Chapter Forty-Four Ella
Chapter Forty-Four
Ella
It was Sunday afternoon. I was pacing the living room while Ethan worked on taking down the snake at Flirtify.
I didn’t know how long he’d slept, if at all.
He was working when I went to sleep and was still hard at it when I woke up at seven.
Katy was zonked beside him on the sofa when I got up, a fleecy blanket draped over her.
Maybe he’d gotten up early for some peace from Katy’s endless questions.
I wouldn’t blame him. When she had a man in her sights, that girl would stop at nothing to impress him.
But now, we were all up, anxiety thick in the air.
It was less than twenty-four hours until Jimmy was set to be fired from Flirtify.
Philip had tried to call several times and sent a simple I’m sorry text, which made my bones rage.
I still couldn’t believe he’d done this to me, to my friends.
There was no way I’d ever speak to that disgusting dickhead of a man again.
*
Around two, Katy’s phone beeped from the side of her; she was with Ethan, who remained stern-faced and slightly sweaty at the laptop. She lifted her phone, then turned to Zola and me, and her contented expression completely disappeared.
‘The stalker?’ Zola asked, suddenly tense.
Katy shook her head, eyes flicking to Ethan as he worked. She nudged her head towards the breakfast bar and slowly got up to meet us there.
‘Travis Mason has just messaged,’ she gulped, keeping her voice low.
I let out a huge sigh, honestly having no time for any more drama.
‘Saying what?’ Zola asked, pointing to Katy’s phone in her hand.
Katy’s eyes lowered and she read the message aloud: ‘Hey, just checking in and making sure you are all good? I’m sorry you were a part of that, Katy. Are you at home?’ Katy’s colour drained from her panicked face. ‘What do I fucking say?’
Zola glanced at me, then back at Katy. ‘OK, breathe,’ she instructed her. ‘Why is he asking if you’re home? He must want to visit, but why?’
I huffed. ‘Probably to make sure his wife hasn’t contacted her about the affair!’
Zola raised her shoulders. ‘Fair. It is a bit strange that Fee hasn’t reached out.’
‘You didn’t reach out to Curtis’s gym girl,’ Katy interrupted, and I watched Zola look like she’d been slapped right across the dish.
‘Katy!’ I said under my breath.
Zola regained composure. ‘She’s right, but ouch, girl!’
‘Sorry.’ Katy shrugged. ‘Different circumstances, I know.’
Zola took a second. ‘OK, well, why don’t we invite him up? Ask him what he knows, but don’t tell him we’re onto the snake! Or even searching for them! We could probably get great intel from him.’
Katy looked terrified, as if we had asked her to have a coffee with Ed Gein, ‘I don’t want to! I’m a terrible liar and I’ll forget all the details. Plus, what if he tries to kill me?’
‘There’s more chance he’ll try to shag you,’ I replied bluntly.
Zola and Katy both smirked, and Katy’s face changed; the idea clearly appealed to her for a fleeting moment.
‘Err . . . No. No, I can’t. I’m sorry, but I can’t,’ she said, crossing over her arms like a child and raising up her chin.
Zola sighed. ‘OK, we can’t force you, babe. But you did get us into this mess in the first place, just saying,’ she added.
I giggled at how ruthless and stubborn my friends were being.
‘I don’t want to be alone with that man,’ Katy moaned.
I turned to Zola, completely understanding Katy’s point.
Although Travis had always seemed harmless, we had no idea who he was or what he was capable of.
Especially now that he was exposed and set to lose everything.
What if he did try to silence her? There was a stalker out there, and we still had no idea who it could be.
‘We could be in my room?’ I suggested. ‘Yeah, so we could stay quiet and camp out in my room, and you could just tell him to be quick because we’re on our way back or something?’
Katy chewed her bottom lip, going over her options. After a moment of Zola’s impatient toe tapping on the wooden floor, she caved.
‘Oh, for fuck’s sake, fine!’
She grabbed her phone, and the three of us came up with a reply to Travis together.
Katy: Hey, yeah, didn’t expect any of that, to be honest, but I’m getting there. Hope things haven’t been too tough on you. I’m home. Zola and Ella are just grabbing a pizza, is everything OK?
We hovered over the phone, nervously watching his WhatsApp status change to ‘typing’.
Travis: I’ll be up in ten mins if that’s OK? Can’t get you out of my head. And I’m really sorry again.
Katy’s eyes were filling up, and I was almost speechless. This man had put her through complete and utter hell and here she was, nearly falling for the same shite all over again.
‘Dry your eyes, mate!’ Zola nudged her, shaking her head at the sudden emotion.
