Villain, page 3
“Like circus acts? People on stilts, fire breathing, aireal rings. That sort of thing?” I ask.
Casper turns his nose up as if that’s the most absurd suggestion he’s ever heard. For a second, my stomach rolls with a wave of nausea that almost knocks me off the chair.
However, Flora gasps and her eyes light up like I’ve just answered her prayers.
Screw you, Casper.
“Yes! That sounds wonderful. We want to treat our employees to something magical—an event they will be talking about for the right reasons and not just because Phillip had too much champagne, hit on a man, and pissed his wife off again.”
“I’m sorry?” I say. Phillip did what? He better be on this year’s guest list.
“You want a child’s party?” Casper asks, turning his nose up. He sounds thoroughly offended.
Good.
I don’t react to his criticism this time, though I do wish I’d sat somewhere else. Even though I’m mostly ignoring him, I can feel him. The heat from his body sinks into my skin, and the tense atmosphere clogs my throat.
Flora shakes her head gently, a hint of amusement in her soft gaze. “It’s not a child’s party, darling. It’s fun.”
I bite my tongue and almost take it clean off. Casper’s idea of fun is probably sacrificing newborns. Points to me for keeping that one inside my head.
Can we go back to the drunk, cheating Phillip scandal, though?
“Do whatever you like. It’s your party.” Casper’s tone is very sulky, but he’s wearing his usual bored expression. I don’t know why he’s here. He’s not contributing anything useful to the conversation.
Frederick laughs and lifts a brow at his son. Maybe it’s a challenge to go against us and come up with a better idea. Whatever it is it has Casper scowling.
“Fantastic idea, Ainsley. My wife and I love it. We have our theme.”
“Great.” I beam at the compliment and feel my confidence bloom. This means so much, and I want to get it right. I want to give them everything they want and more.
Reggie nudges me, smiling.
Yeah, we’ve got this.
“Do you want to have the party here or at another location?” Reggie asks.
“Not here.” Flora holds her heart. “It took me a week to get over the last party we had here.”
Casper rolls his eyes but doesn’t mention what he finds stupid about his mum’s remark. I could take a wild guess and assume that Flora wasn’t the one who cleaned up after that, but the staff did.
I’m surprised to find myself liking Casper’s parents. They’re both down to earth and seem like decent people. It’s hard to imagine them fighting to keep criminals out of prison.
I stir my tea in the pretty cup on the saucer. The weather is much kinder today, hence why we’re outside, and the warm sunlight helps boost my mood further. The stream of sunlight peeking through the trees makes Casper’s eyes look almost all icy grey.
I look away from him and push my fist into the gnawing apprehension in my gut.
“I saw the other day that you can hire Whendon Castle again. It’s a gorgeous place full of character. I know they’re having renovations done to one side of the castle, but it wouldn’t get in the way of a function,” I say.
Reggie scribbles the castle name down with his Apple Pen on his iPad. “I was thinking the same thing. It would be perfect. Large ball room, conservatory, and plenty of space in the gardens for fire breathing.”
“Oh, I love it there. Frederick used to take me for lunch when we were dating. I don’t know why we stopped going. Does it fit within the budget?” Flora asks.
Casper snorts.
Reggie glances up as he scribbles messy notes on the screen. “Yeah. It’s a little higher than upscale hotels in the area, but if you’re looking to wow…”
“Absolutely. Let’s pin down a date sometime at the start of July,” Frederick replies.
Over the next hour, and about a hundred cakes, we get the venue, date, theme, and food sorted. I’m on a high—professional and sugar—so the fact that Casper is still scowling beside me is just background noise at this point.
Reggie and I have pages of notes. I took a walk earlier to call the venue to pencil in a date. Casper followed me down the steps and watched while I paced the lawn.
I don’t know what he thought I was going to do. The length of the phone call wasn’t long enough to sneak into his house, find Flora’s jewellery or gold bars, and then get back out here.
I close my notebook with a grin that probably makes me look insane. Nothing can kill my buzz.
“Oh, this is exciting,” Flora says as we stroll towards the maze an hour later.
With the main details worked through, Reggie and I have everything we need for now. When Flora asked if I wanted to tour the gardens before we left, I jumped at the chance.
Reggie and Frederick stay back, discussing the impending cricket season.
Casper is a few steps behind us. There’s no reason for him to be following us but I can only assume he expects me to attack his mother in the maze at this point.
