“Same old?”
“We’re steady,” I explain, to relieve myself of his probing gaze. He makes it hard to concentrate on driving. I feel like I’m under inspection right now.
“You have no chemistry,” he blurts and I choke on my own breath. “I’m just being real.” This makes me snort aloud. “You’re like two wet cloths. Sure you mesh well, but that’s all you’ll ever do together.”
“You’ve seen us together twice… for very brief periods of time. How’d you figure all of this?”
“I had to sit back and watch as you and Isaac snuck around. I remember the looks you both got in your eyes. It was a terrible situation at the time but you both had chemistry. Even I can’t deny that.”
I wince. “Can we not talk about any of that? I just… It’s still…”
“Painful?”
“I just don’t want to go over it. What’s done is done.”
“Maybe,” he mutters under his breath.
I sigh and turn up the radio. “You’re becoming a meddler in your old age, Mr Price.”
“I get bored easily.”
Now we’re both grinning. As much as it annoys me when he brings stuff up that I don’t want bringing up, I can’t help but love his mischievousness. How does one stay mad at such a cute, ageing face?
His phone begins to ring and he picks it up and smiles before answering. “Isaac!” I love the happy tone to his voice, though it also seems a little bit forced. Are they okay? “I’m on my way to Cambridge.”
I hear Isaac’s deep, husky voice raise a few octaves. “WHAT?”
“Eloise is taking me to see Mud Pie at the university.” John says excitedly and this time I don’t hear Isaac’s response. “I’m staying the night.” Pause, chuckle. “Have a good night, Son.” And then he hangs up and turns to me. “That was Isaac.”
“No? Really?” I remark sarcastically and laugh when he pinches my arm. “Abuse! You Price men are all the same.”
“Are you and that Josie girl friends?”
“Who?”
He blinks, suddenly looking panicked. “He has told you, hasn’t he?”
Oh. It clicks into place. “You mean Jocelyn? She’s an acquaintance.” I try to shadow the bitterness in my voice by smiling.
“So you know?”
“Yes.”
“And it’s okay with you?” Why does he seem sceptical?
“It’s none of my business.”
“Isaac hates Silas. He’s jealous of your relationship.”
I blow out a breath. “Why are we talking about this?”
“I can see on your face that you probably don’t care much for Jocelyn.”
“John, please….”
He raises his hands. “I’m just being nosey. Don’t you girls have some kind of code against dating each other’s men?”
“Ex-men and no, Jocelyn and I aren’t friends so it doesn’t really apply.”
He shrugs. “I’ll take your word for it.” Then he grins wickedly. “So I guess you don’t care that they’re together right now at my house. Alone. Just the two of them.”
My hands clench on the wheel as a huge pang of envy hits me directly in the chest. I keep my face carefully blank. “Why would I?”
“That’s what I thought.” He grins and falls silent for a long moment. “So, you’ll read that book right?”
“YES!” I laugh and point to my bag by his feet. “I promise I’ll start reading it tonight when you go to bed.”
“Swear it?”
“You’re being exceptionally irritating today,” I tell him but he only laughs loudly.
I was being honest though. The second John goes to bed, I turn on the lamp in the living room, tuck myself under a throw blanket and read the first line of the book.
“Fatty, fatty, fat, fat.” They chanted and the first stone was cast. It scarred my head, but more effectively scarred my soul. I would never be the same again.
I fall asleep, turning the pages of a book that tears me up inside. A book of a boy, tormented because of his weight, tormented because of his dad’s status in his school. Kids can be shits and people wonder why I don’t want them?
Isaac
I lie awake, my phone light illuminating the dark space. It hurts my eyes.
I kissed Jocelyn tonight. Or rather, she kissed me.
I don’t really know what to think about it. It was nice. It was strange. I don’t think I wanted it and I don’t think she really wanted it either. We just don’t click in that way, although she didn’t seem to agree. Her excitement was evident, her smile telling, yet even though she smiled and got excited I felt like nothing more than an outlet for something deeper inside of her.
Or maybe I’m being stupid.
What is wrong with me? A gorgeous girl, with beautiful lips and a beautiful body to match a beautiful personality, kissed me and I felt nothing.
Fucking nothing.
Is this how hollow my existence was before Elle? Is this how it felt?
I’m comparing my encounter to Elle and that doesn’t seem a fair comparison. What Elle and I had was passion; pure, unadulterated passion. The fire we created could have melted the earth. It’s not often in life that you find somebody that you connect with like that.
Did she feel it too? Elle, I mean…
Does she kiss Silas and compare him to me and find that he’s lacking in comparison to what I could give her. What I still can give her?
So I stare at my phone. I stare at my dad’s message, hope alight in my chest like my phone is alight in this dark room.
John: She still loves you, oddly enough. She hides it well and guards it well but only people who still feel it when they know they shouldn’t try to hide it. You really did a number on her.
I hope he’s right but I’m not going to hold my breath. My dad is an old romantic, though he won’t admit it, and he’s got far too much time on his hands. It’s probably wishful thinking because he wants me to be happy.
