Trace of Innocence | Sweet and Sour (Book 4)

Chapter 58

(No Control | Holding Me Ransom - 58 - Mini Bars, Expensive Cars)

Paul picks me up the following morning at 6am with a sleepy and hungover Jess in the back seat, and drops us at Heathrow airport. Liam is already waiting in the private lounge with Paddy (his bodyguard) and he instantly gets to his feet to greet Jess with a hug and a polite kiss on the cheek, which I suspect she isn't expecting as she is immediately flustered, drops her bag on the floor and steps on Liam's toe, causing him to yelp in surprise.

"Sorry!" she says breathlessly, and I wince as they narrowly miss banging heads as Liam bends to rub his foot and Jess stands up sharply, causing Liam to duck out of the way and chuckle at Jess's embarrassment.

"Thought you were over the fangirl thing?" I tease her, smirking at her bright red face.

"Aww, don't make fun of her," Liam scolds gently.

"She's hungover," I explain, unable to hide my grin.

"You needn't look so happy about it," she grumbles.

"Who's hungover?" Louis asks from the doorway, and  I roll my eyes as Jess's blush deepens and Louis makes a mock-sympathetic face as he surveys her. "Ouch," he says meaningfully, taking in her appearance. "Never mind." He takes a couple of steps towards and then shouts really loud next to her ear, "Morning Jessie!" 

Jess squeaks in discomfort and turns to me to hide her face; I exchanged smirks with Louis over her shoulder as I put my arm around her and rub her back.

"You can sleep on the flight if you want," I tell her softly, in her ear. "There are private cabins on the jet, with beds and everything."

"So, Payno, where did you end up last night?" Louis asks pointedly, and I glance over at Liam over the top of Jess's head to see a bashful smile creeping across his face.

"My own bed," he replies, raising his eyebrows at Louis.

"With a certain someone?" Louis wants to know. (I want to know too - if Louis owes me twenty quid, he's paying up.)

"We're not all manwhores like you, Tommo," Liam fires back, still grinning.

Jess is looking a little lost so I whisper, "Liam got into Cheryl last night."

Her eyes widen as she looks up at me, and I put a finger to my lips discreetly. She gives a tiny nod of understanding and slides her arms around my waist again. Liam continues to insist he slept alone, and when no one is looking I lift my hand and rub my fingers together in Louis' direction, indicating he owes me money and needs to pay up. He responds by showing me his middle finger, in true Louis style.

Niall arrives a few minutes later and we're able to board the plane. I'm first on, Jess close behind me, and I take the first seat at the front facing forwards, so we have a bit of privacy. 

"Don't you want to be sociable?" Jess asks as we stow our luggage in the overhead racks.

"Do you want to spend the entire eight hours staring at Louis' face?" I begin, but then cut myself short with a reluctant sigh. I  can't believe I even asked her that question. "Actually, don't answer that. We can sit with him if you want."

I can tell she is torn between wanting to hang out with Louis and not wanting to upset me. "Maybe we can sit with him later on in the flight?" she suggests, as a compromise. "Is there enough room for us to move seats?"

I glance around the cabin. "Yeah, there's only the four of us, you, security and a couple of crew."

I watch as Jess takes her seat, bouncing discreetly on it a couple of times, and then pokes the touch screen tv in front of her with interest. I remember being in awe of the jet the first time we flew on it, but the novelty soon wore off after the flights became more frequent and longer in duration.