London Bound: New Adult Romance (Chase Brothers) (28 page)

Her mother hung up on her.

Too shocked to move, Abbie sat starring at her wall of photos from home. So that was it. She was completely on her own.

Tamsin put a hand on her knee. “You and I are going to discuss your secrecy later. Much later. Right now, you need a hug and some reinforcements.”

Frozen with shock, Abbie let her friend drag her into a hug. Well, she’d wanted her freedom. Now she had it.

An hour later, she was getting the third degree.

“Shit, Abbie, when were you going to tell us?” Sophie had wasted no time. She’d barged into the front door five minutes after Abbie had gotten off the phone.

Abbie tucked her knees under her as she looked up at Sophie and Tamsin, both pacing the length of their living room. “I don’t know. Never maybe.”

Tamsin stamped her foot. “If there was ever a reason to not keep something secret. And I know you were going through stuff with Evan, but you should have told us. We never would have let you stay with him.”

Sophie nodded in agreement. “I mean we could have helped you.”

“I was ashamed and afraid. I believed him when he said no one else would want me. When he said it was my fault, he lost his temper. I was beyond anybody’s help. Even yours.” She shook her head. “But you know what? We’ll deal with my psycho ex later. I can’t deal with the dark and scary right now. Can we talk about how the fuck Alexi is a Royal? He’s just a guy.”

Sophie looked down. “I’m sorry, sweetie. It never even occurred to me to mention it. He’s one of the distant cousins. You would never know, though. He keeps things pretty private and sheltered.”

Abbie stared at her friend. “That would have been some good information to have.”

“Honestly, I didn’t know myself. Max dropped that tidbit on me the night of Lex’s party. I didn’t think it was important. How was I supposed to know you’d end up secretly dating him?” Annoyance slipped into Sophie’s voice.

“I’m sorry, guys, but honestly, I can’t take it today. You can yell tomorrow. Tonight, I have to figure out what the fuck I’m going to do. And while we’re on the what the fuck questions—he’s fucking engaged?”

Sophie winced. “I had heard that was a possibility. More like a rumor. Lex and Gemma have been together forever. Most people just assumed that if they weren’t already engaged, that it would only be a matter of time.”

Abbie’s stomach rolled. “But he told me they were just friends.”

Sophie and Tamsin glanced at each other. Sophie’s voice was soft when she finally spoke. “No, honey. They are absolutely together. Max confirmed it. I—I’m so sorry.”

She was going to be sick. All over Tamsin’s pretty hardwood floors.
No. You are a survivor. You didn’t survive Evan just to have this asshole kill you. Focus.

Abbie shook her head. “Okay. I’ll deal with it later. Right now, priority number one is what the fuck I’m going to do about school? I’m fine for the rest of the term, but if I’m to stay here, I need to come up with cash quickly.”

“Obviously you need a job,” Tamsin squeaked, still miffed about not being included on the Lex secret.

“No shit, Tams. What do you think I’ve been trying to secure for the past month?”

Tamsin winced. “Okay, sorry. I’m sort of in uber bitch drive at the moment. Lex, that asshole Evan. I’m going to kill him when I see him, by the way.” She shook her head. “I wish you had told us.”

Abbie sighed. “I’m sorry for all of it. I thought I was doing the best thing. I’m a thousand times sorry for not telling you. But I honestly just needed time.”

Sophie sashayed over and plopped down on the settee next to her. “Okay. Now that we’ve established you’re sorry and that you won’t keep secrets from your besties anymore, and that we’ll obviously get the juicy details from you later, let’s work on the main issue.”

Abbie sighed. “You know anyone who wants to give me a job?”

Sophie shrugged. “I know lots of artists, darling. One of them has to be looking for a muse.”

Abbie’s heart sank. “I meant like a real paying job, Soph.”

Her friend nodded. “You’d be surprised. I was the muse for a fabulous painter last year, and I earned two thousand quid for the three weeks.”

