Coffee, tea? Or me?

Part III

III

James walked out of the building and took a good look around but nothing caught his attention.

As he sat into his car, rubbing his face with his hands, his phone rang. Lucy's picture on the screen.

"Lucy," he answered on the first ring.

"Hey, sorry," she said, her voice soft.

"Where are you? Are you ok?" James' voice was low and hurried.

"Yes, I'm calling to tell you that I'm ok. Harriet's here with me. I need to be alone for a while, to think things through..."

James' heart skipped a beat at those words but he pushed the thought aside, Lucy's wellbeing his priority.

"Lucy, I saw the pictures. I'm sorry you had to go through that, why didn't you tell me?"

The girl was silent for a moment.

"What pictures?"

It was James' turn to be silent

"They were taken yesterday, at your place..." he said, cautious.

"Fuck, those are out too now!"

"You didn't know about the pictures?" he asked

"No, James. I didn't know about the bloody pictures. I guess I'll add that to the list!" Lucy was agitated, close to tears.

James tried his best to remain calm, he hated to see her like that but needed answers.

"Baby, what exactly is going on?"

He could hear Harriet say tell him, in the background, Lucy sniffed then talked.

"It was Sam, he gave my address to the press and put my phone number on Instagram and some of your fan pages and God news where else. I started to receive some nasty messages yesterday morning and it didn't stop, I left work early and when I got home I found that reporter waiting for me..."

James gave her some time to continue as she caught her breath in between sobs.

"It was just so overwhelming! I'm sorry I disappeared, I just need to be on my own. I know it's irrational but being with you right now could be a bit too much for me. I'm so sorry James, I'm really trying to ignore everything but I can't". And she started to cry again.

"Ssh baby, don't cry. It's ok, don't think about me, you need to look after yourself now! I'll take care of the pictures, you take care of yourself. Please get a new number and stop reading those messages, we both know they're not true! Please don't fall into his mind games again..." He begged her.

Lucy's voice was calmer again and she managed to talk.

"Thank you! I promise I'll get my shit together and get back to you as soon as possible. I will call you when I get a new number and if you don't hear from me, just know that I'm safe". And she hung up.

James hit the steering wheel hard with his hands and swore loudly, this was getting out of control. He couldn't help but feel responsible for part of it, if he hadn't hit Sam maybe all this could have been avoided, he should have let her handle the situations as asked. The thought of Lucy's ex brought a wave of anger through him and his hands automatically closed in fists, he would have paid good money to have him there right now and beat his oversized ego out of that smug face.

He took a deep calming breath and called his agent as he started the car and explained the situation.

"Any chance you can run the pictures with the legal team and see if they can have them removed?" James asked.