by Shae Banks
I was served straight away which was odd. Three other guys were standing at the bar before I made it there. Not one to queue unnecessarily, I said, “Bottle of wine, please.”
He plonked it on the bar in front of me. “Nat, yeah?”
“Yeah…”
“Jase said to have a good night.”
I clenched my teeth but didn’t say anything. I just grabbed the bottle and returned to our table.
“That was quick,” Haylie said, taking the jug from me.
“It was all ready for me,” I explained, sliding down the bench opposite her. “Jase left it. Said to have a good night.”
She gave me a toothy grin and poured herself a glass. “How much are you betting he turns up later?”
I scowled. “He better bloody not. If he does, he’ll be told where to go.”
She wagged a finger at me, grinning broadly. “This is a sign, Nat. I’m telling you.”
I shook my head and refreshed my glass. “I thought we were here to celebrate my new job?”
She rolled her eyes then raised her glass. “To fresh starts.”
I chinked my glass against hers and took a sip. “Yeah. Fresh starts.” It wasn’t until she snorted into her glass that I realized what I’d just toasted to. Bitch.
Chapter Three
My first week at work went as I expected. The receptionist I’d met before the interview, Chantal, was slightly less frosty but not exactly welcoming. I had the feeling she was going to be a thorn in my side. By the end of the week, I wondered if her expression was due to too much Botox, because her forehead and cheeks didn’t seem to move during any situation. Her face was just fixed in the same dour expression all the time.
Cara was there for my first morning, and she was great at showing me the ropes. The other people in the office seemed okay but were quiet. Sandra, the Admin Manager, appeared to be in charge the second Cara wasn’t around, and she gave me piles of invoices I was to work through each morning before assigning me other things to do.
Friday afternoon, Tony came out and told us all to go home half an hour early. Tony, it turned out, was probably the best boss I’d ever had. If he needed anything, he always said ‘please’ and if I delivered something, he always said ‘thank you.’ It was a refreshing change from the shitty attitudes I faced in my last job.
“You’re ready for a couple of days off, aren’t you?” he asked as I shut down my computer.
I gave a small laugh. “I’ve had a great week, actually.”
It was true, I had really enjoyed going to work. He looked around the room with his hands in his pockets. The silence was awkward, so I asked, “Have you got anything planned?”
“The usual. A few beers with friends, watch a match.” I think he was going to ask what I was doing when his phone rang.
“Yeah? Okay. Yeah, I’ll wait here and give you a lift. Okay, mate.” Tucking the phone into his trousers pocket, he smiled. “That’s me stuck here another hour. Have a good weekend, Nathalie.”
I smiled, tucked my hair behind my ear, and moved to the door. “You too. See you Monday.”
I sat in my car, watching the cleaner arrive, and sent Haylie a message asking if she fancied a few drinks in town. Her response was immediate and affirmative, as I’d known it would be, so I set off for home to get ready.
By six forty-five I was in our favorite bar with a bottle of wine on ice, waiting for Haylie. I’d poured myself a glass and tried to relax as I looked around the room. Three tables down were a group of young girls. I pushed the self-conscious feeling away and picked up my phone, keeping myself busy browsing through my social media accounts. I hadn’t been on for a couple of days, busy with work, and was surprised to see a friend request waiting for me. I opened it up and groaned when I saw Jason’s name. Chewing my lip, I let my thumb hover over the accept icon for a second but changed my mind at the last moment and closed the app.
I was still looking at the blank screen when Haylie turned up.
“God, it’s pissing down. If that doesn’t stop, I’m spending all night in here.”
I smiled at her and put my phone away. “It was fine when I got here. How’s your week been?”
Haylie worked with adults with learning disabilities, a high-pressure job by all accounts, and not something I could have ever done, but she was brilliant. It was a calling, and she loved every minute of it. She couldn’t tell me the ins and outs due to confidentiality, but she usually had a little something to share.
