I had to wonder if the sicko knew Lily was away for the next two days. It certainly made it all the harder for Frank and me to put our heads together and get this shit dealt with faster. There was only so much I could do via email and phone calls.
“Frank’s managed to pull it,” Lily said quietly but loud enough for me to hear her over the rattle of Hamish, one of YouTube’s security advisors as he spoke fluent Scottish in my ear. Thanking Hamish, I ended the call and smiled at Lily.
“Well, that’s good.”
She scoffed. “It had over three hundred thousand hits before it was removed, Harrison. Every single sordid picture will be all over tomorrow’s newspapers. I know it, and so do you.”
“Frank will be able to put a halt on all media articles. It’s invasion of privacy.”
“But it’s too fucking late!” she cried out, the tears that had been puddling in her eyes finally breaking free and rolling effortlessly down her white cheeks. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me earlier?”
“There was no point worrying you.”
“What the hell?” She looked at me like I’d grown three heads in the last ten seconds. “No point? Jesus, Harrison, you’re so bloody frustrating!”
“I’m frustrating!?” I scoffed at that. Lily Cooper was the most infuriating person I had ever met.
She nodded quickly, her little legs eating up the distance between us as she advanced on me. Her hands fisted by her side and her jaw tightened with rage. “Three thousand people have just seen me naked in the bath, Harry! I’d say that would give you a reason to tell me what the hell is going on in my own life. Wouldn’t you?”
“I don’t fucking care!” I was losing it, the cool I normally handled well flying out of the window with this maddening, utterly beautiful woman before me. “Believe me, no fucker else in this world will ever see you naked again!”
Her eyes widened. I had confused her. I had also been confused by myself. Until right then. Until everything became crystal clear.
“Only me, Lily Cooper. Only me.”
Uncertainty swirled in the depths of her vibrant eyes and she frowned. “Sorry, what?”
Closing the gap she had left between us, I ran the tip of my finger down her cheek, following the tracks of her tears. Her breathing sped up in rhythm with my own, and she swallowed loudly. “Harrison?” I saw her mouth move but I couldn’t focus on what she was saying. Licking her lips, she tried again. “Harry?”
“Jesus,” I whispered as I leaned forward. Her warm breath on my lips when she exhaled sharply had me stifling a groan. “From the moment I laid eyes on you I knew you’d be mine. I knew without a doubt that I had to have you.”
Her eyes glistened as she gazed up at me. We were so close that I could practically feel her heart beating against my own chest.
“I’ve never wanted to worship a woman’s body as much as I do yours. The way you move, the way you laugh. The way you fight me. The way your eyes light up with the passion that you keep hidden away. I want all of you, Lily. I need all of you.”
“Harrison.” Her voice shook as fear took over her.
“Don’t ever be frightened of me, Lily.”
She shook her head slowly, her eyes now sad and full of anguish. “I’m not scared of you. I’m terrified of… of…”
We both jumped when the door flew open and Kit burst in. “Lily, there you are…” She stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes darting from Lily to me and back again. Lifting a finger in the air, she pointed at us both before pressing it against her lips. She was a weird one. “Umm.”
“You know that piece of wood? That, there, right behind you, that sits in the wooden frame? It’s called a door, Kit!” I barked, quickly stepping away from Lily. I could feel the humiliation pouring from her in waves as her face flushed and she gulped loudly. “It’s there for a bloody reason!”
Kit reared back at my outburst and pouted sternly as she narrowed her eyes at me. “No need to be rude, Sherlock!”
“Sherlock?”
“Yes. Sherlock,” she repeated. “You ought to take a leaf out of his book and try some of his recreational pursuits while you’re in Amsterdam. Might lighten you up a bit!”
Without another word, she marched up to Lily, hooked her arm through her elbow and dragged her out of the room.
I stood in stunned silence, staring at the door they abruptly disappeared through as anger started to slither into my veins. I’d been so close. So very close to having her.
