Jessie Slaymaker's Rules of Engagement (The Jessie Slaymaker Series Book 2)

by Iles, Jo

  ‘Hi, Tom, it’s Jessie,’ she said, once he’d picked up the phone. She attempted to keep her voice calm.

  ‘Jessie! I’m so glad you called,’ he said genuinely, making Jessie want to burst into tears. He was still Tom. Still her best friend Tom. ‘Are you okay?’ he asked.

  For a moment, she couldn’t say anything.

  ‘It is your turn to talk,’ he reminded her cheekily.

  ‘Yes,’ Jessie replied, blinking back tears. ‘I just wanted to check in on you and see how you were doing.’

  ‘I’m doing good. You’ll be surprised to know I’ve actually thrown myself into work without you here to distract me. I’ve been lazy for far too long,’ he said honestly.

  ‘And the press are behaving themselves?’ Jessie enquired, knowing Tom’s life was frequently a subject of interest amongst the tabloids and glossy magazines. She’d never gotten used to being trailed about on occasion when they’d been together.

  ‘It seems no one really cares too much about my oscillating sexual preferences anymore. Our break-up is old news, if that’s what you’re alluding to. We’ve been bumped out of the headlines, only to have been superseded by some reality TV star’s nose job and her nymphomaniac Essex boyfriend,’ he said, continuing in his pithy tone.

  ‘Glad to hear it,’ Jessie laughed. She’d missed Tom’s deadpan way of explaining something.

  ‘And I’m glad you called. I was beginning to think that my best friend in the whole world had deserted me and didn’t want anything to do with me,’ he said, letting the vulnerability creep into his voice.

  ‘Don’t ever think that.’ Jessie felt tears begin to form. She was meandering through Central. ‘We’ll always be friends. No matter what.’

  ‘Good,’ Tom replied, audibly gulping down a lump in his throat. ‘Now, tell me about Hong Kong. How’s the city and the new job going?’

  Jessie went silent as a huge sob wracked her body.

  ‘Jessie, what’s wrong?’ Tom asked, alarmed.

  ‘My job is terrible. There was some mix-up and I’ve been demoted. Basically I’m doing exactly the same bloody thing as I was in England. When I left, I went around telling everybody that it would be career progress and a fresh challenge. But there’s been none of that. I feel so stupid,’ she babbled as she fought to bring her crying under control. She was conscious that she looked like a crazy lady, her face streaming, as the after-work crowds all shuffled on about their way, some of them clearly taking notice of her waterworks.

  ‘What does Jack say?’ Tom asked, cautiously saying the name. Jessie fell silent again. She took several deep breaths as a fresh bout of sobs threatened to consume her.

  ‘Jessie,’ Tom said firmly. ‘What did Jack say?’

  ‘I haven’t told him?’ she replied quietly.

  ‘Why the hell not?’ Tom demanded loudly down the phone, making her jump.

  ‘He’s sick and needs to concentrate on getting better. He doesn’t need to worry about this,’ she said, sounding defensive.

  ‘What’s wrong with him?’ Tom asked, his tone quieter.

  ‘He got chickenpox right before I started at the bank. He’s recovering now, but I never got around to telling him,’ Jessie confessed. She knew it was a weak and feeble excuse, but that was what had happened.

  ‘That’s bad luck. But Jesus, Jessie, you need to tell him. He’ll be able to help and support you a damn sight better than I can from this far away,’ Tom pointed out.

  ‘I can’t now,’ Jessie replied flatly.

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘Things started off so well when we got here and I had time off. But since I’ve started work and he’s been tired and moody because he’s ill, we hardly speak. Apart from my first day, he’s barely asked me about what it’s like at the office. It’s like the honeymoon period is over and we’ve disconnected or something.’

  ‘I’m sure things would be fine if you just tried to talk to him. You must realise he’s just in a grump because he’s feeling poorly.’

  ‘Maybe. But what if I was too rash in coming out here…’ Jessie trailed off as for the first time she verbalised the thoughts which had been developing over the course of the week.

  She had arrived at her building, so she plonked herself down on the steps outside, reluctant to go in, and also reluctant to continue her conversation with Tom if it was going to become awkward.

  ‘You’re probably just down that your job isn’t what you expected, and Jack is no doubt feeling glum because he’s been sick. You can’t have thought it was all going to be plain sailing?’