She fluffed her damp hair and sat down, pouring herself a glass of wine. “Shit.”
I shook my head. “Is that it or…?”
“Fucking Paul moved me to the late shift next week. I don’t work fucking late shifts, I work earlies. I get in, I get it done, I get the fuck out.”
“And what did he say when you told him that?” I knew she had, in those exact words. She was an absolute diamond, but she was a rough one, and she wasn’t one to mince her words.
She gulped down a mouthful of her drink. “Well, he said either I worked what he put me down for, or I didn’t work at all. Jumped up prick. I don’t know why Julie gave him the off duty, he’s a little fucking Hitler with it.”
“So, what are you doing about it?”
She gulped another mouthful of wine. “Work the bastard late shift.”
I pressed my lips together, trying not to laugh.
“What about you? How was the first week?”
“It was surprisingly good,” I said enthusiastically. “They’re all a bit quiet, but the boss is nice. He let us go early today, and he won’t dock my pay for it, and the other boss who isn’t always in was around Monday. Yeah, think I’m going to like it.”
“You’re a lucky bitch,” she groused, shaking her head and laughing.
“Oi, I keep telling you, I had my share of bad luck, Hayles. I think it’s my turn.”
She raised her glass and tilted her head to the side. “Yes, it is. Speaking of luck. Seen anything else of Jase?”
She raised her brows at me as she refilled our glasses. I breathed in heavily and replied, “Nope. It’s been a month. I have a friend request. I didn’t accept it. He hasn’t made another attempt to contact me, so I’m assuming he’s taken the hint.”
“I can’t believe you told him to jog on.”
I shrugged. “I can’t open that one back up. I’ve come too far to go right back to where it bloody started. I’m better off on my own.”
She tried not to give me a sad look, but I saw the brief flicker in her eyes. She was wrong, I didn’t need anyone. I was safer on my own.
“Anyway, I don’t need a bloke to be happy any more than you do,” I told her indignantly.
She sniggered at that. “Speak for yourself. I get mine.”
I didn’t want to get into her sex life. That wasn’t for me. Her relationship with her boyfriend was far too turbulent for my liking. I needed something a bit more stable and I wasn’t going to get that chasing Jason Locksley. He’d already proven how unreliable he was. I honestly would rather be alone. I looked at her with a brow cocked. “Oh? Back on speaking terms, are you?”
She scowled at me. “No. He hasn’t spoken to me all week. It should blow over. It usually does.”
I half smiled and drained my glass. She did the same. “Want me to go?” I asked.
“Nope. My round. Back in five.”
I watched her pick up the ice bucket with the empty bottle stuck back in and head for the bar. I don’t know why, but I picked my phone up again and looked up Jason.
His profile didn’t show anything other than a picture of him. His broad smile was accented by his dimples, his perfect teeth gleaming in the bright sunlight. I assumed he must have been on holiday when it was taken. There was another person in the picture, but they’d been cropped out, and I couldn’t tell if they were male or female. I don’t know why I was even wondering.
I jumped when a fresh bottle was plonked on the table and looked up.
“Look wh
o I found all on his lonesome.”
Before I had the chance to consider my actions, I sighed. “Oh. Hello again. You here alone?”
Jason smiled and put his drink on the table. “Yeah, for half an hour or so. Just waiting for my mate to join me. Is this your regular?” he asked as he sat down without an invitation. I assumed Haylie had already done that before they got here.
“Sort of, yeah,” I muttered, glaring at Haylie.
She shrugged and poured more drinks. “We come here every Friday unless one of us has other plans. Are you meeting a girlfriend or a boyfriend?” she asked him conversationally.
I wanted to throttle her.
“Colleague,” he said, not taking his eyes off me. “Are you celebrating again?”
“Nat’s new job,” Haylie announced. “New company, she walked the interview last month, so we were celebrating that last time we saw you. Tonight, we’re celebrating her new boss not being a tool.”
