Aurélie

Chapter Twenty Two

Blake thanked his lucky stars that the hotel house cleaning staff were so efficient. He had considered staying at Lena's townhouse, but since meeting Aurélie he was glad for the little bit of distance. The phone calls had been persistent and there was no way he could have answered them in the townhouse, not with those echoing walls and corridors. If he kept a bit of space between him and Aurélie then he could deal with the aftermath of the mess he'd made and still have time for dates without raising any suspicion. 

Last night's phone call had been the worst.

"Yes," he answered.

"Oh you picked up," her voice sounded too close for comfort.

"Yeah," he had no energy left for this conversation.

"We need to talk," she persisted.

"I thought I made everything clear."

"We can still fix this," her voice weaker now, begging.

"It ain't broken babe. It's dead," his voice sounded harsher than he had meant it to.

"Don't say that," a wobble was coming into her voice and it gave him goosebumps.

"I'm coming over."

"What?" He jumped up, pacing the length in front of the mirror in his room. Her voice still had a hold on him. From a different lifetime, not from a different continent.

"I'm coming to see you." The voice echoed down the line.

"Don't. I don't need to see anybody, I need space and a clear head. Please understand."

"I understand everything honey," she whispered.

The line crackled and went dead.

His hands balled into a fist in his mop of hair. He didn't know what to make of it. She still thought he was in London so he'd bought himself a bit of time until she contacted Marcus and then all hell would let loose.

But he could prevent that.

She'd have a hard timefinding him, and anyways, she could barely look after herself in the Upper EastSide let alone Paris. No point letting her cast a shadow over his time here. Itneedn't stop things happening with Aurélie, she was too beautiful to let athing like that get in the way.