I Thought I Knew You: Prelude Series - Part Four

by Meg Buchanan

  When he arrived at the flat, Tessa still hadn’t got home from work, but Adam was there.

  “It’s all go then?” Adam asked as he came through the door.

  “Yep, all signed up, confirmed. Tiffany rang while I was driving over and wondered which flight we wanted to be booked on.”

  “They’re booking the tickets?”

  “Yeah. The promoters are paying for them and all our accommodation. Chapman says that’s part of the contract.”

  “Who would have thought?” Adam fiddled with the play station remote.

  Luke went into Tessa’s room. He heard the game Adam had been playing start up again in the lounge.

  When he and Adam were at school, things had got a bit frosty between them. He had suspected Adam had a thing about Tessa and he might even have made a move on her at one point. But they’d got past that. Adam was all right.

  He unzipped his overnight bag and pulled out the clothes he’d be wearing on stage. Found a clean towel in Tess’s wardrobe. Maybe juggling Tessa and Rose wasn’t as bad as all that. Maybe it hadn’t always been just him cheating. Maybe Tessa had done it too.

  He got ready for the night. Changed from builder to member of Stadium. He might see how he went on that game Adam was playing. See if he could beat him. They had a couple of hours before they had to leave.

  Tessa got home and found Keira and Cole cooking dinner.

  “Did you get the fabric room finished?” Keira had the oven door open. The chickens looked cooked. Roast vegetables were piled in the dish on top of the stove all dark and caramelised. Keira could really cook. Pity neither of them ever ate much of what she made. They left that to the males.

  “Yeah. All done.”

  Cole went over to the fridge and pulled out a bag of lettuce and the rest of the stuff he’d need to make the salad. At least it looked like she wouldn’t have to do anything about getting dinner ready tonight. Keira and Cole had it under control.

  “Luke’s here.” Cole put the cheese and radishes on the chopping board. He caught the red onion before it rolled off the bench. He’d always been more domesticated than the others. Maybe because he’d had the same sort of upbringing as she did, only one useless parent who was more interested in drinking than feeding their kid.

  “Yeah, I saw his car outside.” She could hear Isaac, Noah and Adam in the lounge and the play station at full volume. But she didn’t hear Luke’s voice. “I guess he’s in my room?”

  Keira nodded. “I think I heard him having a shower.”

  Tessa opened the door to her bedroom and found Luke, just in jeans, drying his hair, all freshly showered and shaved.

  “Hey, you’ve finally come home.” He grinned at her and dropped the towel on the end of the bed. He wrapped his arms around her in a bear hug. She could smell the soap on his skin and her shampoo he’d used. “I started to think we’d be eating without you.”

  She slid her arms around his neck and kissed him. How could she resist this body? That face? That grin? All that enthusiasm any time he saw her.

  Tessa watched the main bar from the side room. Stadium was almost due to go on, they were all just hanging around, on the couch and the chairs. The pub was crowded. This was like every other night they had spent here, drinking, dancing, noisy, dark and gloomy, and at the same time completely different because Stadium was leaving.

  Harry came in, nodded at Luke then rest of them and then at the stage.

  “Looks like we’re on,” said Luke.

  “Nearly the last time,” said Tessa.

  He nodded, stood up and sauntered towards the door. Isaac, Noah, Cole and Adam followed him.

  As she went back into the bar, she heard a girl call out.

  “Hey Luke, sing ‘All I Need’.”

  Tessa saw him shrug and nod. After a while she heard the familiar intro.

  Stadium went to the break and headed for the side room. Luke grabbed water from the fridge. When he straightened up Isaac nodded at the end door.

  Luke looked over and saw Rose standing there. Smiling at him like this was a big surprise.

  Fuck. What was she doing here? She was right. A really big surprise. Lucky everyone else had already gone out to the main bar and only he and Isaac had seen her.

  Isaac grinned. “This is going to be interesting. Go over and talk to her.”

