Alisha: A dark Romance Ch. 04

Security was his area of expertise, so I expected him to be efficient, but I wasn't ready for him to be argumentative and get straight into my face as soon as he arrived. Ali was still in the cottage as Jamal stepped in close.

He said in a low voice. "We're playing in my backyard now. You'll do as I tell you without any questions. Ali and Sandy are going be in the second vehicle; you will be in the first. Ali will not be going anywhere with you without my knowledge or approval."

I wasn't sure what Jamal expected me to say in response, what he didn't expect was for me to pick up my backpack and head back to the cottage.

"Ali," I called out. "I'm going to need the address of the apartment we're supposed to staying in. It looks like I'll have to drive up later today, as apparently I'm not allowed to travel in the same car as you."

Yes I know I was petty, but I was damned if I was going to let a man I knew was in love with my wife, tell me I couldn't travel with her. Plus, I wanted to see just where I stood in this triangle of personalities.

She came down the stairs looking confused. "What are you talking about?"

I gestured at Jamal who'd followed me and was standing in the doorway. "I've been given my instructions like the naughty boy that I am. It seems I'm to sit in the corner and not do anything unless I'm told I can! Look I'm sorry if he thinks I'm going to spend the seven hours to Paris on my own while you are in another car."

"Oh for fuck's sake," she muttered. "Can't you boys play nice?"

"Ali," Jamal started to say, but she shushed him and looked at me.

"I told you right at the beginning I wouldn't change my lifestyle," I pointed out. "You are the one who happy when I said I'd come with you for these weeks. I offered to drive us to Paris, but no, you insisted we needed security. Jamal doesn't run my life, if you prefer to travel with him, then fine I'll make my way there. In fact are you sure you want me there at all?"

"Of course I do, Ben, but I'm not sure you understand just how risky it can be when I'm out in public. Jamal, what's going on?"

"It's simple," he said. "There have been a few rumors of threats. Mainly against you but also some mention Sandy. There's a lot of interest in you at the moment, but no one knows about Ben, so I want the pair of you in one of the SUV's with me. Raf is going to be driving. Unfortunately, there's no room for Ben; he'll need to travel in the second SUV, and remember, he's not the one at risk."

I waited for Ali to respond but she just stood there chewing at her lip.

"Ben?" Ali finally asked, the fact that she asked answered my question.

I didn't bother to respond. I dropped my backpack on a chair and headed for the terrace. Sandy was walking up from the boat with one of the bodyguards, who was carrying her bags.

"Are you and Ali ready to go?"

"You better ask her,' I said, and I headed down to Never. I toyed with the idea of casting off and heading up the canal. I knew I was overreacting, but we'd managed to survive most of the summer without overt security. Julia had loved the freedom, and honestly, there was something about Jamal that just managed to rub me up the wrong way.

I sat down on the deck with a bottle of water. The morning was overcast, and there was a hint of rain in the breeze. The peace was broken by the engines of the Range Rovers starting up and then fading away into the distance. There were no other sounds, so I guessed Ali and Sandy had left for Paris. We were supposed to be attending a reception that evening, a formal affair to mark the start of the fashion week. Christ, I'd had to buy a tux as my old one hadn't passed Ali's muster, an expense I was now regretting.

The splash of raindrops on the water brought me back to the moment in hand. It was ten o'clock as I locked up the boat and headed back up to the cottage. I was of two minds; I knew I should grab my bags and drive to Paris. But I was sorely tempted to say fuck it, and sink a glass or two with Pete. No, I'd promised Ali I'd go to Paris. I would just have to hope that Sandy had left me the address.

A lone figure sat at the table on the terrace, I hoped it would be Ali, but it wasn't. In fact, it took me a moment to recognize the woman. It was Janice, one of Jamal's team. A pot of coffee sat on the table, and as I approached, she poured some into a mug and offered it to me.

She gave me a quizzical look as I sat down and gave her a pointed stare.

"I'm intrigued," she said. "Just how is it that you can be so important to her and such an asshole all at the same time?"

"I've had a lot of practice at the latter," I suggested. "As to how important I am, I don't see her sitting here!"

"No you don't, that's true. Mind you, if you were to go upstairs you might find her in your bedroom."

