Bad Boy vs Millionaire (21 page)

I
could've screamed, really I could. I’d sat through dinner with Tamaki trying to play nice while he talked but I just felt really cold. Something was not right. He’d called my dad to tell him about Angie. It was the one thing I wanted about the whole wedding and he didn’t want me to have that. Designer dresses, fancy cars, jewelry ― he’d give me all that but he couldn’t see I needed my friend.

He
wouldn’t even discuss it with me. He couldn’t see why it was wrong to bring that up with Dad.

“
I’m doing this to protect you,” was all he’d said.

Protect
me? Like I needed protection from Angie. It seemed as though he wanted to transplant me into a new life, with no connection at all to my old one. I’d thought life with Tamaki would mean security, but I was starting to think it might be a little too secure, like being in a high security prison.  And I’d end up a prison bitch – a well-dressed one but still a prison bitch.

I reached up and rubbed the guitar pick I’d hung around my neck.
I’d found it on my dresser when I’d been packing and had slipped it on. I ran my finger around the edge and it gave me a sense of reassurance.

Then
I figured I'd slip out to the bathroom and give Angie a call. I needed to talk to her about it even if I wasn’t sure what to tell her.

“
Where are you going?” Tamaki asked.

“
To the bathroom,” I replied wondering why he'd even asked. Where else would I be going? He was doing nothing to alleviate my fears about him being overprotective.

In
the cubicle, I reached into my bag to get my phone out. It wasn't in its usual place. I walked out and sat my bag on the bench next to the sink and sorted through everything then I remembered hurling it onto the floor when Dad had called. What had I done after that? I’d gone to the coffee shop until Tamaki came home and we’d gone out to dinner.

Damnation.

I walked back to the table.

“
I've left my phone at the apartment. We'll need to swing by and get it before we leave.”

Tamaki
looked up at me with a strange expression on his face.

“
We won't have time. We have to go straight to the airport.”

I
leaned on the back of my chair.

“
We'd have time if you hurried up. Come on. A fast dinner is a good dinner.” Sometimes good manners are overrated.

He
shook his head at me.

“
Well, I can run down and get a taxi and meet you back here. It won't take long.”

That
seemed like perfectly good sense to me.

“
Sit down, Hannah.” His voice was thin and the words dragged out like I was a child in trouble. “What if you get delayed? We'll end up missing the plane. It's not a good idea.”

“
I need my phone.”

“
You can get a new one when we arrive,” said Tamaki. “Yours was getting a bit old anyway. Wouldn't you rather have the latest model?”

He
tried that grin on me but it didn’t work so well this time. It seemed too flashy. Not dazzling and sun-filled at all but overly bright. Maybe people aren’t meant to have smiles that are 100%, maybe they are meant to be tarnished with other things. His smile sparkled like a diamond but was really just cheap glass.

“
I have all my stuff on my phone though. It's super important to me.”

Tamaki
could talk. He'd been checking his phone about every 30 seconds during dinner. Doing it discretely, in that way you put your phone on the side of the table like you don't care but your eyeballs move in that direction just in case there is a message.

“
Don't you save your details to the cloud, isn't that what people do nowadays?”

“
I guess so but I need my phone.”

“
Hannah.” He said it in that tone, like it was the last we'd hear on the subject. What? Was I five years old? Was I being unreasonable? I didn't think it was being unreasonable to want to have my phone with me. Already my fingers twitched to touch its smooth surface and my arm jerked to reach for it in my bag.

I
sank back down in my chair, pouting.

Tamaki
patted my leg.

“
You wouldn't be able to use it on the plane anyway. And they’ll give you an IPad to use.”

That
didn't make me feel better. What if I wanted to listen to
my
music or play
my
games? What if someone was trying to call me? What if someone… then it hit me full force, like a huge great bulldozer smashing into me.

I
knew who I wanted to call me. I knew why the phone was such a big deal. All along I'd be waiting for Jack Colt to ride in like a conquering hero and stop me from getting on that plane. I thought he'd sweep me up and tell me I was his and no one else could have me and all kinds of caveman stuff like that.

But
that didn't happen in real life. I mean, it didn’t make any sense. I’d made my decision when I got engaged to Tamaki. Why would Jack even question that decision?

I
plastered a smile on my face and tried to make pleasant conversation while I forgot about Jack. I wouldn't show how much it hurt. I could be stronger than anyone.

“
We have to get to the airport. We aren't going to find her before she gets there. What time is her flight?”

Eric
sat in the front seat but his body twisted almost fully around to face me. I’d got all the bad luck and had to sit in the back with Spud.

“
I think she said 11. Well, around 11 anyway. Let's go.”

“
They aren't going to get there early and go to one of those swanky lounges and sit around drinking free cocktails for hours, are they? Because if I was rich, I'd sure as hell be doing that.”

Eric
and I looked at each other. We hadn't thought of that. And how come Spud was the one talking sense?

“
We have to go NOW,” I yelled. “We have to get there in time.”

“
Okay,” said Jack. “But you'll all have to chip in for petrol.”

“
Huh?” said Spud. “You’re the one that loves her. Why should we pay?”

“
Because cars can't run on love and I have no money. And I sure as fuck don't want to run out of petrol halfway to the airport. Now, you can chip in or you and your giant bottle of champagne can get out and walk.”

Wow, I’d never heard Jack talk to Spud like that before.
Spud looked all sulky too.

“
Okay, I'll pay. But this is only for the sake of my awesome bottle of champagne and not because I care in any way about her and your stinking love.”

What
a romantic. Jack shot him a dirty look in the rear vision mirror.

