She swans in, looking all roughed up. ‘Someone looks thoroughly fucked!’ she laughs.
I narrow my eyes on her. There’s one more thing I need to clear up first. ‘Why did you tell Sam where I was?’ I spit accusingly.
She recoils. ‘You’re mad at me?’
‘Yes…no…a little bit.’ Oh, I’m not mad in the slightest. I was a bit last night, but not now. She gives me a mischievous grin. ‘Don’t look at me like that Kate Matthews. What’s going on with you and Sam?’
‘Adorable, isn’t he?’ She winks. ‘It’s just a bit of fun.’
Well, fun or not, she needs to know. ‘You should know that Victoria saw him being doused in a frappuccino by some irate woman in Starbucks.’ I pull Jesse’s shirt and my dress over my head, flinging them both to the floor.
Kate rolls her eyes and scoops them up, placing them on my bed before flopping down on my duvet, her red hair fanning around her pale face. ‘I know. It’s the crazy bitch ex-girlfriend.’
‘He told you?’ I can’t keep the shock from my voice.
‘Yeah, it’s no big shakes.’
‘Oh,’ I can’t believe how laid back she is. Ever the calm and collective one, nothing fazes her.
She looks up at me. ‘You’re not the only one getting a good seeing to,’ she says seriously. I gape at her. ‘It’s written all over your face, Ava.’
‘I’m going to work with Jesse.’ I grab my dryer to try and salvage the damp mess that is my hair.
‘Have fun.’ I hear her chant as she sashays out of my room. I flip my head upside down and rough dry my mass of brunette hair, ignoring the fact that I’m rushing to get back to Jesse.
When I flick my head back up to the mirror, an image of Jesse, propped up against my headboard, smacks me in the face. His arms are casually braced behind his head. He practically fills my double bed. I flick my dryer off, turning to face green eyes burning holes into me. I want to crawl up that bed and into him.
‘Hey, baby.’ He looks me up and down.
‘Hey, yourself,’ I grin. ‘Comfortable?’
He bounces himself lightly. ‘No, I’m only comfortable with one thing under me these days.’ His eyebrows raise suggestively.
That look and those words have my knees quivering and coils of craving springing into every crevice of my body. I watch as he pushes himself up from my bed and walks slowly over to me, turning me to face my wardrobe. Reaching over one of my shoulders, he flicks through the rails of clothes, pulling out my cream shirt dress.
‘Put this on,’ he breathes in my ear. ‘And make sure there’s lace underneath it.’
I clench my eyes shut. I was thinking more along the lines of jeans and a t-shirt, but I’m more than happy to go with that. I reach forward, taking the hanger from him, moaning when his hand falls down and brushes over my breast, his hips rolling forward into my lower back.
Oh, good Lord, STOP!
‘Be quick.’ He slaps my bum lightly and stalks out, leaving me a wobbly mess and holding onto my cream dress for support. I shake myself back to life, shiver on a little gasp and finish getting myself ready.
Pulling out every handbag I own, I proceed to search for my pills, but they’re nowhere to be found. I find Kate in the kitchen making tea, still in just a t-shirt.
‘Have you seen my pills?’ I rummage through the junk drawer in the kitchen, housing everything from batteries and phone chargers to lipsticks and nail polish.
‘Aren’t they in your bag?’
‘No,’ I slam the drawer on a frown.
‘Have you checked all your bags?’ Kate asks, walking out of the kitchen with two mugs of tea.
‘Yes,’ I proceed to delve through every other drawer in the kitchen, even though I know they can’t possibly be in among the cutlery or utensils.
‘Problem?’