Untaming Lily Wilde (24 page)

She ignored the slight, focusing only on the horror of her ex-boyfriend’s behaviour. She’d always known he was proud; it was the ugly flip-side of the charisma she’d been attracted to all those years ago, but she’d never have guessed he’d go quite so far to protect his ego.

“How much?” She asked.

Grayson’s tone was hard to read. It was like he was pissed with her one second then pally the next. “That's not the issue,” he said. “It doesn't matter how much we give him, he'll just come back wanting more. And you know what the really shit part is?! If he goes public, it won’t be Seb who’ll loose out. It’ll be Ana. And none of this was her fault.”

“I know.”

“Yeah, well - seems Tom doesn't give a shit who he's screwing over so long as he gets his payback.”

The weight of her guilt was growing unbearable. “I'm sorry,” she said.

He didn’t respond to her apology. “Did your friend tell you Tom’s quit his job? My threats don't carry any weight now. We’re running out of options.”

“I'll go see him. Try to talk some sense into him,” she said. The idea of a confrontation filled her with a nauseating dread, but surely the semi-reasonable Tom was lurking somewhere in there. If she could just get him to sit down and listen to her side of the story…

“Don't bother. Look, I told him we might be able to strike a deal,” Grayson told her, “I was just buying time at first, but I think maybe I'm coming up with something.”

“What?” Please God,
anything
to get us out of this mess, she thought.

“I won't bore you with the details right now. And look - I haven't said anything to Seb or Ana yet. I will
if
and
when
we get to breaking point, but let's keep our cool until we've run out of options, huh?”

He hasn’t told Seb…
Lily puzzled over this. Didn’t he - and Ana for that matter - deserve to know if they were about to get screwed over.

She tried to sound calm, but her words gave her away. “So, if Seb asks me about Tom - what - you want me to lie to him?” she said.

“That’s your call,” he said, “Personally, I won’t be the one to fuck up his first big show, getting him strung out over nothing. But, if you want to tell him, go right ahead.”

“And what if it’s
not
nothing?”

“Then what difference does it make if you tell him now or when he gets back?!” Grayson sounded like he was losing patience.

He had a point. Lily didn’t exactly relish the idea of ruining Seb’s good time either.

“Are you mad at me?” She asked.

Another pause followed. “Of course I’m not,” he finally said, though to Lily’s mind there was no
of course
about it. “I’m just trying to deal with this the best I can. Look, we’ll talk more when you come by tomorrow. But in the meantime, d’you wanna tell me if you’re intending to say something to Seb? Cos if you
are
then I’ve gotta let Ana know too - I don’t want her finding out second hand.”

“No, no. You’re right, I guess. We can tell him when he gets back.” She sighed; this felt like another brick in a growing wall between her and Seb. But it would only be temporary. And if Grayson could solve the Tom situation without involving Seb, then all the better.

“Atta girl. We’ll catch up tomorrow, OK?” he said.

“OK,” she agreed. “See you then.”

She sat there, staring into the middle distance for a good long while after the conversation had ended. The speed at which Grayson could flit between moods was a little unnerving. It was only natural, she supposed, that he should be uptight. Only natural that he should blame her for the problem. Still there was something in the way he spoke that nagged at her. Something off-kilter. She told herself to let it go. After living so long with Tom’s jealous moods, she’d no doubt grown paranoid.

Still. There was something.

17

By 7:20 the following morning, the prep team were piling into the Bellevue van, ready to roll. They were on strict orders to be at Hatherly by 9 at the latest, so they'd be present to receive deliveries. That way, they’d be able to avoid letting unauthorized personnel into building.

Lily, buckled herself in and clung tight to her first coffee of the morning, currently rendered undrinkable by the jiggling van. She wasn't too bothered. Sooner or later she'd drink it, the caffeine would sink in, and she'd gradually become cogent enough to start worrying about the day ahead. And there was much in store to trigger anxiety. Not only did she have the awkwardness with Grayson to contend with, she'd also be expected to act all smiley and sunny with poor Ana. God only knows how much damage Tom could do, Lily thought.
And it'd all be down to me. Effing brilliant.
On top of this, she was hyper aware of all the secrets she was keeping from Cayley. The day ahead promised to be a major guilt-fest. So yeah, for the time being, fog-headed caffeine deprivation seemed like the lesser of two evils.