“
Faster, Jack, faster,” I urged.

“
We have plenty of time,” said Eric, “And we don't want to have an accident.”

True
words but, to be honest, I dreaded something going wrong. My fingers gripped the back of Jack's seat, hoping that would help get us there faster.

“
We have no proof anyway,” said Spud. “It's only going to be our word against his. She might just ignore us.”

“
She'll believe us. I mean, I'm her best friend. Why wouldn't she believe me?”

Spud
shrugged. “She's a weirdo.”

I
punched him on the leg.

“
There's no need for that.”

There probably wasn’t any need but it did make me feel better.

Jack swung his car into a petrol station and the three of us fumbled through our wallets trying to rack up some cash.

“
Come on, Spud, you can chip in more than,” I said when he handed over a fist full of coins. “Don’t you have any notes?”

He
just shrugged. What a cheapskate. If Hannah ended up on that plane and involved with all kinds of dodgy shenanigans, it would be his fault.

I
passed the money to Jack. We had $9.65 between us.

“
Get us something nice with the change,” I said. “Chocolate is good.”

He
rolled his eyes and jumped out of the car. I figured it’d be the best time to try to get the seriousness of the situation through Spud’s thick head.

“
Seriously, Spud. Stop saying all that negative stuff. Jack’s as nervous as hell. You aren't helping.”

“
Well, maybe he should be prepared for rejection. What's the point of getting his hopes up? If she rejects him, he'll go back to being a jerk again. He'll mope around and not be able to rehearse and then he'll get drunk and fight me. That's the way it goes. It's okay for you, Eric. He never hits you.”

“
Maybe because I don't provoke him.”

Spud
looked out the window. Jack had finished pumping the fuel and had headed in to pay. I looked at the display on the bowser. He’d hit it at $9.60. Impressive.

“
It was better when it was just the three of us. We don't need chicks.” Spud muttered into the side of car, his body curled up in sulking position hugging his champagne bottle.

“
Spud, tell me, are you gay? This is a man-crush thing, isn't it? You can tell us.”

“
Screw you,” he said, turning right around with his back to me. “Anyway, why aren’t they flying on a private plane like rich people do? Do they even leave from the same airport?”

Fuck.
I hadn’t thought of that. The potential for everything to go horribly wrong just kept getting higher. Jack jumped back into the car.

“
He can follow her to Japan if that happens. Right, Jack? You could go and rescue her.”

“
Except he doesn’t even have petrol money and have you forgotten we have the motherfucking tour in a couple of days? If you walk out on us for her again, Jack, I will kill you.”

I
didn’t say anything but I crossed my fingers and hoped it would all work out. Then I noticed Jack staring at something.

“
Don’t just sit there, gawking into space, Jack. We don’t have time to waste.”

Then I followed his gaze to the billboard.
It had a huge, stylized picture of Monkey Bride and in the right corner in bright yellow that you couldn’t miss it said “Special guests: STORM”.

***

When the cops pulled us over, I couldn't believe our bad luck. I clenched my fists and tried not to scream, imagining it all being ruined. Hannah would probably be in the air before we could even make it to the airport.

The
cop took Jack's license and sauntered back to his car to check the details. It was okay for him to saunter. He didn’t have a high-tension rescue mission at stake. I bit my thumbnail and tried not to scream at him. Eric shot me a worried glance and Spud kept sulking. It was a whole big mess that wasted valuable time.

I
leaned over to look at Jack, hoping he had some kind of backup plan, although what that would be, I didn’t know. Maybe he could just take off. If he gunned it, we could get a good head start on the cop. We might make it to the airport on time. That’s the kind of crazy thing you do when love was at stake.

But
no. He had his phone out. Texting. How could he? Surely, he had to be more stressed than I was. He should be hitting things and screaming and making like a man possessed. Instead, he just calmly played with his phone. Did he even care about Hannah? If he did, he had a funny way of showing it.

“
What’s going on, Jack? Get out and tell that cop we’re in a hurry?”

Then
I noticed the way his fingers trembled as he hit the keys. His face had gone ashen grey. I had no idea who he’d been texting but he looked queasy, as though sending that text had caused him extreme physical pain. He wiped his hand across his forehead.

“
No need,” he replied. He half-turned in his seat and shot me a grin, trying to look all manly and in control, but I’d seen what he was going through.

The
cop ran back to our car. He handed Jack his license. And apologised.

It
was over like a dream. No ticket, no making us go in. Nothing.

J
ack took off at lightning speed, his hands gripped tight on the steering wheel.

“
See, I took care of it,” he said. “Do you think we'll make it?”

“
I hope so, I really hope so.”

He
wasn’t nearly as calm as he made out, and who had he been messaging to get us off the ticket so easily?

As
soon as we got to the airport, all four of us jumped out of the car. Jack threw Spud the keys.

“
Go park the car!”

Spud
caught the keys and moved around to the driver's seat.

“
It's not fair. I come all the way here and now I miss out on the action.”

But
the three of us ran into the airport towards the international departures, praying she hadn't gone through yet. I didn’t even have time to tell Spud that him being there for the action sounded like the worst idea ever.

Eric
grabbed my hand as we dodged people with overladen trolleys blocking our paths and weirdos who had nothing better to do than to mill around where we needed to go.

Jack
almost knocked down an old lady, brushing her down and apologising, before rushing off again.

I
could see the departures sign up ahead but what were our chances of catching up with Hannah? She might be catching a private plane. She might be through those gates where we couldn’t reach her. There were a thousand possibilities that ran through my mind.