Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
B uzzing. That’s all she could hear, a buzzing in her ear. Barely conscious, she reached her hand out towards where the noise was coming from… Her phone? Bleary eyed, she tried to sit up. Was it her alarm?
No, it was Sunday… lie-in day, except, damn that buzzing.
She picked the phone up, and realised it was an incoming call from her sister.
‘Hey?’ She glanced at the time and felt a ripple of alarm. Lauren wouldn’t call her at seven in the morning unless it was an emergency.
‘Jade, thank God you’re there. I need help.’
Her sister needed her help? ‘What is it? Are Mum and Dad okay?’
‘Of course they are.’
‘Then what’s wrong? Are you in trouble?’
‘Sort of.’ Lauren’s voice was a whisper, like she was trying not to be overheard. ‘I need some advice, sis. I did something really stupid last night and I’m freaking out right now. I don’t know how to handle it.’
Jade shook herself awake. Lauren had come to her for advice. This was not the time for her brain to still be in sleep mode. ‘Whatever you did, we can work it through together.’
‘I slept with one of the guys I work with.’
Her heart, in overdrive since the start of the call, began to slow. ‘You woke me at seven in the morning to tell me you had a one-night stand?’
‘I forgot what time it was for you, okay? It’s my lunch hour and it’s the first chance I’ve had to phone you. One-night stands might not be a big deal to you, but they are to me. I don’t do them.’ She groaned. ‘At least I didn’t, and I don’t know why I suddenly decided to so something so frigging stupid.’
It was hard to stay annoyed when Lauren sounded so distressed. She might wish she’d called for her help with something else, something less frigging stupid , but the fact was, her sister hadn’t phoned her mum, or her friends. She’d phoned her. ‘Sorry, that was me in I’ve just woken Godzilla mode. I’m wide awake now. So, give me some details.’ An awful thought occurred to her. ‘Is this something you wanted to happen? I mean he didn’t force you?’
‘Quite the opposite,’ Lauren muttered. ‘We were at a party, I’d had maybe two glasses of wine, tops.’ She sighed. ‘He’s one of the nurses in A&E. I’ve seen him around, hard to miss him really because he’s tall and well built and, um…’
‘Handsome? Cute? Sexy?’
She let out a deep sigh. ‘All of those.’
‘Aw, Doctor Lauren Taylor, you like this guy?’
There was a long pause on the other end. ‘I don’t know,’ her sister said finally. ‘I mean I don’t know him well enough to know, do I? I spent a few hours talking to him at a party and then lost my mind and went back with him to his room. And yes, the party was in his house, which he’s still sharing with friends, because that’s how young Ned is.’ She groaned. ‘God, even his name sounds young. He’s nearer your age than mine.’
Jade smiled. ‘You mean he’s a whole three years younger than you?’
‘Fine, I know that sounds dumb, but I don’t do this. I’m… sensible. I date mature men, and I only sleep with them after I’ve got to know them, which takes at least five dates.’
Aware her sister was genuinely struggling, Jade reined in her annoyance at the implication that anyone who didn’t follow Lauren’s methodical dating process was, by her definition, not sensible. ‘We all act stupid when we meet someone we feel an overwhelming attraction towards. Even the intelligent among us,’ she added dryly, easing out of the bed and padding towards the kitchen.
‘I don’t,’ her sister protested.
‘You haven’t done in the past,’ Jade corrected, filling the kettle and popping it on the hob. ‘But only because you’ve never met a guy you feel such a connection with that he robs you of all your senses.’
Silence echoed on the other end, and for a moment Jade thought they might have lost the connection. ‘Is that what happened for you on that first night, with that man who turned out to be your boss?’
‘Yes,’ Jade admitted quietly.
‘What did you do when you saw him again?’
She laughed sadly. ‘I repeated the mistake. And then only a few days ago I repeated it again. But you’re a lot smarter than me, so I’m sure you’ll be fine.’
‘I’m not. I worked harder, but I’m not smarter. And when it comes to emotional intuition, I’m light years behind you.’ As Jade reeled from the shock of those words, Lauren continued to talk. ‘I judged you when it came to men, and when I heard you’d slept with someone on your first night out there, I was bitch enough to think you were cheapening yourself. But at least you slept with a rich resort owner, not a guy younger than you, who is supposed to look up to you. I mean, who is the cheap one now?—’
‘Stop it,’ Jade interrupted. ‘Is there a rule at work that you can’t fraternise with other staff?’
Lauren laughed hysterically. ‘Are you mad? The hours we work, the only people we ever meet are other staff.’
