Ben steps in. “Stan, stop it.”
Joshua pushes him too while having my arm in a pincer grip.
“I’ll kill him. Get him away from me before I fucking kill him.” Joshua yells about Max.
He opens the door furiously and pushes me into the car and slams it hard behind me.
“Take Natasha home,” he yells to the driver. “To LA.” He turns and then starts to storm after Max who has disappeared around the side of the building.
My face drops. What the hell? I jump out of the car. “Joshua, get in the car now.”
People are staring but this is getting seriously out of control. “Ben, do something,” I scream. Ben runs his hands through his hair in frustration.
“Stan, get in the car!” he yells.
“That’s it!” I scream. I start to storm toward the road and hold my arm up for a cab. I’m not putting up with this shit. He hasn’t even given me a chance to look at the photos properly and make sense of them. Two of the guards run after me.
Joshua turns. “Natasha. Get in the fucking car,” he yells.
“No,” I scream. “I’m not putting up with this.” My angry eyes flick around to the guards who are all following me out to the road, unsure what to do.
“Don’t make me come and get you!” Joshua furiously yells across the carpark. The people who are standing around all gasp. Oh god, this is embarrassing but I’m too mad to care.
“Come and get me, asshole. I’m not putting up with this shit,” I yell as I continue to storm out toward the road.
“You fucking guards are hopeless. Control her!” he yells. He turns and starts to sprint after me and I run. “Get the car,” I snap at Ben and he nods, realising I have just run to get Joshua’s mind off following Max and onto chasing me.
I continue to hotfoot it and Joshua catches up to me. “Where do you think you’re going?” He staggers as if dizzy and I frown.
“Away from you, asshole,” I snap. He must be drunker than I thought.
“Get in the car. I’m taking you home,” he snaps
“To LA?” I scream, hurt that our lovely night has been ruined once again by the twisting paparazzi and their lying cameras.
He shakes his head. “No, to the boat.” Ben pulls up in the car and Joshua grabs my arm and pushes me inside and I fall into the seat and he climbs in next to me. He puts his head in his hands in anger. I drop to my knees in front of him.
“Joshua, this isn’t true. They have just twisted the photographs.”
“I told him not to touch you,” he murmurs angrily.
“Joshua he hasn’t, I swear to you. Since you told me no touching we have been completely unfriendly. They have twisted the photos. They could be photoshopped for all we know.”
Joshua runs his hands though his hair.
“Joshua, you have just made a ridiculous scene over nothing. There is nothing to be suspicious of. You know how they twist photographs. They do it to you every day. Why do you think they wouldn’t do it to me?”
He stays silent as he watches me and my heart aches for him. He actually thinks I would be romantically attracted to Max. I smile sadly.
“Josh, I love you. You are the only drama queen around here.” I sigh as I climb onto his lap.
He blows out a deep breath. “Fuck,” he whispers as he seems to regain his composure.
“Josh what the hell was that?” I whisper. “You just made us look like idiots,” I whisper. “Everyone was watching us.”
His eyes meet mine. “And you think I don’t look like an idiot with those photos on every newsstand tomorrow?”
“Oh baby.” I pull his head into my chest. “People are manipulating this situation to make it look bad.”
He gently kisses my upper arm next to his face. “It makes me crazy thinking of you with someone else,” he whispers.
I kiss his forehead. “I know but it’s Max. He’s my friend.”
He shakes his head angrily. “He’s going and I don’t care what you say about it.”
I nod sadly. I know that tonight the point of no return has been crossed with Max and our time together is over. Sadness brushes over me.
We sit silent as the driver makes his way to the boat ramp. Ben and the other two guards get the boat ready in silence and we get onto it and make our way out to the luxury liner. We didn’t even say goodbye to the others. The situation went from zero to ten in about thirty seconds. Ben is furious. I can see the steam shooting from his ears and Joshua is still breathing heavily from the adrenaline in his system. We arrive safely at the yacht and Joshua stands quickly, then nearly falls over, and Ben grabs his arm for support and shakes his head at the other guards. He is so much drunker than any of us thought.
He helps me to stand and I gingerly climb up the stairs and the porters on the boat help me on board. “Thank you,” I whisper. I don’t even have my phone on me. It’s on the table back at the wedding in my handbag. Joshua gets onto the boat behind me and Ben behind him. Ben starts to check the boat as Joshua goes directly to the bedroom, obviously embarrassed.
“Ben, can you ring the girls and get them to take my bag and Joshua’s jacket please?” I ask.
“Yeah. Are you ok?” he asks softly.
I nod as I blow out a deep breath. “What was that?” I sigh.
He shakes his head. “Crazy bastard.”
“Did you see the photos?” I ask.
He frowns. “No, what?”
I shake my head embarrassed. I don’t want to go into this shit with him.
“We are just going to go to bed. Go back to the party and go out with the gang. The other guards are staying nearby in the next boat.”
His eyes flick to the boat moored 200 metres from ours. “The porters don’t stay on this boat overnight.”
I smile. “It’s ok, Ben. Go and guard my sister. We have enough guards out here.”
He nods. “I’m just going to say goodbye to Joshua.”
I smile softly. He wants to check on his friend. We walk down to the luxury bedroom, I open the door and Joshua is out cold, asleep on the bed. He frowns and looks at me. “I didn’t realise he was so drunk.” He sighs.
“Me either,” I whisper.
I walk over and take his shoes off and he continues to sleep.
I smile at Ben and shake my head. “Not the night I had in mind, Ben.”
He smiles. “I bet. Are you sure you don’t want me to stay?” he asks.
My eyes flick to Joshua. “There is absolutely nothing going on around here,” I mutter dryly. “Go and have fun.”