Jessie Slaymaker's Non-Existent Love Life (The Jessie Slaymaker Series)

by Jo Iles

  ‘Who was she plotting with?’ Jack asked again when she still hadn’t replied. Jessie sat up and busied herself with her hands, which had now suddenly become incredibly interesting to her. Although she wasn’t looking at him, she could definitely feel Jack’s gaze boring into her and she knew for a fact it wasn’t the same admiring gaze from before. As she looked across at him tentatively through her eyelashes, she could see that he was positively glaring at her, waiting impatiently for the answer to his question.

  ‘Charlie,’ Jessie exhaled. ‘You know it was Charlie.’ She felt a smidgen guilty that she was implicating his brother so wholeheartedly and that she would potentially be the cause of an even deeper wedge being driven between the brothers, but Jack needed to know the truth.

  Jack’s response was completely unexpected. He just laughed. A full-on belly laugh.

  ‘Don’t be so ridiculous, Jessie. I know for a fact that Charlie wasn’t even at that party. Why would my brother be scheming with Sonia? They’ve loathed each other for years,’ he explained as soon as his laughing had subsided. ‘I think you must be mistaken,’ he continued, still chuckling to himself.

  ‘Who do you think I saw then, Jack?’ Jessie snapped, lifting her head to meet his eyes. Jack just smiled at her and shook his head.

  ‘I’m not kidding. He must have told Sonia about the agreement you had with Mr Shum.’ Jessie said firmly, clearly frustrated that he wasn’t listening to her.

  ‘Like I said, you must have been mistaken in the darkness. Charlie’s not a bad man, Jessie,’ Jack continued, sounding reasonable. ‘Granted, he’s not the best man in the world, but he’s just not capable of doing such a thing to his own brother. But thank you for telling me about Sonia though. It does explain a lot,’ he said thoughtfully.

  ‘And what is that supposed to mean?’ Jessie asked, feeling the anger beginning to rise within her.

  ‘Are you going to make me say it out loud?’ Jack asked, shaking his head slightly at her. Jessie merely eyeballed him some more, wishing he would just spit out whatever it was he wanted to say.

  ‘Okay, here’s the truth as I see it. You’re obviously still carrying a flame for me, and now you’ve concocted this story to try and isolate me from Charlie and Sonia. I honestly don’t know why you’re persisting with this Charlie and Sonia intrigue, despite the fact I’ve told you previously that they can’t stand each other’s guts. It’s kind of transparent, Jessie, and to be honest I thought all this game-playing was beneath you. You really need to stop spreading this story around, before someone gets hurt.’

  Jessie wanted to scream at him. How could he not believe her about his wretched brother? Who else would be selling Sonia privileged company information about the bank for cripes’ sake? The man was in denial, that much was for sure.

  ‘I have to go,’ Jessie said, abruptly standing up and brushing grass off her clothes. Her patience had now completely evaporated. ‘Nice to see you again, Jack. Good luck with everything,’ she added with a tight smile before she started marching off with sure purpose back in the direction of the hotel to finally drop off Nadia’s table plan.

  She’d expected him to call goodbye. In all honesty, she’d expected him to follow her. Of course she did. Isn’t that what always happened in the Hollywood movies? Where the hell is he? Jessie wondered as she strode through the park. Okay, so he didn’t have to commit to a full-on sprint after her; a brisk jog would have done the trick. Jessie slowed her own pace slightly, fearing that perhaps she was walking too fast for him and he was unable to catch her up. Still no Jack, though. He’s not coming to apologise for being a total prick, she thought sadly to herself as she reached the hotel. Giving up, she disappeared into the entrance to conclude preparations for yet another wedding which wasn’t her own, as fast as humanly possible.

  Chapter 80

  ‘Okay, Jacky boy. Who was that viper of a woman you introduced me to today and what has she done with my son? Why, I didn’t see you crack a smile once!’ came Jack’s mother’s not-beating-about-the-bush appraisal as he sat down to dinner. Sonia’s business dealings had overrun in the city and she’d pulled out of dinner with Jack and his mother. Jack had originally thought himself quite fortuitous that Sonia had been kept elsewhere, but now he wasn’t so sure, judging by the hardball glare he was getting from the other woman in his life.

