Page 22 of Obsessive Love (The King #1)
Chapter Twenty-One
Sophia
" J ess, it's fine. It's not like I have anything else to do, so we can go shopping again another day. There's no need to apologise for not being available," I say into my phone as I stare at the butterfly clip in my hand that I removed from my veil whilst Jaylen drives towards the shopping centre.
"You could apologise to me though," he grumbles. "I'm now stuck with her and I'll have to give my opinion on stuff."
I laugh at the same time as Jess does through the phone, and when Jaylen glares at me, I quickly say goodbye to Jess so that I can try to capture a picture of his fierce expression.
His lips tilt up a slight amount as I snap the picture and then he leans over to look at it, sending us both into a fit of laughter at how weird he looks on my screen.
As he turns into the parking lot, a phone call notification pops up on the dash of the car, and when I see that it's Kaleb calling him, I lean over and press the red button, ending the call.
"Sophia!" Jaylen shouts, shaking his head.
"He's called you three times already. Maybe he'll finally take the hint that we're not going to talk to him."
Ironically, Jaylen's phone then begins to vibrate in the cupholder. Once. Twice. Then, a third time.
I roll my eyes as Jaylen swings into the closest parking spot and picks up his phone, scanning the messages that he's received. He scoffs and shakes his head before his thumbs fly across the screen, furiously typing his reply.
"This dickhead must really think he's something special," he mutters, turning off his phone and leaning over to put it in the glove compartment.
"What did he say?"
"He's asking for our location and reminding me that he's now your secondary bodyguard so he should've been notified that we're out. I told him that he doesn't need to know anything and that I'm perfectly capable of looking after you myself, then I told him to fuck off and leave me alone, hence why I'm now hiding my phone because I'm scared to see what his reply might be."
"Wow. Is the great Jaylen King actually intimidated by someone?" I ask, chuckling at my cousin when he playfully scowls at me.
"Come on. Let's get this shopping over and done with so that we can get back to Jericho's and hopefully avoid them both again," he says, turning off the ignition and unlocking the doors.
After being away from home for years, I forgot how our family's presence affected the people of London. The nods of acknowledgement from some and the judgemental stares and whispers from others that you walk past is something I don't think I'll ever get used to, but it seems worse now that I'm walking around with this band on my finger. Some people are looking at us with fear in their eyes and once they search for the ring on my finger and find it, they're scurrying across the street and avoiding us at all costs.
As we get closer to the furniture shop I want to go to, I shove my hands into the pockets of my jacket. Jaylen laughs as he watches my actions.
"Soph, your wedding pictures have been plastered across social media for the past two days, and an article was released in every newspaper across London. I don't think hiding your hand is going to stop people from staring at you like some zoo animal," he states, scanning the streets around us before opening the door to the shop.
I hurry inside, wanting to get away from all the people outside. As the door closes, I hear a quiet gasp from somewhere in the shop before a tall, blonde woman in a cream pantsuit rushes towards us.
"Mrs Rossi!" she shouts, tripping over her own feet as she continues towards us. "It's a pleasure to see you in our store. How may I help you?"
I frown at the use of her formal tone and the name she calls me.
"Please, call me Sophia," I tell her, holding out my hand and waiting for her to shake it. "I'm here to look for some furniture to decorate my room. I need linen, blankets, cushions, maybe even a footstool or something, I'm not quite sure."
"Yes, of course! Is there anything specific you want? A certain colour or pattern, perhaps?"
Her question has an idea sparking in my mind and my hand instinctively reaches for my butterfly pendant necklace, squeezing it as I nod my head.
"Purple and white for colours and pattern wise, I'd love it if you have anything with butterflies on it."
"I've got the perfect things in mind for you!" she says, clapping her hands. Her face lights up and she twists around, walking towards the left side of the store and beckoning for me to follow her.
"Can you stop videoing me and help me put this stuff in the car?" Jaylen asks, huffing and puffing as he lifts the cream butterfly footstool into the boot of his car. I end the video, send it to Jess and then quickly type out a message that I missed her not being here before I put my phone away and pick up some of the bags the store clerks left beside the car.
"What do you think people would say if they saw me , the sweet and innocent Mrs Rossi, packing my own shopping into the car?" I ask in a mocking tone.
He glares at me through the windshield as he shoves the footstool further into the boot.
