Page 49 of Suddenly Desired
“I was there,” David said. “I was there when Blake confronted Michelle earlier.”
“And?” said Agnes.
“And I totally agree,” David said. “Michelle is innocent.”
Chapter 24
ELLIE
Ellie stood across the street from Heartbook’s headquarters, her fingers gripping the strap of her bag as if it were a lifeline. She’d expected chaos, but this was on another level. A wall of reporters clustered around the building’s main entrance, cameras flashing like angry fireflies. Security guards were frantically trying to hold them back, and above the din, Ellie could hear shouted questions about Blake. There were plenty of spectators there too. The atmosphere felt intimidating, almost hostile.
Her stomach clenched. The whole scene felt volatile, like a powder keg on the verge of detonation. But she didn’t have time for hesitation. Blake was in there, alone, and she had information that could change everything. The realisation of who she’d seen had sent a surge of determination through her veins. She had to get to him.
But how?
Ellie’s gaze darted to the front doors, where the press had gathered like piranhas in a feeding frenzy. The rest of the building was impenetrable, a fortress of steel and glass, so she was going to have to go through the front doors if she was getting inside. Then it struck her — maybe she could use the infamy of the last few hours to help her get to Blake. If the press loved anything, it was a good story, regardless of the truth of it.
“Excuse me!” She pushed her way between a man with his phone held in the air, trying to get video of the doors, and a woman using hers as a Dictaphone. “I need to get through. Blake’s expecting me.”
As she’d predicted, the noise around her rose to deafening levels as the reporters got wind of what she was saying. Soon the cries of recognition filled the air.
“It’s the girl from the video,” one shouted.
“She’s not his new girlfriend, surely,” called another, as though Ellie wasn’t standing right next to him.
“Well, she’s an idiot if she is,” cried a third. “Hope he treats her better than he does the women in his family.”
Ellie wondered if this was how Blake felt all the time. As though he was fair game for people to talk about as they wished. She didn’t like it. And she didn’t like the idea of Blake having to deal with it, either. The reporters crowded her, shoving their phones and mics into her face.
“Hey, you. Does Blake make you do all his washing?”
“Does he chain you to the kitchen sink?”
“Are you his sex slave?”
Sex slave? Seriously?The idea burrowed a little too deep in Ellie’s mind and she felt her cheeks heat. Might not be such a bad thing. Right?
She shoved her chin down and pushed her way through the throng.No commentwas on the tip of her tongue, but she didn’t know if that was something real people said, not just TV people, so she stayed quiet. Reaching the doors to the lobby, Ellie looked up at one of the burly doormen that hadn’t been here when she’d arrived for her interview, and gave him a pleading smile.
“Blake’s expecting me,” she said, sternly.
The doorman raised a brow at her and shrugged his shoulders, which was surprising, given how muscular they were. Ellie half expected them to push up his cheeks at the same time. His equally muscular mate smacked him on the chest with sausage-shaped fingers and laughed. “It’s Blake’s new girl,” he shouted over the chaos. “I recognise her from the press. Let her in.”
“Welcome to the fun house.” The doorman waved Ellie inside. “They’re in the boardroom.”
The crowds were thinner in the lobby, most of the press being unable to get past the bouncers. The ones who had been allowed in were better behaved, although the receptionist still looked like she was being harassed from every angle possible. Her neatly piled hair had drooped to straggles around her face.
Ellie approached the desk, her heart pounding, but her voice steady. “Hi, I’m here to see Blake Fielding.”
The receptionist glanced up briefly from her computer, and carried on typing and talking to someone on the phone at the same time. “He’s in a meeting. Do you have an appointment?”
Ellie hesitated, not sure if that was directed at her or the person on the other end of the phone conversation. “He’s expecting me.”
The lie slipped off her tongue a little easier this time.
The receptionist just rolled her eyes and went back to shouting “No comment” down her headset.
“Oh,” Ellie said, her surprise that it was actually a thing overshadowing the rudeness of the receptionist. “Don’t worry, I’ll make my own way up.”
