Chapter 21 Jade
A couple days after our kiss, I received a text from Tieran with an address and time.
It would seem his eagerness to get me to experience new things isn’t going away.
The flutter that ran through my stomach upon seeing the invite was embarrassing, and the giddiness I feel days later is even worse.
I’m loath to admit it but I like the attention, because his brand is different from the kind I’m used to—the kind that typically veers into scrutiny.
He thinks about me, what would challenge and excite me in equal measure. The nature of the activity itself doesn’t matter; it’s the fact that he assessed a need I refused to acknowledge, and he’s following through. I feel seen for the first time.
Until I moved to London, no one cared whether I worked from seven in the morning until well after midnight. I had what everyone wanted—money, fame, success. I was living the dream, but I wasn’t living, was I?
So, what have I been chasing? I have everything, working sixteen hour days to maintain a dream I’m not sure I ever really wanted, and I still feel unfulfilled. Life has been happening all around me with or without my participation. Is that really what I want for the rest of my life?
Tieran has been gently pushing me out of my comfort zone since we met, and after every encounter, I’ve felt more alive. Irritated, but alive.
I want more.
That’s how I find myself outside an unmarked, seemingly abandoned warehouse in Camden where I was sure to be murdered any minute now. I pull out my phone to double check the address, positive I got it wrong, when I see a text from Maxine.
Maxine
I booked you a meet and greet at Selfridges on Oxford Street to align with the new collection hitting stores. They’ve already announced it on socials and are waiting for you to accept the collab to cross promote. Tickets are already selling out.
A pounding in my head starts up.
This isn’t the first time she’s promised my time without asking me first. I would just have to hope it didn’t interfere with any prior engagements.
I open Instagram, find the tagged post that’s already amassed thousands of likes in a few minutes, and accept the collaboration before tossing my phone back in my bag.
The entrance to the warehouse boasts a large, vibrant mural of Camden Town if it was on psychotropic drugs, with a neon sign in the center reading ‘Le Freak’.
What am I walking into?
The invite link was vague, with details only saying to come limber, whatever that means, and in comfortable clothes. I’m equally concerned and intrigued, but one thing is always certain—where Tieran is involved, I’m sure to be entertained.
Begrudgingly, I have to admit, I kind of love it—the rush I get whenever he’s around is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.
I shouldn’t want it—him—but, against my better judgement, I do.
He consumes my thoughts and it’s an annoying, highly inconvenient thing to deal with.
I’ve never been so unproductive in my life, getting distracted on zoom calls, zoning out, remembering dark rooms in illicit bars during board meetings, thinking about a soft kiss pressing into my cheek as the scent of him washed over me.
I didn’t even hesitate this time when I received the link to whatever it is we’re doing today. There was no momentary delay before refusing the invitation, no mental gymnastics around why I shouldn’t be here, no trying to convince myself this isn’t exactly where I want to be.
My resolve is sedimentary rock on a cliffside, slowly crumbling every moment I spend in his presence. I’m one wave away from eroding completely.
Even still, I take a step beyond the foyer into the main room of the warehouse, where I’m greeted by fifty foot silks, foam pads covering the floor, and hoops hanging from ropes.
Tieran booked us an aerial silk class?
Will he ever not shock me?
I scan the room of around fifteen people, looking for a familiar set of cerulean eyes and panty-melting dimples, but don’t see him anywhere. Disappointment courses through me before I reason I just happened to get here first.
“Hey!” a person with fiery red hair, snow pale skin, and multiple facial piercings greets me while holding an iPad. “What’s your name so I can get you checked in?”
“Oh, um, Jade.” I pause as they scan through their list, a furrow lining their brow. “But it could be under Tieran,” I hasten to add.
They recheck the list and then tap the touchpad. “There you are! Have you done aerial or silks before?”
I look around again, waiting for Tieran before I answer. “No, I mostly do Pilates.”
“Not a problem!” Their reply is chipper. “This is a pretty novice session; nothing too advanced but still plenty of fun.”
“Billie! Can you come help me get this knot untangled?”
“Be there in a second,” Billie calls to their coworker before looking back at me. “You can go ahead and set anything you brought with you against the wall over there, take off your shoes, and then join us in the center of the room.”