"Sweet and innocent, my arse," he scoffs, closing the boot and walking around to the driver's side. "You could probably kick the shit out of me if you wanted to, Soph. There's nothing sweet or innocent about you, and I don't think there ever has been."
"Hey, don't be so rude. I could be sweet if I tried to be," I tell him, climbing into the passenger seat and nudging him in the arm as he gets in the car.
"Yeah, right."
He shakes his head as he chuckles to himself and starts the car before reversing out of the parking lot and heading out onto the streets of London.
I grab the butterfly clip from the cupholder and then pull down the sun visor to see myself in the mirror. Pulling back a few pieces of my hair, I clip the hairpiece into place and twist my head around, trying to see if it looks okay in the tiny square mirror.
"Soph, close the visor for a second and sit back."
"One minute, I'm trying to see if this looks okay now that I ripped the veil off of it."
"Sit back so that I can see in my damned mirror!" Jaylen shouts, reaching his arm across me and pushing me back into my seat. I turn to him, about to have a go at him for pushing me and not waiting, but when he curses and then presses his foot down on the accelerator, I choose to let it go, no longer worried about a little shove.
"What's wrong?" I ask, watching as he expertly swerves through cars, continuing to put his foot down and gain speed.
"Someone's tailing us."
I snap my head around, trying to see over the footstool and the bags of shopping to get a look out of the back windshield. I'm flung forward into the dashboard as the car jolts forward and pain flares in my hip.
"Shit, Soph. Are you okay?" Jaylen asks, his panicked eyes darting between me, his mirrors, and the road as he continues to drive.
"I'm fine," I grunt, pushing myself back into my seat and fastening my seatbelt.
"Call Kaleb. Tell him we're being followed and they're gaining on us and ramming into us."
I quickly get his phone out of the glove compartment and shove it in front of his face to unlock it. I click on his call log and see Kaleb's name in red, quickly pressing it and putting the phone on loudspeaker.
It only rings once before Kaleb answers and his gruff voice filters through the car speaker.
"What the fuck do you think you-"
"Kaleb, we're being followed!" I shout, interrupting the angry rant he was no doubt about to go on. "They've rammed into us once already and they're gaining on us again. We can't shake them with all this London traffic. We need help, or advice, or something!"
"Are you okay?" he asks, a slight hint of panic in his tone.
"I'm fine! I just need you to help Jaylen get us out of this situation."
"Okay, I can see where you are. Jericho and I aren't close by, so you've got to try and lose them. Am I on speaker?"
"Yes, you're on speaker. Just tell me what the fuck to do, Rossi!" Jaylen growls, swerving around a black Mercedes slowing down in front of him.
"Take a left at the next set of traffic lights and then continue straight until you get to the turning for King Street. You'll have to be quick and make sure they're not too close behind you so that you can quickly swing the car into the small side street on the right at the beginning of King Street. If you manage that, they should hopefully drive straight past and then you need to back out and make your way back to Jericho's."
"Okay, copy that," Jaylen says, gripping the steering wheel and pushing his foot down further. I watch as our surroundings whizz past and when I see the traffic lights coming up ahead of us, I squeeze my eyes shut and hold onto the sides of the seat, anticipating the turn before it happens.
Jaylen bombs it down the next street and we both glance in his side mirrors, waiting to see if the SUV is still behind us. As we get closer to the turning for King Street, the SUV appears in the mirrors, approaching us quickly from behind.
"Jaylen, quick!" I scream, hoping he can do what Kaleb suggested and make it out of this safe.
He yanks on the wheel and sends the car careening left onto King Street before he spins it again and sends the back of the car skidding the opposite way as he turns right, aiming for the small side street Kaleb told us about. The car lurches forward as we drive over a pothole at the side street entrance and Jaylen stomps down on the brakes, sending us to a screeching halt halfway down the dark street.
The sounds of our heavy breathing fill the car as we both stare at the side mirrors, waiting for the SUV to go whizzing past. When it does exactly that a few seconds later, we both breathe a sigh of relief.
"Did you make it? Have they gone past?" Kaleb shouts.
I jump in my seat and scramble to grab the phone from where I'd dropped it on the floor.
"Yeah, we made it," I sigh, placing a hand against my chest to feel my racing heartbeat. "They drove past us."
"Okay, get the hell out of there and get back to Jericho's now. We'll discuss this whole situation when you get there."