I stood up but paused before leaving as Janice asked, "Only please tell me we're not going to going to drive to Paris in that damn 2CV of yours?"

I smiled at her and retrieved a set of keys from a drawer in the kitchen and tossed them in her direction.

"It's parked in the barn at Pete' place, would you mind fetching it while I go and apologize to my wife for being such an asshole?"

Her next question shouldn't have surprised me, but it did.

"Why does Jamal hate you so much?"

"Hate me? I thought he just disliked me because I asked him to ease off on the security."

"You got Ali to tell him to leave. She would never have done that for anyone else. You know he's had us keeping an eye on Ali all summer."

I nodded in reply.

"So what is it?" She asked. "Is it going to affect the rest of the security team?"

I pondered my response, sitting back down again. "Honestly I'm not sure, I can't see why, but I think it's personal."

"Personal?" She said with a hint of surprise.

I debated how much I should say, after all, she worked with him. I had been thinking about Jamal and his attitude while I'd been sitting on the boat and this was a good opportunity to put my scattered thoughts into some semblance of order.

"Jamal's in love with Ali," I said.

"We all know that. He's not very good at hiding it. Have you ever noticed how many celebrities have flings with someone from their security team?" Janice asked. She answered her question. "No, of course, you haven't. It happens a lot because there is a level of trust with them that is hard to find with anyone else. Ali isn't one of them though, she sees Jamal as her best friend, and the one person she feels safe with, at least until you came back."

"I think he thinks it's more than that now," I pointed out. "I suspect that after Ali's meltdown over the Ricky episode, Jamal thought that Ali was beginning to think of him as a possible lover. I don't think he was prepared for me to come back on the scene, or the fact that he thinks that each time she has to decide between us, she backs me."

"Oh," Janice said. "Sounds a bit like that film with Whitney Huston."

"Christ, I hope not, didn't the bodyguard get the girl in that one?"

"Yes," she admitted. "On that happy note, I'm going to get the car. You need to go and talk to your wife."

"I'm surprised that Jamal's okay with just you as Ali's security?"

She gave a small laugh. "He's not; there are two more waiting in a car at the top of the road."

"Jamal?"

She shook her head, "Christ, no, he took the other car and went on ahead with Sandy to the apartment. They took all the bags with them."

"Including my tux?"

"All of them," she reiterated.

Ali was lying on the bed; for a moment I thought she was asleep, but her eyes were open, and they followed me as I came and sat on the bed.

She rolled onto her side and looked up at me. "Ben, I love you, but I need the security when I travel, I can't keep telling Jamal I don't need it. If Julia had been here, I wouldn't have sent him away. "

"I know you do, but it also doesn't need to rule your life. I was pissed off because he seems to think I'm in the way and he expected me to agree to his demands. What did you say to him?"

"I told him that I'd drive up with you. He's not happy; I had to accept one of his team to accompany us." She gave me a questioning look, "Are we going to make it in your old car."

"I seriously doubt it; I only keep the old thing for local trips, which is why we'll go in my other car. Janice is fetching it from Pete's barn."

"What other car?" she asked accusingly. "You mean you've made me drive around all summer in that old boneshaker, and you've got a better one? Bastard!" She punched my arm and then tried to kiss it and say sorry.

I think we would have proceeded to a far more interesting form of apology if we hadn't heard the approaching car.

Ali groaned and said, "Shit, we need to go, Ben, I can't afford to be late for the reception."

"We won't be."

I hurried around locking up; I'd call Pete and get him to check on the place.

As I stepped out of the door, I was greeted with a curse. "You absolute bastard, you had this hidden away all summer."

Sitting on the drive was a silver Porsche Cayenne S. Hey I love my old 2CV; it's the perfect car for around here, but there was no way I was going to set off on a 700 km drive in it. Ali slid into the passenger seat, and Janice got in behind us. She was on her phone as we set out, and a Range Rover parked at the top of the lane slid in behind us as we passed Pete's farmhouse.

"I've set the address into the navigation system," Janice told me.

It's over 700km to Paris from the cottage. The journey should have taken us over seven hours, yet we managed to pull into the garage under the building at five-thirty, six hours and quarter hours later. When we were ten minutes away, Janice called Jamal. We were told to hang back as the second SUV swung past and pulled up outside the building beside a small group of onlookers. Janice directed me to the entrance of the garage just as the security grill withdrew.