‘No bother, Mike Skinner!’ she spat back, angrily.
I burst out laughing, both of them joining in. ‘Katy, remember all the shitty things he’s done to you, babe. It’s your turn to use him and get any information you can to fix this.’ I smiled.
‘OK, yeah. I mean, it’s only Travis. I got this,’ Katy agreed, looking a bit more confident. ‘I’d better go get ready!’ She scurried out of the kitchen in a flash towards her room.
I turned to Zola, who seemed worried. Noticing her anxious glance, I tried to reassure her. ‘She’ll be fine!’ I said.
Zola tutted. ‘She better be.’ Then she called out to Ethan, who seemed oblivious to our conversation. ‘Please, dude. We need you and your laptop in Ella’s room, now.’
Ethan cautiously glanced up. ‘Excuse me?’ he said.
I laughed and said, ‘Katy’s doing some intel on a guest, so we have to be hidden for a wee while.’
Ethan nodded, stood up and lifted the laptop. I actually had no idea how someone could have the patience or intelligence to do what he was doing, but I was so grateful that he was. After all, this was a guy who was good enough to say no to the FBI.
I turned the side light on in my room and let Zola and Ethan get settled. Ethan pulled out the desk chair and sat down, while Zola stood just behind him, leaning forward slightly as she watched him work on the coded messages in fascination.
‘I’ll check on Katy,’ I told Zola and Ethan.
I walked to Katy’s bedroom, planning to see if she was ready, but she wasn’t in her room.
So I pushed the bathroom door open and there she was, standing bollock naked in the bath, one foot up on the edge, beef curtains and clit staring straight at me like a fucking Demogorgon.
‘Aggghhh!’ I screamed.
‘Jesus! Fuck!’ she called out, jumping up to protect her modesty. She shoved one hand behind her back and one over her tits, completely startled, then breathed a sigh of relief, pointing for me to close the door.
‘What the actual fuck are you doing?’ I asked, trying not to stare, but completely baffled by the scene in front of me.
‘Well,’ she puffed, out of breath from the total jump scare, ‘I was trying to shave when you walked in. But I got a fright, thinking it might have been Travis, and I’ve . . . I’ve . . .’
‘What? What are you talking about?’ There was so much information to process, so much on display, I didn’t have a clue where to look.
Katy turned her body slowly, revealing her naked back. My eyes skimmed down a little further.
‘You shoved the razor up your arse?’ I gasped, noticing a pink tail dangling out of the centre of her crack.
She skimmed her hand over her bum cheeks, feeling for the thing.
‘I thought you were Travis,’ she said as if that justified any of this commotion.
‘And obviously it would be a pure riddie if he saw me shaving for him, so I hid it!’ With a slight tug, she pulled the handle out. ‘I panicked, Ella, OK?’
I could feel my face squirm in pain for her.
‘It’s a good job you didn’t go in with the blade side, there would be a fucking blood bath.
’ My jaw was still gaping open, knowing I’d never get this vision out of my head.
‘Why are you shaving anyway?’ I asked, realising the possibility of sex must have been on her mind.
‘Because my fanny is like Grizzly Adams’ fuckin’ beard, why do you think?
’ she snapped, turning to me and, after a cursory rinse of her Gillette Venus, continued to shave frantically.
I looked at the patchy pussy. She was right; it was far too long and she was getting nowhere.
That bad boy needed a short back and sides at the Turkish barber’s before even attempting to get a cheap razor through it.
She threw her hands up, still hacking away at random sections of the foliage of pubes.
‘It looks like cow print now,’ I said, biting my lip, desperate not to laugh.
Katy bent over and burst into giggles. ‘It’s too long to shave with one razor, it’s clogged up like an old hoover! Ella, what am I going to do?’
I shook my head, handing her the towel, noticing the bathtub was now clogging up, too. ‘You’re not going to have sex with him, so you don’t need to worry, Katy,’ I said, smiling. ‘C’mon, he’ll be here soon, you don’t have time for this pube sesh!’
She huffed, reaching up to switch the shower off and grabbing hold of the towel.
‘What’s up with you shoving things up your arse since we got to New York, by the way?’ I said, remembering the butt plug from the month before.
‘Literally!’ Katy laughed. ‘Well, look, at least if I have to pump him for info, I’m clean!’
I screwed my face up, hating the idea of Travis ever touching my friend again. ‘I’d have built up all the fanny plaque I could manage for that cunt!’
She giggled, stepping out. ‘Oh, and by the way, don’t tell Zola about her razor.’ She pulled a face, as if to say Whoops, then skipped through to her bedroom and quickly pulled on her jogging suit.