Trace of Innocence | Sweet and Sour (Book 4)

Chapter 75

(No Control | Holding Me Ransom - 75 - This Can't Be Over Now)

I wake up from my nap an hour later with an uncomfortably full bladder and a dry mouth. I heave myself off my sun lounger, grab my phone and head back to my cabin to use the bathroom and freshen up. 

I've just stepped out of the shower, tied a towel round my waist and inspected my tanned skin when I hear my phone ring. It's Jess, and oddly it's not a facetime call, it's just a regular call.

"Hi baby," I answer.

"Hi," she says, her voice high and bright.

"Good day?"

"No, not really." 

She doesn't elaborate, and sounds annoyed.

"Oh, why?" I ask. "What happened?"

"Well, everything was fine until we arrived back at the cabin and my friends started looking on social media," she says curtly. I wait for more information, but none is forthcoming.

"OK," I reply slowly, hoping this will encourage her to enlighten me, but I'm met with silence. "Hello?" I prompt.

"Hello?" she echoes.

"Are you still there? You've gone quiet."

She doesn't answer. I'm so confused.

"Jess?"

"I'm here," she mumbles, and her voice sounds strained, like she's about to cry.

"What's the matter?" I ask softly.

"I'm assuming you haven't been on social media lately then?" she chokes.

Oh God. Not this again.

"No," I sigh. "What are they saying now?"

"It's not what they're saying. It's the pictures they're printing! You and Kendall... on the boat..."

I should have known this would bother her. She isn't made of stone, after all. After everything that happened with Sara and Nadine in the summer I should have known this would hurt her all over again.

"Jess," I begin gently. "I'm so sorry. Please don't be upset by the stuff you see. Look at all the stupid rumours about me and Louis. People will read into every look, every gesture, every move we make, and interpret it how they want."

"And what about a kiss?" she asks, her voice cracking with emotion. "How do people interpret that?"

"A kiss?" I repeat. "What do you mean?"

"I mean the pictures that are currently circulating the whole damn world of you and Kendall Jenner lying half naked, smooching on the deck of a boat in the Caribbean!" she trills in a rush, as though it has taken forcible effort to keep this inside until now.

It takes a second or two for this information to sink in. "What?!" I scoff.

"You heard me right," she says, her tone abrupt.

"I heard you, but I don't understand," I frown, nonplussed. "I haven't been smooching with anyone on the deck of any boat. How could you think that?"

"Because there are pictures of you doing it!" she shrieks, her voice shaking.

I am now completely confounded. "Jess... I'm completely confused! I don't know what pictures you're talking about!"

"So you weren't cuddled up with Kendall today, wearing next to nothing?" she demands.

Ah, so the paps have printed pictures from this afternoon. I should have known. And now I think about it, she should have a little more faith in me.