‘Coyle’s not the brightest spark,’ I said. ‘But watch him, please? He’s still dangerous.’
‘Yeah, he has that aura of gorilla, doesn’t he?’ He shook his head. ‘Fuck me, Lilith, I’ve never managed to break so many laws in such a short space of time. Means I can now add ‘Fraudster’ and ‘International Drug Smuggler’ to my CV, mind you.’
‘There you are, then. You can think of it as career development. The hair suits you, by the way,’ I said, and brushed the flat of my hand across the blond stubble.
‘That was the hardest bit, you know. Took me years to grow it that long. You sure it was necessary, or did you just reckon I needed a haircut?’
‘It just wasn’t worth the risk. I don’t think Blaine’s got any shots of me in Santa Marita, but all it would need is one picture with you in the background, and she’d have figured something was up. You’ve got to admit your ringlets were pretty distinctive.’
‘Curls, please,’ Nat said, self-consciously running his fingers across his newly-cropped hair.
‘Sorry, ‘Noah’.’ I laughed. ‘And where the hell did you get that name from?’
Nat blushed. ‘Um, my hamster when I was a kid,’ he muttered.
‘Your hamster?’
‘Well you used a bloody cat, didn’t you? Never had a cat, so I just went for the next best thing.’
The music came to a halt, and Gabriel reverentially lowered the lid. ‘So do I get a proper hug now, or what?’ he asked.
I walked over to the piano, stood behind him, and wrapped my arms around his shoulders. ‘Thank you,’ I said, and kissed him on the cheek. ‘I know it’s a huge price to pay for a bit of in-flight entertainment...’
Gabriel twisted in his seat so he faced me. ‘What else am I gonna do when some complete stranger rings me in the middle of the night and tells me some Ladyship or other’s about to offer me a minibreak orgy? Seriously though, babe – as soon as ‘Noah’ here gave me the call, I was in. Just wish I’d have pushed it a bit more back in London. Knew you was in some kind of bother, didn’t I? Should have done a bit more...’
‘You did what you could, Gabe. And if you’re concerned in the slightest, what you’re doing now gets you a fast pass through the Pearly Gates upon your premature death from a life of hedonism and excess.’
‘Promise?’
‘Promise. Now keep playing, would you? I don’t think this room is bugged, but I know I’ll feel a hell of a lot happier with some background noise going on.’
‘Bugged? Fuck me. At some point, are you actually going to explain what the fuck’s going on here? ‘Cos all I’ve got so far is a posh bird who seems to want to get her hands on my knob before the sun sets, and some stroppy Irish supermodel bloke who looks like he’s out to kill me just for breathing.’
‘Later. If we can pull this thing off, we’ll have the rest of the night to put the world to rights. You get my time and attention, and all the details that you could ever wish for.’
Gabriel rolled his eyes and pulled his stool a little closer to the piano. ‘Good job you’re gorgeous, Ms Bresson.’
‘Isn’t it, though?’
As the music began once more, Nat turned to me and gave me a look that was a perfect combination of sadness and acceptance. ‘The ‘stroppy Irish supermodel’. He’s the one, isn’t he?’
For the briefest moment I thought about lying, about denying everything and blaming my recent madness on simple altruism. Then I looked at Nat and realised that he had known everything that really mattered the moment he had sleepily picked up the telephone that night.
‘Yeah. Yeah, he’s the one.’
‘You know how I guessed?’ Nat asked.
‘How?’
Nat gave a brave smile. ‘The lucky sod’s obviously allowed to call you Lili without getting to take his bollocks home in a jam jar.’
Finn
It wasn’t even that I thought there was anything going on between the pair of them. It was simply that looking at the pair of perma-tanned, flash little bastards with her was like watching beings from another planet. One that I had no hope of ever visiting.
I shouldn’t have bothered coming back up to the Great Hall. Hadn’t expected this reaction, so had nothing in place to deal with it. I got that same, sick feeling that had coshed me when I read the newspaper article; this was Lilith’s world, and these were the kind of men she was meant to be with.