Winner Takes All

by Katie Price

  Jas did a double take. ‘Luke? You don’t mean Luke Hawkins?’

  ‘The one and only. Oh, you’ve got a good one there, Jasmine. Hang onto him. He had practically every woman in the building fussing over him!’

  ‘I’m sorry, Beth, I don’t understand. What did Luke do?’

  ‘You don’t know? He had meetings with any woman who worked with Richard and said he was helping you with your divorce case. We just assumed he was your boyfriend. You’re really not together? He explained our rights to us and gave us all legal advice. Said he’d personally see to it that we were represented if we wanted to sue Curtis Stoddard for unfair dismissal. That’s why the four of us came forward. We all decided it was the right thing to do. He even gave us contacts for other jobs. We’re all going to resign together. I can’t believe you haven’t snapped Luke up already, Jasmine. You’d better hurry up before someone else does.’

  Jas ran into the pub where Graham was already at the bar handing out drinks. ‘There you are! Come on, Jasmine, place your order.’

  ‘Dad, Mum, I’m sorry but there’s something I have to do. Start without me?’

  ‘But we were going to go to Di Martino’s on Great Portland Street for dinner,’ Lila protested.

  ‘Perfect. I’ll meet you there.’ Jas quickly kissed each family member in turn and knocked back some of Lila’s wine for courage, apologising again. She raced to the Tube station, calling Luke’s mobile as she did but it was switched off. She called his office number. The legal assistant, Phoebe, answered.

  ‘Oh, hi, Jas. Luke’s not in, he’s got the day off today. Said something about painting the flat so you might find him at home.’

  Shit. Jas had never been to his house. She knew it was Archway. Could she just about get away with blagging the street name from Phoebe over the phone? Jas could find it on Google Maps and then she’d have to knock on every door ’til she found him.

  ‘Oh dammit, you don’t happen to know the street name do you, lovely? He always orders the cabs when we’ve gone there and I’d recognise the door in an instant but …’

  ‘Jas, I’m sorry, you know I can’t give out an address of an employee.’

  ‘Phoebe, please. Please, please, I swear on my life I won’t tell anyone. It’s an emergency. Come on, you know me. I swear I wouldn’t ask you unless it was important. I’ll get you on the guest list to 360 any night you want.’ She’d just have to call in another favour from Connor Scott, but it was worth it. Phoebe whispered the address.

  Jas thanked her and ran into the Tube station and jumped on a Northern line train to Luke’s flat. Everything made sense to her now. She’d been holding back all this time but couldn’t manage it any more. Not only was she allowed finally to divorce Richard, and was therefore a free agent, but finding out what Luke had done to save her was the clincher. Beth was right: why hadn’t she snapped up this amazing man? Luke might have said he was seeing someone else but didn’t he also say it was early days? And what he’d done for Jas surely meant that he had feelings for her too.

  The train didn’t move fast enough. Jas raced out of the station and would have run all the way to Luke’s flat if she hadn’t been wearing heels and already completely out of breath. She laughed to herself as she pictured the scene: it was going to be just like in those cheesy rom-coms … she’d turn up at his flat and jump straight into his arms. All she needed now was for it to rain and then it really would be like the dramatic end to a Hollywood chick flick!

  Eyes glued to Google Maps, she ran around the corner to Luke’s flat and, as she looked up, her smile faded instantly. Luke was standing there, looking typically gorgeous in dark jeans and a black coat with the collar turned up. But he was with the same pretty and petite brunette Jas had seen him with on the Tube that summer. They were standing on the steps outside his flat, hugging and looking like the perfect Instagram couple. It was too late. Someone had already snapped him up. It clearly wasn’t early days with his girlfriend at all. Jas ran back around the corner before she was spotted. She felt like the world’s biggest idiot. Then it started to rain.

  Half an hour in the back seat of a Toyota Prius later, Jas stepped out of the Uber and into Di Martino’s restaurant in central London. It was Friday night and the place was completely rammed, but her family had secured a table at the back and were already tucking into their garlic prawns and tricolore salad starters.

  Greetings over, Lila pulled Jas down into the seat next to her, with Meg on the other side. ‘Are you completely insane? Where the hell have you been?’

