As I strode away, I unlocked my phone.
Jessy
Meet me in five mins?
Paddy
k
I couldn’t be bothered to type more than a letter. Rage was pouring through me, hot lead coursing in my veins.
How could she think – and I’d almost let her –
‘Woah there, tiger.’
I felt someone grab my arm and flinched. I wrenched it back and exploded. ‘Don’t fucking touch me!’
Jessy placed both her hands up in immediate surrender, her arms wide. ‘Hey. Sorry.’
I was breathing heavily and knew I needed to rein it in, but I couldn’t calm down quick enough. Stars were appearing in the corners of my eyes, heat in my chest –
‘You OK?’
‘I’m fine.’ I took deep breaths, settling myself before I snapped at the innocent woman in front of me. Again.
Jessy hadn’t done anything to deserve my foul mood. I tried to look at her reassuringly, my eyes tracing over her face, and then her –
Damn. The little sundress she was wearing was doing nothing to help me cool off. I took in the rest of her. No bra straps, no shoes – no shoes?
‘I broke my sandal,’ Jessy said with a half grin as she saw my gaze dart down. ‘I can fix it, though – this isn’t the first time.’
My chest was heaving, my throat parched, and my brain was having a hard time keeping up with my violent swings between emotions.
All I wanted to do was go back home and write through the pain, pour it out into music.
All those girls, crying out my name and inking my words, my lyrics, on their bodies. They thought they came from love. How wrong they were.
‘I thought – can we get a drink?’ Jessy bit her lip, her smile fading. ‘We can even count it as one of our dates, if you want. Save you seeing me again later this week.’
Another woman who wanted nothing but to profit off me. It was probably unfair to cast Jessy in the same light as Cassie, but the hurt was still churning in my chest.
And yet she was smiling. Unaware of her effect on me.
And she was right. We could count it as a date, even if the record label hadn’t organized it. One less chance to make a fool of myself in front of her.
‘Sure,’ I said, subdued, and held the door open.
The pub was busy, as everywhere always was, but Jessy pointed at two barstools in a corner. ‘You grab those, I’ll get drinks.’
She was gone before I could say more.
When she made her way back, she had a drink in each hand and a white piece of paper dangling from her mouth.
‘This better?’ Jessy took the paper out of her mouth and stuffed it in her cleavage as she sat down.
Fuck. Don’t look.
‘It’s the receipt,’ she said, clinking her glass of tepid white wine with mine. ‘For Derek. Cheers!’