  Luke unscrewed the top of the water bottle. Bloody Isaac was enjoying this. “Do me a favour. Keep Tessa away from this room.” How the hell was he going to keep Rose and Tessa apart?

  “For how long?” Isaac was still enjoying it.

  “Until I tell you different.”

  “But I want to watch how you work this,” said Isaac.

  “Ha ha,” said Luke. Usually he managed a better comeback, but right now he was too shocked to think up a smart comment. This could turn into a disaster. He had to go back on stage in twenty minutes or so. If he didn’t go out into the main bar, Tessa would come looking for him. Isaac had better come up with something to stop that happening.

  The only way he could see this working out all right was if he could persuade Rose to go to a motel and wait for him. She didn’t drink. Maybe she wouldn’t want to be in the bar. Then he’d figure out some way of being two places at once tonight.

  He wandered across the space to where Rose was standing, her little shoes together, her handbag clutched in both hands.

  He tried to smile at her in a relaxed way. “Hey, what are you doing here?” Surely, she didn’t come alone. Where were her mates? He kissed her on the cheek.

  “I want to spend the weekend with you. That’s what the girl’s night Jilly organised is all about. She said she’d bring me over, and you could take me home on Sunday.”

  Bloody hell.

  “What about the party and the christening?”

  “Jilly said they are small and she’ll manage them.”

  Good old Jilly. Always the obliging one. She’d been like that at school too. Bloody devious. Maybe he shouldn’t have had sex with her one night then moved straight on to someone else. She might have been a bit less eager to trip him up. “Where are Jilly and your friends?”

  She nodded at the main bar. That made it hard. She must already have been in there. What if Rose already seen Tessa? Some of her friends would know her by sight. They probably went to school with her.

  Rose bit her lip. “Aren’t you pleased?”

  He forced another grin and hoped it looked more relaxed than it felt.

  “Of course, I’m pleased. Just surprised.”

  “I saw you on stage. You were amazing.”

  He scratched his forehead. “Thanks.”

  How come this happened when he only had another five days to get through? That’s probably why. Only five days to go, and everyone wanted a bit of him.

  Maybe if he moved her outside and they talked for a while, then he went back on stage, she wouldn’t see him with Tessa and Tessa wouldn’t see him with her.

  He bent his head and kissed her then took her hand. “Come with me.”

  “Where are we going?” She followed behind him.

  “Somewhere more private.” And far, far away from Tess.

  He led her along the passageway, out the side door, and into the carpark. “Is your car here?”

  She shook her head. “We all piled into Jilly’s.” She looked up at him, as if inviting him to kiss her again. She leaned back against the wall and waited.

  Maybe while they kissed, he’d figure out his next move. Cloning himself seemed like the best plan. Or find that identical twin his mother never told him about.

  He rested his hands each side of her head. She was sweet the way she stood there and waited to be kissed. But he’d hardly had a chance to talk to Tessa. She’d be expecting him to join her. Isaac would deal with that. And Jess was with Isaac this weekend. Maybe talking to Jess would distract Tessa and she wouldn’t even notice he hadn’t turned up.

  He lowered his lips to Rose’s again. It felt nice and Rose re
sponded eagerly so he rested his forearms on the wall and kissed her properly. In the dark, with just the high windows of the pub and the streetlights, it was like they were alone.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Tessa waited for Luke to come into the bar. Stadium had performed until the break, going through their usual playlist, then the stage was empty for a while before Cole, Noah and Adam came out into the bar.

  Keira and Jess had moved off leaving their glasses on the table.

  Cole saw friends on the other side of the room and went to join them.

  Usually during the break, Luke sat with her watching the crowd and sharing her drink. But this time he’d disappeared. She looked around trying to see where he was and saw Isaac coming over.

  “Where’s Luke?” she yelled at him. The noise was still overpowering and made it hard to talk without shouting at each other.

  “Loo I think,” Isaac yelled back as he wandered over to where Jess was.