As if angry at the fact it was still refused what it wanted more than anything in the world, my cock twitched. I frowned at that thought. ‘More than anything in the world’. Yes, I wanted Lily, but it was just sex I pursued her for. Nothing more.
My ringing phone snapped me from the argument my head was having with my heart and my dick, and I answered quickly when Jim’s name flashed up. “Jim?”
“Got him.”
My fists clenched reflexively, and I exhaled at length. “Good. I’m on my way.”
Hating what I was about to do, but not having any choice in the matter, I quickly rang Liam. “I need you to come to Amsterdam and take over?” I barked as soon as he answered my call.
Did I want Liam and Lily alone in Amsterdam? No, did I fuck! But I couldn’t leave Lily alone, nor could I keep Carl Brixsom waiting.
“Find out when the earliest flight out is and book it,” I ordered through clenched teeth. “Lily will be fine with her friends for the afternoon until you arrive. I’ll be on the next flight back.”
Grateful that I hadn’t had a chance to unpack, I snatched up my suitcase and let the door bang on my way out.
Twenty-four
Lily
HARRISON: Had to go back to the UK. Liam will meet you this PM.
I stared at the text like my phone was about to blow up in my hand. My stomach twisted with hurt and the lump in my throat expanded with anger. What was it with Harrison, that every time I thought we were getting closer and the chemistry between us was about to give off sparks, did he up sticks and fuck off! He seemed to dump me more than Gerry used to dump in the gravel on my driveway.
“Arsehole,” I muttered under my breath.
“Eh?” Kit asked as she slipped her feet into the tiniest shoes I had ever seen. Strangely, I’d never noticed how small her feet were before.
“What shoe size are you?” I knew it was an odd question, but my friends were used to my randomness by now.
“Three.” She spun her foot around on the ginormous silver heel. “Do you like them?”
“How the fuck do those tiny feet keep all of you upright?”
Her mouth fell open and her eyes grew round. “Are you calling me fat?”
“What? No!”
I looked to Hayley for help, but she sniggered and shrugged. “It kinda did sound like that, babe.”
“Well, it wasn’t meant like that,” I exclaimed.
“Jesus, who pissed on your pants?” Bec grumbled. “This is supposed to be a party! Cheer the fuck up or shut the fuck up!”
All heads turned to Bec, and we all gawked at her, each of us shocked with her antagonism towards me.
Shrugging, unapologetic, Bec glared at me. “Well, this weekend is supposed to be about Hayley, not you. And here we go again, another Lily meltdown. Why the hell does everything have to be about you?”
On the one hand, I understood her grievance with me, but not the way it was said. “Do you think I’m enjoying all this shit that’s been happening?”
She scoffed, shaking her head. “Who knows with you. You love being the centre of attention. Poor old Lily. Everyone has to walk on fucking eggshells when you’re around! And God forbid we ever mention your past.”
Tears bubbled in my eyes and I flinched when she spat, “All this holier than thou shit doesn’t cut it with me, Lil. You reckon you’re all traumatised and troubled by what happened to you, and it turned you into a fucking nun. God forbid anyone should talk about sex with you around!” She flung her arms in the a
ir as tears of rage streamed down her face. “And low and behold, you DIY it. I hate fake people, and whoever uploaded that shit of you to YouTube deserves a fucking medal for showing people who you really are!”
“Bec. Fuck, that’s enough!” Hayley cut in, coming to stand by my side.
I couldn't speak, the hatred directed at me leaving me numb. The rest of my friends were as quiet as me, shocked by the venom targeted at me. I wasn’t sure exactly what I’d done wrong, and when I finally opened my mouth to ask her, she stormed from the room.
“What the hell was that all about?” Kit asked as the door slammed behind my best friend.
“I have no idea. She was angry at me earlier, warning me not to make this weekend about me, but shit, I didn’t think she was that fucked off with me.”
Hayley gave me a sad smile and rubbed my arm. “Well, I don’t have an issue with you taking away my limelight.” She winked at me. “Come on, girls. I’ll text Bec and let her know where we are when we settle into the first pub.” Slipping into her shoes, she picked up her bag then turned to us. “Time to see what Amsterdam has to offer.”