He glanced at her and laughed. “That’s always worth celebrating.” He took a sip from his bottle then looked back at me. “What do you do?”
I opened my mouth to answer, but Haylie cut me off. “She’s a Senior Finance Administrator, but she took a pay cut and demotion to work closer to home.”
I clenched my teeth and shook my head as he frowned and asked, “Why would you do that?”
“Because,” I began, more loudly than was probably necessary, “the commute was killing me, and the pay cut doesn’t leave me that much out of pocket after fuel.”
He raised his chin as if seeing the logic in my decision and took another sip.
“What do you do, Jason?” Haylie chimed.
“I’m an engineer.”
“Oh, interesting. Mechanical or electrical?”
I don’t know what my face did, but judging by Jason’s smile it must have amused him. I glared at her and asked, “What the hell do you know about engineering?”
“Enough,” she replied, looking intently in his direction.
“Water and gas,” he went on. “It’s pretty boring, really. I handle burst pipes and stuff like that.” I noticed he’d relaxed some, dropping the formality of his new accent.
Haylie continued her questioning. “In the area or…?”
“Since I know the area, I stay here when I need to come on a job up this way,” he explained. “What about you, Haylie? What do you do?”
I sat quietly, watching their interaction as she explained her job as a support worker for adults with learning disabilities. He seemed genuinely interested and fully engaged as she spoke, drinking and chatting as though they were old friends.
I supposed for the most part, they were. Or had been until he left for uni. Haylie had slated him more than anyone for how he’d handled that. She spent two years swearing to castrate him if she ever saw his face again. That wasn’t likely, though. A few weeks after he left, his mum put her house on the market and moved down south with her new boyfriend. No one expected him to turn up here again. He had no reason to.
I slumped back in my seat and drank while Haylie quizzed him on his job, apparently I’d been forgotten by them both. I didn’t mind. I was about to make an excuse to hide in the toilets when she jumped up. “Need a piss.”
What I thought was bollocks. What I said was, “Nice. Stay classy, Hayles.”
Jason laughed, turning his attention back to me. He pulled a mobile out of his back pocket and shook it at me. “So, you really don’t want to be friends, eh?”
I pressed my lips together and raised my eyebrows.
“Look, I just want to have a drink. Talk it out, clear the air. Can we at least do that? I just want to apologize.”
“There’s nothing to apologize for.”
He gave me a disbelieving look, one brow arched slightly. “No? Come on, Nat, just one drink.”
I sighed. He was putting in quite some effort, and it wouldn’t hurt me to give him half an hour of my time. Anyway, I was curious what sort of excuse he was going to give me for what he did. “Fine, one drink. Coffee, tomorrow afternoon. Here.”
He looked around the bar, his eyes focusing on someone by the door. He raised his hand, one finger extended. I didn’t turn to look at who had arrived. “Can I get your number?” he asked, looking back at me.
I frowned.
Holding up both hands, he said, “Okay, since you saw my friend request, you know how to reach me through the app if you want. I’ll be here at two.”
I didn’t say anything. It was an effort to even nod.
Draining his bottle, he stood up. “Tomorrow then. Have a great night. I’m glad your boss isn’t a tool.”
I smiled. “See you tomorrow.”
I picked up my glass and drank the lot, not wanting to watch him go. I glanced up and watched his arse in those ridiculously well-fitting jeans as he walked toward the exit. A large group came in the other door as he passed, so I didn’t get a look at who he was meeting, but whoever it was clearly wasn’t set on drinking here.
“Has he fucking run off again?” Haylie demanded, wiping her hands on her jeans. She apparently didn’t bother to dry them in her hurry to get back to quizzing my ex-boyfriend.
“He had to go. His friend arrived.”
“Did you see him?” she asked, sitting down and grasping her glass. “Was he fit?”
“How do you know it was a bloke?” I questioned, glancing at his empty bottle. “Women are engineers too, you know.”
“Piss off. How many women do you know who crawl about in holes to fix burst pipes for a living?”