  ‘Making a complete fool of myself, Lila, that’s where.’ Jas poured herself a generous glass of white wine.

  Meg rubbed her back. ‘Here, we ordered you some garlic bread. I can’t imagine you’ve had anything to eat today with all the stress of the hearing.’

  It was true, but Jas had no appetite. Her sisters were both staring at her so there was no way to avoid talking about it.

  ‘I went to see Luke, to tell him that I wanted to be with him. It was he who convinced all those women to come forward. We owe him everything.’ She told her sisters exactly what the employee at Curtis Stoddard had told her outside the court.

  ‘So, I went to his flat,’ she continued. ‘I had this grand, crazy notion of turning up at the doorstep, flinging myself into his arms and then everything would be okay.’

  ‘Wow, Jas, I can’t believe he would do that for you,’ said Meg.

  ‘He must be crazy about you, there’s no other explanation for it!’ exclaimed Lila, before Jas quietened her down.

  ‘Shh! And no, you’re wrong. He was standing there hugging his girlfriend. I legged it before he saw me and I made an even bigger prat of myself.’

  ‘Oh, no,’ exhaled Lila and Meg at the same time, hugging Jas from each side. ‘I’m so sorry, babe,’ said Meg.

  ‘I really screwed things up this time, girls,’ said Jas glumly, before excusing herself to go to the toilet. Maybe it was all the emotion of the day, maybe it was the large glass of wine she’d drunk on an empty stomach, but the second she locked the cubicle door she started crying.

  Chapter 41

  The next two days were miserable for Jas. Her parents drove Lila back to Manchester the morning after the hearing while Meg and Oscar set off at the same time in their own car. Both Meg and Lila offered to stay and keep Jas company in her flat but she insisted they go back, not wanting to be any sort of a burden.

  Unfortunately, not even an hour after they’d left Jas started to feel lonely and wished she’d accepted Lila’s offer to stay with her. She spent the entire weekend between her bed and the sofa, sleeping or trying to distract herself with thriller films. Definitely not anything romantic, Jas decided as she flicked through Netflix and Amazon Prime.

  Not that the films were that much of a distraction. Being alone with her thoughts made Jas play through every moment she’d had with Luke since they’d met, over and over again, obsessing about all the mistakes she’d made. Why didn’t she just tell him about her marriage straight away like Monica told her to? Even if she had told him after they’d slept together in Ibiza, it probably would have been fine, but the way it came out, in that drunken screaming fit in the middle of the night, was so not good. Not to mention the horrendous and childish way she had spoken to him at the Mr Right wrap party. Every time Jas thought of that she cringed inwardly. No wonder he’d chosen the pretty brunette over her. No doubt she was far less trouble and far less dramatic. Jas couldn’t help thinking of them together: laughing, happy, and on their way to falling in love.

  Jas could kick herself. She’d had the greatest guy in the world and been awful to him. Twice. And she’d stupidly thought all it would take was showing up on his doorstep to make everything all right again. What was she thinking?

  By Monday morning Jas’s low mood hadn’t lifted, but she felt better for showering, finally, and getting ready for work. What she needed now, more than anything else, was a distraction.

  On the way in she
kept seeing things that reminded her of Luke: a man brushing past her wearing the same aftershave; a northern accent taking a phone call on the street. Jas scolded herself. For God’s sake, pull yourself together! There was no alternative: she had to get on with her life.

  Jas got through the day of meetings, clearing emails and watching back edited footage of the show, so busy that she barely checked her phone or lost herself in thoughts of Luke. There was a lot going on, including a press plan to finalise with the PR department and a huge launch party ahead of the first episode. She had barely even thought about the next stages of her divorce, now hopefully just a few signatures away. Ralph had already emailed Jas to set up a call to discuss things. Jas had never been so thankful that she was busy. She hoped to go for the entire day without running into Luke. But, that afternoon, he appeared at her desk.

  ‘Hey!’ She was surprised to see him and clearly it showed.

  Luke was wearing black trousers and a pale blue shirt, looking devastatingly handsome as always. But there was something different about him today. His eyes darted quickly instead of looking at Jas straight on. He was fidgeting. Was he … nervous?