“How long have you and Frederick been married?” I ask. The deeper we get into the garden, the stronger the smell of flowers gets. One day, I’ll have a pretty place like this, just on a smaller scale.
“Twenty-six years. It’s not always been easy but there’s no one else I’d rather muddle through life with. How about you? Anyone special in your life?” she asks.
“No. I broke up with my ex when I got into uni. He was really nice, and I hoped we’d work out, but the more I thought about it, the clearer it became. Long distance wasn’t going to work for us.”
Casper makes some sort of disgusted snort behind us. I ignore it, but Flora scowls at him.
“Do you still love him?” she asks once she focuses back on me.
“Yeah, but not the way I used to. We speak a bit, but I’ve not seen him in over a year.”
“Where is he now?”
“Back home. He works for his dad’s building company. I should check in really.”
She smiles. “Were you together for long?”
“From fifteen to eighteen, so a fair amount of time for teenagers, I guess. We got each other through a lot.”
He was the one I cried on when my mum popped back into my life with grand promises of her sobriety and the wish to be a parent. It never lasted long. He was there when I told her that I didn’t want her to come back when I was seventeen.
“Why the fuck would you want to talk to your ex?”
Ah, there he is. Mister Sensitivity.
Flora turns and hushes her son. I recognise that look. It’s the same one my aunt has used on me growing up. Right now, it makes me smile because I love that he still gets in trouble with his mum.
“Exes are exes for a reason.”
That’s all he has to say for being an insensitive dick.
“I’m sorry for my son’s behaviour,” Flora says.
“Don’t worry. I’m used to him.”
“I hope he’s not always like that.”
I want to tell her the truth but there’s something about the look of concern on her face that stops me. She doesn’t need to be worrying about whether she was a good mum or not. Flora isn’t to blame for Casper. He’s a twenty-one-year-old man-child with a chip on his shoulder and a pretty face.
We turn when Frederick calls Flora back into the house for a phone call.
“I’m so sorry, I’m waiting on this,” she says, running across the lawn like a boss in heels. Frederick walks down the stairs to meet her halfway.
“Are you going in?” Casper asks, nodding to the maze.
“Not with you. You’d probably make it rain and leave me there alone.”
“I never said I wouldn’t give you a lift yesterday. As I recall, you were the one who stormed off like a petulant child.”
That’s his defence? “I left because you were being a twat. As per. I don’t know why I thought you would help me out in the first place.”
He shakes his head and walks through the maze entrance, muttering, “You have no fucking idea.”
I follow him, anyway, because I do want to see this maze, and I don’t know how long Flora will be. Besides, his parents and Reggie wouldn’t let me get lost. And there’s something addictive about being around him… like when you keep pushing on a bad tooth.
Casper turns left, so I go right.
His footsteps crunch on the stones and then stop. “Really, Ainsley?”
“What?” I ask, turning around.
He walks towards me without a word, but his dark expression tells me everything he isn’t saying: he thought I would follow him, and for some reason, it’s irritated him that I haven’t.
I can imagine he’s used to getting whatever he wants.
Now he knows which way to go since he spent his childhood running around here. I’d still rather get lost.
“Why are you following me?” I ask.
“Please. Lead the way,” he says without a hint of disdain.
What’s happening?
I turn again and walk along a tall hedge, my heart racing in the weirdest way. This is the unknown, and I don’t just mean the maze.
Casper walks beside me but says nothing while I turn corners and backtrack along dead ends. This must be killing him since he knows the way. It makes every wrong turn worthwhile.
I hope we end up back at the start and have to go again.
“Oops,” I say cheerfully, threading my fingers together when we come to another dead end.
“Your sense of direction is atrocious. We’ve been here three times.”
“I never asked you to come with me. Go back to your parents and Reggie. I’ll do this alone.”
“You’re doing it alone now.”
“Not alone enough,” I mutter.
“Ah, you’re still mad about what you did yesterday.”
I shove my hands into the pockets of my jeans, controlling the urge to karate chop him. My uncle tried to teach me karate when I was seven. I was hopeless, but I remember a few things.
“I’m not mad,” I reply. It physically hurts not to tell him to fuck off. “I feel nothing for you. Let’s try this way.”
For a second, he doesn’t follow, and I almost turn around, but then I hear his footsteps again.
“Would you look at that. Another dead end.”