Getting out of London took twice as long as it should have, but as Rob so eloquently put it,
city traffic’s a munt-humping bitch
. Soon enough though, they were entering the greener surroundings of Hertfordshire, well on their way to England’s raunchiest manor house. As they neared Hatherly, Gav and Rob seemed to reanimate, busying themselves with techno-chatter. Cayley was less stressed than she had been pre-bacchanal, as thankfully this time round they wouldn’t be quite so pushed for time. All the same, she was starting to mutter under her breath, running through the endless list of tasks they’d be undertaking today.

The prep team were hailed in through Hatherly’s security gates by the elderly house-keeper Lily now knew to be called Mr Lines. They parked up and got to work, with mobiles at the ready, anticipating the arrival of their many orders. Cayley had collected the bespoke dress the previous day, which she now carried along with a truck load of sex toys; the idea of replacing the toys after each soiree seemed wasteful to Lily. Though she had to admit she found the notion of sharing a vibrator pretty repellent, no matter how clean it was. She and the guys carried various decorative delights; silver candelabras, feathered wall hangings, fat velvet cushions… for any other one-day event, the supply list would have seemed excessive. But Hatherly’s clientele paid for, and expected, grandeur.

Grayson, dressed in his grey, tailored office gear, was there to meet them as they stepped into the entrance hall. He greeted the team in his easy, casual way; flirting a little with Cayley and complimenting Gav on his sound system set-up which had, he told them, been excellently received at the bacchanal. Yep, thought Lily.
Grayson Paige is quite the charmer.

Once Cayley had allocated jobs to the others, she went in search of a step ladder, leaving Lily to sort the wall hangings into groups according to the various rooms they were to be hung in. Grayson grabbed this opportunity to talk to Lily alone.

“So, are we OK, you and me?” he asked her, doe eyed, as though the answer to his question was solely down to Lily.

She looked at him from her crouched position on the hall floor, not sure how to respond. He fluttered his eyelashes at her, looking so ludicrous that it was impossible for her not to smile.

“You tell me,” she sighed. “Look, I feel mega-guilty over all this shit Tom’s up to, and if you’re mad at me I get it - I can cope with it. But it’s like one minute you’re pissed, the next you’re my best buddy - I don’t know where I am with you.”

Grayson groaned in frustration. “I told you already, I’m not mad at you. You’re too sexy to get mad at.” But Lily’s expression told him to cut the crap. She wasn’t Cayley. He couldn’t just butter her up and have things go his way. “OK, fine,” he said, “I was mad - just a little - just a teeny smidge - but not really at you, just at the situation.” He knelt down to her level. “I guess it just came over that way when we spoke because I was still getting it all straightened out in my head.” He looked genuinely contrite. “So, are we OK?” This time there was no phony eyelash fluttering.

Lily nodded. It was less what Grayson was saying, more the humble way he said it, but it finally felt like he was lowering his suave-socialite mask, showing her a glimpse of the fallible human underneath.

“OK then,” he smiled, leaning in to gently kiss her cheek, then swiftly moving back - from the sounds of the approaching footsteps, they’d soon be having company.

Mr Lines strode into view holding a small package; a box, wrapped in a plastic waterproof film.

“Sorry to interrupt,” he said, “but this arrived for you earlier, Miss Wilde.” He passed it to her, and sure enough it was addressed to Miss L. Wilde.

What the…
“Thanks,” she uttered, confused. She looked at Grayson, but he merely shrugged.

“From Seb, I guess?” he said. “If you wanna open it in the office, go ahead. You know - for privacy.” He winked as he said it - obviously well versed in Seb’s idea of a gift.

