Page 117 of I Knew You Were Trouble

‘I trusted you,’ he murmurs.

I want to go to him but there’s a commotion outside. Voices. Shouting. Aidan’s eyes snap up and the next thing I know he’s pushed past me.

I follow him out of the door, down the hotel corridor. Aidan breaks into a run. I come to a halt, horrified at the scene playing out at the other end. Duncan is on top of Miller, landing blows with his fists against Miller’s face.

‘…You’re a prick! You’re a lowlife scum!’ he is growling, Miller trying to cover his face with his arms.

Cal launches himself at Duncan, with Aidan arriving in time to help Cal drag the Scotsman off. Bianca lets out a cry of dismay as Miller twists, landing a lightning-fast punch to Duncan’s nose, sending him flying backwards, almost careering into me. Cal and J.B. yank Miller backwards. Aidan drags Duncan up by his shirt collar and slams him against the opposite wall, right beside me. Aidan then shoves Duncan away in revulsion. Duncan collapses to the carpet. I crouch down to see blood gush out of his nose.

Miller has got to his feet, hands clutching his face, J.B. and Cal having to hold him back, Ravi behind them, shock etched into his features. ‘She practically threw myself at me,’ Miller snarls in a raised voice, lunging back at Duncan. ‘What did you expect me to do? You’re the goddamn psycho.’

Bodhi arrives on the scene with Ziggy.

‘WHAT THE EFFING HELL IS GOING ON HERE?’ Ziggy roars, still in his pyjamas. ‘Everybody, back in your rooms!’

‘Zig, I need to talk to you,’ Aidan breathes. ‘Right now.’

‘In a minute!’ Ziggy snaps. ‘Bodhi, take Miller to the emergency room. He’s going to need that seeing to. The last thing we need is a broken bloody nose.’ He thrusts a bony finger at me. ‘You, gethimout of here. You two are not my responsibility.’

Shaking, I help Duncan to his feet.

‘Back to your rooms, NOW!’ Ziggy thunders again, and the others do as they’re told, shrinking away from the corridor. Everyone except Aidan.

‘Come on, we need to go,’ I whisper at Duncan, edging him back towards my room.

Chapter Thirty-One

At eight a.m., I stare from my window, clutching a steaming cup of coffee. I didn’t sleep the whole night: a guilty, hollow feeling in my stomach, making me nauseous. I showered early, switching on the TV for a distraction, then switching it off again, pacing to the window and back. I considered sending Aidan a message to his phone, asking to talk, but in the end, my fingers only hovered over the keyboard, my brain at a loss as to what to say after the events in the night.

I’m still staring when there is a knock at my door. I guess it’s either Meredith or Duncan, the only two people in the world who are probably still speaking to me. But when I open it, Ziggy is standing there with Aidan, who looks directly at the floor, hands in the pockets of the American-style varsity jacket he’s wearing, on top of the same clothes from last night.

‘Good morning, Lexi,’ Ziggy says curtly. ‘We need to have a chat.’

‘Come in,’ I manage, moving back inside, willing Aidan to look my way. His presence sends my heartbeat into overdrive.

‘First things first,’ Ziggy says, once they are both inside and the door is closed. ‘You’ll be pleased to hear that Miller’s nose is not broken, so we’ll not be pressing charges after last night. On the other hand, he’s got a bruise the size of bloody Iceland and we’re gonna have to use a helluva lot of make-up to have him performance-ready for the show tomorrow night.’

I swallow tightly, giving a single nod of acknowledgment.

‘Secondly,’ Ziggy says. ‘Aidey filled me in on what you’ve been up to with the hidden cameras. Now, I don’t wanna get the lawyers involved, so you’ll be returning to me any footage that you took without specified consent, understood?’

I stand my ground. He knows I don’t agree, but my tears expose my devastation at the turn of events.

‘Your time here is up, Lexi,’ he continues. ‘I can only assume you have enough legitimate footage to turn it all into some bullshit documentary for Silverpix, so that’s what you’re gonna do. I want you and that cameraman of yours out of this hotel and away from this tour as fast as humanly possible.’

I open my mouth to speak, but no sounds come. My cheeks are wet. ‘Aidan,’ I whisper, hoping he will deign to look at me. When he does, I can see that he hasn’t slept either, the fury welling in his eyes as raw as it had been last night.

‘Wish we could have parted ways under better circumstances, Lexi, but there it is,’ Ziggy says.

I look at Aidan. A muscle pulses in his jaw.

‘Take your things and go,’ he says in a low tone, then turns on his heel and walks out of the door. He doesn’t look back, his lack of acknowledgement another stab-wound to my gut.

‘He’s very protective of them all, you know,’ Ziggy murmurs, looking back at the closing door. ‘It’s probably for the best.’

When Ziggy is gone too, I slump down on the bed. The look on Aidan’s face told me that now isn’t the time to race down the corridor after him, which is all that I want to do, so I sit and cry. When I’ve composed myself, I message Duncan and Meredith, asking them both to come to my room.

On seeing Duncan’s swollen lip and nose, Meredith looks horrified. He sits motionless on a chair in the corner of my room, not saying a word, a scowl on his face.

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