I sneak a look, and sure enough, his jaw is clenched, and his eyes are hard. Anger rolls from his shoulders. He’s having a hard time keeping it in check.
He doesn’t say a word to me for the next ten minutes while I lead us, badly, to the centre of the maze. It’s a trip that probably takes him two minutes.
I look up in the rounded centre and smile. “I made it.”
Casper watches me like I’m a crazy person. Or a simple one. He’s probably dying to tell me to do one, but all he does is stare at me until I feel like crawling out of my own skin.
I swallow a lump of unease as I take a step back. He doesn’t move an inch.
Okay, someone needs to move.
Stop looking at him.
His eyes are hypnotic, and the longer he stares, the harder my heart beats. It wouldn’t take much longer for me to have a coronary.
Move. Your. Feet.
I take another step back and use every ounce of energy I can muster to turn and walk away from him, retracing my steps with heavy legs and a sense of dread sitting low in my stomach.
CHAPTER FOUR
With the weird thing that happened in the maze buried deep, deep inside my head, stored in a locked filing cabinet, and the key thrown in the ocean, I manage to regain my excitement for the event.
Reggie drives us home from the Harts’ when we’re done, and he’s buzzing, too. I love Casper’s parents and his family home. Him, not so much. He was a bit of a prick and pulled some even stranger shit in that maze.
Which I will never think about. Starting again from now.
I watch the thick muscles under Reggie’s dark skin when he takes a sharp right. He’s a good distraction.
Casper is right behind us, driving a little too closely in his penis extension of a Porsche. If that was me, I would be swearing, but Reggie just laughs under his breath every time he checks his mirror.
“That felt so good,” I say, tapping my notebook. We have a lot to do, and thanks to the original date not being available, we’ve lost a week already.
“Right. Our first paid job is a big one. Good call on the circus theme, by the way.”
“Thanks. I remember my aunt and uncle taking me for my birthday treat one year. I must’ve been six or seven. I loved it. Of course, the events are on another level, but everyone loves a bit of fire breathing. We need to get in touch with those companies ASAP so we’re not left with a cheesy circus act.”
“I’ll do it. I know a guy.”
I turn my body towards him. “You know a guy in the circus?”
“Not sure they call themselves the circus, but yeah. He’s a trapeze artist.”
“Where did you meet him?”
“My cousin’s stag weekend. I don’t remember much from that weekend, but I remember him. Like a hoover,” he says wistfully.
“All right, then.”
Reggie laughs. “I’ll call him and see if his company has our date available.”
“He owns the company?”
“His older brother does.”
“What’s this guy’s name?”
“Eric.”
“That’s not a trapeze… person’s name.”
Laughing, he asks, “And what is a trapeze person’s name?”
“I don’t know. Not that, though. What’s he like?”
“Don’t read too much into it, Ains. We had a good couple of nights, kept in touch loosely, and that’s the end of the story.”
“But I feel like there’s more to the story and I want to know what it is.”
A smile touches his lips. “Of course, you do. Your nosy little mind just wants there to be. I think you’re a romantic at heart.”
“I think you’re deflecting. My love life is tragic. At least it has been since I broke up with Zach.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to get back together with him?”
“I’m positive. We both agreed that we couldn’t do the long-distance thing, and my career will take me all over the UK. It’ll never work. I don’t think I was in love with him at the end, anyway.”
“You need to date. Come tonight. You’ll never meet anyone sitting at home studying.”
If I don’t study, research, and study some more, I might end up with nothing. My aunt and uncle saved for years to subsidise my living costs. They don’t have a lot, but they pay half of my rent every month. I can’t waste their money and disappoint them.
“You want me to spend the night with Casper after seeing him today? Twice in one day. No, thanks.”
“It’s a bar, Ains. You won’t be stuck with him. Come on, you need to have some fun.”
That does sound tempting. I could use a drink, and it’s not like I have to hang out with Casper. “Okay. I’ll come for a few. Can I bring Imani and Freya?”
“Imani’s already coming. Freya’s meeting some people from her course. Taxi’s picking us up at nine and there’s room for you.”
Reggie pulls into his drive, and we go to our respective houses. I’m alone when I get in, but I know Imani has class, and I guess Freya is starting early with her other friends.
Kicking off my shoes, I head to the living room. Reggie’s words still play in my head. Am I boring? I spend most of my time indoors, sure. I’m passionate about my course and driven to make a life for myself. While trying to do that, I guess I’ve forgotten to live the life I have now.
