No Control | Holding Me Ransom (Book 2)

81 - There's Nothing I'm Running From

I didn't bother to ring Karen back. I decided she could wait, and called Callie instead and asked her to meet me on Oxford Street, as I needed to find a present for Harry's birthday. We met in the Topshop café at midday, and spent the first hour discussing the article about Harry and Pandora over a latte.

"Have you heard from her?" Callie asked, scooping froth from the top of her drink delicately onto her spoon.

"Who, Pandora?" I asked incredulously, and she nodded. "No - why would I?"

"I thought she might have apologised or something," she shrugged. "I mean, Kendall's going to, isn't she?" (I had already told her about Kendall's discomfort over the now-named Yacht of Despair.)

"Pandora has nothing to apologise for," I reasoned. "Neither does Kendall, really. They're just caught up in the whole media charade."

"I can tell you're not happy about it," Callie challenged, raising an eyebrow at me knowingly. "Look at the expression on your face. You look like a bulldog chewing a wasp."

She cackled as I flicked an empty sugar sachet at her and then looked down at my coffee with a sigh.

"Spill," she demanded, sitting up straight. "Something's on your mind. What is it?"

I hesitated before answering. "This whole Pandora episode bothered me more than it should," I sighed. "I'm inwardly seething every time I think about it, but I can't work out why."

"Well you're probably at the end of your tether," she offered. "It's the latest in a long line of this type of story. I'm not having a dig!" she added hastily, holding both hands up in surrender as I frowned at her impatiently. "I promise! I just mean, the constant bullshit is bound to take its toll on you eventually. You're only human, babe. You're not Superwoman."

"I'd love to get my hands on the source who fed Dan Wootton the story," I glowered, and she gave me a confused look.

"What do you mean, fed him the story?"

"It said in the article there was a source," I said, struggling to keep my voice level, but she just looked at me impassively.

"Um, Jess, I know I'm not as experienced as you when it comes to dealing with this stuff, but doesn't it always say that, when stories like this are leaked? I thought it was just something they put in to make it sound plausible. I mean, Dan Wootton could email himself and call it a source, if he wanted to."

"So you don't think anyone told the press?" I asked her.

"Well, not unless it was one of Pandora's friends," she replied. "But why would they bother? Why would anyone bother?"

This made sense.

"Would Karen know?" Callie asked. "Harry's manager? I reckon she could find out the source, if there really was one. She seems to be able to part the fucking Red Sea, if she's in the right mood. Why don't you ring her and ask her?"

"That's not a bad idea," I mused, thinking back to Karen's voicemail from earlier. "I think I just might do that."

I beamed at Callie and she clinked her latte glass against mine with a look of satisfaction and triumph.

"So do you have any ideas for what to get Harry for his birthday?" she asked, and I grimaced.

"Not really. He's so bloody hard to buy for, and I'm broke thanks to Christmas."

"You did sort of go overboard with the reckless spending," she agreed.

"Well I had to get him something good, didn't I?" I defended. "Especially after your tip off. Thanks for that, by the way. I owe you one."