  ‘Don’t talk about Jessie like that. She’s a good… friend,’ he found himself replying, finding that his joke fell a little flat when he had to search for the word with which to classify his relationship with Jessie.

  ‘Don’t be so facetious,’ Mrs Davenport said sternly. ‘It doesn’t suit you. I may be old, but I can still see what’s right in front of me. Jessie is lovely and you clearly fancy the pants off the girl. What the hell are you doing with that Sonia?’

  ‘Don’t start, Mum. It really is none of your business,’ Jack said, exasperated. Deep down he knew it was pointless trying to give his mother the brushoff. She’d decided they were going to talk about this, and talk about this they would.

  ‘Rubbish. Of course it’s my business when I’ve hardly had sight nor sound of you for the past six months. I don’t blame Jessie for that. She doesn’t seem that sort of young woman to me. I know I only met her for a few minutes, but I’m an excellent judge of character,’ she stated, not attempting in the slightest to sound modest as she tucked into her food.

  Jack sighed and knew he’d already lost the battle with his mum. Maybe she could help him try and figure out what it was about Jessie that kept drawing him in. She was everything he looked for in a woman. Kind, extremely attractive, funny, witty, intelligent, great in bed, honest. Honest. Was she honest? Jack had found himself wondering. Why had she started saying all that daft nonsense about his brother and Sonia? There’s no way his brother would do something so fundamental to affect his future happiness. His brother hadn’t even known about the deal he’d struck all those years ago with Mr Shum. No one knew about that. It just made no sense to Jack.

  ‘Mum, I’ll talk to you in a minute about Sonia. But first, can you tell me what Charlie’s up to?’ Jack asked. Mrs Davenport looked surprised and uncharacteristically a little lost. Only for a moment, but Jack saw it.

  ‘Oh, you know Jack. He’s gone travelling somewhere in South America. To be honest, I think he’s rather burned out. All those years working far too hard at the bank have taken their toll on him,’ she replied passively.

  ‘So you haven’t heard from him recently?’ Jack probed further, scrutinising his mum’s reaction carefully.

  ‘No,’ she said in a clipped voice, before taking a sip of water. ‘Now Jack, I do not appreciate your interrogatory tone. Eat your dinner.’ Jack did as he was told and started eating while he contemplated his next line of attack.

  They continued their meal in a mutual state of compliance as they both seemed to agree not to push the other one any further. As Jack took his final mouthful of dessert, he found he could no longer desist from getting to the bottom of his mother’s less-than-convincing performance. Jack leaned back in his chair and studied his mother closely.

  ‘What is it, Jack?’ she snapped, when she was aware that he was staring at her.

  ‘Mum, what is it you’re not telling me?’ Jack demanded, still eyeing her closely. Mrs Davenport exhaled loudly as she collected up their dishes.

  ‘If I answer your questions, will you answer mine?’ she eventually asked.

  ‘Deal,’ Jack immediately replied. See, he knew how to compromise. ‘I’ll even do the dishes,’ he added for good measure, which brought a hint of a smile to his mother’s lips.

  ‘Since you were both boys, the pair of you have continually gotten yourself into various scrapes and general mischief,’ Mrs Davenport began. ‘Well, after what happened with you and Charlie’s fiancée, things seemed to settle down for a while. You went off to make something of yourself in China, and Charlie seemed to ground himself in his career. He was doing well for a good few years. Then his demons ret
urned, as you know, and he was back in the mischief again with the gambling, drinking, and women. I think things must have gotten bad again for him though. I’m not quite sure how over his head he’s in with whatever trouble he’s in, but I know he has been in trouble.

  ‘He’s in South America, I didn’t lie to you about that. But I have heard from him. He calls me once a week to check in. I asked him what he’d done and he said he’d had to leave his job… for doing something illegal and trying to frame someone. I asked him how he’s surviving and he said he was given some money from an old friend. Deep down I thought it was you helping your brother out, still trying to make amends for what happened with, well… you know who I’m talking about,’ Mrs Davenport trailed off. Jack chose not to dwell on his mother mentioning Megan, Charlie’s former fiancée, twice in less than a minute.