"The paparazzi have been staking out the building all day," she told us.

Ali looked sadly at me, "Welcome to my world. love. At least you will be reasonably safe until they link us. Did you ever experience anything like this after you published the book?"

I shook my head, "You forget I was a one book wonder, and I'm still probably one of the most anonymous authors in existence. Only a dozen or so people know the truth."

The apartment occupied the whole of the top floor of the building. The elevator took us directly to the apartment; I'd assumed that Ali was renting it for the duration of the fashion week. Well, you know what they say about assumptions. Dotted around the rooms were several items from our old flat. On the wall were some of my best images of a younger Alisha. There were photos of Julia from baby to date. On the mantelpiece stood a photo of much younger me, my face half obscured by a camera.

I raised my eyebrows and said, "Yours, I gather," as I gestured around me.

"Ours," Ali corrected me. "The Ali Mac Paris offices are on the two floors below us, and the store is on the ground floor." I nodded in understanding, not willing to debate the 'our' part of her statement.

Further discussion was put on hold as I became aware that there were a lot of other people entering the room, the only person I knew was Sandy. A tall blonde man led the group descending on Ali.

Ali sighed and squeezed my hand, "I've got to go and get changed for the reception. Sandy's got your tux, and you need to be ready for seven." She gave me a worried look, "Jamal's in charge of the security, and even I will be doing what he says. Are you going to be okay with that?"

I gave her a nod, and she was led away, leaving me alone with Sandy.

Sandy said, "Her team has taken over her bedroom, you can use one of the guest bedrooms to shower. I'll lay out your clothes and the tux."

"Okay," I agreed, and she led me to a bedroom where my bags lay at the foot the bed.

Sandy saw me looking at them and quickly said, "It's just while they get Al, ready. I wasn't sure what else you might need, and I didn't want to have to disturb them. I'll get them moved into Al's room later."

The tux was hanging on a hook, and a pair of shirts lay on the bed. "I wasn't sure which one you preferred, so I got these two pressed," Sandy said. "The bathroom is through that door, and I'll see you back in the lounge at seven. I need to finish getting ready myself."

She was gone before I could ask any questions, so I did as I was told. It took me less than 30 minutes to get ready, so I waited in the lounge studying the various photos. Most of the ones of Ali from when we were together, I'd taken. Somehow, she'd managed to track down a copy of several of the best of the signed images from my one-man show. There were a few of her and Julia; one was a mother and daughter composition in the Dell in the woods, Julia looked about ten in the photo. Turning it over, I wasn't surprised to see that Mia had taken it.

"Would you like a drink?" a voice asked. I turned to see a tall man in his late thirties wearing a tux standing behind me. When he saw my face, his eyes flicked over to a photo of a much younger version of myself, and then back to me. His smile stiffened, and his lips tightened.

"Please, coffee if it's possible," I said as I held out my hand. "I'm Ben, and you are?"

"Jamie," he said and took my hand. The years of working on the boot and in the vineyards have left their toil on my hands. Jamie tried that man thing where he squeezed my hand, I just looked at him and squeezed back until he winced.

"I gather you're the ex-husband," he said. I didn't bother to correct him on the ex part, as it wasn't any of his business.

I let his hand go with a small smile. "So, what's your role in this circus?" I asked him.

He turned away, not answering me, and moved over to a coffee set sitting on a sideboard I'd failed to spot earlier. His dress and familiarity with the layout of the room led me to assume he was part of the Ali Mac group going to the reception.

"Do you want cream and sugar?"

"Black."

He passed me the fine china cup, and I sipped the bitter liquid. "You still haven't explained why you're here," I said. "Do you work for Ali?"

He shook his head, "No, I'm a fashion designer for Channel; I'm her escort to the reception." He said the later with a smirk. I felt my smile fade, and my free hand clenched into a fist. My anger rose, not so much at him but at Ali and the others who'd put me in this situation. Just when were they going to tell me I was here in an also role.

"Jamie, what the hell are you doing here?" asked a surprised Sandy as she walked into the room.

He gave her a puzzled yet sly look before speaking. "As I was just telling Ben, as agreed, I'm here to escort Al to the reception."

Sandy flashed me a startled look. "Who arraigned that?"