  Bloody Luke, disappearing all the time. He liked talking and was always getting waylaid. She waited there on her own a bit longer but found the noise and the heat, the drinking and dancing, and the closeness of the crowd stifling tonight. She went to look for him.

  First, she went into the side room half thinking she’d run into him there. Maybe he’d wanted a bottle of water. He was pretty strict about the no drinking during a performance rule. Not just for himself, but for everyone else in Stadium too. He’d been irritated when Noah broke the rule a few weeks ago and got so drunk the rest of Stadium had to cover for him by the end.

  But he wasn’t there. She didn’t fancy going back into the bar. She wanted some fresh air, so she wandered over to the door they used.

  Rose slid her arms around Luke’s waist. “That was nice,” she said. “Do you miss me on the weekends?”

  “Yeah.” He kissed her again. This time with more intensity. She pulled his head lower and kissed him harder. A deep erotic kiss with more intensity than she’d ever shown before. She pushed herself against him and kissed him hungrily. Now she acted like she wanted more? Half way through a show with Tessa about fifteen metres away waiting for him?

  “Where could we go?” she whispered and tugged at the button of his jeans.

  “I’m due on stage any moment.”

  “Oh.” She sounded disappointed. Those big eyes of hers looked up at him, the thick lashes framing them. He couldn’t see the extraordinary colour in this light, but he knew the way they looked. The smooth curve of her cheek, her lips plump and parted.

  She kept tugging at the jeans button and finally got it undone. Then she started on the zip, like she wanted to just go for it here and now. He could let her do it, lift her up, wrap her legs around his waist, move the lace of her pants aside and plough into her. No one ever came through that door during a show. Only Stadium used it. His body wanted it, wanted her like that, but it made no sense.

  He rested all his weight against one arm and stopped her hands. He couldn’t let her do this. If he let her step this far out of her comfort zone and then the whole night turned to shit, she’d never forgive him. And it had to turn to shit. He couldn’t see any realistic way of stopping it turning to shit.

  “What’s going on?” he asked Rose quietly. He couldn’t figure out why this was happening. And how many of the girls she came with knew Tessa? Hell, they might all be at the same table talking to each other by now.

  She looked down at her hands. He was still holding them against his fly. She didn’t seem to know what to do with them now, they fluttered under his.

  “I think I disappointed you last night. I want to make up for it.”

  Make it up to him? By fucking him near the skip and beside the carpark with people wandering around? It was dark and secluded here, but not that secluded.

  And Tessa was still only fifteen metres away. He was going to get found out. Still Rose didn’t know that.

  Finally, she slid her hands back up his chest and lay them gently on his shoulders. He went back to standing with both arms braced against the wall framing her face. Covering her with his body as if he could make her invisible.

  He leaned in and kissed her again. “You never disappoint me. You’re lovely,” he said.

  She smiled hesitantly. “You didn’t mind?”

  “No, I like the way we make love.” And he didn’t want her acting like Tessa. Someone to fuck up against the wall in the carpark wasn’t how he saw her. He liked old-fashioned romance of her. He even liked the French knickers and the lace he knew she’d be wearing instead of a thong. She came up on tiptoes and planted a kiss on his lips. “You’re lovely too.”

  This time he kissed her properly, lost himself in her, the sweetness of her, in the perfect curves and softness. The warmth and comfort and cleanness of her.

  Then from behind him he heard his name.

  “Luke?” And not surprisingly, Tessa sounded puzzled.

  Just in front of her, in the gloom, Luke was kissing someone else. The kiss wasn’t your peck on the cheek, or the soft brush of the lips type of kiss either. It was the forearms on the wall, knee between thighs, arms around neck, bodies moulded, joined at the lips and hips, we’ve done this before, focussed type of kissing.

  She stood still, not able to look away, or go back inside. Silent and hurt, she could feel his lips, smell the scent of him, taste the kiss in her mouth as she watched.