Well, not tonight.
I vow to have a good time, let my hair down, and not stress over things that I can’t control.
It’s a pretty liberating thought… that probably won’t last.
In my room, I dig out my bag of nail polishes and choose the bright red. Once I’m done, I’m also going to pinch a bottle of Prosecco Imani has stashed in the tiny utility room.
I hear the door open as I’m finishing painting my toes, and halfway through my first glass of fizz.
“Anyone home?” Imani calls.
“Me. I’m upstairs and I’m drinking your Prosecco.”
Imani thuds up the stairs, and her eyes light up when she notices what I’m doing. “Hot date?”
“No. I’m coming out with you and the boys. Reggie invited me.”
“Yay! Oh my God, I’m so happy you’re leaving the books behind.” I’m currently reading the blogs of party planners. “I love that red. Let me curl your hair.”
“Take a breath, Imani. You can treat me like a doll if you want.”
She claps her hands together. “Girl, you’re going to be primed and ready to pull.”
“Yeah, I don’t know about that.”
She’s way too excited about me coming out with her.
I’ve never had a one-night stand. The two men I’ve slept with were in a real relationship with me when it happened. Zach was my first, then I dated a guy for a few months in my first year here. He seemed so nice at first, but it turned out he was nice to other women, too.
Maybe I should have a one-night stand.
I’m in uni. That seems to be the done thing. Particularly if your room backs onto mine…
Imani spends the next hour getting me ready, then we finish the Prosecco in the living room until we hear a beep outside. She slips something into my hand as I’m opening the front door.
“A condom. Really?”
She grins until I put it in my bag. “Atta girl.”
I’m wearing a tiny black dress with red heels, nails, and lips. My hair is neatly curled, and she’s lined my eyes with bat wings that I would have applied wonky if I’d tried to do it myself. I felt a like a movie star right up until the taxi pulled up.
Imani, noticing my panicked eyes, shakes her head. “No, it’s not too much. Get your hot arse into that car. We look incredible, and you’re leaving with at least one phone number tonight.”
“Is the dress too short?”
“No.”
“I don’t mind showing skin but not the skin covering my arse.”
Casper turns his nose up as if that’s the most absurd suggestion he’s ever heard. For a second, my stomach rolls with a wave of nausea that almost knocks me off the chair.
However, Flora gasps and her eyes light up like I’ve just answered her prayers.
Screw you, Casper.
“Yes! That sounds wonderful. We want to treat our employees to something magical—an event they will be talking about for the right reasons and not just because Phillip had too much champagne, hit on a man, and pissed his wife off again.”
“I’m sorry?” I say. Phillip did what? He better be on this year’s guest list.
“You want a child’s party?” Casper asks, turning his nose up. He sounds thoroughly offended.
Good.
I don’t react to his criticism this time, though I do wish I’d sat somewhere else. Even though I’m mostly ignoring him, I can feel him. The heat from his body sinks into my skin, and the tense atmosphere clogs my throat.
Flora shakes her head gently, a hint of amusement in her soft gaze. “It’s not a child’s party, darling. It’s fun.”
I bite my tongue and almost take it clean off. Casper’s idea of fun is probably sacrificing newborns. Points to me for keeping that one inside my head.
Can we go back to the drunk, cheating Phillip scandal, though?
“Do whatever you like. It’s your party.” Casper’s tone is very sulky, but he’s wearing his usual bored expression. I don’t know why he’s here. He’s not contributing anything useful to the conversation.
Frederick laughs and lifts a brow at his son. Maybe it’s a challenge to go against us and come up with a better idea. Whatever it is it has Casper scowling.
“Fantastic idea, Ainsley. My wife and I love it. We have our theme.”
“Great.” I beam at the compliment and feel my confidence bloom. This means so much, and I want to get it right. I want to give them everything they want and more.
Reggie nudges me, smiling.
Yeah, we’ve got this.
“Do you want to have the party here or at another location?” Reggie asks.
“Not here.” Flora holds her heart. “It took me a week to get over the last party we had here.”
Casper rolls his eyes but doesn’t mention what he finds stupid about his mum’s remark. I could take a wild guess and assume that Flora wasn’t the one who cleaned up after that, but the staff did.
