Chapter 34
Jade
“ I really like your friends, they’re—”
“Intense? Crazy? Nosey?”
“All of the above.” He laugh. “But I was going to say loyal. I can see how much they care about you and each other. You guys have something special.”
“We do. I'm ridiculously lucky. Even if they drive me up the wall, I know I can count on them. When I was with Dave, I didn’t get to see them as much. It hurt.”
“Why?”
“I moved in with him quite early. Which, in hindsight, was a mistake. It was just a way of him controlling my time. I thought it was romantic that he wanted me to be with him all the time. In reality, he just wanted to steer me towards people that he considered ‘appropriate’.”
“He didn’t?”
“I was blinded by him a little. I’m a hopeless romantic. At the beginning, he was so attentive. I lapped it up. So once he started to do these things that I now can see were controlling, I didn’t really notice. But those three and me, we come as a package. There was no way they were walking away. They took whatever time I could give. I think they saw what he was trying to do. So they made sure I knew they were still there, without giving me a hard time and potentially pushing me away. Which is why I’ve been so cautious with you. As you’ve come in and tried to sweep me off my feet. I didn’t want to fall into that pattern again.”
“You’re very lucky to have them. Trust me when I say I’ll never tell you that you can’t see or spend time with anyone.”
“They like you.”
“Yeah?”
“Oh yeah, especially Beck. That man has a total man crush on you.”
“Man crush? Seriously?”
“Yep, hang on.” I pull out my phone to show him our group chat.
Lily - It’s nice to see you smiling again, looks good on you.
Trixie - The way that man’s looking at you, I swear I don’t know how you aren’t already pregnant.
Beck - Can you ask Hunter when I can take his McLaren out, please?
Trixie - You got a hard on for Jade’s boyfriend’s car, Beck?
Lily - Should we give you some alone time?
Beck - Fuck off
Beck - But seriously Jade, please?
Beck - He did give me his number. Maybe I should message him?
Beck - Is that too needy?
Beck - Or will you be coming back to get your things?
Beck - I can’t believe I’m going to drive a McLaren.
Lily - Take a breath, Becky Boy.
The dots keep jumping and more messages come through. Jesus, they’re chatty right now, aren’t they together?
“How do you get anything done? They can’t message like that all the time?”
“That’s actually quite a slow day.” I put my phone back into my pocket.
He shakes his head with a smile. “I’ve a chat with the boys, but it’s nothing like that.”
“You mean you don’t discuss your friend’s hard ons over cars?”
“Urm… Okay, maybe that happened once when Leo got to drive his new Bugatti on the track at Monaco. I believe afterwards he said his nipples were hard for hours.”
“Wow, you do lead a completely different life to me.”
“It’s a cross I bear.”
After we left the pub Hunter declared that I promised to show him the real London so he wasn’t letting me go until he had crossed one of the landmarks I mentioned off this list.
“Did you know the London Eye can hold eight hundred people per revolution.” Hunter’s face is bright as he reads from the information leaflet he picked up before we entered our pod. “And listen to this it doesn’t have a number thirteen capsule.” He looks like a kid on a school trip bouncing around the pod.
“You don’t say?” I give him a sarcastic grin.
“I’m choosing to ignore your sarcasm, Tink.” He juts out his chin just as a little boy pulls on his sleeve.
“Look, it’s Big Ben.” He shrieks and Hunter crouches down.
“It sure is buddy. Pretty cool isn’t it?”
The boy's mum clutches her hands to her chest as she watches Hunter with her little boy, and I have to take a seat as I feel my knees start to buckle at the scene in front of me. I’ve never really given children much of a thought, too focused on my career but watching Hunter interact with this little boy and seeing the utter euphoria on both of their faces as they take in the view and read the ridiculous facts has me questioning if the reason I’ve never had the impulse to be a mum was because I wasn’t with someone who could give me these feelings.
“He’ll make an excellent dad.” The mum comes to sit beside me, her eyes never leaving her son. I swallow the lump forming in my throat and nod because I have lost my ability to speak. I never look out of the huge glass pod at the landmarks I’ve seen hundreds of times. I look at the man who is slowly taking pieces of me and showing me exactly how my life could be.