Silence fell between us, but it wasn’t the awkward or uncomfortable silences we’d so often shared before. It was … different. Warm. Comforting. Like a hot tub I’d slowly lowered myself into. You didn’t need to move to feel the benefit of the warmth, it just … was.
‘So that’s why you’re so guarded,’ Jessy said, a teasing lilt in her voice.
The track changed inside and whoops went up to herald the new song. The noise echoed out here on the balcony.
And I just stared at the woman now tangling and detangling her fingers with mine. ‘You believe me?’
‘Yeah.’ Jessy shrugged, as though she hadn’t just said something incredible. ‘Who doesn’t want to be believed?’
It was hard to take it in.
This was a woman who knew about These Exiles – whoon the planet didn’t? – but she didn’t seem to care. Sure, Jessy was a fan of the band, but it was like she wasn’t affected by me at all. In a good way.
She hadn’t asked to do any social media collabs, or take selfies together, or any of the stuff Celine had wanted. In fact, I hadn’t seen her tag me in anything online. Had she even posted anything since this whole fake dating thing had started?
A quiet discomfort shifted through me. Everyone was out for something – that was something I’d had to learn, thanks to Cassie.
What did Jessy want?
I pushed the thought away. She’d shown me, more than once, that she wasn’t here for my fame. In fact, if it wasn’t for Butterflies and Jessy loving her sister dearly, I wasn’t sure she would ever have agreed to it.
‘It’s … it’s so weird talking to you about this,’ I said, breathing a laugh into the silence. I hadn’t let my walls down around anyone, other than the boys, in … I couldn’t even remember how long. ‘Talking to you is just so easy.’
Above us, the moon had come out from behind a cloud, and I gazed at Jessy now bathed in moonlight. Her skin was like a beacon, calling to me on the deepest, basest level. The music from inside faded into the background as the space between us narrowed.
Before I realized it, I had leaned forward to capture her warm lips. The kiss was softer, gentler, than the last. And she did not pull away.
Fuck, she tasted wonderful, and when my hand somehow found the nape of her neck to keep her close, she didn’t fight me.
My whole body stiffened and then sagged as she broke thekiss. She pressed her lips together as though she was about to say something, but then thought better of it.
A second later Jessy rose from the bench and stuck out a hand. ‘Come on. Let’s go back inside, I need to get the girls back to my hotel.’
Her gaze didn’t quite meet mine.
Was she seriously going to ignore us kissing … again?
TWELVE
You were never meant to be the centre of my world, the moon in my sky, my affection waxing and waning as my tides roar …
–from ‘Tidal’, by These Exiles
‘YOU KNOW, YOU HAVEN’T mentioned that we’ve officially fulfilled our weekly quota of dates,’ I pointed out, heart fluttering traitorously as I sipped my iced coffee.
Patrick raised an eyebrow and absolutely melted my insides, the fucker. ‘Haven’t I?’
I shook my head as we wandered slowly down the path in the park. People kept glancing over at us, but for once I was confident it wasn’t because I was walking with the lead singer of These Exiles. No, his hideous tie-dye T-shirt was doing that for us.
‘Well, in that case, let me be the second to mention that we have officially fulfilled our – what did you call it?’
I hiccupped as a huge lump of ice almost went down the wrong way. ‘Weekly quota.’
‘Fulfilled our weekly quota,’ finished Patrick, sipping his grapefruit cold brew coffee. ‘To be honest, I hadn’t noticed.’
Neither had I.
I mean, at least, until that moment.