I’m surprised to find myself liking Casper’s parents. They’re both down to earth and seem like decent people. It’s hard to imagine them fighting to keep criminals out of prison.
I stir my tea in the pretty cup on the saucer. The weather is much kinder today, hence why we’re outside, and the warm sunlight helps boost my mood further. The stream of sunlight peeking through the trees makes Casper’s eyes look almost all icy grey.
I look away from him and push my fist into the gnawing apprehension in my gut.
“I saw the other day that you can hire Whendon Castle again. It’s a gorgeous place full of character. I know they’re having renovations done to one side of the castle, but it wouldn’t get in the way of a function,” I say.
Reggie scribbles the castle name down with his Apple Pen on his iPad. “I was thinking the same thing. It would be perfect. Large ball room, conservatory, and plenty of space in the gardens for fire breathing.”
“Oh, I love it there. Frederick used to take me for lunch when we were dating. I don’t know why we stopped going. Does it fit within the budget?” Flora asks.
Casper snorts.
Reggie glances up as he scribbles messy notes on the screen. “Yeah. It’s a little higher than upscale hotels in the area, but if you’re looking to wow…”
“Absolutely. Let’s pin down a date sometime at the start of July,” Frederick replies.
Over the next hour, and about a hundred cakes, we get the venue, date, theme, and food sorted. I’m on a high—professional and sugar—so the fact that Casper is still scowling beside me is just background noise at this point.
Reggie and I have pages of notes. I took a walk earlier to call the venue to pencil in a date. Casper followed me down the steps and watched while I paced the lawn.
I don’t know what he thought I was going to do. The length of the phone call wasn’t long enough to sneak into his house, find Flora’s jewellery or gold bars, and then get back out here.
I close my notebook with a grin that probably makes me look insane. Nothing can kill my buzz.
“Oh, this is exciting,” Flora says as we stroll towards the maze an hour later.
With the main details worked through, Reggie and I have everything we need for now. When Flora asked if I wanted to tour the gardens before we left, I jumped at the chance.
Reggie and Frederick stay back, discussing the impending cricket season.
Casper is a few steps behind us. There’s no reason for him to be following us but I can only assume he expects me to attack his mother in the maze at this point.
“How long have you and Frederick been married?” I ask. The deeper we get into the garden, the stronger the smell of flowers gets. One day, I’ll have a pretty place like this, just on a smaller scale.
“Twenty-six years. It’s not always been easy but there’s no one else I’d rather muddle through life with. How about you? Anyone special in your life?” she asks.
“No. I broke up with my ex when I got into uni. He was really nice, and I hoped we’d work out, but the more I thought about it, the clearer it became. Long distance wasn’t going to work for us.”
Casper makes some sort of disgusted snort behind us. I ignore it, but Flora scowls at him.
“Do you still love him?” she asks once she focuses back on me.
“Yeah, but not the way I used to. We speak a bit, but I’ve not seen him in over a year.”
“Where is he now?”
“Back home. He works for his dad’s building company. I should check in really.”
She smiles. “Were you together for long?”
“From fifteen to eighteen, so a fair amount of time for teenagers, I guess. We got each other through a lot.”
He was the one I cried on when my mum popped back into my life with grand promises of her sobriety and the wish to be a parent. It never lasted long. He was there when I told her that I didn’t want her to come back when I was seventeen.
“Why the fuck would you want to talk to your ex?”
Ah, there he is. Mister Sensitivity.
Flora turns and hushes her son. I recognise that look. It’s the same one my aunt has used on me growing up. Right now, it makes me smile because I love that he still gets in trouble with his mum.
“Exes are exes for a reason.”
That’s all he has to say for being an insensitive dick.
“I’m sorry for my son’s behaviour,” Flora says.
“Don’t worry. I’m used to him.”
“I hope he’s not always like that.”
I want to tell her the truth but there’s something about the look of concern on her face that stops me. She doesn’t need to be worrying about whether she was a good mum or not. Flora isn’t to blame for Casper. He’s a twenty-one-year-old man-child with a chip on his shoulder and a pretty face.
We turn when Frederick calls Flora back into the house for a phone call.
“I’m so sorry, I’m waiting on this,” she says, running across the lawn like a boss in heels. Frederick walks down the stairs to meet her halfway.
“Are you going in?” Casper asks, nodding to the maze.
“Not with you. You’d probably make it rain and leave me there alone.”
