19. “Jealous” - Nick Jonas
“Jealous” - Nick Jonas
Walker
If I didn’t know any better, I would say I’m back in the summer before our last year together at Oxford. We’d come home from uni high as a kite, blitzed on being twenty-one. We thought we were indestructible. We were, too, until Rhett and Heath were almost arrested.
We don’t talk about that scheme.
The energy here is the same. Everyone is high after our narrow escape from the crazy candle lady. It’s still early for a Saturday night. It’s obvious that no one is planning to go home.
“We could go to the Quantum,” Pierce suggests.
Lux sags. “Carter is there tonight. I’d rather be anywhere else.”
“Something going on between you two?” I ask quietly. She shakes her head. Evidently that subject isn’t up for discussion.
“Let’s go to Paris, baby!” Rhett shouts into the night air.
There is a chorus of agreement. It takes me a second to remember that this is perfectly normal, this jetting off in the middle of the night to another continent.
An hour later, we’re ensconced in Pierce’s company jet, en route to Charles-de-Gaulle Airport. Rhett comes prepared with a bag of gummies. I accept one when offered. I’m going to need something to keep my mind off what happened with Heath earlier.
Him pushing me up against the wall was a surprise.
The way he tasted and how right it felt to be there with him was not.
I haven’t been kissed like that in two years.
It would only take a skip, hop, and a jump for me to end up remembering what he’s like in bed, too.
And sitting on his lap in the car did nothing to erase that image from my memory.
He was as turned on as I was, although he couldn’t hide it as well as I could.
I’ll admit that the high of having pulled off the perfect plot and escaping the dog made me a little devious.
I may have rubbed against him more than necessary, a thrill coursing through my body when I felt him grow even stiffer beneath me.
But looking at him across the plane now, slumped in his seat and messing around on his phone, brings sudden clarity.
I left for a reason. Fooling around with Heath may have been one of several options we could have chosen to explain why we were next to Candle Lady’s house, but that doesn’t mean it needs to happen again.
In fact, it should definitely not happen again.
I’m going to have fun tonight with someone I don’t have to see again. I won’t hold back either. Let Heath see what he’s missing out on. And get my head out of the clouds of my own destructive thoughts.
The club we end up at hours later has a floor that looks like broken glass and is lit from below by a blue light. Glass globes dangle from the entire ceiling. The bass thrums so loud it vibrates in my bones.
Rhett passed another joint around as we drove over. I only took a few puffs, but my muscles are already relaxing. I’ve also had enough caffeine to fuel an entire football team, so I’m not tired in the least. Tonight is going to be a good night.
I let Maeve and Lux pull me onto the dance floor. I’m wearing a dark red sequined dress that I borrowed from Maeve. She’s several inches shorter than me, so it hits a little higher than something I’d normally wear. With the addition of my four-inch Louboutins, I’m confident I look hot tonight.
Lux brushes up against me in her skintight white minidress, and we dance together for a few minutes. I am letting myself loose for the first time in forever. I feel free and alive.
Maeve comes up behind me and yells into my ear over the music. “There’s a guy checking you out.”
I look over at where she’s indicating. A dark-haired man in his late twenties is giving me a lazy smile. He looks hot in his jeans and button-down shirt. When I smile back, he pushes off from the wall and walks toward me.
Normally my pulse would be racing, but I only feel a strange excitement humming through my veins. He puts his hands on my hips, and we move to the music. I block out the images of doing this with Heath in a club last week and focus solely on this moment.
My partner’s hands snake a little lower, his fingers brushing my ass.
I wiggle closer to him until our bodies are flush.
He has a gorgeous smile with bright white teeth that belong in a toothpaste commercial.
He bends low over my ear and says in a divine French accent, “You are the most beautiful woman in the room.”
It doesn’t matter that it’s not true. I grin up at him and flutter my eyelashes the way I’ve watched Lux do a hundred times.
The lights are low, flashing on the walls in an ethereal blue shade.
There’s a spicy woodsmoke scent in the air.
I’m not sure if it’s the club or my partner.
