Chapter 52
How are you? Let me know if I can do anything for you.
Are we still on for our coffee date?
Message from Olivia to Kate
Kate
Once upon a time, I ran for fun.
Later, I ran to survive.
Today, I ran to forget.
I didn’t want to think about how Randell had dragged my past into the public eye like a corpse—one that was now being eviscerated and dissected by the media.
It seemed like all of England was talking about the homeless whore who had snapped up one of the most esteemed bachelors of British high society.
Thanks to Vivian and a sum of money—the enormity of which I didn’t want to think about—the video of Randell’s interview was no longer online.
Henry had paid for it to be removed, but the damage was already done.
Every media outlet had picked up the story and run with it, and had started to dig deeper.
They’d found old tourist photos from St. James’s Park in which I was visible in the background.
And men who claimed to have been my clients shared their alleged experiences with me, all of them just looking for their five seconds of fame.
It was creepy and terrifying. People kept making up more stories, because the worse I looked, the more scandalous and provocative my relationship with Henry seemed—and the more clicks the articles generated. There were now hundreds of them online.
“When can we stop?” Grace groaned on the treadmill next to me.
We were at The Darlington’s gym, which was technically only for hotel guests, but Henry had given me permission to use it as well.
I had been working out a lot since the interview last week.
I needed something to distract me from the chaos.
I looked at Grace. A strand of blond hair had already escaped her ponytail. Sweat glistened on her forehead, and her cheeks were flushed. “You can stop anytime you want.”
“I want to do this in solidarity with you.”
I had been grateful for our friendship before, but in the past few days, the feeling had multiplied.
After my conversation with Henry, I had called Grace as I’d promised.
I had answered all her questions and dispelled the lies Randell had spread in his interview.
I had also told her the truth about how Henry and I had met.
Instead of responding with anger or disappointment, she had shown nothing but understanding and support.
“You can be supportive while sitting down.”
“Thank god!” Grace stopped the treadmill and dragged herself over to the bench where we had left our water bottles and towels. She took a sip of water and wiped her face. I could feel the sweat running down my back, but I wasn’t ready to stop.
“Will Giulia let you start working again next week?” Grace asked.
“I hope so.”
I had been determined to carry on as usual after the initial shock of the interview, but it quickly became clear that it was impossible.
Before, the hotel guests had mostly ignored me and let me do my job.
But now, they stared at me and asked inappropriate questions, to the point where Giulia had temporarily taken me off the work roster.
My job interview had also fallen through.
The owner of the corner shop had called yesterday to cancel because he didn’t want someone like me working at the till.
I had tried to explain, but he hadn’t wanted to hear it.
“Maybe you can do something behind the scenes.”
“Maybe. I’ll talk to her.” I smiled at Grace. “How’s Amy doing?” I asked, hoping to distract myself from my own life.
Grace sighed. “Not very well. She spent half the night crying.”
“Why?”
“Because of that loser Garrett, of course,” Grace hissed, and aggressively screwed the lid onto her water bottle.
“They had planned to go on a date yesterday, and five minutes before he was supposed to pick her up, he cancelled. He said he was tired and needed an evening to himself—again. But a few hours later, he was at a party. One of his friends tagged him in a photo, and naturally, Amy saw it.”
“Shit. And then?”
“Nothing. She cried, as always. I offered to go to the party with her and confront him, but she didn’t want that.
” Rage radiated from her. “That guy is the worst. Amy deserves someone better, and I’m not just saying that because she’s my twin.
She’s the kindest person I know, and Garrett is a selfish bastard. ”
“Why does Amy put up with it?”
“I don’t know. Garrett is her first boyfriend. It’s probably a combination of denial, false hope, and low self-esteem.”
“Bad combination.”
“The worst,” Grace replied with a sad smile, which turned into a disgusted grimace, as if she’d smelled something bad. “What is he doing here?”
“Who?” I glanced around to see Ethan. I hadn’t seen him since our encounter in the corridor, when he’d smiled at me grimly. He wore black shorts and a dark T-shirt and had a heart rate monitor on his upper arm. “He probably wants to work out.”
“But why here?” Grace groaned. “He has a gym in his apartment.”
Until now, I’d been as invisible to Ethan as I was to the hotel guests, but now he noticed me. Our eyes met, and then, to my surprise, he approached me. I doubted I would ever get used to how similar Henry and Ethan looked. “Hey.”
“Hi,” I replied.
Behind me, Grace gave an irritated sigh, which caught Ethan’s attention. He peered past me to look at her. “Hey,” he greeted her.
“Go to hell,” she growled.
“That’s not very nice.”
She snorted. “You’re not very nice.”
“How would you know? We don’t know each other.”
“Oh, we know each other!”
Ethan tilted his head, giving Grace a slow once-over. “Are you sure? I don’t remember you.”
Grace gasped in disbelief, her face flushing even redder than when she’d been running. “Yeah, arsehole. We know each other. I’m the one who’s been cleaning up after you for months, because you aren’t capable of doing it yourself with your delicate man-hands.”
Ethan slapped the palm of his hand against his forehead, as if he’d had a revelation.
“Oh, it’s you, Claymore. Sorry. I didn’t recognise you without a bin bag in your hand.
” He flashed her a grin that made it very clear he knew exactly who she was and was just trying to get under her skin.
When Grace realised, she pressed her lips together and gave Ethan a look that could have killed.
I caught myself thinking that he’d better watch out for death traps hidden around his apartment.
“Do you want something from us? Or is the universe just punishing us with your presence?” Grace snapped.
“Believe me, you’re the last person I want anything from.”
“Good, because I wouldn’t touch you with a bargepole.”
Ethan raised his eyebrows. “Who said anything about touching?”
“You did!”
“No, I didn’t,” Ethan said with a wink, before turning his back on us—he clearly wanted to have the final word.
He headed for the weights at the other end of the room without sparing us another glance.
Grace, on the other hand, stared furiously at his retreating back and flipped him a middle finger, adorned with a silver snake ring.
I sighed. “Do you have to provoke him like that?”
She lowered her finger. “What? He started it.”
“‘Go to hell’?” I reminded her.
“Oh, you’re right. Sorry. Well, if he complains about me to Henry, you can just put in a good word for me. There must be some advantage to you sleeping with my boss.”
I gave a tight smile as I ran. Grace seemed not to notice, but the mere thought of having sex with Henry made my steps falter.
We hadn’t slept together yet—not because of him, but because of me.
I had no experience in that area, and I was nervous about disappointing Henry.
But if there was one thing I had learned in the last few days, it was how much he wanted to be with me.
Not even the chaos Randell had stirred up could make him break up with me.
And the longer I thought about it, the more certain I became: I wanted my first time to be with Henry.
And hopefully, it would happen soon.