Chapter 31
A lexandra
Tyres crunched on the driveway outside the cottage, and I jumped back from the canvas. All afternoon, the rain had picked up, and I’d lost track of time. But I wasn’t about to miss Raphael’s homecoming.
I flew to the door and peeked out, careful not to show myself in case of unwanted eyes.
Dori climbed from a car, and I shot my hand to my mouth. Yet somehow, my gaze still clung to the other door, and my heart fell when Jackson appeared.
He gave me a curious look, then Dori was in my face and I was hugging the idiot, urging him inside.
“Oh my God. I was half expecting you to be beat up.”
He moved past me and dropped onto the sofa with a heavy sigh. “Inside bruises don’t show.”
So dramatic.
I turned back to Jackson who approached the door. “Is he…?”
“Leading Barrington a merry dance. Safer that he doesn’t come here until we’re sure he’s been seen and discounted as having hidden ye somewhere.”
But that could take a long time. I managed a small nod, then the bodyguard left us, and I locked the door then turned to Dori.
“You jackass. I’m so happy to see you. Tell me everything about Elsie Sale.”
He’d started to laugh but palmed his face. “Shit. You worked it out.”
I flapped my hands in a go-figure gesture and took the other end of the sofa, curling my legs underneath me. “You gave me no choice but to go snooping. This is the woman you dated a year ago, right?”
My best friend took a moment, ruffling his fingers through his damp blond hair, seeming to be piecing through what he wanted to say. “Yes. She’s the woman I dated a year ago. I fell as hard and as fast for her as you have with your hot pilot.”
My heart thumped. “Did you just upgrade him? Never mind. Continue.”
“I thought she felt the same for me. In fact, I was certain. I still am. We met at Cano.” He used the nickname for an island resort in the Grenadines that his family holidayed in every year. “We spent two weeks together. From day one, we were inseparable. I mean from instant fascination on the first day to complete certainty that I’d found my person by the time we realised a week had passed and all we’d done was hang around each other. We swam in hidden coves and took romantic walks at sunset. We held hands and didn’t even kiss for days, because the weight of it felt so fucking huge, it couldn’t be rushed. We talked. Endlessly, and we slept hugging each other. With her, I felt like I was breaking apart and reshaping myself piece by piece.”
Love-them-and-leave-them Dori had never been poetic, yet his description hurt my heart.
“She was supposed to be relaxing before heading into the recording studio for her next album. Yet she’d taken an acoustic guitar with her and wrote songs while staring into my fucking eyes like I somehow inspired her.”
He made a sound of disbelief and tipped his head back. “She said she was single but that she’d been on a few dates a month earlier with this man.” He spat the word. “An influencer her manager set her up with for the sake of good optics.”
“You didn’t tell me any of this.”
“I couldn’t. Not only for the fact that Elsie is intensely private, but because it scared the hell out of me. I imagine you know the feeling. Is he your boyfriend yet?”
I heaved a sigh. “Working on it.”
“Good. That boy has wife-me written all over him.” He found his phone. “In fact, hold still.” Dori took a shot.
“What are you doing?”
“You have a smudge of paint on your cheek and down the side of your hand. Love that he’s got you painting again.”
A whoosh sounded.
“Did you just send that to him?”
“Part payment for the helicopter ride. Your hair is a little messy, too. A man in love is going to go nuts over that shot.”
My cheeks warmed. My canvas and paints were in the spare bedroom, hidden away where no one could see. “Back away from my love life and return to yours. What broke you and Elsie up?”
Dori sobered. “The holiday ended, and she returned to the US. I had commitments elsewhere, but we spoke almost constantly when she wasn’t recording, and I was due to fly back to see her in two weeks. I would have changed everything for her. Where I lived. My whole shitty personality. She is so real. So fucking talented. She told me she adored me. Missed me every minute. That she needed me back. How could that not be love if she was blind to all my faults?”
I sensed his pain like it was a monster in the room. “Then how the hell is she marrying some guy who looks like a complete tool?”
Dori’s lip curled. “He live-streamed his proposal two days before I was due to fly over. She said yes. On air. Millions saw that video. Must’ve made him a killing.”
I reached for his hand. He gripped my fingers, emotion flushing his cheeks.
“I’m so sorry,” I said. “I saw it. She seemed flat. Did you talk to her?”
“I got a single message from her official social media account. Here.”
He picked up his phone again and thumbed to a page then held it out. I read the message.
Ferdinand, sorry, but I won’t be able to see you as planned. It was great hanging out, but I’ll be busy for the foreseeable future. Thanks for all the support! Elsie.
I handed it back, wariness descending over me. “There’s no way the woman you described wrote that. It’s so clinical, and I can’t imagine you had her use your first name. No one does.”
“Never. She doesn’t run that account either. Her publicist does. She joked with me that she doesn’t even have the password.” He flicked to a different account. “This is hers.”
I examined it. This version of the musician had thirty-five friends and shared real pictures of her life. Pretty ones, but informal and far more personal.
“The account’s been dead since that last post,” Dori added.
It was a picture of a couple beside a tropical lagoon, white sand, tan lines, and nothing but love in their eyes. Her and Dori.
My heart ached all the more.
