“You’re so annoying.” I wondered what his game was. He had to have one, because this was coming out of nowhere. Besides, he didn’t need a haircut.
“I thought they might come in handy one day.”
“Yeah, when you want a free haircut.”
“Yeah,” he said like I was stupid, which only made me more annoyed and he knew it.
“I don’t want to go back to that shitty job.”
“I wasn’t thinking about that,” he said. “I don’t trust anyone outside of you and that bloke at the barber shop.”
“That bloke has been cutting you hair for three years and you still don’t know his name?”
“Nope.”
“You two fight like an old married couple,” Louie said, and I realized that everyone had fallen silent and were listening to us. I felt my face redden.
“You’re cute when you blush, Zo,” Frank declared loudly and I almost got up to drown him in the pool, but Dee made a bold statement on my behalf.
“Who needs a haircut? She’s an artist, our Zoe. Slices and dices like Rembrandt.”
“Dee,” I hissed.
“What? Some of us might want to take advantage of your skills.”
So, that’s how I found myself in the bathroom of my hotel room, Will sitting on a chair in front of me, a fluffy white towel around his shoulders, hair dripping wet. Dee’s game was revealed and right now I wanted to give him a black eye.
Brandishing my scissors, I said, “Ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.”
It’s do or die, so I chose to do.
I tried not to be awkward about it, but I found myself thinking almost instantaneously about how I was touching Will’s hair. Hell, I’d been a hairdresser for five years straight out of school for some unknown reason, and I’d touched plenty of hot guy’s heads. I’d shampooed and conditioned a ton of them. Scalp massages and all. And in all that time, I’d never felt so uncomfortably turned on as I did right now.
I pushed his head forward so I could cut in at the nape of his neck and was able to study one of his tattoos without him noticing. It was a small hourglass with grey wings. I had something similar and felt myself blush was suddenly grateful that he couldn’t see me in the mirror. I was red as a beetroot.
“Thanks,” he said as I began to cut. “It was gettin’ a bit outta control.”
“No problem,” I said as evenly as I could. “What’s the use of having a qualified hairdresser around if you can’t take advantage, right?”
“Right.”
I focused on what I was doing. I couldn’t give him a shit haircut. After Dee talked me up like I was some kind of DaVinci with scissors, it had to be perfect, but I couldn’t quite get past the fact that I was touching him. It took all my strength not to straddle him then and there.
When it was time to do the top, I came around and stood in front of him, pulling the comb through his wet curls and for the first time I could see his eyes clearly. I did my best to look away, but he was staring up at me like he’d never seen a girl cut his hair before. I’m frozen to the spot, my heart thumping a million miles an hour.
He reached up and took the comb and scissors from my hands and set them on the counter. When he stood, the towel dropped and he grasped both sides of my face, pushing me back against the mirror, and kissed me. It took me by surprise, so when I hit the glass, I opened my mouth with a gasp and he plunged his tongue right in and I couldn’t stop myself. I kissed him back, my hands raking up his back as I pulled him harder into me. He claimed me with a hunger that I didn’t know he possessed and I wanted him just as much. Suddenly, I was alive.
His knee pushed in between my legs and I opened them enough so his thigh rubbed against my clit. Rolling my hips forward, I let out a deep moan into his mouth. He kissed me deeper in response, his tongue clashing with mine. God, it felt so good.
I tore my lips away and let out a whimper as he kissed a trail down into the crook of my neck and his hands fell from my face, brushing across my breasts and came to rest on my hips.
“I’m not finished,” I said breathlessly as his lips grazed the skin underneath my ear.
“Don’t care,” he mumbled into my hair as his thumb passed over my tight nipples.
Holy shit.
I’m wearing a bikini top and boardies over the bottoms, but I might as well be in my bra and knickers. There is only a thin piece of material between my skin and his hands. Suddenly, it seemed like too much distance. Will’s hand trailed up my back and he pulled the clasp undone and tugged at the string that secured the halter at the nape of my neck and it was gone. Cool air hit my skin and my nipples tingled.
“I’ve wanted you for so long,” he said, caressing my breasts as his lips found mine again. Grinding into me, I felt just how much he meant it. A hand slid to the small of my back and pulled me harder against the length of his body.
I couldn’t help arching my back, pressing myself into his hands, moaning into his mouth. This was going way too fast, but I couldn’t stop myself. I was beyond stopping myself. Everywhere he touched burned. I was lost.
My hands found the hem of his board shorts of their own accord and slid underneath, eliciting a sharp gasp for their effort. God, all this time I had wanted him, I never knew it would feel like this. So utterly uncontrollable.
He buried his face into the crook of my neck and trailed kisses up towards my ear making my whole body tingle and I wanted him closer. Inside. I would have done anything.
“Zoe, baby…”
My eyes snapped open and suddenly I felt like I was back there. That one little word pulled me back into my reality so fast it was like it had given me whiplash. Back into the life where I didn’t trust anyone. Pain from a long time ago shot up my right arm and I bit down hard on my lip. Automatically, I pushed my palms against Will’s chest and his hands dropped from me, the phantom pain subsiding.