“Booze, sex and marijuana. And if you’re not up for them,” Tracey laughed, “then you’re in the wrong place.”
Hayley shook her head briskly when Tracey hooked her arm and led the way. “I can’t do the sex, Trace. I’m getting married!”
“You may be getting married, hun, but that doesn’t mean you can’t watch someone else have sex.”
I groaned inwardly when she handed me a sash stating that it was Hayley’s hen party and picked up my clutch. The last thing I fancied was some backstreet, sleazy sex club. But, as I had been told, this weekend wasn’t about me. So, I slapped a smile on my face, gritted my teeth, and joined the procession to the nearest bar.
***
Hayley rolled her eyes at me. The act currently boring us to tears on the stage pulled another length of luminous ribbon from her lady parts and, grossly, stuffed it into her mouth. Jaxson Gamble’s, Taste for Gold was playing loudly from various speakers positioned around the small theatre. It wasn’t fucking gold she was tasting, that was for sure!
“Bloody hell,” Hayley mumbled, a shudder accompanying her spoken distaste. “Like I’ll ever be able to erase that from my mind! And, come on, she’s got more fanny fur than Davey Crockett’s fucking hat!”
“My eyes are broken!” Kit exclaimed, pretending to vomit into her handbag.
Grabbing my bag from the floor by my feet, I started to shuffle to the end of the row. “I’ll meet you in the bar when Miss Maypole 2018 has finished her act.”
The girls nodded to me as I ambled along the line of seats. Grunts of protest serenaded my evacuation as guys and girls all tried to peer past the curve of my fat arse to see what was happening on the stage.
“Not your cup of tea?” Liam asked when I slid onto the vacant stool beside him at the bar.
Liam had arrived an hour earlier. He’d been a good sport, tagging along to the many places we’d stumbled into, but he’d put his foot down at watching a live sex show with a group of drunken hens. Hence, why he was now propping up the bar with his usual orange juice.
“Bloody awful! I need a drink?”
“What do you want?” he asked, signalling the barman over.
“Alcohol!”
Snorting, he nodded and asked for a Grey Goose, neat, no ice. I was surprised he even remembered what I drank. “Get that down your neck,” he urged as he pushed it towards me. I didn’t need to be told twice.
“So, what’s the deal with Harrison’s swift hop back to the UK?” I assumed I was covert in my questioning, but the sideways glance Liam gave me, and the frustrated click of his tongue, told me I had guessed wrong.
“Just some business he has to deal with.”
Looking down at his phone when it alerted him to a text, he frowned and checked his watch. He looked lost for a moment and chewed on his bottom lip.
“Everything okay?”
Shaking himself from his thoughts, he nodded and gave me a fake smile. “Yup. Nothing to worry about, poppet.”
Narrowing my eyes on him, I poked him in the ribs. “Out with it.”
He looked at me for a moment, as if he was weighing me up, before he tipped his phone my way and gestured for me to read the text.
BECCA: What does she have that I don’t? It’s always her! Whatever, I’m out having fun! Fuck you!
“Becca?” I shook my head, not understanding.
But, then, it clicked, and I stared at Liam with an open mouth. “You and Bec? Shit, when did this happen?”
He blew out a long breath and deciding this would need more than just orange juice, he signalled for the bartender and asked for a vodka. Neat. My kinda man!
“About a week ago, or so. But she seems to have this thing.” He leaned closer to me. “She thinks me and you have something going on.”
I nodded slowly. “Uh-huh.” How could I have been so wrong? “To be honest, Liam, I, uhh, I kinda thought that too.” I shook my head quickly, cringing. “Well, that maybe your... Uhh, feelings weren’t just on the friend scale. Kinda…” My voice faded out as heat flamed my cheeks with mortification.
His expression was almost comical. His wide eyes fixed on me and his mouth fell open. “Eh? God! No!”
