The Winning Ticket (Circle of Friends #1)

11. Hey, Fluff Ball!

brIANNA

11

Feeling nervous for reasons I can’t explain, I arrive at Jake’s building late on Saturday afternoon. Will answers the intercom, buzzing me inside. Maddie and I get in the lift and I pick her up to scratch behind her ears while the elevator takes us up to the penthouse.

When I knock on the door, Will lets me in with a smile.

“Hey, B. Good to see you again.” He hugs me.

Out the kitchen window, I see Morgan step away from hugging Jake, who is covered in dirt and grass.

“Jake, dear, sweet Jake. I say this with all the love in my heart. Go and have a fucking shower because you stink,” Morgan says, and Jake shakes his head.

“Geez, Morgan, don’t hold back,” he says, leaning in for another cheeky hug, but she shoves him away.

“Don’t! You’ll make me smell, too, you heathen! Why do you look and smell so bad?” she asks with her hand on his chest to keep him at arm’s length.

“I’ve spent the last six hours in Mum’s garden, doing all the shit I was avoiding doing at my own house this weekend by coming here.”

“Seriously, get in the shower,” she says, still holding her hand against his chest.

“Fine. You can sort out dinner then,” he says, walking towards the door closest to where I am standing.

None of them appear to have noticed I’ve arrived yet.

“Bri said she’s on her way.” There seems to be a bit of a tone in Morgan’s voice, and Jake must pick up on it as well because he stops in his tracks and turns slowly to look back at her.

“Okay… Is that a problem?”

“No problem. Just thought it was weird you didn’t tell us you invited her.”

“Should I not have? Why is everyone being so weird about Bri and me this weekend?” Jake asks, and I can see Chris shooting Morgan a look that was clearly meant to say, ‘Shut up,’ but Morgan ignores him, as usual.

I wonder what else has been said to make Jake react like this.

“Of course you should have. It just felt like you guys were hiding it from us when we didn’t hear about it until last night.”

“Okay then… Well, we weren’t, so I guess it’s fine then.” Jake mouths the words ‘What the fuck?’ at Chris before heading inside.

Beside me, Will has gone stiff, I imagine because he feels as uncomfortable as I do about the exchange we’ve just witnessed, and I’m not sure I want Jake to know I saw any of it.

He passes through the apartment to his room without seeing me standing there, and I exchange a look with Will before we join everyone else outside. Neither of us say anything about what we saw and heard.

After I chat for about ten minutes with the others, Jake steps back outside, looking far too attractive in a pair of jeans and a white t-shirt, and looks down as Maddie bounces around his legs.

“Hey, fluff ball!” He picks Maddie up, and she starts licking his face and neck. He momentarily holds her away from his face before tucking her under his arm and scratching her ears. “She’s fucking adorable,” he says, looking at me for the first time since I arrived.

My heart skips slightly when I notice him checking me out before catching himself.

God, how had I forgotten how my heart reacts when I am around this man?

“Ha, she knows it too,” I say. “She’s a bit of a licker, sorry.”

“All good.” He puts Maddie down, and she scampers back over to jump into my lap while Jake joins Chris and Will at the barbecue.

“So, how are you settling back in, Bri?” Annelisa asks, taking a sip of her glass of water.

“It’s okay. I think it will take a while to adjust to being back in Brisbane,” I say, and Morgan’s head snaps up from where she has reached over to pet Maddie.

“You are not allowed to move back to Sydney!” She exclaims, and I roll my eyes.

“Morgan, stop freaking out. I’m not moving back to Sydney.”

“That’s good because now that you’re back, it will make all the wedding planning so much easier,” she says with a cheeky grin.

“Ah! So the real reason you’re so happy I’m home comes out!”

“Of course it’s the real reason! It was getting annoying trying to coordinate bridesmaid dress fittings around when you could come back,” she says, and I shake my head.

“I can’t believe you guys are finally getting married in a few months. Feels like you’ve been engaged forever,” Annelisa says before taking another sip of her water.

Although Chris popped the question years ago, Morgan had it in her head that she couldn’t get married before she was twenty-five, and she had been dragging her feet when it came to organising anything, which was incredibly surprising. But the second she turned twenty-five two months ago, the wedding plans started in earnest.

