Out of the Shadows ✔️ [Completed] [Book One]

Chapter 26

Around an hour later there is a pounding on my room door. I ignore it, turn the TV off even though I wasn't really watching it and put the pillow over my head. The thumping continues relentlessly.

"Lizzie." I hear Daniel shout. "I know you're in there." I lie still, holding my breath like he will go away if I don't make a sound. I'm still too livid to face him. I just want to hide rather than have to deal with this tonight.

"Lizzie, I'm not leaving until you open the door." There is more loud banging. "Please, I need to talk to you." There is silence for a few seconds, so I sit up in bed in my Pyjamas with my hair tied up high on my head, hoping that he's gone. "Knob." I mutter to myself and reach over to pick the TV remote back up.

Then he starts to bang my door in a little rhythm over and over again "Please open the door. I'm not going anywhere. I can keep this up all night." You carry on I think to myself and try to block out the annoying tune he is making.

There are some muffled noises from the corridor before I'm able to hear what he is saying. "...well go back to bed then." Oh shit, he must be talking to someone in the hallway. He carries on knocking the door in the same pattern. Then the noise stops again. "Yes I know what time it is Sir and I'm very sorry if I'm disturbing you and your wife ... why don't you just go back to bed then?" There are more muffled noises and then I hear a door slam. "Please Lizzie." For fuck sake, I stomp over and open the door. I don't look at him as I leave the door open, turn and sit down on the sofa.

Daniel bounds into the room and closes the door quickly behind him.

"Thank God, I thought that old guy was going to set his wife on me." He tries to make me laugh, but I'm too tired and too angry to even smile.

"Don't you take a hint? What do you want?"

"I'm so sorry about what I said. I honestly didn't even realise that I'd said anything wrong until Harriet made me repeat our conversation to her and she went fucking insane and punched me in the arm." Daniel rubs his arm to emphasise his point, but I just sit there looking at him blankly, waiting for him to continue. "When I said you were ordinary I didn't mean it how you have interpreted it. I know how it sounds now, but I just meant that you're not on this false, shit merry-go-round that I'm on and you're real and your life is real and your morals are real. I'm not very good at explaining myself am I?" Daniel takes a step towards me and drops to his knees so that he is directly in front of me, our faces inches apart. He reaches out to take my hands and I reluctantly let him. "I'm sorry, but please believe me that I didn't mean it how it sounds. I just wanted her to realise that there was no chance for us at all and that I'd found someone real who wasn't part of this fake bullshit lifestyle."

Daniel sits next to me and pulls me onto his lap. "Please believe me." He pleads looking straight into my eyes. All of the anger fades away and I just feel drained.

"I believe you... I just felt overwhelmed by the whole situation. I'm so out of my depth being here with you. I can't compete with women like her. I guess I didn't expect to feel like this, but then I didn't know how to feel." I snuggle into his chest and let his body engulf me, making me feel completely safe.

"There is no competition. Please don't ever feel like that, you are all I see Lizzie Cooper."

I must fall asleep against Daniel's chest because the next thing I know I'm being carried and placed on the bed. I briefly open my eyes when the light is turned off and I turn onto my side. I grin when I feel the bed dip behind me with Daniel's weight and he quietly pulls me into his chest. I must drift off back to sleep within minutes.

The awful noise of an alarm screeching yanks me out of my slumber. Daniel grunts and groans next to me, but then finally gets up and walks over to his phone. It turns out it's not his alarm, but his phone ringing.