Rock Stars Don't Like Big Knickers

by Nikki Ashton

  After a couple of minutes Luke’s phone started to ring. He pulled it out of his pocket, guessing that it might be Rachel. It wasn’t. It was Tom.

  “Hey Tom,” he sighed wearily. “What’s up?”

  “Where are you, how’s Betty?”

  Luke told him all about Betty and then explained that he and Martha were back together.

  “That’s great man, so how come you sound so miserable?”

  “I’ve been to see Rachel and told her the truth, except about being back with Martha, and she totally flipped out on me.” Luke rubbed his tired eyes.

  “Did she admit it?” Tom asked.

  “Nope, not a chance. I really wanted to go home and give Martha the good news too.”

  “Well,” Tom said. “Jake and I think we’ve found you that good news.”

  Luke sat up in his seat. “What do you mean?”

  “It’s the photographs, but I can’t really explain over the phone,” Tom said brightly. “You need to get home so we can show you.”

  “You’re not shitting me, right?”

  “Nope, and believe it or not it was Jake that spotted it.”

  “I’m on my way.”

  Luke thrust the car into gear, feeling much brighter and alert than he had just minutes before.

  “Jake, Tom, where are you?” Luke threw his keys onto the hall table and almost ran towards the lounge.

  Before Luke reached the door, Tom stepped out into the hall, a huge smile on his face.

  “Come on, let’s show you what we’ve found.”

  Luke’s heart was beating rapidly at the thought of being put in the clear. Now he and Martha could move on with a totally clean slate. As he walked into the room, Lucia smiled up at him.

  “Oh Luciano, I’m so proud of these two,” she said reaching out for Jake’s hand and squeezing it. “They’ve worked really hard getting the evidence together.”

  Luke let out a breath and smiled. “Thanks guys, if Mamma’s right and this evidence you’ve got puts me in the clear, then I owe you big style.”

  “It was Jake that noticed.” Tom slapped Jake on the back.

  “Yeah, but Tom was the one who knew what else we needed to get to prove it.” Jake grinned at Luke.

  “Wow, did you two start going steady while I was away?” Luke asked laughing.

  “Urgh, that’s not a thought I want in my head,” Tom replied screwing up his nose.

  “Hey,” Jake cried. “Please don’t belittle what we have Thomas. It might just be a flirtation for you, but this is the real deal for me.” He slapped a hand to his chest and pouted.

  Luke and Lucia laughed, while Tom pretended to gag.

  “Come on then you two lovebirds, show me what you’ve got.” Luke sat down in between Lucia and Jake.

  “I’m going to bed, and leave you three to it,” Lucia said. She kissed each of them in turning adding a tight hug for Luke.

  “Night, Mamma.”

  Lucia smiled and cupped his face. “Night, Luciano, and I’m sorry that I didn’t believe in you.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Luke said as he kissed her temple. “I’ve got her back, that’s the main thing.”

  “Right, Luke my man,” Jake cried as Lucia closed the door. “Take a look at the photographs that were sent to Martha.” He slapped Luke’s knee and then passed the photograph to him.

  Luke groaned as he looked down at the apparent pictorial evidence of his infidelity.

  “Okay, what am I looking at that I haven’t seen already?” he asked.

  “Let’s forget the one in the lift for now,” Jake answered. “Look at the one outside Rachel’s room.”

  Jake went on to explain what he’d noticed about the photographs, while Luke listened intently.

  “The door handle is on the left. In the picture where you’re leaving the room the door handle is on the right,” he explained. “And although we can only see the bottom edges of the room numbers, you can see that there are two numbers on the first door, and four numbers on the second door. The only rooms with four numbers are the suites on the top floor, which is where…”

  “Where we stay,” Luke said suddenly understanding what Jake was trying to say. “They are two different rooms.”

  “Exactly,” Tom replied. “But that’s not all, tell him the rest Jake.”

  “Right, what’s that in the corner of the picture?” Jake pointed to the right hand side of the picture of Luke leaving the room.

