Birds in Gilded Cages

Chapter 5-Niall

Chapter 5-Niall

Three weeks later Louis clicked Send on what was probably his hundredth email of the day and sat back on his chair, swivelling it round so that he could look out through his office’s floor-to-ceiling windows at the skyscrapers of London’s financial district. God, he was bored.  But as Vice-President and heir of TommoCor this would be his job for life-Holding down the fort while his father was away, dealing with contracts he had no interest in, chairing meetings he didn’t quite understand, pushing paper and answering emails until his head ached and he wanted to scream in frustration. This WASN’T him. He remembered when he used to have dreams of drama school...

An irritating buzzing noise cut through his thoughts and he reached for the phone.

“Hello?”

“Your fiancé is on line one Sir.”

He sighed.  Eleanor had been phoning every day with some new wedding idea and it was really beginning to wear him down. But every tinge of irritation he felt was softened by guilt. As far as she knew, she was marrying a man who loved her, having her dream wedding-He couldn’t hate her for being caught up in the lie. “Put her through please. Thanks Claire.”

“Hello? Louis?”

“Hi El. What is it now? Flowers? Favours? Can’t get the right colour of chair backs?”

He heard her sigh down the phone. “I wish. We got a call from the New York office, one of our major clients over there is threatening to pull out…And Daddy asked me to fly there and see if I could smooth things over. Baby I’m so so sorry, I know we were supposed to look at venues this weekend, but this contract is worth big money and they like me…I can’t let Daddy down.”

“It’s ok sweetheart.” He tried to sound upset while inside he was elated. “I’ll miss you…But I get it, you’re doing it for your dad. I can change the appointments. We’ll go next weekend.”

“Oh you’re such an angel! What did I do to deserve you?!  Also, since I’m headed to Manhattan, I was thinking…maybe…of calling into Vera Wang for my dress? My mum’s going to come!” She was almost squealing with excitement.

“Brilliant! Make it into a girly weekend! You might as well!”

“Exactly…” There was a long pause, then…”I can’t wait to marry you Louis Tomlinson.”

“I can’t wait to marry you Eleanor Caldor.” The lie slipped out so easily it shocked him.

“Right, I have to go, but I’ll see you when I get back. Love you, ‘bye.”

“’Bye.” He hung up, smiling to himself. Eleanor in New York, his father in Japan…He had a whole weekend of freedom-A rare and beautiful thing.  And he knew exactly where he was going to spend it; Back in Donny, surrounded by his family.  He reached into his pocket for his mobile phone…

A small rectangle of cardboard fluttered to the floor. He stooped to pick it up, turning it over and over in his fingers as he took in the caged bird logo, light flashing off the gilt lettering…

The Bird Cage Hotel

Of course he’d thought about that wild-haired boy…In fact he couldn’t stop thinking about him.  He thought about him while he spent sleepless nights knocking back shot after shot of whiskey in the hope it would block out the nightmares; while he typed yet another email to some business contact of his father’s;…He thought about him when he was in bed with Eleanor, thought about the way his dark hair curled around his ears and brushed his shoulders, thought about his piercing green eyes fringed by long dark lashes, thought about his deep voice, thought about his honey skin, his narrow hips, the feel of his mouth- just so he could get hard enough to fuck her…He wanted to see him again…And now he had the freedom to…