“Zoe?” Will was looking at me, a frown creasing his forehead.
A bead of water trailed down his cheek from his wet hair and I stared at that, because it was better than looking him in the eye. So close, yet so far.
“Zoe?” he said again and it was enough to push me into action. He still had me against the mirror, so I wriggled away from him, picking up the top half of my bathers, an arm across my chest.
“I can’t,” I said thinly, not trusting myself to look at him. If I looked at him he would see. We were in my hotel room, so I walked out and grabbed a t-shirt and dragged a pair jeans on, tugging my boots onto my feet.
“Zoe?” Will had followed me. “Did I do something wrong? I’m sorry, I…”
“I’m sorry, I can’t,” I said, picking up my phone and room key. “It’s not you.” I knew this was probably a stupid thing to do, but I couldn’t stop myself. It’s like a default setting with me. Things get good so go and shit all over it.
“Zoe,” he pleaded with me again. “What just happened?”
I went to walk past, aiming for the door, but he grabbed my arm, forcing me to look at him. “I know a runner when I see one, Zoe.” He said it like he knew, but I tried to ignore it. I just needed to get away and think about this.
I felt tears stinging behind my eyes, threatening to pool and I tore my arm away. “I can’t.”
He just stared at me with a mixture of hurt and disbelief and didn’t try to stop me again.
It wasn’t until I was out the front of the hotel next to the taxi rank that I realized I had to get as far away as I could. No one else was waiting, so I opened the back passenger door of the first car.
“You free?”
The driver nodded and I slid inside.
“Where to, love?” he asked and I faltered.
“Is there a museum near here?” I asked. A museum would be quiet.
“Yeah, there’s an art gallery not too far.”
“Okay,” I said before I lost my nerve, “take me there.”
Chapter Nineteen
Will
I watched the
door close behind Zoe with a look of disbelief. What the hell just happened?
My lips burnt with the memory of her kiss. My entire body seared. I sat on the edge of the bed, my hair still dripping and took in heaving breaths, calming myself down.
Had I pushed her too far too fast? When she’d stood over me like that, I couldn’t control myself anymore. I had to have her. If I didn’t kiss her right then, I would have exploded. She’d kissed me back, her hands had been all over me.
Had I hurt her? I wasn’t really dressed appropriately for chasing her through the hotel and by the way she’d run out, she didn’t want me to. She said she couldn’t, that it wasn’t me, but I couldn’t help but feel that I’d done something. This whole thing hadn’t gone the way I’d hoped.
Right now, there was only one thing I could do. I left Zoe’s hotel room and went back out to the pool where everyone was still horsing around enjoying the sunshine.
When I caught Dee’s eye his smile dissolved. Gesturing to him, he came over, a scowl firmly plastered on his face.
“I don’t like that look on your face, Will.”
“It’s Zoe,” I started, not sure how to say it.
“Where is she?”
“She ran off… I…” I didn’t get a chance to finish what I was trying to say. Dee pushed me hard against the wall, his expression dark.
“What did you do to her?” he hissed.
“Nothing,” I spat, shoving him away. “I kissed her. That’s all.”
“And she just ran off? Dude.”
“It’s not funny, Dee. She freaked the fuck out and ran. I don’t know where she went.” I was almost at the point of panicking myself.
Dee frowned as if he understood her reaction.
“What is it?” I asked. “Did something happen to her? Did I do something wrong?”
“I have to go find her,” Dee said, ignoring me.
“Look,” I said, running a hand over my face. “I care about her. A lot. The last thing I want is to hurt her.”
“Mate…” he began, but I cut him off.
“I don’t know what I did, but I’m afraid…”
“Did she say where she was going?”
“No. She just bolted.”
Dee regarded me for a moment, his expression conflicted. He obviously was torn between helping Zoe and letting me into their little world. “Look, I’m the first to admit that I thought you were a douche. I mean, you didn’t help, but I believe you. I’m going to find her, but I think it’s better you stay away for now.”
“Why?”
“She’d probably kill me if she knew I was telling you this, but she’s attracted to you. Has been for ages. She’s been through a lot of crap in the last few years and I think the thought of you scares the shit outta her.”
“Dee…”
“Mate, all I’m saying is just to give her a little space. Let me talk to her. I’ll bring her back.”
“I can’t just leave her,” I argued.
“Trust me.” He put a hand on my shoulder to stop me from following.
Grinding my teeth, I said, “I’d do anything for her. Anything. If you say she needs space, I don’t like it, but I’ll give her space.”
Dee sighed, his demeanor changing. “She’s lucky to have someone like you who cares for her. You’re alright.”
He clapped me on the shoulder and left the pool. I couldn’t face the others and their assumptions about what had happened, so I went back to my room to wait.
Watching Dee leave without me was the hardest thing I’d ever had to do. Knowing that Zoe was hurting and not being able to do anything about it tore my heart in two. And the possibility that I’d done something to cause it cut deep.
I just had to be patient and wait.