  ‘I was hoping I’d catch you,’ he said briskly.

  Jas nodded and tapped her fingers on her phone screen. ‘Yep, I’m here. Where I always am.’ This was so awkward.

  ‘So, how did the hearing go on Friday?’

  Jas hit her head with her palm. For the past two days, she’d been so consumed with her feelings for Luke that she still hadn’t even thanked him yet for what he’d done for her.

  ‘Oh my God. It went great, but only thanks to you. That woman … all those women … They told me what you did. How you went there to talk to them and persuade them to come forward. Thank you so, so much, Luke.’

  He shifted uncomfortably.

  ‘I can’t believe you did that. I honestly don’t know how to thank you.’

  ‘I couldn’t just stand by and let him get away with it,’ said Luke, looking fully at Jas finally. ‘I didn’t want to see you hurt. No matter what happened with us in the past.’

  The past. There was a yawning silence. Jas broke it.

  ‘I came to your house, you know. To say thank you.’ And that I was falling in love with you.

  ‘When?’

  ‘Friday afternoon. Straight after the hearing. Left my family in the pub not knowing where I was running off to. You can imagine how that went down.’

  They both smiled and Jas was glad she’d broken the tension.

  ‘So, what, you just stood outside my door?’ asked Luke quietly. He edged closer to Jas now and having him within kissing distance was almost too much for her to bear.

  ‘I was being dramatic,’ she said breezily. ‘I got all the way to your Tube station then figured I’d see you at work anyway on Monday and could thank you then. And I’ve been meaning to come and see you today but it’s been so busy. Anyway, I felt a bit bad for ditching the family so I turned around and went back to them. I was sure you would be hanging out with your girlfriend anyway and I didn’t want to disturb you on your day off.’

  Luke opened his mouth to speak when an almighty, booming voice sounded from down the corridor.

  ‘HAWKINS. My office, NOW!’

  Luke turned around and Jas looked over to see Harry hurtling down the corridor towards them, with his assistant and a stern-looking woman Jas identified as Luke’s boss in the legal department, running behind.

  Harry shouted again and motioned for Luke to follow him into his office across the floor. ‘That fucking imbecile host we have on the Friday-night chat show has only gone and been arrested for being drunk behind the wheel and crashing into a pub. The fucking irony! He’d been drinking with several other Channel 6 presenters and we’ve got press and police on every phone line. It’s a legal mind-fuck. Emergency meeting in my office, NOW!’

  Luke was clearly annoyed and tried to stall Harry by nodding at him. ‘Right there, boss.’ He turned back to Jas. ‘Listen, I …’

  ‘NOW!’ Harry roared back.

  ‘Go, Luke. Burrell looks like he’s about to have a heart attack.’

  ‘Shit! Okay. Can I call you later?’

  Jas nodded, restraining a smile. Luke wanted to talk to her. About what? Jas longed to hear what he was about to say. She so wanted to talk to him too and finally tell him how she felt. She’d have to wait, though.

  At 7 p.m. Luke was still locked in Harry’s office and Jas assumed they’d be there all night. She was knackered. Satisfied she’d had a full and productive day, she swept her bag off her messy desk, thinking only about what she was going to pick up from the Tesco Express near her road for dinner.

  An hour later and with a plastic bag full of ricotta and spinach tortellini, a pack of tomatoes, cucumber, salad leaves, sparkling water and a bottle of white wine, Jas walked into her flat and slammed the door shut. A quick salad and two-minute-to-cook pasta was her idea of food heaven. To hell with cooking a complicated meal for one.

  She dumped the plastic bag on the counter in the kitchen and poured herself a generous white wine spritzer, kicking off her loafers and padding into her living room. Then she screamed so loudly the wine glass dropped from her hand, shattering into dozens of pieces, its contents spilling onto her feet and the floor. Sitting on the sofa, holding a glass of brandy, was Richard.

  Chapter 42

  ‘Hello, Jasmine.’