“I know. Pretty soon, it’ll be your turn.” Morgan nods towards Will.

Annelisa chokes out a laugh, and Will shakes his head.

“Ease up there, Morgan. Let’s just get you two down the aisle first before we worry about anyone else, okay,” he says, avoiding looking at his girlfriend, who has gone a little pale.

Morgan pouts. “Fine, spoil my fun.”

“Anyway,” I cut in. “What’s for dinner?”

Annelisa shoots me a relieved smile, and I mouth back, “You’re welcome.”

“Steak and salad.” Chris waves a steak at me.

“Sounds good to me.”

We chat until the food is ready and move to the outdoor dining area. Jake sits beside me, and I glare at Morgan when she narrows her eyes at us across the table.

“So Jake, have you decided what to do about this place yet?” Annelisa asks once we’re finished eating, and Jake leans back in his chair, slinging his arm along the back of mine.

He takes a swig of beer, and there is just something so sexy about how he is sprawled in his chair next to me. He has always been so comfortable in his own skin.

“I was chatting to Chris about that last night. I want to keep it, but I think I need to get a housemate or something. Can’t really afford to pay rates and stuff at two places.”

“What about Airbnb?” I ask.

Chris shakes his head. “Can’t. I looked over the Body Corp rules last night and saw that no Airbnbs are allowed. We also could have been in trouble with the party last weekend if we had like two more people.”

Will looks over at Jake. “You didn’t check the rules before you had the party?”

“Mate, I’ve never lived in an apartment before. I had no idea they had rules like that,” Jake says with a shrug, and Will shakes his head with a laugh.

“Yep, sadly, one of the joys of apartment living is that the Body Corp is basically God,” I say.

“Yeah, I got that after Chris read the rules to me. I did check to make sure it was okay for the fluff ball to be here, though, so that’s something, at least. Didn’t want you to get hassled in the lift,” Jake says, turning that gorgeous smile on for me, and I’m touched that he put that much thought into my coming over tonight.

“Aw, thanks, Jake,” I say, ignoring Morgan’s attention on us once again.

Jake briefly tenses a little, looking over at my sister before he claps his hands together.

“Right, let’s get this shit all cleaned up and test out this fancy media room. I wanna see what all the fuss is about.”

We set about tidying up after dinner, and once the dishwasher is running, we all head into the media room. It comes fully stocked with a library of Blu-rays, something I haven’t seen in years now that everything was available to stream.

The guys have a great time going through the action movies before settling on Gladiator, which I’ve never seen.

The media room consists of one huge couch with recliners in the middle and chaises on either end. I get comfy in one of the corners, and Maddie jumps onto my lap while the others all find seats. The two couples cuddle up, and I curl my legs under me to give Jake room to sit in front of me on the chaise.

After about half an hour, my legs start hurting, and I shift, trying to get comfortable.

Jake turns to look at me. “You okay?” he asks, just as the movie hits a particularly loud part.

“Yeah, just getting cramped from having my legs curled up.”

“You can stretch your legs out over me if you need.” His feet are propped up on the coffee table, and he pats his lap.

I hesitate momentarily before stretching my legs out, and it’s a relief not to be cramped anymore. But when he brings his hand down to rest on my calf, I wonder if it might have been a better idea to stay in pain, especially when I catch the curious look that Chris shoots over our way.

Jake doesn’t say anything else, and we all watch the rest of the movie in silence. Jake’s hand remains on my leg the entire time, squeezing occasionally, and I wonder if he even realises he’s doing it.

I certainly notice, as each time he does it, the butterflies in my stomach take flight.

When the movie ends, and he takes his hand away, I feel the loss of that hand immensely.

The movie has gone on for so long that it’s past ten by the time it finishes, and we all start to get ready to leave.

“Was good to see you again, mate. Will you be coming again next weekend?” Will asks Jake, shaking his hand as he and Annelisa head out the door.

“Not sure yet. I have to work out the whole housemate thing, so maybe. I’ll let you know,” Jake says, flicking a look towards me before looking away again.

He sees us all out, and I follow the others to the elevator. Once we get downstairs, we all separate and after hugging my sister, I head to my car with Maddie following behind on her lead.

When I reach my car, I start digging around in my handbag, but I can’t find my keys, and I groan, realising that I must have left them upstairs.