Chapter 30
Thirty
CLARA
I woke up feeling cold, and that was what told me Jesse was no longer in bed. When I opened my eyes, I realised he wasn’t even in the room. I tried to ignore the feeling of disappointment that settled in my bones and went about getting ready for the day.
Once I’d thrown on a black bikini, a pair of denim shorts and a linen shirt that I didn’t bother doing up, I threw open the curtains. There was someone new lying by the pool that I could see from the window. I smiled as I picked up my phone and walked down to join them.
* * *
“I thought you didn’t get in until tomorrow, macaroon?”
There are probably more courteous ways to greet a sister you hadn’t physically seen since Christmas, but Adrienne didn’t seem bothered.
“So did I, until Bex reminded me I had a flight to catch in twelve hours about twenty-four hours ago,” she replied in French.
Addie lived in Montreal. Originally, she escaped there for uni, but four years had now turned into eight, and she showed no signs of coming back. Not for lack of trying on my part, but she was happy out there, and ultimately, that was all I cared about. Even if I missed her.
“When did you get in then?” I asked in French.
“Early. Dad came to get me. Gave me none of the gossip, though.” Her words were pointed.
“There is no gossip,” I replied. Too quickly.
“Your ex-boyfriend and your allegedly hot neighbour are in one place, and there is no drama? You’re lying.”
“There is a one-sided dick-swinging contest going on, but I’m trying to ignore that.”
“That counts as drama. So, Drew wants you back then?”
I shrugged. “He thought I would want him back by now, and he’s mad that I don’t. Does that count as someone wanting you back, or is it just them playing games?”
“It doesn’t surprise me that he’s being like that, if I’m being honest. I’m guessing you’re not even thinking about getting back with him because the new dick isn’t engaging in the swinging contest and using it for other things?”
“He’s not using it for anything.”
That wasn’t a lie. Addie didn’t need to know that I knew what it felt like pressed against me. Or that I was getting increasingly interested in knowing what he could do with it.
“But you want to,” Addie sang. “Where is he, anyway? I wanna know if he lives up to the ‘hot neighbour’ title or if it’s just something Rachel said because she’s touch starved.”
She sat up on her sun lounger, eyes scanning the empty pool area.
“Haven’t seen him this morning,” I said.
“You don’t have to sound so sad about it.” She laughed, but the sound cut off abruptly. “Holy shit,” she whispered in English. I twisted my body to follow her line of vision, although I knew what, who , she was looking at.
Jesse was really fucking hot. There was no getting around it. And he looked particularly good in the morning sun.
“You gonna put your tongue back in your mouth, Ads?” I joked.
Her eyes snapped to me. “Why, you jealous, macaron?”
“No, not really.” And I wasn’t.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t be either. If I had someone look at me the way he is looking at you right now, I wouldn’t worry about a thing.”
“He’s not looking at me like anything,” I responded reflexively.
Addie snorted as she switched back to French. “Clo, he looks like he wants to drag you off somewhere and do bad, bad things to you.” I knew that her switching back to French meant that he was close to us, and I sat back and waited for her to discover that it was a pointless endeavour.
“I don’t know about bad things, but I had planned on taking her somewhere,” Jesse said in French.
“Jesse, this is Addie. Addie, this is Jesse,” I said in English, focusing on enjoying Addie’s embarrassment and not on Jesse talking about bad things in my first language.
“Hi, I’m going to go and see if someone wants to remove me from this mortal coil. It was lovely meeting you. Congrats on your face.” She slapped a hand over her mouth and then near sprinted inside.
“So, that’s my sister,” I said, looking at Addie’s retreating figure, which felt safer than looking at Jesse right now. With him so close and the pool right behind him, I couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that last night, I’d told him he could have joined me in there naked, and I wouldn’t have minded. I couldn’t even blame tequila. I had wanted it.
“You have the same face.” His face flushed as soon as he finished speaking.
“Well, we have the same parents,” I teased.
“Yeah, I don’t know why I said that.”
“You said something about going somewhere.” I saved him from getting more flustered.
“Yes! I wanted to see if you wanted to come to Marseille. With me.”
“Yes.” The answer came out of me without me even being aware of it. Jesse looked taken aback by how quickly I accepted.
“Okay, sure. Cool. Awesome.”
“I’m gonna go change. Meet you at the car in half an hour?”
Butterflies took flight as I thought about what I would wear on a day out with Jesse.
“Sounds good.”
I nodded goodbye and damn near skipped back into the house.