No Control | Holding Me Ransom (Book 2)

71 - Bringing My Demons Out

I finished work the following Friday for Christmas, and spent Saturday in bed nursing a terrific hangover. I hadn't recovered properly until the Sunday afternoon, and ended up having to miss a night out with Gemma, Lottie, Lou Teasdale and Liam's ex-girlfriend Sophia Smith. (Gemma had invited me to join them, and had I not been afraid of throwing up at the first sniff of alcohol, I would have excitedly accepted.)

Harry insisted on picking me up at midday on Sunday and taking me for lunch in the pub next to his house in Hampstead. The place was packed, but the waitress gave Harry a knowing nod when we walked in, and seated us in a quiet corner away from prying eyes. He ordered a bottle of red wine, and sat back in his chair playing with a beer mat while I browsed the menu.

"Have you already decided?" I asked, looking up to catch him watching me with a small smile on his lips.

"Um, yeah, I'll have the roast dinner," he said distractedly.

"Is it good? Have you had it before?" I asked.

"Yeah, all the food's good here," he nodded. "What are you having?"

"Well, since you recommend it I think I'll go with the roast too," I said, closing my menu and taking a tentative sniff of my wine. I risked a sip, and it was so delicious I couldn't have baulked at it no matter how hungover I was.

"Still delicate?" Harry grinned.

"No," I said indignantly. 

"Should think not, you lightweight. It was almost forty eight hours ago," he teased.

"At least I'm a cheap date," I teased back. "A couple of glasses and I'm anyone's. Well, not quite anyone's," I added hastily as he raised an eyebrow.

"I hope not. I'm not sharing you," he said, reaching across the table to stroke my hand softly, and I smiled shyly at him. 

The waitress arrived to take our orders, and then collected our menus and disappeared.

"So are you looking forward to your holiday?" I asked. 

"Yeah," he said, although his voice lacked enthusiasm. "I'm a bit nervous to be honest. I'll be glad when the talks with Irving and Jeff are done and dusted. I'm hoping we can get those sorted as soon as possible so I can relax. And Kendall's been giving me non stop abuse since she confirmed she was coming too. Her boyfriend can't join us, so no doubt she'll spend all her time taking the piss out of me."

"I didn't know she had a boyfriend," I mused.

"That's because she's kept it under wraps and out of the public eye," Harry explained. "He's a basketball player - Jordan Clarkson. But as soon as the media gets wind of it, it will be front page news, and they're trying to take things slowly. They haven't been together long and so far no one has a clue about their relationship. She's a bit disappointed you're not coming, actually. I think she was hoping for a girl to hang around with, as Glenne will probably be with Jeff the whole time."

I felt rather flattered by this, as I had only met Kendall properly once, but presumed that Harry must have talked about me a lot if she was eager to get to know me. 

"Are you looking forward to your holiday?" he asked. 

"Yes and no," I admitted. "I know it will be great fun but I also know I'm going to miss you like crazy the whole time I'm away."

"We can facetime," he said, lacing his fingers into mine. "And ring, and text. I'm going to miss you too. Which is why I want to spend as much time with you as I can this week, before I go. Do you have any plans?"

"Nothing concrete," I shrugged. "I was sort of waiting to see what you were doing, and I can fit in with whatever."

Harry pulled his phone out of his pocket and opened up his calendar, and while we waited for our meals to arrive we discussed the coming week and how we would fit in seeing our families. We had already decided we would be spending Christmas Day in Holmes Chapel, and after a quick call to my parents we arranged to drive up to see them the following day, spend two nights there and head up Anne and Robin's on the twenty-third.