Page 123 of All the Forbidden Things

And with that, he lifts me from his lap, straightens my bra, helps me put on my sweatshirt and beanie. Then I head to Layla’s room and find her clean clothes.

Micky has pulled the RangeRover up into Max’s garage to hide us from the photographers who are still waiting at the front gates. Wearing a beanie and using an open umbrella to cover my face, I’d walked across the driveway to the house. Mel and Kenzie had done the same at ten-minute intervals after me. I’m not entirely sure why we’ve done any of that. Micky said something about not letting the press know exactly who's in the house and who might be leaving, but who knows. After the morning I’ve had, I have very few brain cells left to work anything out. Max, Cal, Jake, and Karen are here, and we are all standing around watching Micky load Layla’s bags into the back of one car, mine into another.

I watch as Max straps Layla into her seat, when he straightens, I brush as close as I dare past him, and lean in and give her a kiss. “Be good for your nan. I love you,” I whisper against her cheek before pulling away.

“Call me, kid. We’ll be there next Wednesday anyway, but call if you need anything.”

“Will do,” I assure my brother as I shift from foot to foot.

The last few hours have been awkward. Mel has made me so self-conscious that I’ve tried to stay out of Max’s line of sight in case my brother picks up on the fact he’s watching me, which is a crying shame because I love the fact Max watches me to the point other people have noticed it.

Max pulls me into him for what, on the surface, looks like a PG hug. “I’ll text you first chance I get,” he whispers against my ear before pulling away. “Look after yourself, Bamm.” His voice still quiet.

I can barely look at him, afraid my eyes will be brimming with the emotions I’m feeling right now. I don’t care if Max sees, I want him to know. My brother, not so much.

With a final nervous smile and a quick wave, I climb into the back of the car and down into the footwell on the back passenger side. A blanket is placed over me and the car door slams shut. I hear the engine of one car start, then ours.

“You all right down there, Spice?”

“Fan-fucking-tastic, Mick,” I reply, leaning heavily on the sarcasm.

“As soon as we get on the motorway and we know it’s safe to do so, I’ll pull over.”

“Can’t wait.”

I hear Micky chuckle. “It’s been a few years since I’ve had to smuggle birds in and out of Max’s place like this.”

“TMI, Mick, T-M-I.”

“Sorry, forgot about the rainbow shitting unicorns prancing about between you two. Right, hold tight, gates are opening, and there are about twenty of the fuckers out here. We’ll let the other cars go first.”

“Cars?” I question.

“Yeah, didn’t want to take any chances, so we’ve got a couple of decoys leaving too. The paps won’t know which one to follow … that’s the plan any way.”

My heart rate accelerates at the same time the car does and Micky mumbles, “Fuck off, mate.”

After a minute or so of silence, a call connects through the cars Bluetooth system, and Mick answers with, “What we got?”

“Two on a motorbike coming up the outside of you now.”

“Yeah, just clocked them.”

“Passenger’s got a long lens.”

“Fuckers. If I get caught at the next set of lights, they’ll try and get their shot. We should be good though, she’s well covered.”

“You want me to stay behind them?”

“Yep, let me know if they fuck off. Hopefully, this rain will put them off.”

“Will do.”

The call disconnects just as mine vibrates in my pocket.

“Don’t answer that,” Mick calls out. “Sorry, Spice, I should’ve told you to shut it down before we left. You still doing all right?”

“Still super.”