~ * ~
Teetering on the brink of artificial confidence brought about by one too many drinks, I figured it was time to stop or at least slow down.
"Are you two going on to a club?"
Gray’s question cleared my head in an instant. I wasn’t sure if it was his proximity, or my anticipation of my brother’s reply which was the chief cause of my skin prickling.
I looked across the table at Matthias, who sat beside Gray, to gauge his reaction. We now sat in a booth of Gallagher’s, an out-of-the-way Irish-themed pub. Irish-themed in that it had bare floorboards and pushed the Guinness when patrons went to the bar although they’d bowed to local pressure and started stocking beer and vodka too.
The music was quieter in here. Clichéd though it was, three guys sat at one end of the room playing a bodhran, a violin and an acoustic guitar; background music, not aural assault, making conversation not only possible but easy.
I’d held back from Gray all evening, sensing a nervousness arcing back and forth, neither of us confessing to being its source but both sharing the job of maintaining it.
"I’m happy to go along with whatever you two guys decide." I glared at Matthias, hoping he got the message. Hoping Gray didn’t notice.
I excused myself, leaving the two of them to figure something out. Thankfully I’d always been talented when it came to walking and even running in high heels, for which I sent up a silent prayer of thanks given the occasional perilous gaps in the floorboards.
I killed a few minutes in the ladies’ scrutinizing my reflection for signs of drunken sluttery. Eyeliner: smudged, but that was inevitable, and a good look. A narrow black line looked too perfect. As the night wore on and it smudged across my top lid and just below my bottom lashes, it looked more smoky. Come hither.
As I toddled back out, Matthias headed towards me. Impeccable timing. Fake-steadying myself on his arm I knew he would know I’d accosted him for a quick word. "Well?"
He yawned and patted his mouth. "I’m very tired, Piper. I think I’ll go home and have an early night."
"Oh that’s a shame." I couldn’t help but smile. "Are you absolutely sure?"
"Definitely. Perhaps I’m getting too old for this nightclub nonsense. I should leave it to you young ‘uns." He was, at twenty-eight, only four years older than I and one older than Gray. "But please remember he’s my friend. I want him back in one piece," he whispered, leaning in so no-one else heard. "And may God help him." He straightened again. "Right. I’m just going to answer a call of nature and I’ll be right back."
"Yeah, see ya." I winked as he exited, owing him one for this. "Hey, Gray." I plumped myself down in the booth next to him. I’d avoided him all evening, it was about time we exchanged a few words. "What’s happening then?"
"Did Matthias catch you? He’s probably not gonna go on to a club."
"Oh." I forced my mouth into a pout. "He’s probably tired. Never mind." I patted Gray’s thigh and let my hand rest for a split second longer than necessary. A barely perceptible squeeze and I lifted my hand back into my own lap.
He cleared his throat, looking down at my lap and the hand which had just touched him.
Gotcha.
"I’m happy to stay out if you are," I said, finally looking him in the eye. "Unless...? The night is still young and all that, but it depends on whether you want to stay out and go clubbing with a girl." I raised my eyebrows.
"Won’t Matthias mind?" His gaze flitted across the room, watchful of my brother’s return.
"I shouldn’t think so. We could ask him if you’d like? He certainly wouldn’t mind if we stayed out late."
"It’s not the lateness of the hour that concerns me. Don’t you remember...?"
"Of course I remember. I don’t understand why that should be Math’s business, to be honest."
"His friend? And his sister? Surely he would mind if knew something even as innocent as a kiss had happened between us?"
"Gray. There was nothing innocent about that kiss." It had lasted for twenty minutes at one of Math’s house parties, in a bedroom with the door locked and both of us undisturbed but not coming up for air. "If you want to stay out, I’m happy enough to stay out with you. That’s if you...?" I willed him to read my thoughts, my unasked question.
"Do I mind you staying out? Hell no."
"I wondered if perhaps you wanted a boys’ night thing. Mind you, if Math’s going home you’ll need some company. Unless you’d rather go do your own thing." I looked around as I spoke, searching the crowd for the re-emergence of my brother, looking away from Gray so he wouldn’t be on the spot.