  She had been having a lovely, strange night, tinged with sadness because he was leaving soon. Maybe that was why she came to find him. Because the time they still had left to be together was so limited.

  Then her world shifted. He’d chosen to spend this small scrap of time with someone else. She wanted to turn around, not be seen, stay unnoticed, pretend everything was still the same.

  Instead she’d quietly said, “Luke?”

  He surfaced, looked at her, paused, took a breath, looked at the carpark then down at the girl in his arms.

  “Fuck,” he said at last, softly letting the breath out.

  The girl surrounded by him, glanced at Tessa then back at Luke. She hesitated for a moment and then ducked out from under his arms, paused and waited for him to say something else.

  Tessa watched him, chewing her bottom lip, turning the engagement ring, around and around on her finger. All she could do was stare at him while he stood as still as she was, leaning against the wall, forehead touching the bricks, swearing softly.

  She willed Luke to turn around, smile at her, crack a joke, make light of it, shrug and say, “It was just a kiss,” but he didn’t. He never moved. He stayed leaning against the wall and then put his forehead against the bricks as if he wanted to delay whatever was going to happen next.

  Lights flickered as a couple came into the carpark from the main entrance. Tessa could hear the noise of talking and laughing, and then it was muted by the door as it shut again. She watched Luke lift his head, push himself away from the wall and turn towards her.

  “I love you?” he said, but the inflection made it a question. Almost like he was asking her if it was true.

  Tessa nodded. She took the engagement ring off, walked over to him, put it into his hand, kissed him on the cheek and went back into the pub.

  He looked at his hand and then back up at Rose. She was still standing there staring at him.

  “That was Tessa wasn’t it?” she said in the end.

  He nodded. Why tonight? Why did the thin elastic band that had been holding his life together have to break tonight when he’d been so careful. Only five more days and he would have got away with it.

  Rose tilted her head to one side. “Didn’t she know you were unengaged?”

  He shook his head. She’d used the stupid word he’d made up to tell her he’d broken up with Tessa. It was always going to come back to haunt him.

  Then Rose folded her arms. “Jilly told me I couldn’t trust you. She said you’d never leave Tessa.”

  Rose stood there calm and dignified. He looked over at the door. It was stil
l ajar. Tessa hadn’t shut it properly. He should go after Tessa. Talk to her. Make this right. He looked back at Rose. Or maybe he should tell Rose, it was her he wanted.

  He closed his fingers over the engagement ring. Undecided.

  Then saw Rose make the decision for him.

  “I don’t want to see you again,” she said. “I will pack up your things and take them to your mother’s house tomorrow.” She waited for him to say something. When he didn’t she walked past him and went back into the pub.

  Tessa sat down beside Keira and finished her drink. She didn’t have a script to work from, a plan of action. Luke had been her world for six years and he’d betrayed her.

  She looked over at a group of girls she’d noticed earlier. She was pretty sure she went to school with all of them. When she was still Theresa.

  Then she saw a girl she didn’t know join them. She was almost certain she was the one she saw with Luke.

  Suddenly she was sure she didn’t want to be here anymore.

  “Can you take me home?” she asked Keira.

  “Why, what’s happened?

  “I just saw Luke outside with someone else.”

  “Talking?” asked Keira.

  Tessa shook her head. Keira gave a slight nod, stood up immediately, found her purse with the car keys, told Cole what was happening and gave her a lift home.

  Chapter Twenty

  She sat at the kitchen table and took the glass of brandy Keira handed her.

  “Sorry, all I could find,” said Keira. She left the bottle on the bench and pulled out the other chair and sat too.

  Tessa smiled at her. “It’ll do.” She took a gulp. The brandy burned its way down her throat and settled warmly in her stomach.

  She should be crying, hysterical. But instead she felt cold. Maybe she wasn’t surprised. She’d sensed a change in him over the last few months. Maybe she’d just found out what had caused it.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” asked Keira.