  ‘But surely Jessie knows what happened and why Charlie left the bank,’ Mrs Davenport continued after a brief reflective pause. ‘You said she used to work for him. Surely you could just ask her.’ That’s when the penny dropped for Jack. She’d already told him. What had she said that Sonia was plotting about? Company information. Charlie must have stolen something and sold it to Sonia. He’d been caught, and that’s why, or at least one of the reasons why, he’d gone into hiding.

  Jack could have kicked himself. He had been so utterly convinced that Charlie was just not the kind of brother who would set out to deliberately hurt him. Jack was the one who did the hurting, not Charlie. He’d completely lost sight of what Jessie had told him. In the park earlier, he’d genuinely thought she was mistaken at best, or making stuff up at worst. At the time he couldn’t figure out why she was fabricating such a story, but he should have just trusted her and listened to her properly. And now that he’d twigged what had gone on, he was pretty sure there was probably even more to find out. And what had he done? He’d just laughed in Jessie’s face. She’d been trying to explain things to him, and he’d just pissed himself laughing, unable and unwilling to believe what she was saying. What a jerk, he castigated himself.

  ‘What a fucking obnoxious prick,’ Jack exclaimed, running a hand through his hair.

  ‘Excuse me,’ his mother said sharply.

  ‘Sorry Ma, not you, obviously. Me. I’ve gone and royally cocked things up with Jessie now. She tried to tell me Charlie had been up to no good in Hong Kong with Sonia, and I completely dismissed her as though she were out of her mind.’

  ‘Sonia? What’s she been doing with Charlie?’ asked Mrs Davenport, her eyebrows reaching skywards.

  ‘I think she’s the one who gave Charlie the money,’ Jack said glumly.

  ‘But why would she do that? I know your father was friends with her father, but I didn’t think you kids were really very well acquainted,’ Mrs Davenport said, frowning.

  ‘I’ve known Sonia for years, Mum, but I always thought Charlie and Sonia couldn’t stand each other. Maybe it was all an act,’ Jack said wistfully, still not quite able to believe that he’d been oblivious to Charlie and Sonia being nothing more than unfriendly towards each other.

  ‘So they’re friends and she helped him out,’ Mrs Davenport said, trying to keep up with Jack’s whirring brain as he pieced everything together. ‘Well, I suppose there’s nothing wrong with that,’ Mrs Davenport continued. ‘Although I’d rather he’d have come to his family rather than that viperish woman.’

  ‘I’d love to think it were as simple as that, Ma, but I rather think it’s a little more complicated than that. And somehow I’m tied up in it. You don’t seem to be much of a fan of the illustrious Sonia Shum. So why do you think I’m with her?’ Jack asked his mother plainly.

  ‘Well, I assumed you liked her. When I met you and Sonia today, you were as you were with all the women you’ve ever introduced to me. But when I saw you with Jessie, something was different about you. Although you weren’t exactly comfortable with each other, probably something to do with your old mum lurking over your shoulder, there was something in your eyes when you saw her. You looked like she was the highlight of your day when you clapped eyes on her. And her, too. But then, why wouldn’t she? You’re you! So, why are you with Sonia then, if you don’t mind me asking?’ Mrs Davenport asked, finally getting back to the point.

  ‘Years ago, her dad bankrolled me when I set up in China, on the proviso that I’d forever stay away from Sonia in a romantic sense. He had plans for a more suitable match for his little girl. Anyway, Sonia must have found out about that arrangement and she caught me on a bad day and…’ Jack trailed off, not really having a polite way of saying they’d boffed each other. He also omitted his suspicion that he thought Sonia had found out about the deal from his brother. Charlie was still her son, and there wasn’t a thing in the world he could say which would make his mother disown him.

  ‘I see,’ Mrs Davenport said, narrowing her eyes at her second son, getting the gist of what he was trying to tell her. ‘So, the little bitch has something on you and now has you tied to her—no doubt in fear of what Daddy would do to you without her oh-so-valuable protection,’ Mrs Davenport said with uncharacteristic viciousness.

  ‘That about sums it up,’ Jack said gloomily, slumping in his chair.

  ‘So what are you going to do about this bloody mess you’re in?’ Mrs Davenport said, studying her son carefully.

  Jack fought the urge to fidget under her gaze. Truth is, he didn’t have a clue what to do, or even what he could do. They say knowledge is power, but Jack still felt at a loss and clueless.

