I can't wait around any longer, the laughter and nonchalance of all the guests here only makes my worry scream that bit louder inside of me.
Whatever kind of 'situation' there was that required Jamie, Tom and half of the security team to rush out of here can't be good.
Ignoring Jamie's request to wait for him, I go ahead and slip out of the dinning room to check things out. I have to know if Jamie is safe.
There's nothing happening out on the corridor, but I can definately hear people, so I follow the sound of voices towards the lobby. There I spot Jamie and his dad, they're both talking to somebody outside, or maybe they're arguing? I squint my eyes to get a better look... yes they're defiantly arguing with someone. I'd know Jamies aggression a mile away.
A member of security spots me near the doorway and attempts to make me turn back. I lie and tell him that Jamie asked that I follow him. The poor guy knows no better, so stands aside and allows me to pass. Why on earth did Tom feel the need to hire so many of these guys anyway?
I step out into the moonlight to see that Jamie and whoever he's arguing with are really going at it.
"You have nothing!," Jamie yells, getting right up in the guys face. "There's no proof, it's just your word against mine, and who do you suppose people are going to believe huh?"
"That's because you destroyed the evidence you psychopath!"
The stranger is just as irate as Jamie, and he's not backing down either. What the hell is this? What are they arguing about?
I slowly creep my way forward, hoping to go unnoticed. Jamie stands tall, a superior grin forming on his face as he stares this guy down.
"I don't know what you're taking about Karl," he says.
Wait a minute. Karl? As in the Karl?
"You didn't honestly believe I'd let you away with it did you Jamie?," Karl fumes. "Letting me go was one thing, but telling people it was me? Did you think I wouldn't find out?"
I suddenly freeze as Karls gaze switches focus, pinning me in place as I approach Jamie from behind. There's as icy silence as all attention falls on me.
"Well, well, well," Karl says with a smirk, "look who we have here."
"Jamie," I call out, "is everything alright?"
"Christ, who let her out here?" Tom clicks his fingers at a member of security. "You! Take her back inside!"
"What's going on?," I ask as I move myself forward, ignoring Toms demand.
"Izzy right? Isn't that your name?," Karl asks, pointing his finger at me.
Before I can answer, Jamie quickly places himself between Karl and I, taking a hold of my shoulders and blocking my view, "Don't answer him, don't say a word," he says, "just turn around and go back inside."
Karls voice rings out from behind Jamie. "You keep a picture of her on your desk genius, I know it's her."
I see some form of realisation hit Jamie. "Fuck," he mutters to himself before pushing me back towards his dad, "Do what I tell you Iz, go back in, right now!"
Tom takes a firm hold of my wrist and starts to drag me back toward the door of the hotel. "Lets go Izzy," he demands, "this is no place for you, James can take care of it."
Karl rushes forward, trying to get past everyone else as he starts to shout at me. "Did he tell you what he did Izzy? Do you know what a piece of shit he is? I bet you fucking know don't you!"
I watch in both fear and perplexity as he attemps to push and claw his way past both Jamie and security to reach me.
"Ask him about the video!," he screams after me, "Ask him Izzy!"
Karls screeches quickly become drowned out by the hum of the party guests as Tom forcefully pulls me all the way back through the lobby.
"Let me go Tom!" I hiss, trying to shake away his hand, but he doesn't seem to care too much about the scene he's causing infront of the hotel staff.
"There's nothing to worry about out there Izzy," he says, "It's all under control."
"Wait a second." I continue to struggle, "What was he saying about Jamie, what did he do?"
Tom ignores my questions as he hands me over to the member of security that let me outside in the first place. This guy now understands that I was lying when I said that Jamie needed me, so he holds on to me like I'm some sort of prisoner. He wont be making that mistake twice.
"Take her back inside!," Tom says, gritting his teeth, "and don't let anybody else out until that fucking idiot is gone. Do the god damn job I'm paying you for imbecile!"
The security guard wraps his giant hand around my arm, forcing me back towards the dining room. Why does everyone here think its acceptable to manhandle me all of a sudden?
"Hey! Let go of me," I snap, pulling myself from his grip. "I want to speak to Jamie!"
I try to manouver my way around the big oafs large frame, but he blocks my path.
"Mr.Renyolds said to wait inside," he says, holding firm, "so that's what you're going to do."
This guy is taking his job way too seriously.
"You can't keep me here against my will!" I argue, but he just shoots me a look as if to say that I should try and stop him. I'm not so sure I fancy my chances judging by the size of him.
