‘I told her we were fans, but no, I spared her the details of what we got up to on that daybed whilst it was playing,’ he smirked.
‘Probably for the best,’ I grinned.
‘But seriously, if it wasn’t for you, I would’ve never have written that song, had my first number one single in years or been invited on this show.’
Once Jake moved to New York, the songs kept flowing out of him.He managed to get some studio time, started recording some tracks and released them independently.
It took a while to get traction, but when it hit, it hitbig. His streams went through the roof and all of those people in the industry that had turned their backs on him when he was at his lowest point suddenly started calling, begging to work with him.Record companies, agents and other musicians.Including my ex.
Yep.The gall of that guy.
When Brett called, not long after his wife caught him cheating (again) and their show got cancelled, Jake told him to call back in half an hour.I’d just got out of the shower and he asked me how I wanted to play it, suggesting that if I wanted to, I could use the opportunity to teach him a lesson.
So I did.
Brett called back, Jake put the call on loudspeaker.For ten straight minutes, Brett gushed about how much he loved Jake’s music and wanted to work with him and how they could create magic together.
When he’d finished, Jake calmly said, ‘Uh huh.Listen, I’m gonna hand you over to my manager and my amazing girlfriend, Halle Remington.Pretty sure you know her?’
Brett had gulped so loud it sounded like he’d just swallowed a watermelon.
‘Oh, hi, Brett!’ I’d said, acting all light and breezy.‘Remember me?’
‘Look, Halle, I’m sorry about what happened before.I didn’t mean to…’
‘Don’t be sorry!I’m not.You see, if you weren’t such a lying, cheating arsehole, I never would’ve had the chance to meet arealman like Jake.And I never would’ve discovered what a real orgasm felt like.Such a relief to not have to fake it any more.Anyway, I think Jake will pass on working with you.Right, hon?’ I’d said.
‘Yep.No way I’d wanna work with a douchebag like you, man.Anything to add, baby?’ Jake had asked.
‘Nope!Karma’s a bitch.Have a nice life, Brett!’ I’d said, then hung up.
Was it petty?A little, but after what he’d done, I had to admit, it felt pretty good.
So, yeah, everyone wanted to work with Jake, but he’d stood his ground and was adamant that he wanted to do it on his terms.And it was paying off.His album would be dropping next week and he’d already been booked to appear on a host of American talk shows to promote it.
His career was going to be huge.And I couldn’t be prouder.
As for me, my career was going brilliantly.Since I’d walked out of the juice bar, I hadn’t looked back.I’d done the nails for Vanessa’s colleagues and they’d told their friends, who’d told their friends and thanks to word of mouth, my customer list blew up.
And as much as it surprised me to say it, social media also helped.
I wasn’t afraid of photos or the paps any more.Jake and I led a low-key life, which wasn’t of great interest to them.We used social media to our advantage and didn’t worry about the stuff we couldn’t control.So far it was working.
As well as posting photos of my designs on Instagram and TikTok, I posted a couple of videos (they didn’t show my face – I wasn’t that brave) of me doing nails and when one of them went viral, things really took off.I got booked to do the nails on a magazine shoot which led to more recommendations.
Then, when we met up with Liam Stone and his partner Mia saw my nails, she asked me to do hers too and now, thanks to her very public endorsement, I’ve got more bookings than I can keep up with.Never in my wildest dreams did I think that would be possible.
There was someone who did though.And he was standing right in front of me.I was so glad that we found each other.
‘I’m gonna get changed.’ Jake whipped off his T-shirt and my eyes were immediately drawn to his chest.Not just because it looked as gorgeous as ever, but because on the right-hand side, just below his shoulder was a small red love-heart-shaped tattoo.
A tattoo that he’d got for me two months after we’d started living together.
At that point, he was still trying to keep me out of the public eye, so he didn’t want to expose me by putting my name.He’d considered putting my initials, but HR sounded like he was in love with the Human Resources department.
So instead, he got my nickname, Smiley (which he knew I had grown to love) tattooed inside the heart instead.
I ran my hand over the tattoo and Jake groaned with pleasure.Just as he leant in for a kiss, the phone rang.
