Trust (London Love #5)

Well, there we were. I got up, stepped into my clothes and put the light on in the hallway, which, of course, meant Dad got up, ready to grab the frying pan off the stove and take out any potential intruders.

“What?” he barked. Yes. We all knew the drill. Things happened around here. Didn’t matter what time of night.

Eleven fifteen for the record.

For fuck’s sake, Gray.

“Gray’s in McDonald’s down on the Rye. I need to go get him.”

Dad, being Dad, didn’t even bat an eyelid.

“Suppose I’m driving, am I?”

It would probably be faster for me to run, but I wasn’t going to turn down his offer of a ride.

Anyway, Dad already had his coat on and car keys in his hand as I pulled on a hoodie.

“On the Rye? How the hell did he end up here? His driver usually drops him by the door.”

Usually being the key word. This had got completely out of hand. South London on a weeknight. In bloody McDonald’s.

Dad drove and dropped me outside, and immediately, I could see the problem. A bloody mass of kids hanging around with their phones, word having spread fast.

“The fuck?” I said that out loud, trying to wedge myself through the door. There were people everywhere. Excited chatter. I knew this branch; one of our neighbour’s kids worked here. Loos were downstairs, and there was a poor security guy blocking the staircase like some kind of VIP was relieving himself downstairs. I waded through the crowd towards him. Honestly, it was like being in some incredibly fucked-up music video. Girls everywhere. And me.

Think, Reuben.

If I actually made it downstairs, I wouldn’t be able to handle getting Gray up here and back to the car on my own.

The car.

Dad was outside.

Yes!

“Reuben! Dude!”

My neighbour’s son grinned at me.

“Did you hear? We have that Dieter downstairs. From Blitz? He’s locked himself in the loos. It’s, like, crazy, man! And people are posting it all over Snap. Check out TikTok, man!”

“It’s not The Dieter, you absolute idiot. It’s my mate. He’s just an ordinary guy, looks a bit like him, I’ll admit, but come on. He’s bloody terrified.”

“Man, I saw his face. It’s definitely him.”

Fuck this guy.

“Kairo.” He had a stupid name, right there on his name badge. This was all bloody stupid. “Where’s the staff entrance?”

“Up here.”

“Okay.” I rubbed my forehead trying to come up with a plan. Not easy with the crowd screaming. Some other security guy peered helplessly over the banister. Come on, Reubs, think! We dealt with things like this at the Clouds all the time. Got people in and out. But that was at a big hotel with lots of staff. This was the shittiest McDonald’s in London. Small. Smelly. Crowded.

Also…I was barred from this particular McDonald’s. There was probably still an old photo of me next to the tills. Not that I blamed them. This had been my usual place to cause trouble. I’d been dealing in the toilets downstairs. Smoked. Caused a fight…or two.

“I’m Reuben. The security guy downstairs called me,” I said to the guard on the stairs who almost managed to hide this sigh of relief. And I almost broke my neck running down the stairs. I shook hands with this Khan, who also looked familiar.

“We’ve met before,” he said, bristling for trouble.