I move over to where they indicated I drop my stuff and start to unlace my shoes, keeping my socks on when I notice everyone is still wearing theirs.
I check my phone, hoping maybe there’s a text from Tieran telling me where he is, but my screen only holds four notifications from Maxine, one from Aanya, another from Poppy confirming our one-on-one Pilates session this week, and about fifteen unread emails that have come in over the last hour.
Nothing from Tieran.
My stomach sinks. Is he not coming? He said before the crochet night that he wouldn’t come if I didn’t want him to.
Was he giving me space now? Was I so unreadable that he couldn’t tell space was becoming a non-issue lately?
I mean, I showed up at his fucking door; what else does he need?
For me to wear his jersey around town for everyone to see, or to actually tell him, “hey, I like you and wanna kiss you some more”?
God, that sounds horrific.
Why should his lack of presence bother me? He didn’t say he would be here, and I can still have a good time on my own, even if I do have a mountain of work I blew off to come.
“Alright, everyone, let’s get started,” Billie’s counterpart announces. “My name is Stasia, and we’re going to start today’s lesson by showing you a basic climb and foothold. Don’t worry, we’ll get to the fun stuff in a bit. Everyone grab a silk and watch me.”
Stasia starts by demonstrating how she climbs up the panels, pinching the fabric between her feet, lifting with her arms, and pushing up with her legs, before she releases, sliding down effortlessly until she touches the floor.
“I’m going to walk around the room while everyone tries, and I’ll help as needed.” She claps, and everyone hesitantly starts to attempt their climb.
Extending my arms into the silk, I grab hold, pulling myself up so I can wrap the fabric around my foot and use the tangled material as an anchor to slowly pull myself up.
I’ve made it several feet in the air, and my arms are burning slightly from the ascent but I mostly feel stable from my foothold in the silk.
I cast a glance around the room and everyone seems to be struggling at varying degrees, with one particularly burly man slipping time and again.
Beneath me, Stasia shouts, “Amazing job! You’re a natural.”
I smile to myself from fifteen feet in the air. See, I don’t need Tieran to be here to enjoy myself, and I won’t let him ghosting affect my experience.
“Christ alive, that’s an incredible view,” a deeply familiar voice rumbles from below me.
The sound shocks my system, surprising me enough that my grip loosens, making me forget I’m supposed to be holding on to something, and before I can course correct, I plummet to imminent death.
I’m free-falling, arms pinwheeling through the air, body locked tight and bracing for impact, only moments from becoming a human pancake.
But then strong arms catch me, caging me in their steady grip, just like I knew they would.
I hate how good it feels—how right. I hate how relieved I am that he’s here, how it’s making my heart patter like raindrops on a tin roof, erratic and loud.
I hate that I feel lighter now, and not just because when he’s touching me—holding me—I feel weightless, but because being around him eases something in my head while also settling something in my heart.
It’s terrifying—thrilling.
There’s a wicked gleam in his eyes when I look up at him. “Knew I’d get you to fall for me eventually.” The cheeky fucker winks at me, making parts of me ache that have no business being sentient right now.
“I’d have rather hit the ground,” I volley.
He leans in, lips grazing my ear, and my heart starts to thud so heavily, he has to hear it. “You’re so pretty when you lie.” Tieran’s grip tightens on my waist and the space behind my knees, his thumb brushing a lazy stroke along my leg.
My breath hitches, and his smile widens, dimples popping.
“Put me down.” I gently shove at his shoulder.
“Do I have to?” He sulks, even as humor coats his tongue.
The giggle that bubbles out of my mouth is girly and downright embarrassing.
I want to stuff it back inside my mouth and throw myself in-front of a double decker bus, but Tieran’s eyes soften as he gazes at me and murmurs cute.
It’s barely audible, but the open affection that’s plastered across his handsome face tells me enough.
I’m about to ask him to let me go when Stasia rushes over.
“Well, I didn’t think it had to be said, but you’re not supposed to let go of the silks.
Are you daft?” Her tone reads moderately annoyed, and I’m about to apologize for my carelessness, but she steamrolls over me, directing her ire at Tieran now.
“You’re late, and I don’t tolerate tardi—”