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“It wasn’t even my fault!”
“Would that stack up in a court of law? Sorry, Mr. Judge”—she puts on a ridiculous deep voice as she bobs her head from side to side in that way of hers—“but the bloke touched my girlfriend, so I had to act like an idiot and show him who’s the man.”
“That’s not what happened.”
“That’s exactly what happened, and he was so fucking battered from the boxing match that he couldn’t even hit straight.”
“Yeah, so he got involved.” Leo points at me.
“Oh, of course,” Georgina chuckles, looking up at me with an adoring smile, as if I’ve hung all her moons in the midnight sky. “God forbid you’re left out of the fun.”
“That is not what happened!” Christopher grits out, obviously annoyed that we’re taking the piss out of him.
“Yes, it is…as usual, you were a dickhead.”
Arabella laughs, nodding in agreement with my statement as she sings, “Macho, macho, macho man…”
“You’re clearly forgetting who you’re going home with,” he growls jokingly at her, poking her in the cheek with his fork.
“What actually did he do?” Cassie asks, baffled.
“It wasn’t me. If fucktard over there hadn’t decked an undercover cop, we would’ve never been arrested.”
“Hey,” I call at him, lifting my hands in surrender. “I had your fucking back.”
“Whatever, it’s no to Vegas.” Leo blows out a long chuckle.
“You’re also not coming with us to New York, so don’t get ideas.” I shrug, taking stock of Georgina’s plate as she looks between the rest of us, a little overwhelmed.
A part of me wonders if this is too much too soon, but she needs to be around people more. Even though this is a completely different environment, she’s spent every day of the last however many years surrounded by people. Just because I’m not a people person, I don’t want that to change for her.
Watching as she goes back to ogling all the food, it hits me then that she’s probably terrified by her full plate.
“Eat what you can.” I nudge her knee with mine, stabbing one of her potatoes with my fork and dumping it on my plate, so there’s one less thing for her to agonise over putting into her body.
It goes against everything in me because she is so slight that sometimes I wonder how she doesn’t simply snap, but then I’ve also seen some of the other dancers, and at least she’s not emaciated. Besides, right now, she needs the control to make her feel as though there’s still a grasp on something.
We’re about to dish dessert when all our phones go off almost at the same exact time. The aftermath is silent, as though we’re waiting for a bomb to explode. When Francis’ phone starts ringing, that heavy, looming weight in my chest drops to my gut.
Instantly, my arm wraps around Georgina’s shoulders, pulling her into me as I watch Francis blanch at the call. It takes me a moment to look around the table and make sure that we’re all here. We’re not. Casper and Fleur are at home.
“What’s going on? Is everything okay? Casper?” Georgina looks up at me, frightened, her fingers going to the small cross at her neck.
I check my phone to find an email from Harry. As I’m about to open it, it disappears completely with a recall message replacing it.
“Did you catch that?” I ask Christopher.
“No.”
“Neither did I.” Leo looks between us, baffled.
“I’ll call Casper and make sure he’s all right,” Arabella says, her phone already in her hand, but before she has a chance to do it, mine starts ringing.
“You got it too?” I answer the call, hoping that one of us managed to see something.
“Yeah, did you see the attachment?”
“No, it got recalled. But you must have opened it before it did.”
