Chapter 29
Iwake Friday morning to a text message from Zayn.
Had to leave early this morning. Have a nice day xx
Seeing his name light up my screen sends a flurry of butterflies loose inside my stomach. We’ve barely been able to spend much time together this week, with Zayn starting work early and finishing late.
Zayn spent Wednesday night at my place. I cooked him dinner after he picked me up from my late shift at work, and we had every intention of watching a movie on the couch, but barely two minutes in, I was on his lap and he was inside me, the movie the last thing on our minds.
I spent yesterday at Hope House looking after Hudson and Hattie.
Zayn arrived with Beth mid-afternoon after winning her full custody of her children and I couldn’t help but smile while Beth was singing her praises about Zayn to anyone and everyone who would listen.
I overheard her telling Sam, “Zayn was ruthless. He went in to mediation and was so brutal in his attack he almost made Robbie cry. Told Robbie if he came near me and the kids again he would make it his life mission to have him locked away for good!”
I asked Zayn about it afterwards, and he said, “I merely did my job, Gianna. He’s definitely going to jail, I just ensured when he gets out he won’t be coming near his family.”
“So you didn’t threaten him?” Not that I care. Robbie deserves more than threats, as far as I’m concerned.
“No. But I will go the extra mile to make sure the asshole gets maximum penalty for putting his hands on you.”
Zayn dropped me home after that and went back to his office, and it occurred to me then that Zayn was spending his precious time representing Beth for free as a favour to me when he still had a mountain of work left to do at his actual job.
It goes against everything he would have people believe about him.
A chink in his cold, impenetrable armour that he dons with his suit every morning.
And if it’s even possible, it made my heart fall a little bit harder.
Now it’s Friday and I’m at uni. Zayn calls me while I’m having lunch with Brett and I hear Monica speaking in the background.
Even though he was very clear that there was never anything between them other than sex, I can’t help the ugly feeling that grows inside me.
They’ve slept together. He knows her intimately, and she him.
Do they think about it while they work on cases together?
Do they share moments? Long, knowing looks?
Monica still wants him, I know that much. Has he told her that we’re together now? Are we together now? We haven’t had that conversation yet, although it’s definitely been more than implied that we aren’t seeing other people.
I have to put my jealousy aside and trust Zayn, but it’s hard to do when I still feel the sting of Daniel’s betrayal. But Zayn isn’t Daniel.
“How’s your lunch?” He asks, and I feel my own sentiments reflected back in his voice. He isn’t thrilled I’m having lunch with Brett, either.
“Nice. We’re finished and I’m about to head to class now. How’s your day?”
“Fine. It will be better when I’m with you.”
My heart falters, then takes off like a hummingbird at the sound of Zayn’s low drawl. It’s full of unspoken promises that set my skin on fire.
“I can’t see you tonight, remember?” I sound as reluctant as I feel as I wave Brett off, mouthing a ‘see you later’ as I grab my bag and head for the door. “I’m having drinks with Brett and his colleagues. I’m not sure what time I’ll be finished.”
“Ah, yes,” he says. “How could I forget.”
I roll my eyes, but a small smile plays about my lips as I exit Bean & Cup into the rare Melbourne sunshine. I like that he’s jealous. It makes me feel a little less crazy myself.
“I’ll speak to you later.”
“Later, baby.”
Later that evening, I’m back home getting ready to go to drinks.
We’re going to a new rooftop bar and I want to make a good impression on Brett’s colleagues because hopefully one day these will be my colleagues.
I have my phone on loud while I put on my makeup, and my chin drops as I go in for my second coat of mascara.
“So I slept with Percy,” Anna says through the speaker, forcing me to stab my eyeball with my mascara wand.
“Ow!” I blink rapidly to try expel the liquid from my eyeball. “You did what?”
“Slept with Percy,” she responds easily. “We left the bar together the other night.”
“I thought you were just sharing a taxi!” I blot the tears underneath my eyes carefully with a tissue, trying to salvage the rest of my makeup.
“We did, amongst other things.” She pauses, her voice turning serious. “Gia, the man is an animal in bed. I’m talking the best sex I’ve ever had.”
“You’re joking?” I ask in disbelief. “Percy?”
“Yes, Percy! Who would have thought, huh?”
“Not me, that’s for sure.” I pick up my favourite nude lipstick and start applying. “Although, you could tell there was something different about him. He’s not the shy guy we went to school with.”
