No Control | Holding Me Ransom (Book 2)

33 - Trying To Escape It

The silence in the room pounded in my ears. I stared at the closed door for a moment, but made no move to go after Harry. I imagined him making his way down the corridor, his head slightly bent forward, in his distinctive walk. The thought made my heart ache. I looked at the clock. It was quarter past seven. Adam would be arriving any moment. I needed to get a move on.

I grabbed my phone and my towel and went into the bathroom. I surveyed my reflection in the mirror: I looked horrific. I had no eye makeup left on; it was smudged down my cheeks. My eyes were pink and my entire face was red and blotchy.

I switched the shower on, got undressed and stood under the stream of water. I stared at the wall as I washed my hair and imagined Harry getting into his car and driving out of the car park, his lips pressed together in his usual way. I started to cry.

I rinsed the shampoo out of my hair and switched the water off. I watched it drain away, hot tears spilling down my cheeks, and squeezed the water out of my hair. I wrapped myself in a towel, my body shaking with sobs, and brushed the tangles out of my wet hair. I began to dry it in sections in front of the mirror, avoiding looking at my own face.

My phone rang. It was Adam. I picked it up.

"Hi," he said, cheerfully. "I've just arrived. What room number are you?"

"Um, thirty-two," I said, surprised at how normal my voice sounded, considering my heart felt like it had been smashed into a million pieces.

"OK great, I'll be up in a couple of minutes," he said.

"OK," I replied.

I cranked the heat setting up on the hair dryer and finished drying my hair, forcing myself to shut off my thoughts of Harry, and concentrated instead on the idea of Mexican food and cocktails. Cocktails seemed like a great idea right now. I wanted nothing more than to get smashed off my face and forget everything.

I had just pulled on a pair of skinny jeans and a sleeveless top when there was a light knock at the door. I slipped my heels on and walked around the bed to open it.

"Hi," Adam beamed, leaning forward to kiss me on the cheek. "You look amazing!" His eyes met mine and his face dropped. "Jess - are you OK? What's the matter?"

"Wha - nothing, I'm fine," I squeaked.

"You look like you've been crying," he said softly, his brow creased in concern. "What's happened?"

My ex-boyfriend, who I'm still in love with, just showed up out of the blue and explained what happened to make him cheat on me. Turns out he was set up by his psycho ex who wanted to split us up, and he's spent the last couple of months dealing with it on his own, along with the rest of his world falling apart around his ears, but he felt he couldn't tell me because he wanted to protect me. Turns out he loves me after all, although he made me think he didn't, but I've just sent him packing, hurting him further and probably compounding his belief that he can't trust anyone in this world apart from his own family.

"I got some shampoo in my eye," I lied, standing aside to let Adam in.

He walked into the room and set his bag down on the floor as I shut the door. He looked at me uncertainly.

"Both eyes?"

"Um, yeah!" I laughed, nervously. "I'm really clumsy!"

He looked like he didn't really believe me, but he obviously didn't want to push it.

"Do you think I have time for a shower?" he asked, a little awkwardly.

"Yeah, of course!" I chirped, brightly. "The restaurant isn't far from here. They won't mind if we're a couple of minutes late, I'm sure! I need to put some makeup on anyway."