’d see the tour through, and then hand in her notice when they got home to the UK.
Holding her head high, she went to find Alex and get ready for the flight to Wellington. Charlie wasn’t worth her tears.
It turned out Alex was furious with Charlie too, for the delay in leaving. As was Sylvie.
Their take-off was delayed by a further forty minutes, due to high winds, and they sat on the tarmac, to wait for clearance. Cal was hungry and grizzled, no matter who held him. They were not a happy group.
Charlie sat, his nose in a paperback and earbuds jammed in place, ignoring everything and everyone around him. The book was upside down, but nobody called him on it.
The mood lightened briefly when Alex received a text from Tanner. He showed it to Sylvie and Daisy.
Confirmed all parties fit and well. Will visit tonight. Going offline now. See you tomorrow.
There would be no more news until they came back—please, God—with the hostages.
When they finally took off, the flight was beyond bouncy. They must have hit every air pocket along the way, and Sylvie was going greener with every mile. Daisy was very relieved when they landed on the first attempt.