“Keyed his precious car and told my aunt, uncle and Bethan’s husband that Daniel has Chlamydia so she should get tested.”
“Does marriage mean nothing to people these days?”
“Tell me about it,” she spat. “I’m off men now. Relationship-wise. It’s not worth the hassle and heartbreak.”
“I’ll drink to that.” I picked up my glass, and we clinked.
Kate and I had another three drinks together; slagging off our exes helped us bond.
“Hmm, worst thing I’ve done since the break up…” she said, trailing off to think about it. “Oh, I kissed my ex’s friend. Not a good move I admit, but it was two days after, and I was feeling shitty. What about you?”
“Well I’ve done nothing to Abby.” She wasn’t worth my energy and I wasn’t interested in revenge. Even after hurting me as badly as she did I couldn’t do the same to her.
“But I have slept with a mate’s sister. More than once.”
“Oh, you don’t piss on your own doorstep,” she said, and I burst out laughing. “Do you like the girl?”
I shrugged. “Sure. She’s not the girl I usually go for, but she’s cool.”
“She’s cool?”
“Yeah. Funny, smart, beautiful, easy to get on with, blushes like crazy, has the best reactions-”
“You like her.”
I held my hands up. “Whoa, don’t start that. I like her as a friend, sure. That’s it though. For now, I’m single and having fun.”
Fun. That was a word to be used loosely. I was hardly having the time of my fucking life, but after all the shit with Abby it was nice not to care about anything or think of someone else. I could do whatever the hell I wanted, whoever the hell I wanted, whenever the hell I wanted.
“Doesn’t mean you don’t like her. If she showed up right now and asked you to go home with her what would you do?”
Get my coat.
Kate grinned at my silence. “That’s what I thought. It’s fine, Jasper. Just because you like her doesn’t mean you have to have a relationship, you can just want to sleep with her.”
“Thanks,” I replied sarcastically.
Holly was great; she really was, but I did not want a relationship with her or any other woman right now. I’d only been separated from Abby for seven and a half fucking weeks. I couldn’t even imagine being with someone in the future yet.
“Cards on the table,” Kate said. “Are you taking me back to your place or not?”
My eyebrows shot up. Yeah I’d mostly been with women that knew what they wanted, but Kate was on another level. “No feelings. No guilt. No sneaking out the next day. You give me at least six orgasms and cook me bacon in the morning. I’ll leave after that, and you’ll never see me again.”
I blinked in shock. This was my lucky night.
“I’ll call a taxi,” I said, reaching for my phone.
Kate grabbed her bag and downed her drink and then mine. I grabbed her hand and lead her outside as I ordered a car. At half past ten, long before the bars and clubs closed, I had no doubt we’d get one within ten or fifteen minutes.
Kate leant against the brick wall of the bar as I finished the call – ten minutes to kill before we could get out of here. I slipped my phone in my pocket and stepped between her legs.
“So, Kate,” I said, running my hands over her hips. “How do you feel about PDAs?”
She hooked her leg around my waist. “I’m all for them,” she purred and offered her mouth for a kiss.
My head was being drilled from the inside. I groaned and rolled over, squinting my eyes at the stream of light spilling in through the window.
Something moved at the end of the bed and I sprung up. A woman – Kate, I remembered – laughed and picked up her jacket from the floor.
“I’m going to ignore you forgetting I was here.”
“Sorry,” I said, wincing.
“It’s okay, lover boy, you were quite out of it. I’m impressed you got it up to be honest.”
“Thanks.” I think.
“Well, I had a lovely evening, but I’ve gotta skip breakfast and run. Good luck with the ex situation, Jasper.”
I nodded. “You too.”
Kate left, and I dropped back on my pillows.
By the time I was feeling human again, it was almost two in the afternoon, and I’d called Oakley to find out where they were. I missed Everleigh, and I hated that me being a mess was preventing me from spending as much time with her as I wanted to.
“She’s at Mum’s. Me and Cole are Christmas shopping.”
I stilled. “Did I hibernate the summer away? Oakley, it’s July!”
“I know, but we need a new ten-foot tall tree for The Centre and Cole found a garden centre that’s selling old stock. We figured we’d get some things done. Only decoration shopping, I’m changing the colours this year. I can’t think about presents until it’s cold.”
I couldn’t think about any of it until it was December 20th!
“Alright, you freak. I’m gonna head over to Mum’s then.”
“You okay?”
“Yeah, all sober now. I wouldn’t want to be near her if I was drunk.”
“That wasn’t what I meant.”