AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My mother and Beatrice would love to trap me in a loveless marriage. They don’t care about emotions or that I’m in love with someone else. A woman who I can’t stop thinking about.
“You can’t escape destiny,” Beatrice says. “None of us can.”
“If you’ll excuse me.”
My chair scrapes across the floor as I rise from the table. Beatrice opens her mouth to say something, but I ignore her and storm to the bathroom.
Anger clouds my vision as I stand in front of the sink. I splash my face with cold water, hoping that I’ll wake up from a nightmare, but no such luck. I stare at my reflection in the mirror, trying to psych myself up to go out there again. All I’ve got to do is get through the rest of the evening.The sooner I get this over with, the better.
As I leave, another woman rushes from the Ladies at the same time and walks straight into my chest.
“Shit, I’m sor—” I start to apologise, but my words get caught in my throat when I see who it is.
The blonde blinks up at me in confusion. “Seb?”
“Bethany?” I gawp at Rose’s housemate. Freddie sent security to Rose’s last known address when we were at the safe house, but it was abandoned. There was no sign of Rose or Bethany anywhere. “What’re you doing here?”
“What does it look like?” She plants her hands on her hips. I can see why she and Rose get on. They’re both fiery. “But I could ask you the same question…” She looks pointedly at Beatrice across the restaurant, and her expression turns stormy. “Are you on a date?”
“It’s not what it looks like,” I blurt out. Girls have their friends’ backs. Gossip spreads like wildfire. Rose can’t think that I’m out with someone else. “Let me exp—”
“It looks like Rose was right to ghost you.”
That must mean they’ve spoken lately.
“Do you know where she is?” I ask. “I need to speak to her.”
“Hell fucking no!” Bethany shakes her head. “I don’t know what happened between you, but I know she’s not been the same since she returned to London. We had to move house. You don’t do that unless something bad happened.”
“Please, Bethany,” I beg. I’ll get down on my knees if I have to. “Just tell her I want to talk. I have to explain. I want to make things right.”
“By going out with another woman?” She raises her eyebrows in disapproval. “Real smooth, Romeo.”
“This is nothing. It’s all a set-up for the cameras,” I insist. “I care about Rose. I understand that she doesn’t want to see me, but things have changed. I have to talk to her—even if it’s just for one last time. After that, if she never wants to speak to me again, I’ll honour that.”
“I won’t let you hurt her.”
“I’d never hurt her.” I ruffle around in my jacket pocket for a card with my number on it. Rose will have lost it along with her phone when Callen threw her bag out of the car. “Give her this. That’s all I ask.”
Bethany snatches it from me and sniffs in disapproval. “I’ll consider it.”
Suddenly, Beatrice is behind her. She sizes Bethany up like they’re bitter rivals.
“Is there a problem?” Beatrice asks, practically baring her teeth.
Bethany smirks. “Not that I can see, babe.”
“Go sit down. I’ll be back in a minute,” I encourage her, hoping this won’t blow my chances of speaking to Rose. “Bethany’s an old friend. We’re catching up.”
“Fine,” Beatrice agrees, but can’t resist adding, “You can sell yourself elsewhere,babe.”
Bethany’s nostrils flare. “What a keeper,” she comments at Beatrice’s retreating figure. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m just leaving, but I have to make a special request to the kitchen first.”
I should follow her. Bethany’s our best lead, but Beatrice is waving me over to speak to the official royal reporter who has conveniently appeared at our table. They can’t see me chasing after another woman.
I call Freddie. I can’t follow her, but he can—if he acts quickly enough. No answer. I hit re-dial. Na-dah.Shit!I want to slam my fists into the wall. I try to ring four more times, but he doesn’t pick up. He’ll be too busy looking for an answer to why Rose abandoned us at the bottom of a whisky bottle. He needs to pull himself together. He’s the leader of the Dukes—well, he’s supposed to be…
I have no other choice now. All I can do is wait and hope Rose will call.
