Page 5 of Lilly
My head is spinning as I head up towards the King’s lair. I kissed him and he hasn’t sacked me. Everyone else who’s tried it on with him has been sent away instantly. Why hasn’t he done that tome?
By the time I’m standing in front of his door, I’m completely confused by the whole thing. Hopefully I can just put the stupid incident behind me and move on like it neverhappened.
Thankfully, his suite is in silence when I enter. I don’t think I could have coped with seeing him again. In fact, I would be quite happy never seeing himagain.
I’ve only got the bedroom to do when I hear the door open. My heart lurches into my throat. But when someone shouts, it’s not the voice I wasexpecting.
“Lilly?” I want to groan at the sound of her high-pitched voice. It’s a little like nails down a blackboard. Catherine is the operations manager. She’s in charge of us and likes to make sure we know it. Hilary can’t stand her, and that’s saying a lot because Hilary is the sweetest woman I know. Catherine is a class A bitch. She likes to throw her weight around and get involved with stuff she has no idea about. She’s the one who put a time limit for cleaning each hotel room. She’s never cleaned a hotel room in her life—how the hell would she know how long it takes to do itproperly?
“Yes, in here,” I answer quietly in the hope that she won’t hear me and go back wherever she came from. “Oh,” I say in surprise when I see her in the doorway. In her arms is a huge bunch of lilies. And I meanhuge.
“Please refrain from having people send you flowers at work,” she snaps before putting them down on the side and marchingoff.
“Who on earth is sending me flowers?” I question as I walk over. My first thought is Taylor. He must know I’m not feeling great today, but he’s never sent flowers before. Dec,maybe?
I stand in front of them and admire the gigantic flowers for a minute before hunting down thecard.
When I pull it out, I’m even moreconfused.
Ourcondolences
What thehell?
I leave the flowers where they are for now and set about finishing the King’s bedroom. I change the sheets, then spend a ridiculous amount of time faffing around with the show pillows and throw to get them just right. It’s frustrating as hell. I like things clean and organised, but this is just crazy. I briefly think about the state I left the flat in. Something to look forward to after uni thisafternoon…
The rest of my morning goes by in a haze of confusion as I think about who the flowers could be from and what theymean.
I’m just finishing up when a thought hits me. No, surely not. They couldn’t be from Jake. Although I refused to press charges against him in fear it would make it drag on, I know that Dec and Taylor ‘sorted’ the situation, so to speak. I would like to think he’s longgone.
The small amount of doubt that they could be from him has me looking over my shoulder all afternoon. I know it’s crazy, but I’m terrified of ever seeing him again. His memory isenough.
* * *
I’ve just about gotthe flat sorted by the time Taylor appears later that evening. He looks pleased to see me in a better state than yesterday. Keeping my job has perked me up alittle.
“Feeling better?” he asks as he leans a hip against theworktop.
“Yes thankyou.”
“I’m going out tonight. Comewith?”
“No, you’re okay. I’ve got loads of work todo.”
“Oh come on, Lil, you haven’t been out for a drink with me inforever.”
It’s true, I haven’t. But I just don’t feel like it. I’ll feel like an idiot dressed in whatever I pick out that is too big for me. Plus, I’m still hanging on to a bit of last night’s hangover. “I’m sorry, I’ve got a deadline.” This is true, but it’s not for a longtime.
“Fine,” he says as he rushes off to his room to get ready. I feel bad not going with him. Over the past few months I feel like we’ve been drifting apart. Taylor’s always out doing whatever—or whoever—it is he does while I’ve been hiding here. I’ve no idea what’s going on with him but I have a suspicion that it involves aman.
I spend the night working, just like I said I was going to. I’ve just got into bed when I hear a commotion at our front door before the noise disappears into Taylor’s bedroom. His room is the opposite end of the flat, but sometimes that isn’t far enough away, and I get the feeling that tonight is going to be one of thosenights.
