Retribution

Chapter 37 - A Front Row Show

My pleasant dreams in Jake's luscious Queen-sized bed were soon swapped for a living nightmare. Both of us were woken from our peaceful slumber by Jake's ringing phone. He grumbled about unwanted interruptions and reached out for it in the early morning light. Squinting from the bright light, I saw that not only was it barely five am, but that it was Harry calling.

"Yeah," Jake said, answering.

Harry's deep voice boomed down the phone, jolting Jake straight upright. I couldn't quite hear what Harry was saying. He spoke far too quickly with his cockney accent for me to understand anything.

"I don't care about legal loopholes, Harry. Just do what needs to be done and get it done now." He jumped out of bed and pulled his jeans on. "I don't give a shit. I want the pictures down and I want them down NOW."

He snapped his phone shut, took a deep breath, and then sat back on the bed. When he spoke to me calm and composed, my head was whirling. After just witnessing him barking at Harry like a drill sergeant to then have him speak to me like normal was almost too much to process.

"There's no easy way to say this," he said, moving closer to me. "But as you heard, it's being dealt with immediately."

He took my hand in his, and with his free hand picked up his phone. After a few taps on the screen, he handed it to me.

I gasped.

On the front page of the news app was a picture of me and Jake. Cuddled up; asleep. In bed. This bed.

***

Jake was livid. I'd never seen someone so mad in my entire life; not even Adam. I knew his anger wasn't directed at me, but I still kept out of the way. His whole demeanour changed as he shouted orders down the phone, growled at his lawyer, and yelled at Marcus and Johnny to get down here asap.

After settling the boys with some cereal, I wandered out into the garden and sat down on the wooden bench outside the back door. The sun peeked through the clouds, warming the dew damp grass beneath my feet. My heart hadn't stopped racing since seeing that picture plastered all over the internet. I couldn't get over the fact that he'd been in this house, inches from us, whilst we'd known nothing about it. He could have done anything. The horrific thought of him murdering us in our sleep wouldn't go away. Chills rushed down my spine every time I thought of him so close to me again.

"Lou?" Jake's voice filtered through from inside, his tone edged with worry. He stepped outside and let a breath out. "There you are." He came and sat next to me, throwing a hand up in the air as he sat down.

Without even thinking, I flinched away from the sudden movement.

"Whoa," he said. "I was only going to put my arm around you."

"Sorry," I said, heat flooding my cheeks. "I...I don't know why I did that."

"I would never touch you like that, sweetheart," he said. He lifted a hand, slowly, and stroked my cheek. "You know that, don't you?"

I nodded.

"Did I scare you?"

I blushed. "You are pretty intimidating when you're mad."

A soft glow of amusement trickled through his eyes. "I'm not mad, sweetie, I'm absolutely seething. I don't think I've actually ever been this angry."

"I thought you had a clause on the press that they couldn't publish pictures without your consent?"

He smirked and nodded. "They found a loophole. Bastards. The paperwork they signed states they wouldn't publish any pictures without my consent; taken either by them or members of the public. It doesn't cover random photos being dropped through their letterbox as there's no proof of the source."