  Luke squinted. “It looks like a service trolley.”

  “Yep, and how many maids clean rooms at two in the morning?”

  “None,” Luke said as he looked up into Jake’s excited eyes.

  “That picture was taken at two in the afternoon, when you were leaving your room to meet us,” Jake said.

  “Not,” Tom added, “at two in the morning when you were supposedly leaving Rachel’s.”

  “So someone doctored the photo then?” Luke asked.

  Tom shook his head. “Not necessarily, they may have just changed the time settings on the camera.”

  “Yeah but how do we prove that?” Luke jumped up from the sofa and started pacing up and down. “It still doesn’t mean I didn’t go into her room. I know I didn’t and you guys have done some great detective work, but it just doesn’t…sorry.”

  “That’s where Tom pulled a blinder,” Jake said. “Tell him sugar tits.”

  Tom punched Jake in the arm and tutted. “I thought the same as you, so I called the hotel and asked them to email me stills of their CCTV. Here, look at these.” He passed a pile of photographs to Luke, a huge smile of satisfaction on his face.

  “What they just sent them to you, just like that?” Luke asked as he took the pictures from Tom.

  Tom grinned and winked. “I had to offer Natalie, the hotel manager, my services next time we stay there. But I reckon it’ll be worth the hardship, she’s tall, beautiful, busty and brunette.”

  Luke laughed and shook his head. “I don’t know who’s the biggest man whore, you or him,” he said pointing at Jake.

  “Hey, I resent that comment,” Jake cried. “I’ve always been true to you Thomas.”

  “Shut up you idiot,” Tom said to Jake. “Luke, look at the pictures and the time frames on them.”

  Luke looked at the four photographs in his hand.

  The first showed him entering the hotel with Skins at 23:15, the second leaving the bar with Rachel at 23:40, then outside Rachel’s room at 23:44, the same pose as the incriminating photograph, and finally Rachel helping him into his own room at 23:52.

  Luke looked at Tom quizzically. “There’s no way I went into her room then, the times don’t fit. Not unless it was the quickest shag in history.”

  “Exactly.” Tom jumped up and passed Luke some more photographs. “Now look at these.”

  The stills showed a man, with a camera around his neck, following them into the lift, another where the same man was helping Rachel prop Luke up against the wall outside her room, the next he was helping almost carry Luke back into the lift and finally the man and Rachel walking away from Luke’s room.

  “Shit, she had someone helping her,” Luke whispered. “She set me up.”

  Tom nodded. “Yeah, it looks like it. The other thing is how did you get so damn pissed between quarter past eleven and twenty to twelve?”

  “I’ve seen you drink dozens of hard drinkers under the table over the years,” Jake said. “So, not being able to stand after what, fifteen or twenty minutes, just doesn’t make sense.”

  Luke sat down with a thud as he clutched the photographs. “You think she drugged me?”

  Jake and Tom nodded in unison.

  “Fucking bitch,” Luke groaned. His head was spinning with everything that Jake and Tom had discovered. Rachel had gone to great lengths to split him and Martha up, without really knowing whether she would actually get him back.

  Jake echoed Luke’s thoughts. “She went to a lot of trouble to make sure Martha dumped you.
”

  “It was a risk, because you might not have taken her back...well you didn’t did you?” Tom stated.

  Luke shook his head. “I wouldn’t have gone near her if I hadn’t wanted some proof.” He didn’t know what to think. “It’s not as though she loves me, so why on earth go to all that trouble. I mean I know she says she does, but I’m pretty sure she doesn’t. And while I was in that state, why the fuck didn’t she go all the way and strip me and do whatever she wanted?”

  “Who knows?” Jake shrugged. “Maybe she just wanted revenge.”

  “Yeah, but look at the last CCTV picture where they are walking away from your room.” Tom pointed at the picture in Luke’s hand. “He has his hand on her backside. Looks like they could be together to me.”

