Billion Dollar Boyfriend (Celebrity Love)

Chapter Seventeen

Shelby woke at dawn on Tuesday morning, alone and groggy in her London hotel room. The coffee maker gleamed like a beacon of light from a console in the corner, but the five steps it would take to get there and turn it on were a marathon in her mind.

The jet lag is real, she thought, rubbing her eyes.

It had been a little less than twenty-four hours since she'd left Los Angeles, first traveling from LAX to Newark airport in New Jersey, and then on to Heathrow after a layover. She had landed around eighty-thirty on Monday night, London time, and her last reserves of energy had been depleted after going through customs and getting from the airport to her hotel. She'd fallen asleep almost instantly after brushing her teeth, connecting her phone to the hotel's Wi-Fi, and crawling into bed.

"It can't be time to get up yet," she mumbled, rolling over on her side to look at the clock on the bedside table. It was barely five in the morning and it felt like it, even if it was only nine o'clock on Monday night back in L.A.

While she longed to stay huddled under the duvet, Shelby knew she was up against the clock this morning, and she could already hear the sounds of a city beginning to greet the day. A horn honked from the street below, and a police siren wailed from somewhere in the distance.

Her plan was to stop Aiden outside of the courthouse today, before he went inside. It would be a lot more difficult for him to duck her questions if she surprised him in person and asked to meet up this evening, once court had adjourned.

She reached for her phone out of habit, wondering if he'd texted or called. There was a message on the screen, but not from him—it was one Emily had sent several hours earlier.

Checking in. It's been a couple of days. Did you book a vacation?

Shelby debated if she should answer with the truth. She had a feeling that hopping a flight to London and ambushing Aiden wasn't what Emily had meant by planning a getaway or focusing on some self-care.

Still, she was here by herself, an ocean away from home. Emily should probably know where she was in case of an emergency, and it would save her from trying to explain her way out of a half-truth later on. Since it was midnight in New York and the message had been sent a while ago, Emily might have already gone to bed, anyway. With any luck, she wouldn't see her reply for a few hours.

I'm in London. Don't yell at me. Shelby sent the text.

Emily responded less than a minute later. You're in London? Are you with Aiden?

That answered if she was awake or not. Shelby pictured her best friend sitting up straight on high alert. She prayed Emily wouldn't immediately blurt the news out to Raine, in case he tried to warn Aiden.

Not exactly, Shelby typed. I'm staying somewhere swanky, though. Why aren't you asleep? Don't you have a call time in the morning?

Her phone chimed as a reply appeared on the screen. It's not until 10. I'd call you, but I don't know how much the roaming is.

Shelby hesitated. She knew if Emily called her now, she'd grill her about her plans for the day. She could skirt around the truth, but Emily was almost eerily good at reading into her voice and could usually tell when she was withholding information.

I added an international plan before leaving L.A., but I forgot to get an adapter for my charger and my battery is at less than half-charge right now. I'm going to go see some sights today. Try me in my room later if you want to. +44 20 5511 1155, and ask for Room 1121.

She crossed her fingers, hoping Emily would buy it. The part about forgetting to get an adapter was true, and her phone battery really was more than half-drained. If all went well, though, the only sights she would be seeing were the courthouse, Aiden's face when she confronted him, and then wherever they went next to talk about what she knew.