22. Jasper
TWENTY-TWO
JASPER
“Praise be to Beyonce ,” Finn declared as he rushed onto the plane and fell into the seat next to me. “I didn’t think I was going to make it. I can’t believe the train broke down.” He looked around and then smiled. “First class suits you, Professor.”
I rolled my eyes. I’d argued when the stakeholders insisted on flying us out to the Whitsunday Region on the East Coast of Australia in first class. Apparently, it was company policy that we had to if we were flying that distance. I wasn’t happy about it, but Finn gave me that look that told me to keep my opinions to myself.
It had been a week since we… made out, hooked up, had a one night stand. I wasn’t sure what to call it because after we left that hotel, we’d not talked about it, and there had been no attempts at a rerun. I mean, there had been the old glance, and the sexual tension sometimes crackled in the air, but I was starting to think that was wishful thinking on my part.
I’d thought about talking to him about it, but this week had been non-stop. Trying to set up this trip, working out what the hell was happening in the data and the potential implications if their findings were as screwed as they appeared. And then there was the slight problem of Travis. He’d texted me when I’d been with Finn.
I knew he was interviewing for another job, and that’s why he’d asked for annual leave. The research team had phoned me for a reference as soon as he applied. At first, I gave Trav a glowing one, but then, after speaking to Thomas, I emailed them, telling them I couldn’t do without him and to spread the word to anyone else thinking of poaching my number one deep-sea engineer that he was not available.
I glanced down at my phone, rereading Travis’ text for the millionth time.
Travis: Motherfucker. How could you? You know how much I love what I do, and you’ve made me unemployable. I might be forced to work for you while I sort this out, but I will never forgive you for this. We can add it to the list.
I’d not replied because I knew this would take some grovelling to fix, but this was Travis. We were friends. He had to forgive me. Didn’t he?