Jake ducks his head. “My nan. I call her every Sunday.”
“Oh, you big sweetie. What else you got gossip-wise?”
“Well…” He leans forward over crossed arms. “Roger from the pharmacy got done for insurance fraud, and while they were investigating, the cops found he was boning his German au pair.”
“No! Not Roger!”
Roger’s reputation as the judgment-free provider of the morning-after pill was legendary. Pukekohe girls loved Roger, even though the only thing I ever needed from him was electrolyte gel and emotional-support ear piercings. Every hole in my body that wasn’t put there by nature was punched in by Roger the Pharmacist.
“Yup. Roger. And not only that, but the au pair’s boyfriend found out and told everyone he’s been fucking Jenny Sharpe on the sly. It’s divorce all round.”
My heart stops dead in my chest. “Will and Jenny are divorced?”
“It’s in the works. They’re officially separated, though. He’s moved out.”
My brain boggles under the surge of fresh information.Will Sharpe. Officially separated...
“How long ago was this?” My voice is super-high, and I clear my throat.
“A couple of months ago. It’s gonna be awkward as fuck at the centenary because Jenny’s the organiser, and Will’s car yard is a major sponsor, so they’re both gonna be there the whole weekend.”
Will Sharpe. Officially separated. At the centenary. The whole weekend.
“Everything okay, Cece?”
Davis has appeared out of nowhere, his hazel eyes darting between me and Jake.
“Fine,” I say weakly.
Davis’s thick brows rumple adorably. I’m sure the huge crowd of female uni students we draw for Karaoke Wednesdays come for Davis’s eyebrows. Or maybe his jaw. Or the way his black Afterglow T-shirts stretch across his chest. A chest that just screams of the metabolism of a mere twenty-fouryears, eight months and nine days. Not that I know his exact age on purpose. I had to put his birthday on his employment forms when he started working here. Plus, Ada keeps pointing out his status as a late-term child every time he offers to look at my accounting system.
“Are you sure?” Davis asks. “Is this guy bothering you?”
Jake stops bobbing his head to the Gang of Youths song blaring from the jukebox and turns to look at him. “Sorry?”
“I asked if you were bothering her.”
Jake squints. “Bothering who? Bothering Cece?”
Davis practically bares his teeth, and Jake looks even more confused. To be fair, since he made the All Blacks, I doubt anyone’s done anything meaner to him than offer to buy him a beer or blow him. And to be fair to Davis, he doesn’t know I’m as sexually attracted to Jake as I am a bean bag.
Will Sharpe, on the other hand…
I push the thought aside and smile at my bouncer. “It’s cool, Davis. This is Jake Graves-Holland. We went to school together. He’s friends with my brother.”
Jake gives me a wounded look. “I’m friends with you, too, Cece.”
“Yeah, of course you are,” I say, surprised he cares. My social circle consists of Ada, my staff, my parents, and a selection of drunks, but clearly, he wants in.
Davis’s jaw tightens. “That doesn’t mean he’s not bothering you. Want him gone?”
I frown, now as baffled as Jake by this unexpected aggression.
Davis has always been a great employee, working every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday without fail, always staying until close, collecting glasses to help the bar staff. He never complains about the wages, which are low, or the number of dickheads he has to deal with, which is high. And he rarely gets annoyed, even when Ada calls him a fake Fed and says he was responsible for three of the bar murders and is only working here to further cover up his crimes.
… Only now he looks like he wants to punch Jake Graves-Holland in the face. And Jake has stopped looking confused and started looking offended. I don’t need this on a night when I could actually make some money.
Abandon them all, an evil part of me whispers.Drive to Pukekohe and offer Will Sharpe a bachelor bang…