  Luke stared at the picture and nodded. “Shit. How come she didn’t just blackmail me with them then?”

  “Maybe revenge was her original plan, but then she saw a potential to make bigger money if she was your girlfriend,” Jake replied. “Let’s face it she ain’t no spring chicken as far as the modelling world is concerned.”

  “My bet is she’d have got pregnant sooner rather than later,” Tom said. “Lucky you thought of the old clap story.”

  Luke rubbed his hand across his face and groaned, not bearing to think about how this might have ended up. “We’re just guessing though,” he replied. “She’ll never admit anything.”

  “Well Jake and I thought we might pay her a visit tomorrow, while you spend some quality time with Martha. We’ll take some copies of the pictures and see if we can find out anything.” Tom took the photos from Luke’s hand and put them all into an envelope that he then passed them back to him. “Here, take these and go and see Martha and prove to her you were right all along and leave it to us to sort Medusa out.”

  Luke glanced at his watch. It was almost one in the morning and her light had been off when he’d got home almost an hour ago. “No,” he said. “I’ll go first thing in the morning, let her get a good night’s sleep.”

  Jake smiled and slapped Luke’s back.

  “I’m so pleased for you man, you’ve finally got your girl back and you can now start living again.”

  Luke nodded and grinned, desperate for morning to come.

  Chapter 40

  By six the next morning, Luke couldn’t hold out any longer. He quickly showered, dressed, grabbed the envelope of photographs and sprinted down the drive towards Martha’s cottage.

  Sporting a huge grin, he vaulted the gate, ran up the path and banged with his fist on the door. After waiting for a few seconds, he banged again.

  He stooped down and flipped open the letterbox. “Hey babe, it’s me.”

  He peered inside expecting to see a pair of legs coming down the stairs, but there was nothing. He knocked again and his pulse started to race as he realised her car wasn’t in its usual spot. His scalp felt as though iced water had been poured over him at the realisation that she wasn’t there. He fished his phone out of his pocket and dialled Martha’s number. It rang and rang, not even going to her voicemail.

  “Where the hell are you?” he muttered, looking up at Martha’s bedroom window.

  He banged on the door again and then, without waiting for an answer, he ran around the side of the house, looking through every window. There was no sign of life, the back door was firmly locked and the spare key was missing from under the plant pot. Luke kicked at the wall and pulled out his phone again and this time dialled Noah. Noah answered in muffled tones, obviously half asleep.

  “Hey,” Noah groaned. ”What’s wrong?”

  “Ask Betty for her Uncle Graham’s number for me,” Luke asked without preamble.

  “What, now? She’s asleep, it’s only just gone seven,” Noah whispered.

  “Now, Noah. Just text it to me.”

  “What’s going on? Is Martha okay?” Noah asked.

  “Just do it Noah.” He ended the call and walked back to the front of the cottage. By the time he’d reached the front door Graham’s number pinged up on his screen.

  If anyone other than Betty knew where Martha was it would be Graham. Luke dialled out the number and listened to it ring out for a few seconds, then Graham’s voice came on the line.

  “Graham, it’s Luke Mahoney. Is Martha with you?” Luke asked hesitantly

  Graham sighed. “She was,” he replied.

  “Was? Where is she then, and why isn’t she at home?” Luke started to pace up and down the path.

  “She doesn’t want you to know where she is, and to be honest,” Graham said. “I’m surprised that you care.”

  Luke stopped pacing. “What, of course I care? I love her.”

  “That’s not what the pictures say,” Graham replied his tone sharp.

  Luke stamped his foot. “The pictures from the hotel are fake,” he hissed through gritted teeth. “I thought we’d cleared all this up. When I left her last night we were fine, more than fine.”

  “I’m not talking about the pictures from the hotel. I’m talking about the ones that Rachel woman sent to Martha yesterday,” Graham replied. “The ones of you relaxing on her balcony yesterday.”

