Chapter 25
Twenty-Five
“ T his feels weird.” I looked out of the car window and up at the impressive structure looming over Alfie and I.
“Why?” he asked as he drove us into the private underground car park.
“It’s weird that I’ve never been to one of your hotels before.
” I’d felt a bubble of excitement as soon as I saw the gold Tell Hotel sign.
I’d always been curious to visit one of Alfie’s hotels but I couldn’t help but wonder what we were doing here.
“How come you never took me when we were together?”
“I don’t like visiting my father’s hotels. Particularly this one.” He pulled up, the engine shuddering into silence as he switched it off. “It was the first one he built.”
I nodded, reading between the lines. His father was in every inch of this place, it made sense Alfie didn’t like being here. “So, why bring me?”
He glanced over, catching my gaze in the dark. “I want to try something with you.” I narrowed my eyes on him–I didn’t like how vague he was being. “Trust me?”
“No, but I’ll come with you anyway.”
We walked in silence through the car park, the sound of my heels echoing with each step. He led me into an elevator, pressed the gold ‘P’ button and keyed in a code, giving me a sense of deja-vu.
“The presidential suite?”
“Yes, it was where my father always stayed when he was in town.”
My stomach turned over, my earlier excitement for the evening gone. I had a feeling this was going to be a rough night.
We sped up, up, up so high I thought we might reach outer space before finally, we began to slow. Alfie turned to me, his hand slipping into mine.
“I’ve been thinking about what you said about not knowing how to get past what I did. About it being insurmountable. I’ve come to the conclusion that an outside opinion might be helpful.” What did that mean? He squeezed my hand as we shuddered to a stop and the doors opened. “Don’t run, okay?”
He stepped into the suite, taking me with him. I gasped as I took in my surroundings. This place was another world.
The open plan living space was vast, stairways at either end leading off to who knew where.
There was so much to see and explore but my gaze was drawn to the older woman sitting in a plush armchair by the fireplace, a neat two piece sofa opposite her.
She looked up at my entrance. If she was surprised to see me, she didn’t show it.
She stood, smiling, her waist length black hair shining in the fire light.
Her dark skin showed none of her age, but her stylish grey roots put her somewhere in her fifties.
She had a warm, steady expression and I liked her on sight.
That didn’t stop me looking to Alfie for an explanation.
“Lola, this is Priya Sharma, my therapist.” His therapist?
“Uh…hi. It’s nice to meet you.” I offered her my hand which she took, her wrist adorned with a set of silver bracelets inlaid with brightly coloured stones.
“Lola, I’ve heard a lot about you. Please, sit down.
” Her accent was a lilting mixture of English and Indian.
She gestured to the sofa and I sat, fighting the urge to run the hell out of there.
She turned to Alfie, shaking his hand, exchanging pleasantries as they sat.
My hands twisted in my lap as I wondered what was going on.
“Well, thank you, Lola, for agreeing to this session. I hope it’ll be beneficial for you both. ”
I stared at her in shock, shock that was quickly turning to anger.
“Okay…” I glanced at Alfie who was giving me a ‘behave yourself’ look. Yeah. No way. “So, I didn't know this was happening.”
Priya’s eyebrows raised very slightly. “You weren’t informed you would be taking part in a couples therapy session?” I shook my head, her sharp eyes flicked to Alfie. “This is not the best start.”
Alfie shrugged, an indifferent move way too reminiscent of old Alfie. “She’s here, isn’t she?”
Priya’s gaze was firm as she eyed the handsome billionaire beside me. “Lola, what was one of the biggest issues in your relationship with Alfie?”
I didn’t even have to think about it. “His penchant for manipulation.”
“Alfie, what do you think your behaviour tonight tells Lola?”
“That I haven’t changed much,” he looked at me, “but this will be good for us. I don’t understand why you would be angry about it.” He gave that shrug again but before I could have an apoplectic fit, Priya cut in.
“Lola, would you like to leave?”
“Yes, please.” I stood and Alfie stood too.
“No. You promised you’d stop running.”
“And you promised you’d stopped manipulating me.” I snapped back, eyes blazing.
“I’m just trying to?—”
“Control me. Again,” I cut him off, glaring. I could feel Priya’s watchful gaze but I ignored it. As always, when my focus was on Alfie, everything else took a step back. I hated that he still had this power over me and I hated myself for allowing it.
“This is supposed to help us.”
“I know and if you’d asked me I would have agreed to come, even though I didn’t want to.