Isaac: You’re crazy.
John: I’m not crazy. You still have a chance. I can feel it.
Isaac: Maybe I don’t want it.
John: The fact you just started that sentence with ‘maybe’ shows that you probably do want it. You’ve changed. You’re not the man you used to be.
Isaac: I’m going to sleep now…
John: Alone?
Isaac: Yes, alone. Not that it’s even any of your business, you nosey old git.
I can picture him in my head. He’s probably laughing so hard he’s coughing to death. Idiot. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about and he needs to stop meddling.
When the morning finally comes after a restless night, I find myself alone for longer than an hour in my parent’s house for the first time in years. As a teen I would have taken this opportunity to get drunk, watch porn, wank into an old sock and eat everything sweet in the house.
Now I’m kind of bored and lonely.
I’m getting old.
No. I resent that. I’m not old, not in the slightest. I’m just fucking bored. There’s nothing to do here and I hate this stupid town.
Packing up my stuff after a brief yet cleansing shower, I dump it in the boot of my car and drive.
Chapter Seventeen
Eloise
“Three…” I inhale. “Two!” I exhale. “ONE!” I toss the glass back with my head and quickly swallow the bitter fluid as it swirls down my throat. “Fuck.” My hand closes around the glass and I shake my head to rid the burn quickly. “Chaser… quick.” A glass of some kind of purple glowing drink is shoved into my hand by a very drunk and rough Hayley. I neck it; it’s sweet and a lot tastier than whatever it was I just took a shot of.
“That’s my girl!” Hayley cheers and the gaggle of women around me begin screaming.
My head spins merrily as I stare up at the stage and watch the nearly naked man dance like something from a movie. He is so good looking. I feel wrong for objectifying him like this but… fuck. This is hot.
“Think he’ll let me take him home?” The girl beside me asks, staring hungrily at the man Hayley just threw money at.
“Probably not.” Jocelyn shoves between us and throws her arm around my shoulder. I don’t like her; she’s shady. “He has his eyes on the red head.”
“He’s good to look at, but I’m taken.” I say and fortunately Kira shoves between us both, saving me from having to deal with the fake bitch who is sleeping with my soon to be ex-husband.
Fucking drama.
Whoa… when did the world start to spin so fast?
“This is amazing. Elle… this is the best night ever.” Hayley slurs and begins to climb me like a tree. I feel her lips against mine before she spins away from me and starts dancing against the stage.
“I need water,” I say and Kira nods her agreement. We leave the gaggle of happy women and skip to the bar. I order a pint glass full and down it. I count to ten before I need the toilet.
Why did I drink so much?
“Because you’re a legend,” Kira laughs and links her arm with mine. “Also inner monologue is supposed to stay… well… inner. You know?”
Oops.
“Do you…” hic. Fuck I hate hiccups. “Do you think I should…” hic. “Call him?”
“No. I think you should just go back out there and dance and enjoy the night.” She sways and it takes us both into the wall. We laugh hysterically, drawing the eyes of the bouncer in the hall who is guarding the bathroom. He shakes his head, clearly used to such theatrics.
“Are you… are you a stripper too?” Kira asks, sidling up to him.
He gives her a blank look. We both take that as a no and, still cackling, enter the bathroom, relieved to see no queue.
“Jocelyn keeps trying to talk to you,” Kira states, sounding more sober than she is.
I shrug. “So?”
“She’s trying to figure you out.”
“Why?”
“Not a clue, but she stares at you a lot when you’re not looking.”
“Maybe she wants a piece of the red head too,” I giggle, though the thought makes me nauseous.
“Maybe she wants you both to tag team Isaac. It seems only fitting.”
I slap my hand over her mouth. She falls backwards, through a cubicle door, and lands on an open toilet. Stumbling after her, my breasts squish her head and my knee goes into her stomach.
“Sorry!” I laugh loudly and climb off her as she checks her dress. “I fell.”
“No shit… what were we saying?”
“Fuck knows.”
Isaac
I sit bolt upright and wipe the drool from the side of my mouth. It’s pitch black but I can hear my phone ringing from somewhere on my bed. It seems to be under my quilt.
I toss my blanket around until I find it, only to be surprised.
“Elle?” I say softly and check the time on my bedside table. “It’s three in the morning… are you okay?”
“I kind of maybe… hic… lost my peops…”
Oh dear. She’s drunk. “Your what?”
“I’m lost in Boston.” She giggles a little. “That kind of rhymed.”
“Why are you in Boston?” And then it hits me. “The hen night?”
“Yeah.” Her breath leaves her. “Can you maybe please come and get me?”
I’m out of bed before I can register that I’m moving. “Where are you?”
“I don’t… hic… I see a maccies take out.”
I know where she is, despite her slurring. “Stay on the phone, okay? I’ll be there soon.”
“I touched abs… They were sweaty and gross. I didn’t like it.”
This time I don’t have a fucking clue what she’s saying. She sounds hammered. “Where is everyone?”
