Work. He really wants to talk work with me. Fine.
“Yes, plenty of stuff.”
Barring the, ‘I’m having an affair with you’ part of the show, which you are now clearly past, as you have a shiny new French toy to play with.
I bite my lip, until it hurts.
Tom comes swaggering over, a couple of girls in tow.
“Where the fuck is Denny? Are we getting this party started or what?” he says loudly, clearly already drunk, slapping Jake on the back.
“Yeah, I’m coming now,” Jake answers him, without moving his eyes from mine.
Jake casts his eyes around the table, landing back on me lastly, and says, “Have a good night.”
Then he’s walking away, over to the bar, with his long-legged French redheaded beauty, Zzhuilette.
Leaving little ordinary English, Trudy, to watch him from the side-line, like everyone else in this room.
Chapter Eighteen
I’ve been surreptitiously watching Jake since he walked away from me thirty minutes ago.
I’m aware of every single move he makes, my eyes tracking him around the room, watching him greet people who are clearly here just to see him, as I force an interest in what Will has to say.
I know I’m not being fair to Will. But I just can’t seem to get my focus straight anymore.
Jealousy and anger are in my driving seat.
Jake hasn’t looked in my direction once in all that time. And now he’s seated at his table, in the smoking area of this place, with Tom and Smith, and hordes of groupies hanging around them, and of course the leggy Zzhuilette.
I had thought at one point, while he was working the room, he’d binned her off, as she was nowhere to be seen, but the second he sat down, she was there again. And my temporary sense of relief was gone.
While Will is talking to Stuart, I sneak another peek across the room, just in time to watch as Zzhuilette leans across the table, her cleavage well on show for all to see, mainly Jake, with an unlit cigarette perched between her glossy pink lips.
Jake pulls his lighter from his pocket, sparking it, he holds it up to her cigarette.
She puts her hand on his wrist, touching his friendship bracelet, my bracelet, holding his hand in place and bats her eyelashes seductively at him as she puffs her cigarette lit.
I’m angry that he let her touch my bracelet. I know that sounds stupid, but I’m not exactly feeling rational right now.
She moves back into her seat in a cloud of smoke, pushing her chest out, crossing her long legs suggestively at him.
She’s the kind of sexy that I could only dream to be.
She is beautiful and I feel suitably inadequate. She is Jake’s type for sure. His equal.
I really don’t know what it is he sees in me. Or maybe I’m just a conquest like I said to Simone, because of our history. And the unobtainable, because of Will.
Maybe that’s why he wants me so much.
Or maybe not so much now as the case may be.
As I’m staring, I see Jake’s eyes flicker past Zzhuilette and straight in my direction. I quickly look away, staring down at my drink.
I can’t do this. I need a breather.
Getting up from my seat, I say to Will, “I’m just going to the ladies.”
I grab my bag and as I’m walking past, Will catches my hand.
“Are you okay, darling?” he asks in a quiet voice, looking up at me.
“I’m fine,” I smile.
“You just seem a bit quiet, not your usual self.”
He’s noticed. I really am not being fair to him at all. He flew all this way to see me and I’m just visually chasing Jake around this room.
I’m going to go to the bathroom to sort myself out, and come back out and focus all my attention on Will, just like he deserves.
“I’m fine, baby, honestly.” I touch his face with my hand. “I just think maybe all this travelling with the tour has finally caught up with me. I’m not used to it.”
“Well, you’ll be home tomorrow night for a few weeks break, so you can relax then. And I’ll be there to take care of you.”
I feel sick at his kind words. I’m the lowest of the low. How could I cheat on this wonderful man?
Because you love Jake.
I push the thought to the back of my mind.
“Sounds wonderful,” I say.
He kisses my hand, then releases it and turns back to Stuart, resuming their conversation.
I cross the huge room on unsteady legs, feeling like they might give out on me any moment now. Forcing a calm I don’t own, I hold my head up high and carry on forward.
I see Simone is still at the bar with Denny, deep in conversation. Catching her eye, I give her a mini thumbs up. She grins happily at me.
I’m just opening the bathroom door, when someone grabs me from behind and drives me into the empty bathroom.
As I turn, surprised, I see it’s Jake.
He locks the door behind him and leans back against it. His eyes look like they are on fire.
Something in my stomach drops, then coils lower. My legs start to tremble.