  Luke felt his heart drop to his stomach that was swirling with nerves. Rachel, the absolute bitch - she must have taken them while he was talking to Martha. He hadn’t even told Rachel the truth then, so she’d simply sent them because she was vicious and vindictive, which was no great surprise.

  “I was there,” he said quietly. “But I’ve been trying to get her to admit that nothing happened between us.”

  “And did she?”

  Luke dropped his head. “No, she won’t admit it. But I do have proof now. ”

  “Listen Luke. I feel for you, I do. I had high hopes for the pair of you, and you seem adamant that you’re innocent, but she’s hurting right now.”

  “I swear to you, it’s not what you think.” Luke sank down onto the floor dropping the envelope of photos next to him. “I love Martha more than anything else in this world, I wouldn’t do anything to hurt her.”

  “But you did, son.” Graham said. “Look, she’s fine, she’s safe but she doesn’t want you anywhere near her.”

  “Please Graham,” Luke pleaded as he pulled at his hair. “I need to see her. I have proof that I didn’t do anything with Rachel. You can ask Jake and Tom, they were the ones who found it.”

  “All due respects, Luke, they’re your friends. Aren’t they going to stick up for you anyway?” Graham asked.

  “They wouldn’t, believe me. They respect Martha too much.” Luke drew in a long breath and closed his eyes. “I swear to you Graham, I can show you the proof, but I have to know where she is.”

  Luke felt as though his brain was about to burst through his head. This couldn’t be happening - not again. Why the hell hadn’t he told her about his plan, no wonder Martha didn’t trust him when he kept things like that from her.

  “You say you definitely have proof?” Graham asked. “I won’t tolerate you lying to me, Luke. She’s more like a daughter to me and I won’t hesitate to punch your lights out if you’ve been messing her around.”

  Luke’s eyes snapped open. “I haven’t I swear, and yeah, I do have proof. Let me show you, and then please tell me where she is. Please Graham,” he begged.

  Graham was silent for a few seconds. “Okay, come and show me, then I’ll think about it. I’ll text you my address.”

  The phone went dead and Luke heaved a huge sigh of relief, despite the icy trepidation still running through his veins.

  Luke looked down on Graham with apprehension, as his eyes scanned the photographs for what seemed like the hundredth time.

  “Well?” Luke asked.

  Graham stared up at him and handed the pictures back to Luke. “It looks as though you’re telling the truth.”

  “I am.” Luke dropped to his haunches in front of Graham. “Please Graham, where is she?”

  Graham sat back in his seat and sighed. “She’ll be in Manche
ster by now; she went on the seven thirty train this morning.”

  Luke stood up. “Manchester, why?”

  “She’s on her way to York,” Graham replied. “She’s taken a job in a hotel there.”

  The breath swept from Luke’s lungs as he stumbled backwards.

  “York,” he repeated. “She can’t go to York.”

  “She thought that you’d been lying to her, been sleeping with Rachel, she just wanted to get away from you.” Graham stood up and put an arm around Luke’s shoulder. “Right, you need to get over to Piccadilly and stop her getting on that train to York. She’s booked on the 10:11.”

  Luke’s eyes darted to Graham. “She’s not gone straight there?”

  “No, she wanted to do some shopping first,” Graham paused and gave Luke a sympathetic look. “She left in a bit of a rush last night.”

  “Oh shit,” Luke cried. “She must hate me. I have to go Graham.”

  “I know, get going and don’t you come back here without her.”

  Luke quickly gripped Graham’s hand and then started to run from the room.

  “Luke!” Graham shouted. “The photographs.”

  Luke turned back as Graham held out the envelope. Luke grabbed it, and smiled sadly at Graham before rushing outside to his car, determined to bring Martha back with him, back to where she belonged.

  Chapter 41

  “What platform is the York train going from?” Luke asked. He’d barged to the front of the queue outside the ticket booth, leaving a scattering of people, half of which wondered who the hell he thought he was, and the other half knowing who the hell he was.