Jared lay on his stomach, head on his folded arms, facing me with his eyes closed. I ignored how delicious the spots of water that dotted his skin looked and opened my book.
Jared peeked one eye open at my movement and took in the cover. It depicted a huge muscle chested guy with serious tattoos and green eyes that glared at you fiercely.
“Whatcha reading?” he asked.
I rolled my eyes at the question. If there was ever anything more annoying. “A book.”
He huffed a little bit at my deliberate ignorance. “What’s it about?”
“Vampires,” I said as I re-read the same paragraph again.
“Is there lots of sex in it?”
I threw my book down in exasperation and half turned to glare at him. “I hope so but I’ll never find out if you keep chatting to me while I’m trying to read it!”
I saw his eyes hit my chest. Remembering that Mac said Jared was a boob man, I quickly rolled on my stomach.
“Will you read the sex parts to me when you get to them?”
Read them to you? I’d rather re-enact them with you.
Oh God, I really would and not even Supermarket Jared could throw me off the path my mind was wandering down.
“Maybe.”
That would be hot.
Jared obviously thought so too because the laziness left his eyes and they started to sear my skin.
Stop flirting, you idiot!
I picked up my book again and stuck my head in it so closely I couldn’t even read the words. Jared sighed and flopped over to his stomach.
“Ready to talk yet?” he asked.
“No.”
“How about if I ask you the questions?”
“No.”
Jared looked amused rather than deterred. “I’ll find out eventually.”
I put my book back down with a huff. “Yeah? How do you suppose you’ll do that?”
He rolled onto his side and his eyes did that warm and gentle thing again that made my heart turn to mush. “Because one day you’ll belong to me, Evie, and I’ll know everything about you.”
Jared looked completely serious and left me with absolutely no doubt that he meant what he said.
Chapter Six
J: Ok, so give it up. Where did he take you?
E: You are just dying to know aren’t you?
Tate and I were just sitting down on a blanket at Mrs. Macquarie's Chair along the city’s harbour for fish and chips when the message arrived.
J: Give it up.
I replied by messaging him an earlier snapped photo of our twilight Sydney Harbour Bridge climb. It was epic and far removed from the Computer Convention I was originally expecting. The views were amazing, and the sunset was a riot of pinks, oranges, and reds. Heady stuff for a first date and Tate seemed a nice enough person, but with the huffing and puffing of climbing the huge Australian icon, there hadn’t been much of a chance to talk.
J: I’m impressed. Where do you go from there – base jumping off Centrepoint Tower?
I shuddered at the thought Tate might be a potential adrenaline junky. I wasn’t scared of heights. Okay, I was a little. Alright, maybe a lot. It would explain the jelly legs at the top of the bridge as I stood there sucking in deep breaths and gazed at the cars whizzing by beneath us. Jumping out of an aeroplane seemed to me a perfectly reckless pursuit of finding a high and would never make it on my bucket list.
A message arrived soon after from Henry.
H: Message me if you need rescue.
I knew I wouldn’t hear from Mac. The fiery laser beams she shot my way when Tate picked me up could have been seen from space. I tried to respond with my own laser death rays. Unfortunately, Mac was made of Teflon, so they slid right off.
Tate began unwrapping the paper holding our fish and chips. “So you and Jared seem pretty close. Do I need to be worried?”
I smoothed out the edges of the wrinkled paper, buying some time while I figured out how to respond, and Tate watched me as he munched on a chip.
“Jared and I have been friends for years, and I don’t want to compromise that,” I explained as I picked up a chip. “Otherwise, you should probably know that I’m not looking for a relationship. They tend to get really complicated, and right now I need to focus on my music career, you know?” I waved my chip about before popping it in my mouth, chewing and swallowing. “I can’t really offer any commitment, Tate. I work every weekend, even some week nights, and hopefully there’ll be a lot of travel in our immediate future, so it’s not really fair to expect someone to deal with me not being around.”
It wasn’t the full story, but a first date with Tate hardly qualified for soul baring confessions about why I wasn’t willing to open up my heart.
My phone buzzed madly again. Not wishing to be rude, I ignored it and tore a piece of battered fish in half and started eating it.
“I’m happy with casual,” Tate replied and undid the tops of two bottles of coke, handing the diet one to me. “Hell, do you know how hard it is trying to work a relationship when you’re a copper? Late night shifts, call outs, constant danger. Who wants to marry that? I can’t do anything else though. It’s who I am, same as Mitch. Besides,” he said with a wicked grin, “I’m still young and if it means I get to date gorgeous girls like you, then I’m cool with that.”
My phone buzzed madly again, and I shrugged my shoulders in apology. “Sorry.”
“Popular, huh? Better answer it in case it’s important.”
I somehow didn’t think so, but I checked it anyway.
J: So what’s for dinner?
Someone had nothing better to do tonight than harass me on my date.
E: Fish and chips on the harbour.