“I can attest to that. His dick is huge. I’m actually angry he held out on me for so long! Who would have guessed he was packing back in school?” Anna chuckles, launching into an in-depth recount of her night that I didn’t ask for.
After she is done telling me ALL the details, and I’m left traumatised, she asks, “What’s the deal with Brett, anyway? He know you’ve got a boyfriend now?”
I put down my blush and give my hair a final comb with my fingers. “Firstly, I don’t have a boyfriend. Zayn and I are seeing each other. There’s a difference. And secondly,” I slip my coat and scarf over the top of my grey a-line dress, “why would that matter to Brett? We’re friends.”
“Friends? Gia, I’ve met the guy once and can tell he’s into you. Just be careful, is all I’m saying.”
“Brett wouldn’t hurt me.”
“I didn’t say he would. I meant that you could hurt him.”
I step onto the noisy rooftop terrace with Anna’s parting words on my mind.
I’ve never led Brett to believe we would ever be more than friends.
Sure, he recently admitted to having feelings for me eight years ago, but that was a long time ago and I never reciprocated.
Now I’m back at uni, I’ve been seeing him a few times a week and there’s been nothing untoward, just our usual friendly banter. I’m sure Anna’s wrong.
Brett waves me down from a long table at the back end of the open-air bar. I make my way through the already crowded space, trying not to knock anyone’s drinks from their hands, until I’m close enough for Brett to wrap me in a bear hug.
“Everyone, this is Gianna!” he addresses the packed table behind him after he puts me back down on my feet.
“She’s studying marketing and PR now. She’ll be our best asset in the next few years!
” Everyone at the table lets up a cheer and I realise they’re all already a couple drinks deep, including Brett.
He sits me on the stool he kept clear beside his, and within moments I’m pulled into conversation with the friendly, quirky-dressed brunette woman next to me.
She’s telling me about the marketing campaign she’s working on for an athleisure company and I’m silently thinking about the ways I can use her techniques for my Hope House fundraiser when I receive a text from Zayn.
Zayn: Can I call you?
Gianna: I’m out at drinks. Are you home?
Zayn: Still working, just grabbing some dinner
Gianna: Alone?
Zayn: No. With Monica
I don’t reply after that. I can’t help the jealousy that eats me alive at the thought of Zayn having dinner with a woman who I’m pretty sure is in love with him.
Zayn: It’s only a work dinner
Slipping my phone and his latest unanswered text into my bag, I try to put Zayn out of my mind and distract myself by making my way slowly around the table, talking to Brett and his work friends.
I’m annoyed at myself that I haven’t even been sleeping with Zayn for a whole week and I’m letting thoughts of him consume me already.
Isn’t this why I told myself I wouldn’t go there in the first place?
My willpower when it comes to him is pathetic, honestly.
“Can I get you a drink, Gia?” Brett asks an hour in, suddenly noticing my lack of drink in hand.
“Yeah, but I’ll come with you.”
We make our way back through the crowd to the bar, and Brett orders me a gin and tonic.
“They all love you, of course,” Brett’s saying as I watch the bartender add ice to the empty cup. There’s a slight slur to Brett’s words, letting me know he’s well on the way to pissed-ville.
“They all seem great. Especially Freya.”
“Yeah, Freya’s amazing. She’s our marketing queen.”
We have a few more drinks. Brett keeps insisting on buying even though I try to resist, and it’s well past 1a.m. when the group calls it a night.
I’m tipsy in a good way, elevated further by the high of mingling with new people. Brett, on the other hand, is sloshed. We share an Uber home, but when I go to get out at my apartment, Brett asks the driver to wait for him while he walks me to the door.
“You didn’t have to walk me all the way,” I say as we reach the glass front doors of my building. The wind is bitingly cold and I turn to hug Brett goodbye when my purse slips from under my arm, its contents scattering all over the pavement.
“Fuck.” I pick up my cards, phone and lipstick, and when I stand, it’s to find Brett leaning against the wall, staring at me with half-lidded eyes and an odd look on his face.
“Gia,” he slurs, his head tipped head back. There’s a strange lilt to his voice that makes my pulse quicken. “You have always been so beautiful. Do you know how beautiful you are?”
Dread sucker punches me in the gut, then settles there like a brick. No, no, no. Is this what Anna was warning me about earlier? Please God, no. How can she keep seeing things that I can’t?