No Control | Holding Me Ransom (Book 2)

35 - Down By The River

I woke up the next morning to a harsh vibrating coming from the bedside table next to me. I lifted my head and then groaned in pain as my temples throbbed. I fumbled clumsily to pick my phone up and saw Harry's name on the screen.

"Hello?" I croaked.

"Hi. It's me." He sounded nervous. Uncertain.

"Hi," I mumbled.

"How are you?" he asked.

"Dead," I replied.

He chuckled. "Oh dear."

"What time is it?"

"Just after ten," he replied. "Did I wake you up?"

"Yeah."

"Sorry," he said, quickly.

"No it's fine," I said, just as quickly. I was suddenly afraid he might ring off. "I shouldn't sleep in too late or I won't be able to get to sleep tonight."

The length of this sentence made my head hurt. I whimpered.

"You said you weren't in work today...?" he asked, hesitantly.

"No, I'd booked the day off," I mumbled. I didn't really want to pursue this line of conversation. I had no desire to talk about my plans with Adam with Harry. It was too weird.

"Well that's a relief for you," he said.

"Yeah, I couldn't work in this state," I groaned, and he gave a courtesy chuckle. "Have you been up long?" I asked.

"I'm still in bed, but I've been awake about an hour."

"Mmm," I murmured, because I couldn't think of anything else to say.

"What are you going to do today then?" he said, after a short pause.

"Probably stay in bed and nurse my hangover," I muttered. "What about you?"

"I'll head back to London, then home to my mum's for the week," he said.

We had now resorted to repeating yesterday's conversation. Great.

This whole exchange felt forced and awkward. He had no real reason to be ringing me, other than to check I was alright, which we had established in the first five seconds. We were now making idle chitchat, prolonging the conversation because neither of us seemed to want the call to end.

"I thought maybe I might go for a walk along the river before I leave," he said quickly. "I wondered if you wanted to come with me? It's a beautiful day. And the fresh air might do you good?"

Harry was thinking about going for a walk along the river in Cardiff all by himself with no security in the middle of the summer holidays?

"Umm..." I stalled.

"It's fine if you don't want to," he said in a rush. "Don't worry about it."

"No, I do," I heard myself say. "But - how would that work? You said yourself the paps might be on the lookout."

"They're more likely to be hanging around the hotels," he said. "But I get it if you don't want to take the risk. I know you don't want the attention."

"Neither do you," I reminded him.

"No, but... I'd really like to see you. I'm past caring what the media says about me. I just don't want them to upset you."

I didn't want any more pictures of me and Harry, but I couldn't deny I wanted to see him. The hurt and anger hadn't disappeared, but I felt calmer this morning than I had last night when Harry had sprung the whole Nadine drug scandal on me. I didn't allow myself to think about the other part of it - the part where he had admitted his feelings. That was definitely too much to deal with right now.