J: Is he trying to clog your arteries and kill you?
E: Yes, it seems that is his fiendish plan, and after several decades when I suffer a heart attack, it will reach its heinous fruition.
J: Smart ass.
E: Isn’t the football on?
I switched off my phone and shoved it back in my bag.
“So...” I took a sip of my drink “...tell me why you decided to be a detective?”
Tate and I chatted for another hour while we finished our dinner before leaving at a respectable hour, Tate citing a dawn start for work tomorrow morning.
He walked me to the door, and before I’d even had time to blink, he leaned in and kissed me, sealing his mouth over mine. His tongue slid over my lips, and I opened my mouth, letting it sweep inside. I kissed him with everything I had, giving him all my best moves, seeing if it was at all possible to replicate the kiss I’d shared with Jared. When Tate’s hand shifted lower and gripped my ass, I pulled back. Disappointed that it seemed only Jared it could evoke the feelings I longed for when he kissed me, I was also relieved because they weren’t the sort of feelings I wanted to have with Tate if things were supposed to be casual.
“Jesus, Evie,” he panted. His eyes were glazed over, and I almost thought he was trembling. “You’re really good at that.”
I nodded in mock seriousness to lighten the moment. “I get that a lot.”
“You do?”
“No.” I grinned. “I’m just teasing you.”
He chuckled and brushed a finger across my cheek. “I’ll call you.”
I nodded and ducked inside the front door, latching it behind me. I was greeted by my beautiful band boys with whoops and drunken laughter as they sat around the dining table playing poker, yelling loudly, and getting through what appeared to be every single drop of alcohol we had in the house.
“Evie’s home!” Frog bellowed.
“Woooooo, Evie McStevie,” Cooper shouted.
They tried to enact a Mexican wave at my arrival, but with only the four of them, and drunk to boot, it came off pretty poorly.
Jake got up, poured a glass of wine, and shoved it in my hand. “Drink up, Tweety Bird. It’s a poker party. Join us?”
I raised my brows. “So I see and not on your life.”
I hated card games. I hated board games too for that matter. It wasn’t because I was a sore loser, though when I did get roped into playing, I did happen to lose a lot. It was mostly because card games and board games were something Mum loved to do with me as a way to laugh and unwind from a long day at work. Maybe it was selfish, but I liked to keep those memories for myself.
“How was your date with Tetris Tate?” Henry asked.
I sighed at the name. It didn’t take long to make the rounds. Rather than telling him, I pulled my phone out of my bag and called up the bridge climb photos and handed it over.
“Holy shit, a bridge climb? That’s f**king alright. We were expecting a computer convention.”
He chortled and passed around my phone to show off the beautiful photos while I sat on the arm of the lounge chair.
I pointed to the giant bowl of chips in the centre of the dining table. “You got chips!”
“Yarh.” Cooper for some reason decided to use a Swedish accent.
“Jake ducked to the store earlier,” Frog told me.
“Did you―”
“Yes, Chook, Jake bought you some chocolate. It’s in the fridge because the heat tonight would’ve melted it.”
I grinned in delight and gave Jake a big smoochy kiss on the cheek. “Love you, Jakie, always looking out for your Evie.”
He gave my bum a pat with a silly smile, and I let that one go because he was drunk and he’d bought me chocolate. “Of course we have to look after our favourite girl, don’t we?”
Abandoning the glass of wine Jake had thrust in my hand, I skipped to the fridge, grabbed my chocolate, and cozied up on the couch, settling in for a late night movie and a chocolate coma.
The next morning found my feet pounding the pavement in a river of sweat as I paid the price for my fish and chips and half a family block of chocolate. That shit did not come cheap. When I let myself back in the house, I ran into Mac’s room with a grin and a loud squeal and jumped on the bed until her face smacked the headboard and she woke up.
“Oh shit,” I squealed, bringing my hands to my face. “Mac, sorry, are you okay?”
I pulled back the sheets as she grumbled and rubbed at her head. “What’s going on?”
Deciding she would live, I locked her in a big sweaty hug until she started screaming her head off.
Henry came running in, wild-eyed and hair every which way, to see what the noise was. When he saw Mac pinned, he jumped into the fray and began a tickle fest.
“Henry,” Mac cried, “get her off me. She stinks! Ew!”
I rubbed my sweaty armpit in her face. “Take that back!”
“No,” she spat.
“Jesus, Evie,” Henry laughed. “You do stink.”
“Hey!” I shouted as he pushed me off the bed and onto the floor. They both leaned over the side to look at me.
“First dibs on the shower!” I yelled, scrambling to get up off the floor and make a run for it. Too late, I realised my mistake was in declaring my intentions because Henry grabbed my arm and shoved me back on the floor. He raced in to the bathroom ahead of me and slammed the door.
I sighed and Mac gave me the evil eye.
“Don’t be like that, Macky Wacky,” I said and pulled out my bottom lip.