The plush velvet seats around the edge of the room would normally call my name, but not tonight.
Tonight I am living on the edge of the world, and it feels wonderful.
The hands on my hips spin me around until I’m pressed against the man. His erection pushes through my dress, and it makes my nipples tighten in response. I’ve never left a club with a stranger before, but if things progress, I’ll consider it.
I slide my ass back and forth over his cock. We’re nearly the same height, thanks to my heels. He groans in my ear. I lift my arms over my head, let them sway to the beat, then drop them around his neck, pulling his face close to mine.
He smells good, and I moan when he moves to that sensitive spot behind my ear. I’m close to spinning around and letting him kiss me when I’m yanked completely out of his arms.
My eyes fly open. My shoulder feels like it’s been wrenched from its socket. Attached to my wrist is Heath’s hand. He is pulling me across the dance floor, his grip so strong that I couldn’t resist if I tried. I don’t, because we’re already stepping onto the carpet of the lounge.
“What—” I turn to look behind me. The guy I was dancing with has already disappeared.
Heath stops in front of an empty velvet bench. I jerk my hand from his grasp and rub my wrist. “What do you think you’re doing?” I say.
“I could ask you the same thing.” He’s close enough for me to see the charcoal ring around his irises. “What the fuck were you thinking?”
“I was having a good time,” I say. “Until you came and ruined it.”
His eyes flash even in the dim lighting. “I just saved you from making a fool of yourself.”
I let out a choked laugh. “Excuse me? You’re the one who dragged me from the dance floor in front of everyone.”
“Because you were practically in the guy’s pants.”
“Take a look around, Heath. Everyone is dancing like that.” I grab a champagne flute from the trays being circulated by waiters and throw it back. Champagne flows freely here, and it’s time I took advantage.
He grabs my arm before I can swipe a second glass. “Not everyone was rubbing their ass over my cock a few hours ago.”
I look up at him. “Is that what this is about? You’re mad I didn’t finish the job?”
“I’m mad that you would move from guy to guy like that.”
A disbelieving sound makes its way out of my throat. Is he being serious? “Did you think something happened between you and me?”
“Of course something happened. I just had my tongue down your throat!”
The space around us stills. I’m aware that there are other people in the room, but they fade until they’re nothing but background noise and movement. There’s only Heath, angry and panting over me.
“What’s happening here, Walker?” he says, softer this time.
A laugh trills out of my mouth. “I’m really high, and I’m trying to have a good time.”
“I mean with us.”
I’m beginning to regret that weed. I can’t seem to clear my head. Is there something happening between us? I can’t remember. All I know is that if Heath were to lay me on this bench behind us and crawl over me, I wouldn’t try to stop him.
I shake my head. “Nothing’s happening. We were doing what we had to.” It doesn’t feel like the right thing to say, but whatever that is has eluded me.
“I see.”
“I was just having fun. Nothing was going to happen with that guy.”
“That’s what you think. I’ll bet you he leaves with someone else in the next thirty minutes.”
“You’ll bet me what?” I scan the crowd for my former partner, but I don’t see him.
“If I’m right, you go surfing with me.”
“And if I’m right?”
“What do you want?” he says.
A dangerous question. I give it a few seconds’ thought. “You have to read three Huntington books before I leave. ”
His eyes narrow slightly. “You’ve got a deal.”
We both sit down and order shots while keeping an eye on the club’s exit. When a familiar form heads to the door with his arm around a leggy blonde, I sink back into my seat.
“Twenty-three minutes,” Heath says after glancing at his phone. “I’m good.”
“Is this where you start to become even more obnoxious?”
He honors that with a little Cabbage Patch dance move.
“God, I think you might be as high as me,” I say.
He laughs and clinks his shot glass against mine. “I might be. But I’m not going to go gyrate my hips with a stranger.” He throws the shot back. “At least not tonight.”
“Surfing? Really?” I say, emptying my own glass.
“You’re gonna love it.” He bumps my shoulder with his.
That’s exactly what I’m afraid of.