Chapter 5
Chapter Five
V eronica
I had been cooped up for a week after my unfortunate injury, but luckily the wound healed very well, so I could go out tonight and I was really looking forward to it. I had been unable to see any clients either. I was going a little stir crazy at the lack of social interaction. All the girls had been raving about the new partner in the group chat, so I couldn’t wait to meet him. Apparently his name was Rupert, which was freaky. He had the same name as my mystery man from Greece. It would be totally bananas if it was the same guy.
“Oh, my God, this place is freaking amazing. I’m getting drunk tonight, for sure,” I said to Laura, who had been reluctant to come out tonight.
I had to drag her here as she wanted to stay at home and read instead. Cathy, one of the girls from the club, managed to get us entry tickets to this new place. The club had just opened up and they weren’t letting anyone in without tickets.
“Let’s go to our booth. Lucas mentioned that this place has VIP-only sections. I’m sure we will see plenty of celebrities here tonight,” she said giddily.
We headed after her.
“Cheer up, girl, I’m going to find you a shaggable guy for tonight so you can forget about Mr. Gorgeous Arsehole until at least Monday.” I followed Laura.
Her beauty tonight was undeniable, with heads turning wherever she went. She was wearing a slinky red dress that barely covered her arse. I had pulled out this short, sparkly, red dress from of the bottom of her wardrobe and forced her to wear it. Laura wasn’t very outgoing and she was kind of shy, but, she deserved so much happiness. I decided not to interfere in her relationship with Mr. Banks, but I could sense something was brewing between them already.
“I don’t think I am in the mood and you know that I just don’t do one-night stands,” she said as her long, blonde hair spilled down her arms. She was very tall and lean. The dress definitely exposed a lot of her normally hidden assets, especially her arse.
“Who said anything about a one-night stand? Anyway, let me go to the bar and get us a drink,” I said after we had found our stylish booth.
“No need! My name is Sabrina and I’m going to be your waitress for tonight, ladies. What would you like?” A pretty brunette appeared right in front of our table, smile plastered to her face.
“Shots for everyone! And, can you bring us your signature cocktails, please? We’re celebrating my healed foot,” I shouted over the music and then we all started screaming like we were crazy.
The waitress smiled and said she would be right back.
My phone pinged like crazy, but I didn’t want to check TikTok just now. I’d almost had a heart attack earlier when Laura had asked me to see why I suddenly had so many notifications. The video I’d posted several days ago had completely blown up on the app and my comments section exploded with people saying they knew Rupert. But as far as they were aware, he wasn’t on any social media channels. Everyone wanted updates. It had over five million views at first and it still kept climbing. I had gained over a hundred thousand new followers already and my head was spinning from all the comments. I truly didn’t expect any of it. I had hundreds of private messages on both TikTok and Instagram. A lot of them were creeps, asking me out and telling me in detail about their weird sexual fantasies.
In the end, I had to switch my phone off. I had to contact him somehow, because there were a lot of people in my DMs telling me that they could give Rupert's phone number. I promised myself that after this night out I would reach out to him. This whole thing was happening so fast.
“To my new foot!” I shouted when the waitress brought us the drinks.
“And for Laura’s hot, new boss!” Cath shouted, too.
Laura blushed, so we all laughed and then downed our shots. In a matter of minutes, we were already ordering the second round. The shots and cocktails were delicious, but when my favourite jam began playing, I just had to drag Laura to the dance floor. She was so gorgeous and every guy out there couldn't take his eyes off her. It felt so good to finally be out tonight. It had been so long since I’d had a wild night out with all the girls. Laura and I got to the dance floor and I was already pretty tipsy.
“That guy is cute and he has been checking you out since we started dancing,” I whispered to Laura’s ear a few minutes into the song, noticing a dark haired guy moving closer and closer towards us.
She glanced in his direction. She’d had a few shots, too, but suddenly she appeared flustered. She needed to loosen up a little, too. Laura had gone through a very nasty and public breakup a few years ago. She had been in a relationship with a famous pop star who’d cheated on her and she had never been the same since. I was hoping her new job and being out tonight might encourage her to come out of her shell.
Several seconds later, the guy approached, and I pushed her gently towards him. They started dancing, and I giggled at how cute they were together. After a moment, I decided to go back to my booth to refill my drink.
This place was getting really busy and it felt like I was the only one here without a guy by my side. I spotted Cathy in a quiet corner, talking to some other cute guy, too. Soon after, the waitress brought me a fresh drink. I stood to look out across the dance floor, keeping watch on Laura from a distance. It appeared she had finally forgotten about her gorgeous, but super irritating boss as she was grinding into the dance-floor hottie to the slow rhythm of the music. They did look really hot together, and I congratulated myself on a matchmaking job well done.
I was just about to leave her to it and search for my own date for tonight when I thought I was hallucinating. The one and only Spencer Banks charged from out of nowhere, right towards Laura. I shook my head; this was impossible, he couldn’t be here in this club. But fuck! When I squinted, I was certain it was him.