As intriguing as that sounded, Abbie had a feeling that being a muse might require something that made her all kinds of uncomfortable. Like naked uncomfortable. Besides, she needed to depend on herself. Counting on others, no matter how well intentioned, was likely a bad call. It had already gotten her in trouble with school and with her family. “It’s okay. I’ll figure it out.”

Tamsin ran a hand through her hair. “Well I might be able to get you a job at the PR firm. You’ll likely just need a letter of recommendation.”

Abbie wanted to hug Tamsin for thinking of her, but she needed to be available to do her class assignments during most daylight hours, so a day job wasn’t going to work out well.

“Hello, sorry to harp, but can we get back to the larger problem of Lex and how you ended up in
OK
magazine?” Sophie interjected. “What are you going to do about him?”

Abbie’s stomach rolled. Oh yeah him.
The liar.
Why the hell was she surprised that he’d hidden some key details about himself? Just like Evan.

“He lied about who he was. About who he was going to marry. About everything. I have no idea who he is. All I know is that the sex is good.” Okay, not entirely true. She also knew that when she was with him, she felt truly alive. But that didn’t matter now.

Chapter 28

Abbie’s phone rang, and she popped her head out of the covers to glare at it. Sophie brought it over for her.

“Doesn’t say a name, only a number.”

“What’s the number?” Abbie grumbled.

Sophie rattled off the digits, and Abbie shook her head. “Nope, that’s Alexi.”

Sophie pressed ignore, then turned it off. “There that’s better. Safer if you don’t have to hear it ring.”

Tamsin brought some tea over and set it down on the coffee table. “I don’t know, guys. I mean, he’s a first class wanker, but perhaps she should hear him out.”

Sophie scowled. “Even if she does eventually decide to take him back, she can’t just talk to him right away. That looks desperate. She’s going to have to make him beg for it. It’s the only way he’ll learn.”

“Tams, I don’t get it. You had such a hard line with Evan.”

“That’s because I know how much you gave up with Evan. Don’t get me wrong. I liked the guy enough when you were together, and you seemed happy with him, but as time wore on, you were more like a shell of yourself. And now that I know what you were going through, I shudder to think of what you were really going through that I didn’t see.” She sighed. “But with Lex, you’ve been bubbly these last few weeks. Happy, despite all the crazy and the stress. Granted, I thought it was your hot professor, but all I’m saying is, you’ve been happy. When you’re happy, I can be lenient.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not happy anymore, am I?” Abbie grabbed a tissue and blew her nose, then dropped the tissue in the wastebasket the girls had left by the couch for her. “I mean, I thought I was falling for this guy.” She sat up, dragging the duvet around her so no part of her skin was exposed to the chilly air. “I’ve never felt as…combustive as I have with Alexi.”

“Ah, passion. There’s no real substitute for it, is there?” muttered Sophie. Her expression was contemplative. “I have to ask though, what do you really know about him besides how great he is in bed—which I want to hear all about by the way. He’s been friends with Max for years, but he’s really private. Beyond surface stuff, I haven’t ever gotten much.”

Tamsin frowned. “Sophie has a point. I hate to say it. I mean he’s hot, and I’m sure you guys have had your, erm, moments, but in that deep connection way, have you actually talked about anything real? Did he tell you anything about himself?”

Abbie’s head throbbed. She racked her brain, thinking back to their earlier conversations. They’d talked about his parents, his brother, about his dreams. But basic stuff, she didn’t know—like that he had a fiancée. Or where he worked exactly. Or what he did. Or what he spent his spare time doing. He’d mentioned parental angst, but again, had never gone into detail. Instead, he’d listened to her, prodding for more information about her. Shit. Sophie was right. She was in love with the way he made her feel.
Not
with the guy.

And while Abbie was in no mood for company, Tamsin and Sophie insisted. Granted, when Sophie had tried to pop out to the corner shop, she’d been met by a hoard of paparazzi on the front steps. They both declared that Abbie needed to stay somewhere calm until the storm blew over.