"Mr.Reynolds," I scoff. I cant believe the importance Tom has managed to attach to that name. "He puts his pants on one leg at a time you know, just like everybody else!"
There's a hint of amusement on the guys face that makes the stubble on his cheeks crease.
"I'm sure he does Miss," he agrees. "But I bet they're some pretty expensive pants."
Mr.Muscle then guides me back into the dining room where everyone else seems to be entirely oblivious to whats going on outside. I look around for a second exit, finding nothing but fire escapes. I'm not looking to cause any unnessesarry panic here, so rule out using one.
I spot Lainey sitting at our table, and figure she could be my best bet at finding out why Karl would be crazy enough to come here.
"Hey Lainey!," I say, plonking myself down beside her.
"Oh, hi Izzy," she says, looking around nervously. I'm not sure if she's looking for Simon or Jamie, but neither are close by, so I take full advantage.
"Are you alright Lainey?"
"Me? Y- yes, of course, I just... well, I feel like I might have spoken out of turn earlier. I can be such a gossip at times," she says.
Oh I'm banking on that.
I play dumb to see what else I might be able to get out of her. "Spoke out of turn about what?," I ask her. "Karl?"
She nods her head.
"Oh no, don't be silly! Why would you even worry about that? I won't repeat it, I promise, nobody will even know that we spoke about him if it makes you feel better?"
"Great," she says, "because I'd really hate to get Simon into any trouble."
"Of course, but it's not Simons fault that Karl did what he did is it? And if the video is out there, we can't really do much about that either can we?," I remind her.
"What do you mean?," she asks confused. "I thought Jamie made sure that the video was deleted?"
"He did?"
That's interesting
"That's what Simon told me," she says, "he said that Jamie pulled him into a room first thing Monday morning and had him delete it to save Karl any legal issues."
"I see. Do you happen to how many people had the video Lainey?"
"Just the three of them I heard."
"Which three?" I ask, "Jamie, Simon and… ?"
"And Karl of course," she says.
Now I'm more lost than when we started. Why did Jamie go through the trouble of having Simon delete it? And surely he needed to use it as evidence in order to fire Karl anyway? If this video is as bad as Lainey makes it sound, why would Jamie erase all traces of it instead of bringing it to the police? It makes no sense.
Noticing how torn I am about it, Lainey throws in her two cents.
"You know Izzy, it sounds to me like Jamie was trying to spare you from all of this," she says. "And I think he was right to, that footage was very grim. I certainly wish Simon had made sure that I'd never seen it."
I really want to know what she means by that, but Lainey still won't part with the finer details of what happened.
As a waiter passes, I grab her another glass of champagne off a tray he's carrying in an effort to keep her talking. Not my finest moment, I know.
"Maybe you're right," I tell her. Maybe Jamie didn't want to worry me, but are you're sure this video is really gone?"
"Well, is anything ever really gone with technology these days?" she asks, lifting her shoulders into a shrug.
"No, I guess not."
"That's Karl's problem anyway if you ask me," she says. "Jamie did what he could to keep him out of trouble, I'd have hung him to dry."
"You think that's why Jamie had the videos deleted?" I ask her, "to help Karl?"
Lainey nods her head, taking a sip from her fresh glass. "I don't think Karl even realises that," she says. "He's very bitter about the whole thing apparently, or so Simon tells me."
"Wait, Karl has been in touch with Simon?" This continues to get stranger and stranger.
"He's tried to call him," Lainey says, "but Simon has been giving him a wide birth, thank god."
"And what about the girl?"
"What girl?" she asks.
"The one from the video. Do you know if she's okay?"
"Oh… um, as far as I know she is. These things are a regular occurrence in her line of work I'd imagine."
I decide to end the conversation right there while I can still tolerate Lainey. She isn't the fountain of information that I hoped she'd be anyway. Maybe Simon is the one I should be talking to...
Before I get the chance to investigate any further, I spot Jamie crossing the dinning room, all smiles and sophistication to everyone he passes until he pinpoints me. I know that look, he's mad at me.
I wait at our table, glad to be surrounded by so many people. Mel is sitting opposite to me, chatting away to Darsh, but she has a radar for trouble, and she watches gleefully as Jamie stalks towards me.
Picking my clutch up off the table, Jamie barely looks at me as he makes his demand.
"Let's go," he says.
"Everything alright Jamie?," Mel asks, looking like the cat thats got the cream. She's really banking on some sort of fall out here.
"Perfect," Jamie says, forcing himself to appear calm. "Izzy's not feeling too hot, so I'm going to send her home," he glances my way before taking my hand, "say goodnight Izzy," he says.