  ‘That’s exactly what I thought it would be,’ Jessie replied sadly. ‘Plain sailing. It’s been nothing but hassle and one disappointment after another since I started work.’

  ‘But that’s got nothing to do with Jack,’ Tom pointed out. ‘So you can’t blame him for any of that. Maybe he’s been a little self-obsessed over the last week, but you can hardly blame him if he’s feeling rotten.’

  ‘I know,’ Jessie said resignedly. ‘You’re right.’

  ‘How’s the sex?’ Tom asked suddenly.

  ‘That’s none of your bloody business, Tom,’ Jessie spluttered.

  ‘I take it not good, then,’ Tom surmised from her reaction.

  ‘Tom, seriously… stop.’

  ‘Oh, for God’s sake, Jessie. Don’t be such a prude. Just because you and I never quite accomplished the physical act of love, doesn’t mean we can’t talk about it. We’re both adults. I love you, you know. And I want to try and help you,’ Tom said firmly.

  ‘Well, the chickenpox has kind of put a damper on things in that department,’ Jessie admitted eventually.

  ‘Oh, right. Got you. Is he infected down there as well?’ Jessie could hear the teasing in his voice.

  ‘Jesus, Tom. I’m hanging up,’ Jessie said, exasperated.

  ‘Jessie, come on. Just breathe. I was only joking. Things must be bad. I thought that was all you two did,’ Tom said light-heartedly.

  ‘No comment.’ Jessie found it hard not to smile. He did have a point.

  ‘My advice is, talk to Jack. Tell him what’s happened at work and tell him how you’re feeling a bit neglected by him. What’s the worst that could happen?’ Tom reasoned.

  ‘Hmm. I’ll think about it,’ Jessie said. She knew he was talking sense, but that didn’t make it easy to hear. ‘I have to go,’ she signed off, and pulled her weary body up by the railing.

  Chapter 18

  At the end of the week, Jack was still feeling sorry for himself. Only now, he was also starting to feel bitter, and his resentfulness was directed in part towards Jessie, of all people. Although he hadn’t admitted it to her, he’d felt miffed that she’d still chosen to go off to work despite the fact that he needed her to stay at home and be with him. She’d effectively chosen her job over him—or at least, that was what it had felt like. The rational part of his brain knew that she needed to go, but it had still rankled him. He’d hardly seen her all week, and although they were perfectly civil and friendly with each other, things weren’t quite right.

  The intimacy and closeness they’d shared seemed to be on hiatus. They’d lost the ability to talk to each other about anything. Or at least, Jack felt like he couldn’t talk to her from his point of view. This past week had been rotten for Jack on so many counts: the chickenpox, being kept a virtual prisoner in isolation, and being alone pretty much the whole time whilst Jessie was at work. He’d missed her terribly, but for some inexplicable reason he’d found it impossible to articulate this to her when she came home each day.

  Part of the problem was that Jack hadn’t wanted to seem weak, or to appear to hold her back, when it was evident that Jessie knew exactly where she was going. She had a great job with clear prospects, a good salary, and the respect of her peers. She was driven and ambitious, and possessed both a direction in which to travel and a plan to guide her on her way.

  Being cooped up in their serviced apartment all week, Jack had had a huge
amount of time to think. And after all his thinking, his conclusion was: what did he really have going for him? Other than Jessie, not a whole lot. Jack knew it was ridiculous to feel jealous of Jessie’s career success, but that was how he felt. He was scared of being left behind. In Shanghai he’d owed and operated a successful publishing company. Back then, he’d had that same hunger, drive, and determination to succeed that he now saw on a daily basis in Jessie.

  Jack knew he’d been taking out his frustrations and disappointment with his own personal circumstances on Jessie: acting a little cool towards her and withdrawn. He knew he hadn’t sounded overly interested in her new job and had deliberately not asked as many questions as he should have. In truth, he simply hadn’t wanted to hear how brilliant everything was going for her, or what her latest triumph in the workplace had been that day. So he hadn’t asked.