Seeing as the last present Seb had given her was a vibrating love egg. Lily followed Grayson’s advise, grabbing her bag, and heading into the office. She hastily tore off the plastic outer-wrapping, not wanting her absence to be noticed by Cayley. Inside the wrapper was a note:
Admit it - you need one of these. Seb x

Lily knew immediately what it was; even if she hadn’t seen the apple on the side of the box, she'd have guessed. It was just like Seb to buy her a phone even though she'd specifically told him not to. She stowed it in her bag. No way she'd be able to explain the gift to Cayley, and anyway, Lily would be sending it straight back to the store at the first possible opportunity. If she wanted a new phone she'd buy one.

"High-handed son-of-a-gun," she muttered.

"Seb?" Ana stood in the doorway, barely awake, wearing the satin dressing gown she'd previously lent Lily. She drew closer, kissed Lily good morning and peered into her bag at the package. “What is it?" she asked.

“An iphone… an iphone that’s going back to the supplier.”

“Why? Is it broken?” Ana asked, stifling a yawn.

Oh great. How do I explain this to someone who’s got money coming out of every orifice?
“It’s fine as far as I know. It’s just I told him not to get it - these things cost a bomb. There are tonnes of cheaper smart-phones that’d do the same job. And I’m probably due an upgrade so -”

“Don’t be so proud. He’s your lover and he can afford it,” Ana said. To her this was clearly a no-brainer.

“It’s not the point,” Lily said. “I asked him not to.”

Ana laughed. “I had no idea you could be stubborn like this. So, you asked him not to and he did it anyway - for Christ’s sake, who cares. It’s just a damn phone. He misses you.” She held Lily’s face in her hands. “Don’t be a baby.”

"I need to get back to work," Lily said, zipping up the canvas bag and pulling it over her shoulder.

Ana seemed to consider pressing the point, then pursed her lips and thought better of it. She pulled a hair tie from her wrist and slung her hair into a tussled ponytail."Yes. Work. I'll get dressed," she sighed.

"I didn't mean - "

Ana softened. "No, no, the lady of this house isn't too good to get her hands dirty," she said, “And anyway, I want to get my hands on those costumes as soon as they arrive."

"Want to bag the best one?"

"Naturally!" Ana said, beaming. Then her smile dropped a little, as if it had just dawned on her that Lily too would be needing a costume for the ball. "I'll let you have second choice though," she offered.

"Thanks," Lily replied, though she couldn't have cared less whether she got second choice or sixty-second. "I'll let you know when they get here,” she promised, already half way out of the room, heading back down the corridor to finish sorting those damned feathers.

As the hours ticked by, Cayley’s skeleton crew of diligent worker ants retrieved numerous deliveries. The feathered wall-hangings were joined by ornate drapes, all of which went up in good time. The Venetian Bar turned up around mid day, though had to be stored in the entrance hall until the chequered flooring had been delivered. The thrones arrived, followed by the gondola, followed by the first costume delivery, followed by God knows how many potted ferns and cascading flower arrangements. By lunch, Lily felt like she’d ran a half-marathon, just ferrying deliveries to and fro. Mr Lines brought the crew some refreshments from the kitchen, just as Lily and Cayley were finishing hanging the last candelabra, by which point Lily was so hungry she could have kissed him.

She’d had a swig of lemon-water and half a cheese sandwich before Cayley got a call from the second costume hire firm. Cursing, Cayley and Lily joined the boys, hauling in the rest of the outfits. Ana however, hands on hips and pouting, managed to intercept Lily on her way out.

“You said you’d tell me when the dresses arrived!” Ana said, pretending (at least, Lily hoped she was pretending) to be put out. “But I’ve just seen them. Did you forget me? Have they been in the drawing room for hours?”

“That’s just half of them - I figured you’d want to see the whole wardrobe,” Lily offered in her defense. “Look, the other half’s here.”

And, as if to demonstrate, Cayley yelled sergeant-major-style across the lawn. “Lily! Get to it! The boys need help. There’s a lot.” Ana looked positively gleeful.