It was a pointless argument, so I conceded and checked the contents of the bottle. “Another?”
“No. I think we should get the fuck out of here since it stopped raining.”
I knew what she was thinking. She could try. It was a big city, but I was almost certain she could track him down. “Okay. Where to?”
She pursed her lips and tweaked them to the side. “Mambo’s.”
I shook my head.
“Come on, Nat. You love karaoke.”
I sighed and finished my drink. “Fine. It’s only nine though. Do not put me in for anything I don’t usually sing without a few jaegers.”
Her grin was stupid. I knew what that meant.
Chapter Four
My head was pounding, and my mouth felt like it was full of sand. I didn’t want to focus on how it tasted. Instead I turned over, and my arm hit a body next to mine. That was bad.
Worse. The body was completely naked. I knew because when they turned over, an arm and leg pinning me to the bed, both were bare.
I tried to roll away, but I was stuck, and I needed the loo.
“Hay.”
Nothing. Not even a grunt.
“Come on, Hayles, let me up before I piss the bed.”
“Piss on me, and I’ll piss on you right back,” she grumbled as she rolled away.
I sat up carefully, adjusted my boobs, tucking them back in my bra, and moved as quickly as my headache would allow to the bathroom.
I sat down and kicked off my knickers, then unhooked my bra and stretched. “What time is it?” I croaked, remembering the pounding I’d given my vocal chords in the karaoke bar.
“One.”
I closed my eyes and scratched my head as I yawned. “What are we doing today?”
“Gym.”
“Pfft.”
I tried to clean my teeth, but started retching and gave up, stepping into the bath and turning on the shower instead. I yelped at the cold water, then stepped fully underneath it, letting the warming drops continue the process of removing my makeup. My pillow had already made a start, I was sure.
It wasn’t until I was rubbing shampoo into my hair when I remembered. “Oh, holy shit. Haylie, I’m meeting Jase at two.”
She was at the bathroom door in seconds. “What?”
“Coffee, two, The Cross,” I spluttered, rinsing the shampoo out of my hair in a panic. “He’ll be expecting me to stand him up…”
“Why didn’t you tell me this? Shit. Get dried, I’ll get your clothes.”
I usually take a little bit more care, but I rinsed my hair, scrubbed my face with soap, and was out of that shower in under a minute, and then I forced myself to be brave and clean my teeth.
“I’m not sure I’m fit to drive,” I said, padding into the bedroom wrapped in a towel to see Haylie deliberating between a tea dress and a skirt. “Jeans.”
“You can’t wear jeans, and you’ll be fine driving now… it’s only two miles.”
“I can’t wear that fucking dress. I was eight pounds lighter when I bought that,” I snapped, reaching past her and grabbing a hanger I knew had my old Bowie tee and ripped jeans on it. “It’s coffee, not a date.”
She was still stark naked, standing with one hand on her hip. She was the same height as me but slimmer. Her perky, little boobs made me slightly sick with jealousy, as did the floral tattoo that ran the length of her side and over her shoulder, merging with the sleeve that covered her arm. “No? Why are you panicking about being late then?”
I could have answered, I just didn’t have the time. Instead, I rubbed myself down with the towel and hunted for some underwear before getting dressed and rubbing furiously at my hair to get most of the water out. Haylie got back into my bed.
“What are you doing about your hair?” she asked, snuggling back in.
I didn’t answer, instead I brushed it through and tied it up on top of my head. “I won’t be long.”
She waved at me, and I ran out the room and down the stairs.
I managed to grab my bag and keys without dropping anything, and slipped on a pair of trainers before running out the door.
Can’t get parked. I’m on my way.
I hadn’t wanted to contact him, but I didn’t want him to think I was petty enough to stand him up. By the time I got to the bar, I was more than flustered, and I knew I looked like hell. It was probably better that way, I decided. If I didn’t make an effort, he’d know I wasn’t interested.