Lainey looks completely confused as my eyes dart between her, and the others. I quickly say my goodbyes as Jamie leads me out, still gripping my hand. He doesn't let go again until we step outside the front door of the hotel. It looks like Karl is long gone.
I try to talk to him, wanting to understand all of this.
"What's going on Jamie? What was that guy talking about? Why did he tell me to ask you about the video?"
"I told you to stay inside!" He spits, pointing his finger into my chest.
"I know, but something didn't feel right. Why was Karl here?"
"You're going home," he says, pulling me even further from the door. "You couldn't do one simple thing for me could you? No, you just had to play detective rather than mind your business!"
"Jamie wait a second, you're not being fair.
If you just listen to me you'll understand, but you need to stay calm."
"Calm?," he asks, coming to a stop. "This is as calm as you're going to get after what you just pulled Izzy. Embarrassing me in-front of my father like that, are you really that fucking stupid?"
"I didn't mean to, I was worried about you, that was all!"
"Worried? You're even dumber than I thought if you think I believe that. You only worry about the things you want Izzy, you always have."
Jamie towers over me, making me feel like a bug that he could crush at any second. It scares me, at times like this I can never be sure of what he's going to do.
His eyes burn into my own until he takes a step back and opens my clutch. Jamie pulls out my wallet and tucks it into the breast pocket of his jacket before shoving the empty bag into my hands.
"What are you doing?" I ask him, "I need that, all of my cards are in there."
"I'm making sure that you don't get the same idea as last time," he says. "Not that taking it really matters, where the fuck would you be able to go now anyway?"
"Jamie." I say, gripping his hand and pleading with him. "You've been doing so well. Please, I'm begging you, don't do anything you'll regret."
"Me?," he says laughing. "You're kidding right? You're the one who's going to regret tonight Izzy, not me."
He shakes my hand away before taking ahold of my arm and dragging me towards a waiting car.
"Jamie, Izzy, there you are, I've been looking for you both everywhere!"
Jamie comes to a halt at the sound of his mothers voice, this is the last thing he's going to want right now.
He leans in close to me. "Don't open that mouth of yours or it will be the last time you do," he whispers before turning around and turning on his charm for Hillary.
"Mom, you shouldn't be out here," he calls to her, "its cold, go back inside, I'll be there in a minute."
"I could say the same for you two." she counters, hovering in the doorway of the hotel. "What are you doing out here? And why have you called your dads car around?"
Hillary watches us with caution, noticing the grip her son has on my arm before he quickly relaxes it.
"Izzy doesn't feel great," he says, "she's not used to seafood. Sean is going to take her home." Jamie points his thumb towards Toms driver, at this point it feels like he's a professional liar with how quick it all falls from his mouth.
"Oh no, Izzy you poor thing," Hillary says as she takes a couple of steps toward us. "Do you really need to leave though? I have something in my bag that might settle your stomach for you."
"Tell her you're going," Jamie says quietly, driving his thumb into the back of my arm as a warning not to mess it up.
With the worry of what Jamie could have in store for me, its not all that hard to convince his mom that my stomach really is in a knot.
"Actually, I think I'd rather get home Hillary," I tell her. "I'm not entierly sure that it was the food that upset me, and I wouldn't want to pass anything on to anyone else if that's the case."
"Are you sure?," she asks, "It could just be-"
"She said she's going mom," Jamie says, his voice revealing his irritation, "go on back inside."
Hillarys gaze drifts back and forth between us, if she's suspicious at all, she doesn't show it, because she does exactly as Jamie asked of her and goes back to the party, wishing me a speedy recovery as she does.
As soon as she's out if sight, I make every effort to reason with her son.
"Listen, I'm really sorry Jamie, I didn't mean to upset you, I swear."
He pulls open the back door of the car, demanding that I get in. I stay where I am, willing him to snap out of this, but it only gets him more annoyed.
"If I have to tell you one more time Izzy, it's going to be a whole lot less pleasant for you, now get in."
I search his eyes for any glimmer of hope that he's not serious, but the look he gives me leaves me under no illusion about it. I have little choice but to reluctantly climb into the back of the car.
Jamie leans in after me, unconcerned with the fact that the driver can hear him.
"Don't do anything stupid," he warns. "Sean will only bring you home, so don't waste your breath. Be there when I get back and everything will be fine. Do you understand?"
"Yes," my voice shakes in responce.
Jamie steps back from the car, waving the driver on as he closes the door. As we pull away, he catches my eye one last time. I feel a chill cut me all the way to the bone.
He's never looked so terrifying.