Chapter 14 Angus #2
Steph throws her arms around my neck and kisses my cheek. “Angus is here! Who’ve you brought with you?”
“This is—”
Jimmy turns around, grinning. His expression drops. “Flynn?”
Flynn takes a step back, eyes wide. “Jimmy?”
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Jimmy’s face looks like thunder.
“I—”
“He’s working on my farm.” I’m not sure if I’m rescuing him or not. “How do you know each other?”
Jimmy folds his arms. “Flynn is my brother’s ex-husband. My twin brother’s ex.”
Flynn’s face has drained of colour. “I think I’ll get a drink after all.” He moves away quickly, heading as directly towards the bar as possible.
“Okay then. That was awkward,” Steph says. “I take it you two have history?”
“Yeah, I just told you he’s—”
She slaps her hand over Jimmy’s mouth. “It looked like a lot more than that. I couldn’t decide if you wanted to murder him or fuck him.”
“Definitely not the latter,” he growls. “I wouldn’t want my brother’s sloppy seconds.”
“I didn’t even know you had a twin,” I say.
I knew he had a brother, but Jimmy has never said much about him, let alone that they were twins. It seems like a pretty big detail to leave out.
“I need a drink.” Jimmy stalks away, going to the other end of the bar from Flynn.
Steph puffs her cheeks out. “Is it me, or was that weird?”
“Very weird.”
“Oh well, I’m not going to let the tension between them stop me from having a good time.” She messes up her hair and goes back to dancing. Within seconds, she’s found a pretty brunette to grind with.
What should I do? Go and make sure my best friend is all right, or check on the guy I’m supposed to be showing around tonight?
I make my way over to Jimmy and sit on the barstool next to him. He downs a shot of vodka and then orders a clear drink.
“You know vodka is depression juice, right?” I ask.
“Don’t care.” He downs the second shot and orders a glass of wine.
I grimace. If he keeps mixing his drinks, he’s going to have one hell of a hangover tomorrow. “Are you okay?”
“Fine.” He glances down the bar.
I follow his stare. Flynn is sitting alone. He has two shot glasses in front of him, one empty, one full, and a pint of what looks like water. At least one of them is halfway to sensible.
“What’s the deal with you and Flynn?”
“I told you. He’s my twin’s ex-husband.”
I can’t imagine being anyone’s ex-husband at twenty-two. “So, what? They had a messy breakup, and now you hate his guts? Did he break your brother’s heart?”
Jimmy stares at his fresh glass of red wine. “No.” He takes a sip and then gulps the rest down, before gesturing to the bartender to fill the glass up again.
“He must have done something to get you so het up.”
“Leave it, Angus. I don’t want to talk about it.”
I raise my hands. “Okay. Let me know when you're ready to talk. I’ll listen.” I hop off the barstool. “I won’t be around for the next two weeks.”
“Where are you going?”
“Away for some peace and quiet to revise.”
“Can I come?”
“Sorry. It’s a one-bedroom cottage.”
“We can top and tail. Or I’ll sleep on the sofa.”
Fuck. How can I say ‘no’ without offending him? “I was really hoping for some alone time. It’s been a full-on semester, and I just need a break. Don’t be mad.”
He sighs. “I’m not mad. Just—bad timing, dude.” He glares down the bar at Flynn again.
“Maybe you two could talk and clear the air?”
“No thanks.”
I pat his shoulder. “Come and dance?”
“I’m fine here.”
I sigh. “Okay. I’ll let you know when I’m heading off if you haven’t come and joined us by then.”
What else am I supposed to do? I’m his friend, not his babysitter. If he wants to get drunk, I could stop him.
“I was going to leave early, but if you want, I can stay as long as you need and make sure you get home okay.”
“I live ten minutes away.”
“Twenty.”
“Whatever. Close. I’ll be fine.”
“Sure?”
“Yeah. You go do whatever you were going to do, and Angus?”
“Yeah?”
“Have a great time away. Don’t study too hard.”
“You know I will.”
“Yeah, you will.” He pushes me away.
I take the hint. Instead of joining our friends, I make my way to Flynn, earning myself a murderous stare from Jimmy.
“You okay?” I ask.
Flynn pushes a full shot glass back and forth. “Yeah, just wasn’t expecting to see Jimmy here. Or for him to be so—”
“Unfriendly?”
“Cold.” He downs the shot and slams the glass on the counter. “I dunno what I did to make him hate me.” The poor guy looks utterly miserable.
“I’ll let you know when I’m going. You should come home with me.”
“Yeah, probably. You should go and have fun.”
“So should you.”
He purses his lips. “Nah. I’m okay here.”
I roll my eyes. “Whatever happened between you and Jimmy, you should talk and clear the air. Just, don’t do it while you’re both on the way to being rat arsed, okay?”
“Nope. That would be a bad idea.”
“Are you sure you won’t come and dance?”
“Nope. You’re all Jimmy’s friends, and he was radiating pretty clear ‘stay the hell away’ vibes. I’m fine. I’ll have a couple more drinks and then get a taxi. Don’t worry about me.”
I sigh. I’m not going to be able to talk sense into either of them. I also don’t want to be in the middle of whatever this is. “I’ll let you know when I’m leaving.”
“Thanks.”
I wander towards my friends, glancing at Jimmy as I go. He’s back on the spirits. Oh, yeah. He’s going to regret it tomorrow.