“Kira got sick so Beth took her back to the hotel ‘cause Hayley didn’t want me to leave but whiskey shots and stuff and then I was with Jocelyn and I don’t like Jocelyn so I left. But Hayley… hic… fuck… I don’t know. I think they left without me.”
I got about thirty percent of that as I was racing to the car in nothing but jeans and a white T-shirt. “How much did you drink?”
She starts giggling. I turn on the engine and put her on loud speaker. “It’s cold, so not nearly enough.” She pauses. “Hey, Isaac?”
“Yeah?”
“Will you sing to me?”
Now it’s my turn to laugh. “Sing to you?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m not singing.”
“Please?”
“I’ll tell you a story.”
“I don’t want a story. I want a song.” She erupts into a bad rendition of ‘It’s Raining Men.’ She’s definitely been to a strip club if she’s singing that song. Surprisingly I don’t feel jealous, just happy that she’s called and she seems to have had a good night. “Are you nearly here?”
“Just a couple more minutes. You shouldn’t have left your friends, Elle. That’s dangerous.”
“I knew you’d save me.”
This makes me smile. She still trusts me with her body at least. That’s a small victory. “Always. I’m glad you called me.”
“I wouldn’t dare not, Mr Price. Or are you forgetting about what happened the last time I got drunk and didn’t call?”
I think back to the day I pinned her in my classroom and my cock instantly swells. That moment was so fucking intense. It was then that I realised I was falling in love with her… I think.
Or maybe I knew it before then.
Sometimes I wish I could go back in time, bottle that feeling and fucking drown in it.
I see her in the distance, leaning against a dirty wall, her phone to her ear. Her smile lights up the entire night sky when she sees me.
After pulling up to the curb, I climb from the car and make my way towards her.
“Hey,” I say awkwardly and she stumbles towards me. I’m not sure whether I should take her arm or waist… this is a difficult situation. I’m worried she’ll think I’m taking advantage of her.
Before I can process it further, her arms are around my neck and her full, drunken weight is on me. “You’re so warm.”
With one arm around her back, I half carry, half drag her to the car as she dangles from my neck like a monkey from a branch. I still don’t want to let her go but, for obvious reasons, I have to, so I lower her into the passenger seat and help her adjust her seat belt.
She smiles drunkenly and pats my cheek with a heavy hand before slumping and allowing her head to loll onto her shoulder.
“Did you have a good night?” I ask immediately after finding my own seat.
“Amazing.” Her voice is soft and low. Alcohol taints it with a dull slur. “Best ever.”
“Good. Where am I taking you? Where are you staying?” I was just going to drive her back to my place but I figure that is far too presumptuous.
“The Lodge Hotel…” She kicks off her heels and brings her long, shapely legs up onto the seat.
“Do you have your room key?”
“Probably in my bag.”
Nodding, I turn the key in the ignition and set off. Part of me wishes I hadn’t asked.
“It’s lucky you live here or I’d be stuck,” she says and that thought scares me.
“No.” I place my hand on hers. “You wouldn’t have gotten this inebriated if you didn’t have a safety net.”
Smiling lazily, she looks at me and then closes her eyes. “You’re my safety net.”
“Good.”
She leans over the console and rests her forehead against my shoulder. It’s not until my arm begins to die and I hear the tell-tale sound of her heavy breathing that I realise she’s passed out.
Shit.
“Elle?” I whisper and shake my arm a little, but not so much that her head could roll. Part of me likes having her here.
No.
Not part of me.
All of me.
I see her phone ringing where it rests on her thigh. Carefully, when pulling to
a stop at a red light, I pick the phone up and stare at the screen.
I have two choices here. I could answer it and speak to Silas, find out her room number and then take her there. Or I could use this an excuse to take her back to my place, put her in my bed and wake her up with a cooked breakfast.
The latter calls to me so badly. The possibilities that this choice could bring completely outweigh my reasoning and, for a long moment, I consider it.
But then I shake my head and rearrange my thoughts.
Elle wouldn’t want that, not in this state. I might do more damage than good.
I don’t want to hurt her any more than I already have and taking her home would probably put a strain on her relationship with Silas. I can’t do that to her. She deserves more from me than that.
So I swipe my finger across the screen and bring it to my ear as I pull over. “Hello?”
“Who the fuck is this?”
Or maybe, just maybe, I shouldn’t have answered her phone at all. He’s meeting us there and he didn’t sound pleased.
I should have thought this through a little more.
I see Silas pacing outside of the hotel, back and forth in front of the doors, though he stops when he notices the headlights of my car and cups his eyes with his hands as if to see us better. It clearly doesn’t work because he goes back to pacing.
I pull up between two parked vehicles a short distance away from the hotel and hope that he hasn’t recognised us yet. All I want is just one more moment with her. Just one.
“Elle?” I try to wake her but her head only lolls back onto her seat.
I brush her red hair from her face and allow my fingertips to linger upon her soft cheek for a moment longer than necessary. Then I climb from the car, ignoring the bite of the cool air and the light pattering of rain.
Walking around to Elle’s side, I open the door and crouch beside her. “Elle?” She still doesn’t stir.
Distinction: The Distraction Trilogy #3 Page 17