"No, no. It’s all right by me. More than all right. Honestly." He smiled when I looked back at him and something in his eyes told me he spoke honestly. "If you’re sure it’s okay with—"
"Gray. Stop fretting about my brother. He’s not my chaperon. He doesn’t need to warn you off me. If it makes you feel any easier, though, I’ll check with him before he jumps in a taxi home and we go elsewhere."
"I was just double checking." His shoulders dropped as he leaned back. He stretched his legs as far as they would go under the rickety wooden table, releasing some of their tension and let out a long, slow, heavy breath.
"Hey kids!" Matthias emerged from the crowd like a mist gradually made material. "You don’t mind if I cut away early do you? I’m a bit tired for staying out till three in the morning dancing. Maybe I should try cocaine..."
"Funny, that was what Gray was just talking about," I said, and felt a jolt to the ankle where the man in question had tapped it with his foot. I glanced at him then back up at my brother, who hadn’t sat down. "Not coke. I mean, he was concerned you might think we were abandoning you by staying out while you called a halt to your evening."
"Good God no! If anything it’s the other way round. I was concerned you’d think I was abandoning you. Really. It’s cool. Don’t worry about it."
Another glance from Matthias to Gray and back again told me the evening was sorted. Everyone was cool with everyone else and had he fully understood our sibling dynamic, Gray would have recognized the blessing implicit in Math’s words, body language and mindset. God love him and his liberal sexuality.
"You go enjoy yourselves," he added and silently I told him all right, all right, no need to overegg the pudding. "I’m gonna grab a cab."
The three of us wound our way through the mob; we’d been extremely lucky to find seating, let alone an entire booth, so crowded was Gallagher’s.
The fresh air hit me like cold water in the face when we stepped outside; I gasped at the momentary light-headedness it caused and pulled on my jacket.
"You all right?" Gray murmured at my side. "We’ll get you inside soon if you’re cold."
"I’ll be all right if we keep walking."
"Should have worn more clothes then, shouldn’t you? Tart. I’m ashamed to call you my sister." It was obvious Matthias was joking but the look on Gray’s face was a picture.
"Shouldn’t you be all protective of your sister, mate?" he ventured. "Instead of calling her morals into question?"
"You know as well as I do that a discussion of Piper’s morals would be a short one—"
"All right, all right, enough of that. Sometimes," I added, turning to Gray, "I wish he was the sort of brother to stick up for me. Not often, though. Just when I wonder what it would be like for him to show a bit of respect."
Matthias, with his hands thrust deep into his jeans pockets and shoulders hunched against the breeze, nudged me with his elbow. "I’m your big brother; it’s my job to take the piss. What else could I do? Pull your pigtails?"
"I’m wearing a jacket after all and you’re still not happy?"
"Yeah. Just keep yourself covered. Wouldn’t want to scare the locals, would we? Hey, there’s one!"
A taxi with its lights on spun round, did a probably illegal one eighty and drew to a halt feet away from where Matthias stood on the curb.
"Righto, kiddies, that’s
me off," he said, leaping forward to grab the taxi door before anyone else stole his ride. "Behave yourselves." He sniggered under his breath but I still heard. Once he had the door open and the cab was claimed as his, he deemed it safe to turn back to us. He and Gray did that half-slap, half-handshake thing guys do and muttered something which sounded like "Later."
When it was my turn he gave me a full-on hug, making sure his head was against the ear on the opposite side from Gray so he could whisper, "Go easy on him." He drew back and winked. "Have a good time, you two." He climbed into the cab and I just had time to shout, "Remember to text me when you get home!" before he pulled the door shut behind him. Seconds later the cab pulled out and my brother left.
"Text me when you get home?" Gray echoed in the quiet following Math’s exit, raising his eyebrows.
"What? I’m concerned for his safety."
"Text me when you get home?"
Now the coast was clear and we had no chaperon breathing down our necks (as if), I linked arms with him as we strolled along the street. "So I’m used to going out on the town with my girlfriends. It’s an automatic thing we do for safety and I forgot I was talking to my brother for a moment."