  She held her right hand over her chest. Her heart was beating furiously at the shock of seeing her soon-to-be-ex-husband sitting comfortably on the sofa as if he was still living with her. ‘What the fuck are you doing here? How did you get in?’

  ‘Oh, you still keep your spare keys in the same little pot by the microwave, darling. I helped myself to them when Lila asked me over. Thought they might come in handy one day.’ He finished off the brandy and wiped his running nose. He looked like he hadn’t slept for days, and Jas knew that this could well be true.

  ‘She did tell you about the little party we had back here, didn’t she? Lots of fun. I like what you’ve done with the bedroom.’

  Jas shivered at the thought of Richard in her home. Jas reached for her bag and rummaged around for her phone. It wasn’t there.

  Richard got to his feet, his eyes bulging, and wiped his nose again.

  ‘I would sit down if I were you, Jasmine. We’ve got lots to talk about.’

  ‘No way. Get out of here, Richard.’ But he came towards her, making her back away into the kitchen.

  ‘I lost my job today. Because of all this.’

  ‘You can’t blame our divorce for you losing your job, Richard. Plenty of people split up and still manage to stay employed.’ But she’d never seen her husband look like this. She knew the drugs were getting heavy, but she’d had no idea things were so out of control. The person she was looking at now was not her husband, not the Richard she once knew.

  ‘Please, sit down and let’s just talk about it,’ she said softly, reasoning that talking to him rather than shouting was the best way forward. Then the entryphone buzzed.

  ‘Don’t move,’ Richard said.

  ‘Why don’t I just go and get rid of them quickly?’ Jas could easily run to the door but didn’t want to make any sudden movements around Richard just yet, still hoping she could talk him down.

  ‘They say I’ve brought shame on Curtis Stoddard,’ Richard continued, pouring himself another brandy from the near-empty bottle by the sink. ‘This nonsense has been going on for long enough now. It’s high time I moved back in, don’t you think?’

  Had he completely lost it? He was clearly off his face.

  ‘We’ll call off the divorce,’ he told her. ‘You’ll say it was all one big mistake and you’ve changed your mind. I’ll get my job back and then everything will be normal.’

  Jas shook her head furiously. ‘No, Richard.’

  The buzzer sounded again, an angry shrill sound that only seemed to antagonise Richard further.

  ‘Dammit, Jas!’ This
time he banged the empty bottle so hard on the sink it smashed in two, so that he held one jagged shard of glass in his hand. He held it close to his other wrist and tears came to his eyes. ‘Everything has turned to shit. I might as well fucking end it right here.’

  A fist started banging on the door, followed by a voice outside in the corridor. ‘Jas? Jas, are you okay?’

  Luke.

  ‘Don’t move,’ Richard said to her again, quietly. He dashed the tears from his red, bloodshot eyes and the sweat from his upper lip. ‘Is this your boyfriend come to rescue you? How nice.’

  Jas thought quickly. She couldn’t risk staying with him here, not in this mood and armed with broken glass. She bolted for the door, Richard right behind her, and flung it open. ‘Luke, watch out!’ she called.

  Richard was coming towards them with the glass raised in his hand, but Luke grabbed Jas and swung them both to one side. Richard tripped and fell to the ground. Luke instinctively kicked the broken bottle out of the way. Richard, out of control now, came at him with both fists flailing and swung at him. Richard was strong, but he was no match for Luke. After a short tussle he punched Richard once so hard he fell to the ground and lay still, breathing but unconscious.

  Jas and Luke stood above the crumpled figure, both of them suffering from shock and trying to process what had just happened.

  ‘Your ex?’ asked Luke.

  Jas nodded. ‘I – I don’t know what happened. I’ve never seen him like this, ever.’

  ‘He’s dangerous and he needs help,’ Luke said firmly, and called the police. Then he turned to Jas. They stared at each other for a few seconds before she ran into his arms.

  ‘I came to talk to you when Burrell finally let us go,’ Luke said as he hugged her tight. ‘You’d left your phone on your desk so I figured you’d come home without noticing.’ He took Jas’s phone out of his trouser pocket. ‘Good thing I came when I did. Now, please tell me that’s the only mental ex I have to deal with and there are no more murky secrets?’