No Control | Holding Me Ransom (Book 2)

54 - Why Don't We Take Just A Little More Time

We had just turned off the motorway at the junction for Holmes Chapel when the dashboard lit up with a phone call from Karen. Harry raised his eyebrows at me briefly, and then answered it.

"There's a rumour flying around Twitter," she began, without any pleasantries.

"No way!" Harry gasped immediately. "About me? Well, this has never happened before."

There was a stony silence. I covered my mouth with my hands to contain my giggles, and Harry grinned at me and opened his mouth in a silent squeal.

"Sarcasm doesn't suit you, Harry," Karen said dryly. "Am I to interpret from your tone that you know what the rumour may be?"

"Hmm," he said, thoughtfully, stroking his chin with one hand and raising one eyebrow, even though there was only me in the car. "I don't suppose... I bought some petrol at a garage! I bought some chewing gum! Wait - I've got a new jacket!"

"You've got a new girlfriend and you're taking her home to meet your family," Karen supplied in a monotone.

My stomach dropped. Harry frowned.

"What?" he asked, confused.

"You have apparently been spotted at a service station on the M6 Northbound with a girl. Holding hands."

Harry and I exchanged looks.

"Shit, really?" he said uncomfortably, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. "I didn't think we'd been seen. "

"So you were at a service station with a girl - Jess, I presume?"

"Yeah, we're on our way to my mum's," he replied.

"Well, the good news is there are no pictures to confirm it," she said briskly. "It's just a series of hysterical tweets from a couple of accounts so far. It hasn't really got off the ground and is unlikely to without photographic evidence. You know how sceptical your fans are of hoaxes."

My heart was pounding sickeningly and I wiped my palms on my leggings. Karen clearly wasn't impressed by this, and the last thing I wanted to do was get on the wrong side of her. Again. I wasn't sure if she'd forgiven me for ruining her suit that day in her office. Now didn't seem like a good time to ask.

"You don't seem particularly bothered," she said, in a tone that could have been mistaken for accusatory.

"Well, we have been talking about going public," Harry explained cautiously. "The service area was quiet, and we didn't think anyone was around."

"You didn't think anyone was around," Karen echoed slowly, her voice dripping with disbelief.

"Alright," Harry moaned exasperatedly. "We'll be more careful in future."

"I just don't want you to rush into this before you're both ready," she said, a little more kindly, and Harry and I exchanged another look. "And I would also appreciate being kept in the loop," she added, back to business again.

"Yeah, sorry," Harry said, looking a little abashed. "Duly noted."

"Good. Now what's this about buying petrol?" she asked as I opened up Twitter and searched for the aforementioned hysterical tweets. "Or a new jacket, or something?"

Harry quickly filled her in on the pap at the petrol station and then rung off.

"She didn't sound too pleased, did she?" I said, looking over at him.

"I think it was more because she didn't know we'd already talked about it, and she thought we'd be upset at being seen. And then she was annoyed because she was the last to know. She hates being out of the loop," he explained.