But in all the times that you’ve run around making decisions that you think would be best for us, has it ever occurred to you that I should get a say in what's good for us too?” I tried to stay calm but the quiver in my voice betrayed me.
Alfie watched me, those eyes spearing me to my core. I could feel myself bending, history repeating itself. Here I was again, manipulated into a situation I didn't want to be in, fighting in public and any moment, if he put his hands on me, I’d be bent to his will again. A puppet stuck in deja-vu.
I couldn’t do this.
I turned on my heel and headed straight for the lift, but Alfie followed, blocking my way.
“You’re running. Again.” He glowered, his tone dark, warning.
“Yes, because you—” my words cut off as he reached for me, to calm me down or keep me still I didn’t know. Fear spiked inside me, sharp and painful. “Don’t touch me!” I hissed, pulling away. He backed off immediately, hands raised.
We glared at each other, chests heaving with exertion. Tension hummed between us, a thick rope wound with cords both sexual and angry.
“Okay.” Priya stood, grinning from ear to ear, not phased in the slightest by our outburst. “Well, I think you might just be one giant trainwreck waiting to happen.”
“Trainwreck already happened,” I snapped, “Or did he skip that part?”
“No, he didn’t. But I wasn’t talking about your relationship, I was talking about you.”
My head whipped around to face her. “Me?”
She held my gaze, calm. Too calm. “Let’s sit.” None of us moved. “Alfie, I’d like you to sit down please.”
“She’ll leave.”
“She’s left you before and the world didn’t end. Besides, if I remember correctly, you walked out of our first session too.”
Alfie’s jaw ticked, his teeth grinding together before, to my shock, he backed off and went to sit down. Leaving me standing there holding the remnants of a fight. Priya sat too.
“Alright, Alfie. Explain to me why Lola doesn’t have the right to make decisions over her own life?” Priya asked, Alfie’s fists clenched in his lap.
“She does.”
“Then why do you make them for her? Is she stupid?”
“No.”
“So, your opinion just matters more?” Her tone was steady. She wasn’t arguing with him, merely posing different scenarios, trying to gauge which one fit his mindset best. Alfie huffed, frustrated.
“Jesus, Alfie. Just apologise,” I snapped, crossing my arms. Priya glanced at me.
“Would that solve the issue for you?”
“No, but at least we could get off this topic,” I muttered.
She gazed at me, examining me in a way I didn’t like.
Silence settled around us as she waited.
Apparently she wasn’t letting me off the stage until I’d given her more.
I sighed. “Alfie has a lot of good qualities, but he’s arrogant and narcissistic.
What he thinks will always matter most. When it comes to getting what he wants, he’s ruthless.
That’s his best and worst quality. You’re fighting a losing battle trying to change it. ”
Alfie turned his head to look at me. “You think I’m a losing battle?” His voice was filled with a pain I had to steel myself against.
“I think you knew it was shitty to trick me into coming here but you did it anyway because it’s what you wanted. Which is your M.O. So, no one is surprised.”
“Well, I?—”
“Enough. Alfie.” I was so tired of doing this. “We had all of these fights two years ago. This is basic communication. I’m not doing this again.” I pulled my arms tighter around myself, willing my body to keep him out.
“Alfie, what’s Lola’s M.O?” Priya sat back in her chair, not in the least phased by the tension humming in the air.
“She runs when she’s scared,” Alfie answered, keeping his eyes on me, “She lashes out when she fucks up and unless your name is Keira Larson, she’ll keep you at arms length.”
I narrowed my eyes at the grim picture he painted of me. “I didn’t keep you at arms length.”
“You never told me about college.”
“Because I didn’t trust you not to fuck it up for me. Which you admitted yourself, you probably would have done.”
“You didn’t want to introduce me to your sister.”
“Because I didn’t trust you,” I said through gritted teeth.
“But you told her everything about us right, all the shit I did?” He arched an eyebrow at me, knowing full well that I’d originally given Natalie a very watered down version of what had happened between Alfie and I. She knew the truth now, that’s what mattered.
“She had enough on her plate. She didn’t need me adding our bullshit drama to it.”
“Right,” he said, clearly not buying it. “You’ve got walls, Lola. That’s all I’m saying.”
I snorted, shaking my head. “You’re one to talk.” We glared at each other for a moment before Priya took a deep breath.
“Well, now that we’ve established that you both have childhood trauma, I’d like to start by discussing goals.”
“Shouldn’t she sit down for this?”