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“Someone looks absolutely magical tonight.” He raises one eyebrow, then his glass of champagne in a silent toast to me, I assume. I take a sip of the lemony cocktail I ordered earlier and it complements the crab beautifully.
He starts talking about his mother and how he may have mentioned me to her, then he’s telling me about his apartment and how he’s tempted to buy a house. I’m sort of listening, trying to eat, when I realise what it is that’s bugging me.
As I focus my eyes on the back of the room, from where we’re seated more in the middle, I notice Albie Hart’s been tucked away right in the back with one of the other band members, Kev the drummer. Aidan is still talking to me and I’m smiling and nodding along, pointing my fork at my food and making noises like I’m really enjoying it. The more time goes on, however, the more I can’t help but feel my eyes drawn to Albie.
“The views are just so spectacular,” I say, gazing off into the distance.
“It’s a bit more exciting than Luton, eh? Just a bit.”
“Just a bit!” I laugh.
I’ve stopped playing footsie and my insides have turned colder than the frozen tundra of the Arctic, but I keep smiling and offer the odd comment here and there across the table. Aidan’s dropping massive hints about settling down, getting a house in the city but also a bolthole in the country, too. Perhaps reducing his hours or even selling the company.
I’m overwhelmed and don’t know what to say. We haven’t even been to bed yet. What’s he trying to prove to me? That yes, he’s been a perennial bachelor, but finally, he might be ready to settle down?
“I’m going to visit the ladies’,” I say, standing up.
He rushes to pull my chair out for me and kisses my cheek before I leave. I throw him a promising grin and sashay my way out of the room, finding the loos hidden down a short corridor.
Inside a cubicle, I sit on the closed toilet seat and take some deep breaths. Why tonight? Why? Is he stalking me? Or is this a test set by Aidan, to see how I’d react?
Or just some wicked, cruel coincidence, some twist of fate? Albie rarely dines out and never without his bodyguards. There is always at least one positioned near the exit/entrance of wherever he is. I didn’t see anyone there.
I have a thought because his and Kev’s meeting looked pretty clandestine from what I caught of it. They’re not dining, just drinking, and doing so in quite a public place. I think Albie has given his security the slip to do business behind Sharon’s back. He probably thinks if they meet somewhere like this, there will be fewer nutters on the loose at such an expensive place, and indeed, it appears to be true—nobody around the room has tried to get him to autograph anything yet. The rest of the people in here tonight are mostly like us, just here to wine and dine with one another. No celebrity-spotting on the cards.
Either the band is about to break up, or, he’s finally about to get rid of Sharon—since Kev is a fairly influential member of the band and could sway the others to agree to whatever terms Albie might be suggesting.
I open my phone and send Wally a text:Have you lost Albie tonight?
He calls me nearly instantly and I answer. “Wally?”
“Have you seen him?” he gasps, sounding anxious and terrified.
“I’m at the Shard, yes, he’s here with Kev at Oblix. When I didn’t see any of you guys—”
“Thank fuck. I owe you a million, Mira. A million billion. I won’t mention your name.”
Before I can say anything else, he rings off. I don’t need a pee so I just head out of the cubicles, touch up my lipstick and try to ready myself for going back.
Aidan looks slightly worried when I return to the table. I was in there for a while, I suppose. He gently touches my hair and helps me back into my chair. “Are you okay, sweetheart?”
When I look over Aidan’s shoulder, there’s Albie, staring right at me. I look away as soon as I realise he’s seen me. I won’t give him the satisfaction of knowing he still has the power to upset me.
I have to be honest and shake my head. Aidan turns and sees what I have, then swings back in my direction. He looks furious as I endeavour to keep my eyes on him, not Albie.
“I hate that he’s ruining our night,” I whisper, “but I went in the toilet then to call up some people to come and get him. He’ll be dragged out of here soon.”
Aidan’s really mad, his teeth grinding, his eyes full of anger. “We should leave.”
“No, I won’t be intimidated out of here because of that clown.”
I reach for his hand across the table and he relaxes a little, smiling and nodding his head.
Our mains arrive, our lobsters, and we have enough to entertain us suddenly—the work required to eat one of these things quite distracting.
Before long, a swarm of security descends and they huddle around Albie to get him out of here. It’s only when his security team arrives that people start whispering, “Oh, that’s Albie Hart… didn’t know he dined here! Wow!”
There’s some shouting for a while, but it’s so far away, we can’t tell what he’s saying from here—but he is definitely not happy to be escorted out by his handlers.
