Page 98 of Perfect Liar
I picked up some pajamas, socks, and a pair of boots for Lissie, so she could muck around in the gardens, and a few things for myself…including the red dress Will told me to get.
Our last stop was at the dress boutique, where people gathered outside on the pavement.
How odd. They’re not coming inside.
Thomas stepped close.
“It’s the media…here to get more photos of you.”
A cold sweat chilled me.
My heart drummed in my chest and in my throat.
I grabbed Thomas’s arm.
“Would you take me back to the hotel?”
“Yes, of course.”
He stared at me for a minute…I was sure he could see the color leave my face.
With his hand on my back, he guided me to the door, but then his demeanor shifted, and he shoved his arm out in front of me.
“Stay behind me, Ellie. Ben, let’s get her to the car.”
As soon as we stepped outside, camera flashes and shouting by the notorious London paparazzi overwhelmed us.
Anxiety hummed in my ears…it pulsed in my blood.
Don’t count. Don’t count. You don’t need to count.
“Ellie James, pose for us, love,” someone shouted.
They knew my name.
Thomas, Ben, and Joe held me securely inside their security formation while the paparazzi surrounded them. Thomas stiff-armed an aggressive photographer.
“Back the fuck up. You’ll get your photos, so cut the bullshit and give us some space.”
A man pushed a mic mounted on a long pole close to my face.
“There are photos of you with Will Hastings circulating. Was it you he was with in America? What’s the significance of your presence in the UK?”
Thomas batted the mic down.
“Ellie and my brother are together…and we’ll make no other comments today.”
“Let her speak, Hastings,” someone else shouted.
Others from the street joined in. They all shoved and yelled.
I clutched Thomas’s shirt, my knuckles turning white.
He protected me inside his arms and shouted to the other guys.
“Come on…move it. Clear me a path to the car.”
Paparazzi reinforcements arrived, and they continued pushing and shoving each other, competing for better shots.