“I never said I wouldn’t give you a lift yesterday. As I recall, you were the one who stormed off like a petulant child.”
That’s his defence? “I left because you were being a twat. As per. I don’t know why I thought you would help me out in the first place.”
He shakes his head and walks through the maze entrance, muttering, “You have no fucking idea.”
I follow him, anyway, because I do want to see this maze, and I don’t know how long Flora will be. Besides, his parents and Reggie wouldn’t let me get lost. And there’s something addictive about being around him… like when you keep pushing on a bad tooth.
Casper turns left, so I go right.
His footsteps crunch on the stones and then stop. “Really, Ainsley?”
“What?” I ask, turning around.
He walks towards me without a word, but his dark expression tells me everything he isn’t saying: he thought I would follow him, and for some reason, it’s irritated him that I haven’t.
I can imagine he’s used to getting whatever he wants.
Now he knows which way to go since he spent his childhood running around here. I’d still rather get lost.
“Why are you following me?” I ask.
“Please. Lead the way,” he says without a hint of disdain.
What’s happening?
I turn again and walk along a tall hedge, my heart racing in the weirdest way. This is the unknown, and I don’t just mean the maze.
Casper walks beside me but says nothing while I turn corners and backtrack along dead ends. This must be killing him since he knows the way. It makes every wrong turn worthwhile.
I hope we end up back at the start and have to go again.
“Oops,” I say cheerfully, threading my fingers together when we come to another dead end.
“Your sense of direction is atrocious. We’ve been here three times.”
“I never asked you to come with me. Go back to your parents and Reggie. I’ll do this alone.”
“You’re doing it alone now.”
“Not alone enough,” I mutter.
“Ah, you’re still mad about what you did yesterday.”
I shove my hands into the pockets of my jeans, controlling the urge to karate chop him. My uncle tried to teach me karate when I was seven. I was hopeless, but I remember a few things.
“I’m not mad,” I reply. It physically hurts not to tell him to fuck off. “I feel nothing for you. Let’s try this way.”
For a second, he doesn’t follow, and I almost turn around, but then I hear his footsteps again.
“Would you look at that. Another dead end.”
I sneak a look, and sure enough, his jaw is clenched, and his eyes are hard. Anger rolls from his shoulders. He’s having a hard time keeping it in check.
He doesn’t say a word to me for the next ten minutes while I lead us, badly, to the centre of the maze. It’s a trip that probably takes him two minutes.
I look up in the rounded centre and smile. “I made it.”
Casper watches me like I’m a crazy person. Or a simple one. He’s probably dying to tell me to do one, but all he does is stare at me until I feel like crawling out of my own skin.
I swallow a lump of unease as I take a step back. He doesn’t move an inch.
Okay, someone needs to move.
Stop looking at him.
His eyes are hypnotic, and the longer he stares, the harder my heart beats. It wouldn’t take much longer for me to have a coronary.
Move. Your. Feet.
I take another step back and use every ounce of energy I can muster to turn and walk away from him, retracing my steps with heavy legs and a sense of dread sitting low in my stomach.
CHAPTER FOUR
With the weird thing that happened in the maze buried deep, deep inside my head, stored in a locked filing cabinet, and the key thrown in the ocean, I manage to regain my excitement for the event.
Reggie drives us home from the Harts’ when we’re done, and he’s buzzing, too. I love Casper’s parents and his family home. Him, not so much. He was a bit of a prick and pulled some even stranger shit in that maze.
Which I will never think about. Starting again from now.
I watch the thick muscles under Reggie’s dark skin when he takes a sharp right. He’s a good distraction.
Casper is right behind us, driving a little too closely in his penis extension of a Porsche. If that was me, I would be swearing, but Reggie just laughs under his breath every time he checks his mirror.
“That felt so good,” I say, tapping my notebook. We have a lot to do, and thanks to the original date not being available, we’ve lost a week already.
“Right. Our first paid job is a big one. Good call on the circus theme, by the way.”
“Thanks. I remember my aunt and uncle taking me for my birthday treat one year. I must’ve been six or seven. I loved it. Of course, the events are on another level, but everyone loves a bit of fire breathing. We need to get in touch with those companies ASAP so we’re not left with a cheesy circus act.”
“I’ll do it. I know a guy.”
I turn my body towards him. “You know a guy in the circus?”
“Not sure they call themselves the circus, but yeah. He’s a trapeze artist.”