The Prime Minister of this country was in the club, charging after my roommate, and it was evident that he was absolutely furious. He approached Laura, said something to the guy who she was dancing with, and after a quick exchange, the guy walked off raising his hands above his head like he was surrendering. Damn it, Spencer must have scared him off. What the hell was this all about? I kept watching them and it seemed like they were arguing over something. People stared, Spencer’s security was nearby, and he was acting like a total arsehole. Several long minutes later, something that felt like eternity, Laura waved her hand towards me. She seemed angry, and she quickly rushed off the dance floor before I could get to her. Spencer was right behind her. I quickly stepped right in front of him, blocking his way out so he couldn’t follow her.
“Spencer Banks, where do you think you’re going?” I demanded, standing way too close and trying to be intimidating. In reality, I was short and he barely noticed me.
He needed to give Laura some space because he had clearly upset her. She was simply enjoying herself in the club with me, this wasn’t her work time. His brows drew into a frown as he glanced at me, and damn, even in the dim light of the club he looked like a god who’d come down from Heaven himself—he was so freaking hot. We’d only met once at a very important event, but I doubted very much that he remembered me. I didn’t feel any pull towards him, and he was very handsome, but I never saw him as my type. Right then, he was completely rilled up like he was ready to push me aside just so he could follow Laura.
“Do I know you? Listen, I need to find someone and you’re in my way,” he snapped at me and was just about to move past me. But, I moved again, blocking him.
“Listen, pretty boy, I’m not moving anywhere. I’m Laura’s roommate, and right now, I’m looking out for her. You will not follow her,” I took a step closer and got a waft of his aftershave.
The music in this place was very loud and I wanted to make sure that his attention was on me. This wasn’t working. Spencer seemed distracted, glancing around, so I poked his chest with my finger as hard as I could to make sure he was listening.
“What the hell was that all about on the dance floor?” I demanded from him.
“I was trying to protect her. You shouldn’t have left her with that sleazy guy out there.” He sounded pissed off, probably because he had no idea who I was. He probably never had to explain himself to anyone, ever.
I laughed and rolled my eyes.
“She didn’t need my protection, and that guy was perfectly all right. I vetted him myself. Laura came out because she needs to let her hair down and shag a hot guy. So, Mr. Prime Minister, mind your business and forget about her until Sunday when she is back on duty,” I said, a bit louder than I intended to.
Damn, his chest muscles were like steel. He was probably a total beast in bed, but when we’d met a few years ago, there was clearly no chemistry between us Even then, I thought he was very obnoxious by the way he spoke to me. He probably didn’t even remember it.
He smiled at me and then grabbed my finger; I was poking him hard and it must have hurt.
“I’m the fucking head of the country and I can ruin your life with one phone call. So, back off because you’re getting on my nerves! Laura is my business. What she does may have repercussions,” he growled, trying really, really hard to come across as scary and intimidating. But really, he had no idea who he was dealing with.
I dealt with guys like him on a daily basis and I didn’t mess around. Add my friend into the mix and you’re making a volatile mixture. I didn’t bloody care about his position or the fact that he could ruin me, because I was trying hard to protect Laura.
“I don’t fucking care if you’re the King of fucking England, frankly. Laura doesn’t want to talk to you, and that’s final. Stop messing with her. She doesn’t want you, she only needs the job—”
“Veronica or Valerie? Is that you?” someone else asked, dazed almost.
That voice instantly sent a shiver down my spine. I looked over Spencer’s shoulder, wondering if I had drank way too much. Rupert stood right behind him. I did a double-take because I then noticed Matthews right next to him. There was also a third guy who was huge and he appeared pretty annoyed. This was the most bizarre fucking experience in my life, and I wasn’t sure what to do. I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down.
“Oh, hi, stranger, long time no see. I guess you saw the video. It kind of … went viral,” I said briskly, but my voice trembled. “What a nice surprise. What are you doing here?”
“How the fuck do you know my brother?” Rupert sounded uncharacteristically enraged.
A tonne of bricks cascaded down to my stomach.
Did he just say brother? No, this can’t be right. It’s a joke?
“Rupert, Veronica is one of my girls, and I think everyone has seen the video. It has millions of views.” Matthews was tense. He glanced at Spencer.
“Rowan and you … hmm, you’re the Rupert,” I quickly said, and then to calm my fucking nerves, I winked at Spencer, not even knowing why. “Okay, one thing at a time. Can you all give us a moment? I really need to finish talking to Spencer here, first.”
“She works for you?” Rupert asked Matthews in an outrage.
I was so shocked at that moment that I stopped paying attention to the Prime Minister who then took this opportunity to vanish and I continued to stare at my boss and the man who I’d been trying to track down for the last two years.
“She works for both of us. Veronica is the girl who missed the meeting because she hurt her foot?”