  ‘Oh, for goodness’ sake, Jack. It’s not a Mensa question, you know,’ Mrs Davenport smiled, incredulous at her son’s lost look. ‘You’re an intelligent, successful and brilliant man, but sometimes I forget that you are still just a man. Your logic is sometimes somewhat lacking,’ she said, rolling her eyes, making no attempt to hide her condescension. ‘Put it right, Jack. I will not have Sonia Shum as my daughter-in-law, would-be or not,’ she finished sternly, collecting the dishes and leaving the room.

  ‘That told me,’ Jack said to himself, half-smiling. He had some phone calls to make.

  Chapter 81

  It was the morning of Nadia’s wedding and Jessie still felt pent-up and frustrated at her encounter with Jack the previous day. Upon reflection, she knew that perhaps she hadn’t explained herself as eloquently as she might have. And there were certainly a few tidbits of pertinent information which she’d completely neglected to tell him. Notably about Charlie trying to frame her for the stolen bank documents, and the kiss between Sonia and Charlie. Why hadn’t she told him that as well? Oh well, Jessie shrugged to herself in the mirror as she applied her makeup. At least he knows the truth now. Well, most of it anyway. If only he would believe it and stop thinking she was making things up.

  ‘Enough,’ Jessie told her reflection as she took a deep breath and vowed not to waste anymore time on trying to figure out Jack’s fucked-up life and brain.

  ‘Did you say something?’ Tom called as he came into the bathroom, looking fondly at her. Tom had come round for breakfast before taking her to the wedding. He looked as dashing and poised as ever.

  ‘Nothing,’ Jessie replied grumpily.

  ‘What is it, Jess?’ Tom asked, spinning her round by the shoulders so she was facing him.

  ‘I’m fine. Honestly,’ Jessie replied curtly, attempting to turn her back on him and reface the mirror.

  ‘Talk to me,’ Tom said more firmly, holding her fast.

  ‘Ah, it’s nothing. But you look so effortlessly fabulous and there’s not enough time in the world to make me look presentable enough to stand up next to you,’ Jessie rattled off, forcing herself to look him straight in the eye. It was true, though not exactly the real issue she’d been wrestling with all morning.

  ‘What are you banging on about? You’re one gorgeous woman, Jessie Slaymaker. How can I ever make you believe me?’

  They both stood a little awkwardly, clearly not exactly sure where this little interlude was heading. Jessie wa
s about to turn about and resume her makeup routine when Tom unexpectedly kissed her full on the lips. Though not an immediate response, Jessie found that it was pleasant enough and kissed him back.

  This seemed to stoke Tom’s fire, so to speak, who proceeded to scoop her up, carry her into her bedroom, and lay her gently down on the bed. This was different, Jessie thought to herself. Normally their makeout sessions were restricted to the hours of darkness and after they had both had their fill and more of alcohol. Although they had regular ‘sleepovers’ on a Friday and Saturday at Tom’s place, he rarely came to her house anymore. Everything between them was normally so well orchestrated. Tom’s spontaneity was totally out of the blue and had caught Jessie well and truly off guard.

  Tom lay down next to her on her bed and continued kissing her.

  ‘You’re going to scrunch up your suit,’ Jessie laughed as he started nuzzling her neck.

  ‘Don’t care,’ he replied with a lopsided smile as he kissed her on the mouth more deeply. Jessie found herself wondering what the time was and thinking that she really didn’t want to be late. Jesus, what the hell was she doing? She was going through the motions while this gorgeous catch of a man was showing her great affection. The thought appalled her. What the hell was wrong with her?

  As a couple they were great. Fantastic, even. They were the best of friends, and anticipated each other’s mood and every desire. Except in the bedroom department. Jessie often found herself wondering if they were a weird couple for not having the same connection in the bedroom. Or perhaps they were just a different kind of couple, based more on companionship than physicality, forging a new style of relationship. One that was more suited to the modern world, where people’s tastes and preferences were more likely to change.

  Well, maybe it was Tom’s tastes and preferences which were more likely to change—as Jessie could never really envisage herself being attracted to women in this lifetime. It was always in the back of Jessie’s mind that she was just a fad as far as Tom was concerned, and it was just a matter of time before he reverted to being a practising homosexual, with her left by the wayside, looking foolish and humiliated with a million people saying, ‘I told you so’.