I wasn’t sure if I was offended by his reaction or if I wanted to get down on my knees and thank God. Either way, my conscience relaxed when I realised I’d had it all wrong about how Liam felt about me.
I cringed but giggled, “I was starting to worry.”
He shook his head and frowned. “Dear God, I think the world of you, poppet. But, not like that!”
I blew out a long breath and unwound for the first time in days. “So, come on. You and Bec?”
“We just hit it off from the start. She’s sassy and so Goddam sexy. Shit, the way her hips move when she walks. And that little birthmark above her…” He clammed up and gave me a sheepish smile. “Yeah, anyway. That.”
I nodded, grinning. “Yeah, I know the one you mean.” I nudged him and smirked. “The one she has just above her hipbone.”
He blanched, but then deciding to go with it, he nodded and beamed at me. “How hot is that fucker?”
Laughing, I took a sip of vodka. “Well, seeing as though I’m not into my best friend like that, I’m not sure I’d call it sexy. But, it’s definitely cute.”
“Cute?” He seemed to swirl the word around his mouth as if he was musing over my term. Eventually, he twisted his lips and exhaled at length. “Nah, definitely sexy.”
I was so happy for Bec. It was clear Liam was smitten. And, now, her attitude with me made complete sense. She was foul with me because she thought Liam fancied me and not her.
How wrong we had both been!
“Listen,” I said to him after he’d downed the entirety of his drink. “Ring her and go find her.”
Concern crossed his features and he shook his head. “No, I’m detailing you tonight.”
“Liam!” I sighed, exasperated. “I’m in the middle of Amsterdam with six other women and around a thousand others. No one is gonna drag me off in the middle of a crowded Red-Light district… Well, apart from some of the stranger women I’ve seen in a few of the darker windows. They could turn out to be a little sinister.” I shivered at the image forever stored in my memory banks of the huge woman who had blown me a kiss through the grime of her specific window. She was encased in nothing else but a thin strip of black leather, or most probably cheap plastic, which tightly coiled around her body like a snake sizing up its prey. Her peculiar black nipples and dunes of fat stuck out through each of the crisscrosses, and the burger I’d eaten earlier decided it really didn’t like that sight. Shaking her from my head before I barfed my Grey Goose back, I focussed back on Liam. “I promise, as soon as the girls have finished watching the show, I will go straight back to the hotel.”
Worrying his lip with his teeth, he looked conflicted. “I dunno, poppet.”
/>
However, when his phone rang and Bec’s name flashed up, he gulped back his apprehension and scowled at me. “You promise not to go anywhere on your own?”
“I promise.” I lifted two fingers to my temple and made my solemn vow.
“And you’ll text me your whereabouts every ten minutes?”
Jesus, what did this man want, my DNA on a tracker?
As if a lightning bolt hit me, I lifted a finger and grinned at him. Taking his phone from him and answering it, I told Bec to give him five minutes. Not quite sure what she’d have made of that, but Liam would put her right later. Then, firing up his internet, I searched for the app that Harrison had shown me and loaded in the details.
As if by magic, a small map popped up and a little red light blinked brightly in the middle of Amsterdam’s Red-Light district.
Turning his phone towards him, I tapped the tiny flashing dot. “See, a red light in the red-light district. That’s me!”
He rolled his eyes, exasperated with our stupidity. “Your bangle.”
“My bangle,” I echoed as I lifted my hand and span it around my wrist. “You can keep track of my every move!”
He grinned, shot off the chair, and didn’t even bother to wave goodbye. Charming.
Twenty-five
Harrison
Carl Brixsom was fucking tough. I’d give him that. He’d been tighter than a melon in a peapod with information. However, I was tougher, and it was about time he started to realise that.
There wasn’t much of his face left, or his teeth and nails come to that. I was just about to start on the soles of his feet when the motherfucker, infuriatingly, passed out.
“Fuck me,” Andy, a guy I occasionally used to give me a hand if I needed it, grumbled. “Thought he’d hold out better than that. Just goes to show that packing some iron doesn’t make you formidable.”
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