‘Then stop beating yourself up over this.’ She thought of Liam, of her own mistake and all the things she’d called herself afterwards when actually passion, love, attraction… sometimes the force was just too strong for rational thought. ‘Sleeping with a guy we fancy doesn’t make us cheap. It makes us human. Have you bumped into him since?’
‘No. I saw him briefly, from across the canteen. I didn’t know what to do, so I ran out.’
Her confident, strong sister reduced to a cowardly mess of emotions. Because of a man. ‘Were you repulsed when you saw him? Did you wonder what on earth you’d seen in him?’
‘I wish. My heart did some gymnastics that I know are anatomically impossible.’
Jade put a hand over her own heart and sighed. ‘Then welcome to Team Inconvenient Crush.’ TIC? Gah, she was terrible at this. ‘I can’t offer you advice, just warn you you’re in for a bumpy ride because this is not something you can brush under the carpet. You can try, but it’s not going to let you, because every time you see him, you’ll go giddy and lose your mind.’
‘So what, I can’t fight it? I have to give in to it?’
‘You could try enjoying it.’
‘Is that what you’re doing with this resort owner. Enjoying it?’
Jade smiled sadly. ‘No. But hopefully Ned is less… complicated than Liam. You never know, if you keep an open mind, and an open heart, this could be the start of something wonderful.’
‘It doesn’t feel wonderful right now. It feels scary and out of my control.’
‘Yep, those are the symptoms,’ Jade assured her. Thousands of miles separated them but, in that moment, she’d never felt closer to her sister.
‘So basically you’re saying I’m fucked, but not to worry because it happens to all of us at some point.’
‘That’s about the long and short of it.’
Lauren let out a long breath. ‘Well, thanks for picking up the phone. I’d say I’m sorry I woke you, but I’m not because I couldn’t have had this conversation with anyone else.’
Emotion clogged her throat. ‘No problem, I’m always here for you. Good luck and keep me updated.’
‘I will. And good luck to you, too.’
It wasn’t luck she needed, Jade thought miserably as she ended the call. It was a vault to put her heart in so Liam Haven wouldn’t be able to get anywhere near it.
* * *
Liam paced restlessly up and down the sidewalk. He’d checked the address he’d noted down from Jeremy’s file, five times. This was definitely where he lived.
Once again, he looked at his watch. Ten o’clock. Was that a reasonable time to visit someone on a Sunday morning? Or… maybe it was never reasonable for a boss to knock on his employee’s door on his day off.
He turned and began to walk away. He’d talk to the man tomorrow, when he came in to work.
It’s been five days since he asked you to be his best man , his inner voice had the temerity to remind him. Five days you’ve spent avoiding your fucking deputy .
Exhaling sharply, he straightened his shoulders and turned back, marching up to the door he’d spent the last five minutes staring at, and punched the bell.
Silence.
He jammed on it again, for longer this time.
The sound of muffled voices filtered through the door, followed a few seconds later by the heavy clunk of feet on stairs.
A beat later, he was staring at Leroy’s bemused face. ‘Oh, it’s you.’
The man was wearing a pair of loose sweats that looked like they’d been tossed on in a hurry and… nothing else. ‘Yes.’ Shit, awkward did not cover this. Even painful did not cover this.
Leroy opened the door a bit wider. ‘Guess you’d better come in.’
‘Only if this is a… good time.’
Leroy chuckled and indicated for him to head up the stairs. ‘The boss is here,’ he shouted up. ‘Wants to know if this is a good time.’
‘I hope you told him we were trying to have a good time until he interrupted us— Oh.’ Jeremy’s head appeared at the top of the stairs, similarly clad in sweats, only at least he’d put a T-shirt on. ‘Good morning, boss.’
Liam sighed heavily. ‘It’s a Sunday, I’m standing in your home. Call me Liam.’
‘Well that depends. Are you here as my boss or?—’
‘I’m not here as your boss.’ Warily he climbed the stairs, taking a cursory look at his surroundings. ‘You both live here?’
As usual, Jeremy didn’t take offence. ‘Of course. And before you say anything rude?—’
‘You mean ruder than implying the place is small?’ Leroy interrupted with a smirk.
While Liam cringed, Jeremy laughed. ‘Good point. Before you make any further rude remarks about our humble home, we like it.’
‘We like that it takes us two minutes to walk to work,’ Leroy added dryly. ‘Want a drink?’
‘Coffee, thanks.’ Liam edged onto the sofa, Jeremy sitting opposite him on the only other chair. ‘I pay you both decent wages. Don’t you want somewhere with more space?’ The place was smaller than his freaking boat.
‘Boss, have you seen the price of houses on this island? Only multi-millionaires can afford them. Sure, we could get somewhere slightly bigger further out, but we want to be in town.’ Jeremy shook his head. ‘And you’ve not come here to discuss the Nantucket housing situation.’