"Matthias became an honorary girl?"
"You could say that. My brother, the honorary woman."
He laughed quietly. "Listen, I usually go to Nocturne. Unless you’d rather go somewhere else?"
"I haven’t been there for a while, actually. The last time was with Holly and Laura, I think." I looked at Gray, frowning against the coolness of the breeze and tried to tuck a rogue strand of hair behind my ear but it didn’t behave.
As if it were planned, we stopped at the same moment; perhaps I’d sensed something in his muscle tension as we linked arms. He reached over and tucked the strand behind my ear for me, paused, looked into my eyes and lowered his hand. The last time he’d touched me in such an intimate way had been a while back.
"I’m glad you came out tonight," he said. "And stayed out."
Excitement swelled in the pit of my stomach, rushed up my chest and made my heart pound. "I wasn’t sure if you wanted me to. All that nonsense with Matthias and so on. I thought perhaps you thought I was..." I paused, bit my lip.
"Thought you were what?"
"I’m not sure how to put it. Intruding on your boys’ night out? Shoving myself in where I wasn’t wanted? I suggested meeting Math for a drink and when he said he planned to come out with you tonight I started to say oh never mind then, but he jumped in, said you wouldn’t mind."
"I didn’t. Don’t, in fact." A momentary smile touched his lips.
I clapped my hands together, wrung them to get the blood circulating again. "But I’m here now so you just have to put up with me. Come on, let’s get indoors. Thank God Nocturne’s close by. I hope there isn’t a queue."
"Ah, that’s where my queue buster tickets come in." He reached into one of his jacket pockets and pulled out a small card, handed it to me. "I always carry spares in case I have a companion."
"Ah ha!" Eyeing the card, I was unable to stop the smile spreading across my face. "Where did you get these?"
"Picked them up in one of the pubs we were in earlier; there was a promotions guy handing them out. So we, dear Piper, get to waltz straight in out of the cold."
"Gray, you’re a star." Instinctively I kissed his cheek. Because I wore heels I wobbled a bit and his arm slipped around my waist to steady me. He grinned when I asked, "However can I repay you?"
"I think you know the answer to that one."
"Yes, I do. I’m going to give you what every young man wants."
His eyebrows shot up.
"The opportunity to buy me a drink of course. Why, what did you think I meant?"
~ * ~
Gray reached one of the payment booths before me. "Two, please." When I balanced my handbag on the ledge and unzipped it he told me not to worry. He’d take care of it.
"Are you sure?" I asked and he assured me that yes, he’d pay.
We headed upstairs to the cloakroom by which time I had my purse ready; he may have been a gentleman in paying my admittance but there was no way I was going to let him think I planned to sponge off him all night. "No, you paid us in. I insist. I’m not having you think you’re only here to dish out cash. I’m not like that. Now. Jacket. Off."
He had an amused twitch to his lips as he capitulated, removing his wallet from his jacket and slipping it into his jeans before placing his jacket on the counter. "Who am I to argue when a lady tells me to disrobe?"
Yes, if there was any doubt, we were definitely flirting now.
While I paid for our cloakroom tickets and handed Gray his, I took a few seconds to calm myself. We were in a nightclub; nothing was going to happen here beyond some overt flirting and getting to know each other again.
Climbing yet more stairs was like approaching a wall of sound. Once through the final set of swing doors the pounding hit us like a right hook, a shock to the system and Gray slipped his arm round my waist again, drawing me close. He guided me through the crowds and with a raised voice right in my ear, asked, "What are you having?"
"Depends what’s available," I shouted back. Difficult to be flirtatious when I had to yell at someone; it worked better when I spoke quietly and was demure. "Let’s just get to the bar first and see what’s there."
We fought our way through the melee to reach it, skirting the dance floor in the R&B room. People lined the walls, grouped together around the seating area and traversing the dance floor itself would have been impossible.
"I’ll just have a bottle of Miller," I said—shouted— when we reached our destination. It took a while for either of us to get the barman’s attention but when Gray did, he insisted on paying.
"Cheers," I said, saluting him with my bottle. "Better not drink this too fast; I’ll get drunk."