"Why Al did; it was a couple of months ago, but her office confirmed it last week."

"Oh shit, Ben, I'm sorry; this has got to be a mistake. I didn't know she'd asked Jamie. When the office called to ask if they needed to confirm Ali's guest for the reception I thought they meant you. Jamie, Ali's going with Ben, not you."

The smirk on his face grew, "Well good luck with that, the invitation in my name and as you know, they're not transferable. There hasn't been a spare invite for months."

"Shit, shit," Sandy was dialing a number on her phone as she stormed out of the room.

Well fuck this, I thought. I loosened the damn bow tie and tossed it and my jacket on the back of a chair. Even if Ali had made the arrangements with Jamie before I'd come back onto the scene, she'd had months to cancel. Again, I was being shown my place in her life, and I wasn't happy. Hey, there was an upside, at least I wasn't going to have to suffer Jamal's glares all evening.

"Fucking hell," Ali's voice was loud and carried into the room, "they won't. Give me that bloody phone."

There was a pause and then a loud, "Look..." And then her voice lowered, and I couldn't hear the rest.

Sandy and Jamal came into the room. "You need to leave," Sandy told Jamie, "and don't bother to try and sit at her table, in fact, you'd be wise not to let her see you."

Jamal approached Jamie and taking him by the arm led the protesting man from the room. I gave him an ironic wave as he left and then settled back in my chair.

"Ali's pissed!" Sandy said.

"No kidding, what makes you think that?"

She glared at me, "She's pointing out to the organizer, that as she paid for the tickets, she can take whoever she likes."

"So who is he; just what was that all about?"

She sighed, "That's something you need to ask Ali."

"I'm asking you."

She shook her head.

"Sandy, how important is it for me to attend this thing tonight?"

"Very important for Al."

"Then do you want to be the one that explains to her why I'm going back to the cottage." I was standing up as I spoke and no, it wasn't an idle threat. I was sick of not knowing. Ali and her friends kept spoon feeding me information, conveniently sidestepping anything they felt it was better I didn't know.

"He's an ex-boyfriend, she took up with him after she kicked Ricky into touch."

"See, now that was painless, wasn't it," I said as I went into the guest bedroom and picked up my backpack and keys.

"Where are you going?"

"Home, she lied to me again."

"She didn't, not really. They were only lovers for a few days. Since then, he's just been a friend. The person she would turn to if she was attending an event where she needed an escort."

"That's not the point; she told me there had been no one since Ricky."

I pressed the elevator button, and the doors opened. Sandy tried to get in with me, but I stopped her and pressed the button for the garage. I cursed my stupidity all the way down. I'd let the damn woman get under my skin again.

It took me a few moments to find the Porsche. The security gate was down when I got to the exit; I'd hoped it would open automatically but no such luck. There was a guard in an office, so I blew the horn and called over asking him to open the stupid thing.

The guard shook his head and before I could do anything else the passenger door opened and Ali slid into the seat.

"Damn it, Ben, you're not going anywhere until I get the chance to explain."

"How many more times are you going to lie to me? I was happy living in my quiet little world." I gripped the steering wheel tightly in my anger and frustration, my fingers going white.

"I will never lie to you again; please listen to me."

I gestured at the closed gate, "It doesn't look like I've got much of a choice, does it."

"Not really," she admitted. "Ben, I've known Jamie for years, he was a junior designer with one of the first fashion houses I worked for, and we became good friends, just friends," she was quick to add.

"It wasn't until after Ricky's lot lied to me and I gave up on hoping that we'd get back together that I slept with him. I never loved him; it was one of those friends with benefits arraignments. We'd get together every few months or if I needed an escort to an event."

"And this is supposed to make me feel better; when we discussed this, you said you hadn't had a lover since Ricky."

"I didn't tell you because I never thought of him as a real lover. He was just someone I'd get together occasionally."

I strummed the steering wheel, she wasn't going to let me go, and she knew I was pissed off at her. "So what was that upstairs all about?"

She didn't need to ask me what I was asking.

"After I learned the truth about Ricky," Ali began. "I was embarrassed that I'd let him manipulate me. Jamie was a friendly shoulder for me to cry on and it just went a bit further than I'd anticipated, I never loved him, but he made me feel better about myself. I guess he read a lot more into that than I intended."