‘No.’ Liam parked the tumbling thoughts, though they provided a neat diversion to what he needed to say, but didn’t know how to start. Thankfully he was given a reprieve when Leroy, bare chest now covered by a faded T-shirt, shoved a mug in his hand.
‘Black, no sugar.’
‘Thanks.’ He eyed the man curiously. ‘How’d you know?’
Leroy shrugged his wide shoulders. ‘You pay me to pay attention.’ His gaze fell on Jeremy and some silent communication ensued because Leroy nodded. ‘I’ll catch you later.’
A few seconds later, the door banged closed.
‘That’s Leroy’s subtle way of giving you privacy to say… whatever it is you came to talk about.’
Liam half smiled. ‘You know why I’m here.’
Jeremy leant back on the chair. ‘Wondered how many days you could avoid me.’
‘Turns out five is my max.’ He took a sip of the coffee, set it down on the small glass table in front of him, and looked the man straight in the eye. ‘Yes. If you still need me, I’d be honoured to.’
Jeremy’s eyes widened comically. ‘Are you saying what I think you are? You really want to be my best man?’
He had a sudden flashback to his second term at boarding school. The day he thought he’d turned the corner because he’d been asked to join some new society. He’d walked proudly into the venue only to find he was the only one still there, half an hour later. He hadn’t freaked out, just thought he’d got the wrong room, wrong time. It was only when he was greeted with laughter as he stepped back in the dorm room that he finally realised. You really thought we’d want you in our group, Haven?
You really thought I wanted you to be my best man ?
Bile rose up his throat and he lurched to his feet.
‘Whoa, are you okay?’ Jeremy looked utterly confused.
‘Why did you ask me to be your best man?’ he gritted out, heart pounding.
‘What do you mean?’
He knew from the concern on Jeremy’s face that he was making a fool of himself but he had to be sure. ‘You must have friends? People you’re closer to than you are me.’
Jeremy nodded. ‘Sure, I have friends. Those from before I came out, who navigate carefully around my sexuality for fear of offending me. Those from after, who look at me and wonder how I managed to snag the hottest gay guy on the island. Then there are those who see me as a part of a mis-matched couple, the weird white, ginger guy and the sexy Black guy.’ He shrugged. ‘You’ve only ever treated me as me.’
Christ. He dropped back to the sofa, so many emotions flooding him he couldn’t think straight. ‘You deserve more out of a friend than someone who spends most of his day barking at you.’
‘Maybe.’ Jeremy gave him one of his wide, guileless smiles. ‘And maybe I think one day you’ll forget to push me away and just accept our relationship for what it is.’
‘And what’s that?’
‘Work colleagues, sure. Boss and employee, sometimes.’ He paused. ‘But beneath all that, I trust you to have my back. Many times you could have fired me, you haven’t. I’d like to think it was because you didn’t want to be without my winning personality, though I suspect it’s more that you can’t be bothered to find a replacement. One day, though, I hope you’ll realise I have your back, too. And in my book, that makes us friends.’
Was it really that easy? He’d tried to make friends, and been shunned. Now he was supposed to accept this man’s offer? Yet in the five years since he’d first recruited him, Jeremy had never let him down. They’d worked together directly for the first few, until Liam had gone on to open two more hotels in Martha’s Vineyard and Cape Cod, recruiting Ashley to do the day-to-day management of the Nantucket resort. ‘Friends.’ He swallowed. ‘And do friends talk about… issues?’
Jeremy’s mouth curved upwards. ‘You want to talk through a problem, I’m your man. Especially if it’s to do with Jade Taylor. I kind of have a brotherly soft spot for her.’ He leant forward and clasped his hands on his knees. ‘If I had to guess, I’d say you pissed her off on Tuesday. Seems it was quite the day for you pissing people off,’ he added with a snigger. ‘Anyway, now you realise what you’ve thrown away and you want to know how to win her back.’ His brow scrunched, eyebrows coming together like a fury ginger caterpillar. ‘As her self-appointed brother, I need to know how honourable your attentions are towards her.’
‘Dishonourable. Very.’ When Jeremy kept looking at him, Liam waved his hands in defeat. ‘Fine. I like her. I want to… date her.’
A wide grin stretched Jeremy’s face. ‘Then I know just the way to get you back into her good books.’ He chuckled. ‘Books being the key word, eh?’
What the hell was he doing in this cramped flat, talking not just about a woman, but one he wanted to date ? Yet as scared as he was about the thought of his life changing course, and of the dangers he could see all too vividly ahead, Liam wasn’t prepared to turn back.