"Maybe you should have stuck to alcopops. You know what they say; never mix grape and grain."
"Oh, you would have to mention my liking for those things, wouldn’t you? It’s my not-so-secret shame. I do have some class you know."
I could have sworn he looked me up and down before suggesting, "Shall we go find a seat somewhere? It’s unlikely in a place this packed, but…?"
"Sure." The only lights came from the D.J’s. platform and those behind the bar. Occasionally someone’s mobile phone flashed as they took a snap of their mates’ drunken antics but even those lights were dimmed by occasional puffs from the smoke machine. I barely heard myself think above the pounding of the bass line but there was something primeval in it. "Let’s look over here." I turned to head in the direction in which I’d gestured and Gray’s hand took hold of mine. He probably didn’t want to be separated in such a crowded place.
We found a space big enough for the pair of us in a corner of the R&B room; huge cubed cushions against one part of the wall were the only seating available and thanks to other revelers occupying the rest of this area we had to sit close together, to conserve space.
Gray’s lips moved but I didn’t catch what he’d said so I indicated that he should repeat himself.
"I said, I’ve always liked you, you know."
My ear was close to his mouth so even if a random flash of light bouncing off the bar mirrors had illuminated us he wouldn’t have seen the widening of my eyes in alarm. Or arousal. I hadn’t expected him to come out with it like that, so matter-of-factly. I glanced at him, watched his mouth move, distracted, had to lean in again for him to repeat himself.
"I thought you knew."
"I had an idea," I said up close, close enough to lick the skin at the side of his neck if I so chose.
"I didn’t say anything while you were with Andrew because, well, you were with Andrew." Gray gave a half-laugh, chugged back a sizeable amount from his beer bottle.
"And you’re one of my brother’s best friends."
"Yeah, there’s that too."
"I’ll always be Math’s sister but Andrew’s no longe
r on the scene." It was only a tiny white lie. A few text messages didn’t count as proper communication, especially if they were all one way. I hadn’t responded to any of Andrew’s overtures. I’d been too angry.
"Are you really okay with that?" His right hand curled into a gentle fist and with one extended finger he stroked my knee; I wore jeans so couldn’t feel a thing through the thick fabric but the sight of him touching my clothing was enough to send a jolt of excitement through my leg. "I just wanted to make sure."
"Make sure I know what I’m doing?" I teased. He glanced away and if the lighting had been favorable, I would have seen him blush, I reckoned. "Anyway...how do you know I didn’t end up going out with Andrew simply because it hadn’t gone anywhere with you?"
"I got cold feet at the time."
I tried to speak. Bottled it. Turned away and took another sip of Miller. There was something I wanted to ask for the good of my own ego, although I did genuinely like Gray. A combination of curiosity and pride drove me.
"Piper?" He leaned in close and his breath ruffled a strand of my hair. When I turned to face him his lips were mere inches from mine and I couldn’t take my eyes off them. He was clean shaven but with a hint of a shadow across his top lip, his chin and across his cheekbones. He looked like the type of man who needed to shave twice a day. Instinctively I reached up and ran a thumb over his bottom lip; his lips parted and I jerked back, nervous. Not of the spark between us. I think I was reluctant to get too carried away in a public place. Talking was enough. Flirting. But the touching; the hand on my knee, my thumb on his mouth, it led up to something and there was only so much sexual tension two people could cultivate before something had to give and self-control left the building.
"If we hadn’t been in my brother’s house," I began, swallowing the lump in my throat, "what do you think would have happened?"
The same lips I’d longed to touch, to force apart with my thumb a moment before curved into the merest hint of a smile. He licked his lips with the tip of his tongue. "I think we both know it wouldn’t have stopped at kissing."
This was the Gray Bradford I liked. The one who wasn’t concerned about other people’s opinions of him and me getting together. The one who was flirtatious, confident about referring to our childish necking session at my brother’s house that could have led to so much more and didn’t. The one who finally, finally admitted that yes, we did fancy each other. The one who agreed something was going to happen between us tonight.
Long Time Coming Page 2