In just over an hour they had her safely ensconced in Max’s house, far away from the ringing home line and the buzzing of the door. Sophie had gone on a full reconnaissance mission, scouting down the street to make sure Lex wasn’t lurking, waiting to try to talk to Abbie. Abbie had tried to tell them he wouldn’t bother, but neither one listened as they shuffled her through the back door and into Sophie’s car.

Now as she sat huddled between Tamsin and Jasper, she watched the parade of model boys flit around the house in various stages of undress. Now she understood why Sophie was never in their flat. Hell,
she
never wanted to leave this magical land of hot men.

All the guys, Jasper especially, were surprisingly sweet. Oh, he still flirted, but he toned down his more outrageous tendencies. Though, his flirting made her feel somewhat normal.

Max was the consummate host. Told her to think of the house as hers. Whatever she needed, all she had to do was ask. Abbie felt like she’d been enveloped into a large rag-tag family. There were two new models renting rooms as well. Even though they didn’t know her, they went out of their way to make her comfortable.

When Jasper headed out that night, he told her to take his room as he wouldn’t be back till the morning.

“Oh, no, I couldn’t. The couch is fine.”

He laughed. “Look, the sheets are clean and it makes me smile thinking of you in my bed.”

She just rolled her eyes.
Shameless
. “No really.”

“I insist. You can sleep on the couch if you want, but honestly, the bed is more comfortable.”

“Okay, I’ll think about it.”

Sophie took Jasper’s spot, flanking her. “Honestly, Abbie, don’t beat yourself up over this. How were you supposed to know all this?”

“And he did like you.
Does
, like you,” Tamsin amended quickly.

“I’m not so sure about that. I just want to forget I ever met him. You see what they’re saying in the papers. That I broke up him and Gemma. That
I’m
the other woman.
He
did that to me. Humiliated me in public.”

Sophie nodded sympathetically. Tamsin nodded too, but her expression held a note of reservation.

“I still need to figure out what I’m going to do about a job. I’ve been searching the campus and still nothing. I’m going to need to take it off campus. Problem is, no part time job will really do the trick.

Angel trotted down the stairs. With his deeply tanned skin, sandy brown hair, bright green eyes, and killer angular face, not to mention ripped shirtless body, Abbie had no problem seeing why he was a model. There would probably be millions of women willing to pay to have him walk around their houses in various stages of undress.

When he spoke, his voice was heavily accented. He sounded Middle Eastern, maybe Israeli. “You’re a photographer, right?”

She nodded slowly. “Yeah.”

“Well, I need some of my headshots redone, as I’m looking for a new agency. Would you think about doing them?”

Abbie smiled. Taking some pictures might help keep her mind occupied. “Yeah, sure. When do you need them by?”

“End of next week would be great. I could pay you two hundred pounds. I’d planned to shell out a lot more for them, so now it’s a win win.”

She perked up. “Wait, you’d be paying me?”

He grinned, and she was so temporarily blinded by his sheer beauty that she could only stare, slack jawed.”

“Well yeah. Didn’t you just say you needed a job?”

“Yes, but—”

“Max said to give you whatever you wanted. You want a job, you have one. I’ll check with some of the other models I know. Some actors too. Everyone needs a good photographer.”

Abbie blinked at him. “How do you know I’m any good?”

He nodded toward Sophie. “Sophie brought home that one you’d taken in Brixton with the kids krumping. It’s pretty killer.” He shrugged. “Besides, it’s good karma to help out a beautiful girl. Just tell me anything else you need, and it’s yours.” His smile was just this side of interested and super sexy as he headed into the kitchen.

Something told her he was offering her more than just a job. But unfortunately, he didn’t do it for her. It didn’t matter how pretty he was.

After he vanished down the back stairs to the kitchen, she and Tamsin stared agog at Sophie.

“Did he just offer to sleep with you to make you feel better?” Tamsin squeaked.

Abbie stared after him. “I’m not sure.”

Sophie shrugged. “Couldn’t hurt. Best way to get over someone, and all that.”