He took back the phone and tossed it into his bag on the floor by the sofa, emotion visibly rocking him. “I tried to walk away. She’s an adult. She made her choices. But then I saw the engagement picture and just…flipped. There was evidence that built up and up in my head until I couldn’t ignore it. If there was any chance I was wrong, I had to take it.”
“What evidence?”
“Not only her expression in that video, but the fact it took eleven months for them to have an engagement party which was only a few weeks before their wedding. Why would that be if she wasn’t pushing back? The other thing was her music. She wrote two songs with me. Both were killer. Neither made it to the album she’s releasing in September. Hints have been dropped for every track, and none are those.”
“So you flew to Milan.”
“Yes, super sleuth. I found out where the party was happening and hired a car then drove out to the lakeside hotel. The influencer’s brother and a posse of hangers-on met me at the gate, as if they’d guessed I’d show. I never even saw Elsie.”
“They kicked you out? Wait, your passport. Did they mug you?”
“Two held my arms while the brother found my wallet. They kept that and my passport, luckily I’d left my phone in the car, and told me that Elsie had forgotten all about me and I needed to learn a lesson about staying out of other people’s business.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Interesting choice of words.”
His gaze distanced like he was right back in the scene at that lakeside hotel, close yet so far from the woman he loved.
I squeezed his hand. “Did they hurt you?”
Dori snapped back to the present and centred on me. “Not any more than I already was, and it’s obvious I was way out with how much I thought she cared about me. Fuck the whole situation. The important thing is I’m with you here now. So, let me say I’m sorry for dropping your calls. I was humiliated. I still am. You’ve been through shit, too. Tell me everything.”
We weren’t done with handling his situation, but I could tell he needed a moment of distraction, so methodically, I worked through all that had happened to me.
As I did, I led him into the kitchen and made us a sandwich each, earning a comment that this was the first meal I’d ever prepared in my life. Sadly, he wasn’t far off the truth.
Though we’d talked for a while, there was still no sign of Raphael.
Dori got more outraged the more I went on. “One part of that, I can explain. Sir Reginald called me.”
“What? How does he have your number?” I’d wondered that since we’d got back in touch.
“I figured you’d given it to him? It wasn’t the first time. He said he needed to know what designer you were wearing to the botanical gardens bird extravaganza. You’d told me, so I passed it on. Thought it was the right thing to do.”
My mistrust grew. Not for Dori, but for the private secretary. “That detail was almost immediately revealed on a gossip site. If it wasn’t him who leaked it, it was a member of his staff. And I never gave him your number.”
“Shit, sorry.”
“Don’t be. If someone from your family rang me and asked for something as innocuous as that, I’d have told them.”
He scoffed. “Like anyone in my family has ever given a damn what I’m doing.”
“I need to share this with Raphael. Would that be okay?”
Rain hit the windows behind the closed curtains, the light around them muted. I hated the thought of him being cold and wet.
Dori stretched out his limbs, rocking his kitchen counter stool. “Knock yourself out. If anyone has a hope of solving our problems, it’s him.”
“Back off,” I teased. “He’s mine.”
Dori heaved a sigh. “I hope he is. You need someone like him. Listen, I have to find a hotel for the night. Feels kind of remote out here so I don’t want to wait until dark and get stranded.”
“You can stay here.”
He shot me an incredulous look. “And listen to you and hot pilot go at it all night? Our friendship is in recovery, darling girl. Let’s not make things awkward. I’ll stay close by. We can talk tomorrow, but my head is pounding and I just want to curl up somewhere and sleep. Feels like I’m running on empty.”
I managed a nod. I had my friend back. He was more than a little broken, but he was here, and I’d help him work out what to do next with his musician.
Earlier, when Valentine had dropped me off, he’d asked me to message him with anything I needed. I shot him a quick text now to ask if there was anywhere local Dori could stay that would be out of sight of Barrington, should the man still be around.
A minute later, and there was a knock at the door, followed by the bodyguard’s cheerful voice. I let him in, disappointed again that Raphael wasn’t with him.
Valentine tugged down his hood covering his topknot of hair and regarded Dori. “How fussed are ye about luxury?”
Dori raised a single shoulder. Exhaustion hung heavy on him. “So long as it’s clean and the door locks, I don’t care.”
“The aircraft hangar has a bunkhouse, used for pilots staying overnight and sometimes the mountain rescue crew. I stayed there for a while after relocating here. It’s basic, but it’s free.”
At Dori’s agreement, the two of them readied to leave.
I caught Valentine’s sleeve. “Any update on Raphael?”
“He sent a message a few minutes ago that Barrington had pursued him all the way back to Braithar and he’d challenged him as planned. Barrington took off in his car. We tracked him heading out of the estate, so with any luck, he’s history. Best to still stay out of sight until we’re sure.”
My heart leapt. “Then I can see Raphael?”
“Drop him a line, honey. Watch how fast he races back now he knows you’re alone.”
With a final hug of my friend, I let them go, then ran for the bedroom. I’d hidden too much of myself from Raphael. He never knew the depths of the effect he’d had on me, even back when we were teenagers. I fished the possession I’d been searching for out of my bag and smiled.
Tonight, I wanted nothing between us but the truth. I’d fight for him. Even if the fresh drama made him feel I was even harder to reach, I’d prove I wasn’t. It was the only way.