  Yes, there was no question that Jack was in a rut: mentally, physically, and emotionally. Their first two weeks in Hong Kong, soaking up the sights, sea, and sand, had been truly awesome. But that was a holiday, and now they were back to real life. He wanted to be happy with Jessie. She was, quite simply, the kindest, most amazing woman he knew. Not to mention absolutely stunning. Every morning when she’d left for work in her cute office attire, he’d had to fake sleep so as not to pull her back into bed with him and make her late.

  But to be truly happy with Jessie, he was going to have to sort himself out and do something about his sorry-ass state, as the present state of affairs could not continue. Jessie was going to get fed up with him soon enough unless he did something deserving of her affection. No doubt her head would eventually get turned by someone more successful and altogether more worthy. A woman like Jessie should have nothing but the best, and Jack desperately wanted to be that man.

  So, in order to combat his current state of boredom and unemployment, Jack had arranged a job interview of sorts. He still wasn’t feeling one hundred percent, but he was feeling well enough to venture out into the big bad world and meet up for a few drinks with an old acquaintance from Shanghai who was now based in Hong Kong. Greg was a hard-drinking Irishman who already owned several bars and restaurants in the city. It was Jack’s intention to quiz Greg about the realities of doing something similar in the buzzing metropolis.

  Like a lot of people, Jack harboured a desire to run a bar, and maybe now was the chance for him to do it. It was an idea, anyway, and he didn’t have many of those, so he was going to jump on it and at least investigate the possibilities. But he had no intention of telling Jessie what he was up to until he’d completed his fact-finding mission. Instead, he planned to tell her that he was just catching up with a few friends—and if he happened to intimate that he was going on a lad’s night out, then that wasn’t such a bad thing. Jessie had had her fun at work all week, so Jack saw no harm in a bit of well-crafted exaggeration on his part to let her know that he wasn’t quite as hopeless as he sometimes looked.

  Chapter 19

  ‘Right, Jessie Slaymaker,’ Jessie muttered to herself as she fiddled with the finicky lock on her apartment door. ‘No more of this silliness and trying to cope with everything on your own.’ She took a deep breath and opened the door. Jack was in the kitchenette watching the kettle boil. Jessie took a deep breath and walked up to him.

  ‘Hi Jack,’ she said, looking up at him. ‘We need to talk,’ she continued, not waiting for his response as she grabbed his hand, leading him over to the sofa.

  ‘That sounds serious,’ he half-laughed at her.

  ‘I know this week hasn’t exactly been peachy for you, but I’ve just had the worst week of my professional existence,’ Jessie said gravely. ‘Even worse than when Charlie tried to frame me for corporate espionage, the last time I was here.’

  Jack’s face tensed ever so slightly at the mention of his brother’s name. Good one, Jessie sarcastically applauded herself. She just needed to shut the heck up about his flaming brother for once in her life. Jack was still tetchy, and rightly so, about her having ended up in bed with Charlie when they were in the early stages of their budding romance.

  ‘What’s gone wrong? I thought you were having a great time,’ Jack replied, not a huge amount of sympathy in his voice.

  ‘Far from it,’ Jessie continued, choosing to ignore his tone. ‘When I got to the office on Monday, the promotion I thought I had was no longer available, and so I’ve been plodding along in little more than a graduate’s role over the past week. It’s been just awful.’

  ‘Right. Is that it?’ Jack asked plainly, smiling at her. ‘I thought something bad had happened.’ He clearly didn’t get how disappointed and humiliated she felt about the whole thing.

  ‘What do you mean, is that it? Thank you for your sensitivity. This is bad,’ Jessie ranted, totally surprised by his lack of empathy.

  ‘Well, it can’t have been that bad, seeing as you’re only just bringing it up now,’ Jack retorted.

  ‘Well, it is,’ Jessie replied, furiously blinking back tears.

  ‘I’m sorry you don’t like your job,’ Jack sighed. ‘But from the way you were talking, I thought it was something life-threatening. It’s just a job, Jessie. Don’t take it so personally. This kind of thing happens all the time,’ he added more gently, giving her shoulder a gentle knead.

  ‘Well, not to me it doesn’t,’ Jessie sulked. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the feel of Jack’s fingers massaging her tense muscles. Maybe he was right. It was just a job, and she shouldn’t get herself so het up with everything. She had Jack. That was the most important thing. And considering this was basically the first time he’d touched her all week, maybe things were finally looking up. ‘That’s so good,’ she hummed at him.