Chapter Twenty
Zoe
Turned out the art gallery I was dropped off at was the National Gallery of Australia. I wandered through the collections, hardly taking in anything. The one saving grace of this place was that it was quiet like I’d hoped it would be. Being a weekday, not that many people were around. I didn’t want to see anyone. Not even a bunch of strangers.
Wandering into the Impressionist gallery, I stopped in front of a Monet painting of a haystack and stared at all the little brushstrokes, picking out the individual colors. I probably stood there looking like a zombie for a full fifteen minutes before I sat on the bench behind me. Luckily, the room was empty.
I gathered it had been about forty-five minutes since I’d fled. What the hell had happened? My past had come crashing down so fast it had almost suffocated me. Things had been so good lately. So good in fact, all that crap had started to become a tiny blip on my radar. Now, it was the only thing on it.
I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t. Wrapping my arms around my stomach, I tried to forget the feeling of Will’s hands on me. His lips. His kiss. But I burned with the memory of it. I also burned with another memory.
I wasn’t going back there. So, I’d ran.
My phone began to ring and it was shrill in the silence, making me jump. I fumbled it out of my jeans pocket and saw that is was Dee. Will would’ve said something to him. He didn’t have my number.
I pressed the green accept icon and pressed the phone to my ear.
“Zoe?” Dee sounded frantic.
“Yeah,” I breathed, any energy I had suddenly fleeing the scene.
“Are you okay?”
I wanted to shrug, but it wouldn’t have translated well on a phone call. Instead I grunted.
“What happened?”
“I can’t.”
“He’s worried about you, Zoe. So am I.”
“What did you say?” I asked thinly, the accusation clear in my voice.
“Nothing. It’s not my place to tell him anything.”
“You better not have.”
“Zoe, come back. He cares for you. We all do. Right now you’re scaring the shit outta me.”
“I can’t right now.”
“At least tell me where you are so I can come sit with you.”
“I can’t keep draining your life, Dee. It’s not fair.”
“Maybe not, but I want to. I love you, you know.” The silence was deafening.
“I’m at the National Gallery,” I said numbly.
“Where are you inside?”
“I’m looking at Monet’s Haystacks.”
“Don’t move, I’m coming.”
I let the phone drop into my lap and watched the call disconnect.
You know, what they say in books and movies, how people fall in love and it consumes them? I didn’t believe it. Not for one second. That kind of love? I tried and tried and never found it and I can’t believe anymore. It just hurts too much.
My one true love was this silly band I’m a part of. The Devil’s Tattoo. And this Will Strickland thing? That was more trouble than it was worth. It would consume me and leave me broken again. I was fooling myself that I could go on and not have shit happen again. I wasn’t going back there. I would never go back. Ever.
We got through our show in Canberra the next night without incident. It wasn’t one of our best, but I got up there and played and did my thing. The moment we finished, Dee let me go back to the hotel, telling me he would take care of our stuff. I was so thoroughly embarrassed, angry and overwhelmed after my freak out, I couldn’t face anyone and hightailed it.
Thankfully, Will left me alone. I knew Dee had something to do with it, but I didn’t question anything. I just put my head down and went through the motions. The day before, Dee had sat with me at the art gallery in silence for an hour before I worked up the courage to go back. He did so much for me and I seemed to give him so little… I’d find a way to make it up to him. I couldn’t keep this up.
The next day we had another bus ride to endure. Simone sat with me in the car park as the trailer was secured and I stared at the asphalt.
“Is there anything I can do?” she asked.
I shook my head. “I just need so
me time.”
“Do you wanna ride with me today?”
I looked up at her hopefully and she smiled.
“Dean?” she called out and he wandered over, hands in his pockets. “Do you mind if Zoe rides with me today?”
“I’ll hang with the guys in the bus,” Dean said, patting me on the shoulder.
I didn’t have it in me to argue as he wandered off to where I knew the guys were standing, loading up the last of the gear. I wanted to get away from Will. After running out on him like that, I couldn’t look him in the face. Not yet.
I had to apologize to him eventually. I had to tell him I couldn’t… I wasn’t ready for that yet. I’d made it so glaringly obvious.
My phone buzzed in my hand and I looked at the text that had just appeared from Dee. I knew he was watching us from across the car park, but I was determined not to look.
You okay? Do I need to smite anyone? xx
I smiled a little at his reference to our first show, when I’d asked him to smite Will for being such a shameless man-whore. I thought Dee had been too drunk to remember. Apparently not.
Not yet, I texted back.
“Ready to go?” Simone asked.
I folded myself into the front passenger seat and sunk into my hair as we followed the bus to our next destination.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Simone asked once we were out on the open highway.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I don’t really have the strength to talk about much right now.”
“Okay,” she replied, and I could hear the unmistakable note of concern in her voice. “But, I’m here if you want to.”
“I know. I appreciate it.” The radio was playing softly, just loud enough to be heard over the road noise, but it was still painfully silent. “What’s going on with you and Chris?” I asked it as much to fill the void as to try and come outside myself again.
Simone glanced at me with a small smile and looked back out on the road. “We had a talk last night after the gig.”
“And?”
“We talked.”
“About?”
What to Read After FSOG: The Gemstone Collection (WTRAFSOG Book 3) Page 92