“Where did you meet him?”
“My cousin’s stag weekend. I don’t remember much from that weekend, but I remember him. Like a hoover,” he says wistfully.
“All right, then.”
Reggie laughs. “I’ll call him and see if his company has our date available.”
“He owns the company?”
“His older brother does.”
“What’s this guy’s name?”
“Eric.”
“That’s not a trapeze… person’s name.”
Laughing, he asks, “And what is a trapeze person’s name?”
“I don’t know. Not that, though. What’s he like?”
“Don’t read too much into it, Ains. We had a good couple of nights, kept in touch loosely, and that’s the end of the story.”
“But I feel like there’s more to the story and I want to know what it is.”
A smile touches his lips. “Of course, you do. Your nosy little mind just wants there to be. I think you’re a romantic at heart.”
“I think you’re deflecting. My love life is tragic. At least it has been since I broke up with Zach.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to get back together with him?”
“I’m positive. We both agreed that we couldn’t do the long-distance thing, and my career will take me all over the UK. It’ll never work. I don’t think I was in love with him at the end, anyway.”
“You need to date. Come tonight. You’ll never meet anyone sitting at home studying.”
If I don’t study, research, and study some more, I might end up with nothing. My aunt and uncle saved for years to subsidise my living costs. They don’t have a lot, but they pay half of my rent every month. I can’t waste their money and disappoint them.
“You want me to spend the night with Casper after seeing him today? Twice in one day. No, thanks.”
“It’s a bar, Ains. You won’t be stuck with him. Come on, you need to have some fun.”
That does sound tempting. I could use a drink, and it’s not like I have to hang out with Casper. “Okay. I’ll come for a few. Can I bring Imani and Freya?”
“Imani’s already coming. Freya’s meeting some people from her course. Taxi’s picking us up at nine and there’s room for you.”
Reggie pulls into his drive, and we go to our respective houses. I’m alone when I get in, but I know Imani has class, and I guess Freya is starting early with her other friends.
Kicking off my shoes, I head to the living room. Reggie’s words still play in my head. Am I boring? I spend most of my time indoors, sure. I’m passionate about my course and driven to make a life for myself. While trying to do that, I guess I’ve forgotten to live the life I have now.
Well, not tonight.
I vow to have a good time, let my hair down, and not stress over things that I can’t control.
It’s a pretty liberating thought… that probably won’t last.
In my room, I dig out my bag of nail polishes and choose the bright red. Once I’m done, I’m also going to pinch a bottle of Prosecco Imani has stashed in the tiny utility room.
I hear the door open as I’m finishing painting my toes, and halfway through my first glass of fizz.
“Anyone home?” Imani calls.
“Me. I’m upstairs and I’m drinking your Prosecco.”
Imani thuds up the stairs, and her eyes light up when she notices what I’m doing. “Hot date?”
“No. I’m coming out with you and the boys. Reggie invited me.”
“Yay! Oh my God, I’m so happy you’re leaving the books behind.” I’m currently reading the blogs of party planners. “I love that red. Let me curl your hair.”
“Take a breath, Imani. You can treat me like a doll if you want.”
She claps her hands together. “Girl, you’re going to be primed and ready to pull.”
“Yeah, I don’t know about that.”
She’s way too excited about me coming out with her.
I’ve never had a one-night stand. The two men I’ve slept with were in a real relationship with me when it happened. Zach was my first, then I dated a guy for a few months in my first year here. He seemed so nice at first, but it turned out he was nice to other women, too.
Maybe I should have a one-night stand.
I’m in uni. That seems to be the done thing. Particularly if your room backs onto mine…
Imani spends the next hour getting me ready, then we finish the Prosecco in the living room until we hear a beep outside. She slips something into my hand as I’m opening the front door.
“A condom. Really?”
She grins until I put it in my bag. “Atta girl.”
I’m wearing a tiny black dress with red heels, nails, and lips. My hair is neatly curled, and she’s lined my eyes with bat wings that I would have applied wonky if I’d tried to do it myself. I felt a like a movie star right up until the taxi pulled up.
Imani, noticing my panicked eyes, shakes her head. “No, it’s not too much. Get your hot arse into that car. We look incredible, and you’re leaving with at least one phone number tonight.”
“Is the dress too short?”
“No.”
“I don’t mind showing skin but not the skin covering my arse.”