  ‘Any time,’ he soothed. ‘There’s more to life than work, you know.’

  ‘Hmm. Hey, are you feeling better?’ Jessie asked hopefully. Her eyes slowly opened and focused on him. He did look better. A lot better. Rather yummy, in actual fact.

  ‘A bit,’ he said absently, continuing to rub her shoulder.

  ‘Are you going out?’ Jessie suddenly asked, noticing that he was wearing proper clothes for the first time all week. In fact, he looked to be quite dressed up. And clean-shaven.

  ‘I meant to text you earlier. I’m just popping out to see a few mates for a catch-up beer. I won’t be late,’ he said, suddenly springing up off the sofa. ‘Actually, I’d probably better shoot,’ he added, checking his watch and shovelling his wallet and keys into his pockets.

  ‘Oh,’ Jessie said, unable to hide her surprise. Well, if you could hold on for twenty minutes, I could get ready and come with you,’ she offered.

  ‘No offence, Jess, but it’s kind of a blokey thing. They’re not bringing their significant others, and I think you might feel a bit left out of the conversation.’

  ‘Right-O. I get you,’ Jessie said, getting up off the sofa with a sigh. ‘No girls allowed. I wanted to take a long bath anyway,’ she added, heading towards the bedroom.

  ‘Enjoy.’ Jack gave her a quick kiss as she passed him.

  ‘You too,’ Jessie said wearily.

  ‘I’ll try. Don’t wait up,’ he called as he closed the front door behind him.

  ‘But I didn’t think you were going to be late,’ Jessie moaned to herself, and went to run her bath. She knew she should be thankful that Jack seemed to be in better spirits. It was just unfortunate for her that as soon as he was feeling better, he’d prefer to go out on the razzle with his buddies rather than spend some quality time together.

  Chapter 20

  So much for not being late. It had gone four o’clock the next morning before Jack had finally rolled through the door. And unsurprisingly, considering the hour, he was also completely trashed. There were no two ways about it. He’d made an incredible racket when he came in, and Jessie ended up having to steer him into bed. Once there, he’d passed out almost immediately and pretty much snored his head off from the get go.

  Unable to sleep with Snoring Beauty�
��s non-stop deafening symphony next to her, Jessie started up a text conversation with Tom to entertain her.

  Jessie: I talked to Jack…

  Tom: What did he say?

  Jessie: Not much. Just that it wasn’t the end of the world.

  Tom: He’s right.

  Tom: Surely you got some wine, sex and a bit of sympathy though.

  Jessie: None of the above. He went out and got seriously pissed up instead.

  Tom: Bastard.

  Jessie: I know.

  Tom: What did you do?

  Jessie: Stayed in and plucked my eyebrows.

  Tom: Rock ’n’ roll… Not, you saddo.

  Jessie: Thanks.

  Tom: What are you doing today then to top your Friday night?

  Jessie: Not much—should be house hunting but can’t be arsed.

  Tom: You should do something. Get out and about.

  Jessie: Jack will be hung over all day and I have some journals to catch up on.

  Tom: Whoa there! It’s the weekend, you don’t HAVE to work.

  Jessie: Well… my boss did invite me to have a pedicure with her.

  Tom: Do that then.

  Jessie: Don’t want to. It’s weird. I already said no. She’s all young and hot and she makes me feel like an OAP.

  Tom: Jessie, it’s a blooming pedicure. What’s the worst that could happen?

  Jessie: I suppose…

  Tom: It’s a chance to network, and I’d hazard a guess that barring Jack, you don’t really know anyone yet. In fact, I insist that you go. Call her now and tell her you changed your mind.

  Jessie: Okay. Maybe…

  Later that morning, having left Jack in bed to sleep off his hangover, Jessie was sat next to her new boss, chatting away amiably whilst their tootsies were being pampered to within an inch of their lives. Although Jessie had had her doubts about going, she shouldn’t have, as she was now feeling the most relaxed she’d been since starting work. Perhaps Jack and Tom were right in that she did need something outside of the office. Maybe pedicures would be her extra-curricular activity from now on. She was in a soothing, calm, lemongrass-scented environment, sipping green tea with plinky-plonky music on repeat in the background. If this was what fabulous Hong Kong was going to be like from now on, it was definitely something she could get used to.