Page 49 of Hollywood Games
‘It’s the spirits, they won’t let me sleep. He can talk to them and so can you.’
‘Me?’
‘Yes. They’re your ancestors,’ Kirsten replied accusingly. She didn’t wait for a response, but pulled him towards her room and in through the door. The room was blisteringly hot and Rory was glad he was still soaking wet. He stood, holding the bundle of wet towels in front of him as Kirsten clung to his arm and pointed a tremulous finger into the corner of the room. ‘There!’ she said weakly, her lower lip wobbling. ‘Tell her to go away. I need to sleep.’
Rory bit back a sigh. ‘Who can you see?’ he asked politely, as if asking her to pick someone out of a police line-up.
‘It’s the fifth Countess of Kinloch. She’s jealous of me.’ Kirsten pouted.
‘And what would you like me to say to her?’
Kirsten pressed herself against him. ‘I don’t know! Can’t you see her? His Holiness always knows what to say.’
Rory conjured a memory of being caught in a vicious firefight in Afghanistan. He wished with all his might he could find himself back there, instead of with a practically naked Hollywood star who could see dead people. He raised his arm towards the corner of the room and hoped to god no one was passing by her open door. ‘Go away, my lady, and leave Miss Bjorkstrom in peace.’
Kirsten looked at him. ‘Oh, my lord, you’ve worked miracles!’
Rory gently disengaged himself from her grasp. ‘If you would please excuse me, I need to change.’
Kirsten put her arms behind her back, thrusting her chest forward. ‘My lord… If there’s anything I can do to say thank you…’ She trailed off, chewing on her lower lip. Rory stumbled back against the doorframe and made a dash for freedom.
Out in the corridor, her door firmly closed behind him, he sunk his head to his chest and let out a sigh. He couldn’t wait for this to be over. He turned for the stairs and stopped. Standing on the top step, a half-empty bottle of wine dangling from his spindly fingers, stood Vlad. His eyes were half-closed with alcohol, but they flicked from Kirsten’s door to him, and his tongue darted out like a snake to lick at the edges of his beard. Rory’s stomach rolled. He walked purposefully past him and down the stairs. He’d meant to see if he could find Charlie, check in with him and talk to him about Vlad, but he didn’t want to take the risk of bumping into anyone else. Instead, he walked to the flat he’d shared with his mother to put the towels in the dryer and get a change of clothes. As he let himself in, he could hear voices in the living room. He tensed, his ears pricking up. There was a man in there.
He pushed open the door with a bang. Brad was sprawled out on one side of the sofa, his legs spread, his necktie undone, looking at Barbara’s bottom as she bent over to pour a tumbler of whisky.
His mother jumped when she saw him, and dropped the bottle on the metal tray with a crash.
Brad leapt up. ‘Hey, man, how’s Zoe? Want a drink?’
Rory stood, trying to frame a reaction that was not straight from the Captain Caveman school of diplomacy.
‘She’s sleeping,’ he eventually said. ‘I just came to get some clothes.’
His mother’s gaze was cool and challenging, as if daring him to make a scene. He’d been in some stand-offs in his army days, but nothing compared to a staring competition with the Dowager Countess of Kinloch. He broke and walked to the utility room to take out his feelings on the tumble dryer. He then stalked to his old room and changed into dry clothes, banging the drawers and cupboards like a petulant teenager.
When he returned to the living room, Brad and Barbara were standing.
‘Thank you for a wonderful evening, my lady,’ said Brad loudly, bowing to her. ‘I will see you in the morning.’
Rory followed him out of the room, up the stairs, and along the corridor to his own room, sticking to him like glue.
‘Goodnight, brother,’ said Brad pleasantly as he reached his door.
‘Goodnight,’ replied Rory, waiting until he heard the key in the lock before he walked back to the room where Zoe was. He opened the door quietly and saw her asleep on her side, her red curls splayed across the pillow and falling over her face. He gently moved them away and kissed her cheek, feeling a happy peace settling on him once again.
By four a.m. theearth meal had scorched its way through Zoe and was looking for the fastest way out. She woke with crippling cramps, knowing an explosion was about to take place whether she liked it or not. The only question was how violent it would be and where it would occur. She levered herself up in the bed and saw the shape of Rory in the darkness sleeping peacefully beside her. She was not going to have an apoocalypse anywhere near him. She needed to get out of the room and find another toilet fast. She clenched her whole body, breaking out in a sweat with the effort, and staggered to the door. Hunched over, she opened it quietly and walked noiselessly down the corridor, her arms clasped around her stomach, absorbed in the task of putting one foot in front of the other. It was dark, but she could still see her way.
A door opened ahead, sending a shaft of golden light out across the carpet.
She stopped, hidden in the darkness.
Barbara exited Brad’s room, in the same dress she had been wearing at dinner the night before. A hand shot out after her and Brad stood halfway into the hall, pulling her into his naked body. Zoe blinked rapidly as she watched him snog the face off Barbara, who responded eagerly, running her fingers down his back and clasping his pert bottom to her.
Zoe stood, frozen to the spot, trying to work out how the hell she was going to get away without being seen. She inched back against the wall as Barbara disengaged from Brad and turned. He gave her bottom a squeeze, then closed the door behind her. By now, the effort of trying to hold in the earth meal was causing sweat to run down Zoe’s forehead and stars to dance behind her eyes. Barbara, unused to the darkness, didn’t see Zoe until, in her attempt to hide, she stumbled back into an ornate table with a crash. The two women stared at each other, Zoe in too much pain to fully appreciate Barbara’s shock and horror. The world stood still, frozen in ice until Barbara swept past her, and Zoe ran down the stairs for the toilet.
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