Total pages in book: 42
Estimated words: 43759 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 219(@200wpm)___ 175(@250wpm)___ 146(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 43759 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 219(@200wpm)___ 175(@250wpm)___ 146(@300wpm)
their little exchange.
“Which pub are we going to later?” Jez wanted to get the
conversation away from dangerous ground.
Luckily Shawn took the bait, and the m om ent passed. Josh gave Jez a
quick wink before turning away to talk to Dani again.
When Jez dared look back at Mac a little later, he seem ed to have
relaxed and was deep in conversation with a blonde girl Jez hadn’t seen
before. She was pretty, and she kept giggling at things Mac said and
twirling her hair. Jez ignored the unpleasant lurch of discom fort in his gut.
Mac could flirt with any one he wanted; it wasn’t Jez’s business.
In the pub, the girl—Gem m a, Jez found out when Mac introduced
them —was still hanging around Mac. It didn’t m ake Jez feel any better
when it turned out that Gem m a was not only pretty but also funny and
intelligent. She was study ing Politics and Philosophy and had opinions on
every thing. In other circum stances Jez would probably have been
attracted to her and tried to get her attention for him self, but tonight he
was uneasy and unsettled, and he was struggling to follow the
conversation because his own thoughts were too distracting.
He excused him self to go to the bar. It was busy, but it didn’t take too
long to get served as they had lots of people working. As the barm an was
pouring Jez’s pint, a girl squeezed in beside Jez, digging him in the ribs
with an elbow.
“Oops, sorry,” she said. “But when y ou’re m y height, y ou have to
be pushy.” She couldn’t have been m uch over five feet tall and looked like
a little pixie with spiky hair in an unnatural shade of red, big dark ey es,
and an upturned nose.
“I can only im agine.” Jez was six foot now and had had his growth
spurt at thirteen. He couldn’t rem em ber being that sm all.
She grinned. “Yeah, it’s okay for y ou.”
She spoke with a slight accent. Jez tried to place it—Italian, m ay be?
The barm an returned with Jez’s pint. “Any thing else?” he asked.
“Oh, could y ou get m e a pint of Dry Blackthorn if y ou’re already
being served?” the girl asked. “Here’s the m oney.” She put a pile of coins
down on the bar. Jez would have offered to pay for hers, but she pushed
them towards him insistently.
The barm an went off to pour her drink.
“I’m Gabi, by the way. You’re here for Shawn’s birthday too, y es?”
“Yes.” Jez nodded. “I’m Jez.”
“Cool.”
When they both had their drinks, Gabi j oined Jez’s group, squeezing
in beside him on the bench seat. He introduced her to Mac, and she
already knew Gem m a. Mac caught Jez’s ey e and gave a slight grin and
ey ebrow raise, m ay be in encouragem ent.
As the evening progressed, the girls stuck with them . Jez was
enj oy ing Gabi’s com pany. She was fun to talk to and cute to look at. She
wasn’t hiding her interest, and norm ally Jez would have gone for it and
flirted right back, but tonight he was distracted by what was going on with
Mac and Gem m a. He found him self listening in to their conversation
instead of pay ing attention to Gabi. A rising unease tightened his chest and
m ade his gut clench. Jez was reluctant to adm it he was j ealous, but deep
down he recognised the unfam iliar em otion even though he tried to
ignore it. Instead he tried to drown his feelings in beer. If he drank
enough, he m ight m anage to stop m oping around after his m ate and get
with the program . Gabi was into him , and she was cool. It had been way
too long since he’d hooked up with a girl. May be he needed to get back in
the saddle.
By the tim e they got to the club, Jez was well on the way to being
drunk but not quite at the sloppy stage. He was buzzed and feeling m ore
chilled, the alcohol tem porarily clouding his anxieties. Gabi took his hand
and pulled him towards the packed dance floor, and he followed. Once
they were lost in the throng, she turned to face him . Pressed close by the
crowd, it was easier to dance with his hands on her hips. She put her arm s
around his neck, tilted her head back, and sm iled.
Jez let his gaze roam over the rest of the dancers. Lots of the others
from their group had j oined them . He caught sight of Shawn with a
curly -haired girl, and Josh and Dani dancing together—blatantly dirty
dancing in a com pletely over-the-top way —and then he found who he
was looking for. Mac’s dark head stood out because he was a couple of
inches taller than m ost other blokes, and sure enough, he was dancing
with Gem m a. Jez watched as she tossed her hair and looked at Mac