AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Hey, Jett,” shouts one of the men with him, from one of the tables dotted around the clubhouse. “Get us some beers, will you?”
Wordlessly, I open the fridge, and start opening bottles, before sliding them across the bar towards Jett.”
“I’m not staying,” he repeats, without touching them.
“Yeah, you said that,” I reply, picking up the bottles myself and going to deposit them at the table before returning to the bar. “But I couldn’t help but notice that you’re still standing here, anyway?”
“I couldn’t help but notice you wrapped around McTavish,” says Jett. “Not that it’s any of my business, obviously. What are you doing here, Lexie?” he adds, abruptly changing the subject. “Why do you keep turning up everywhere I go?”
“I don’t turn upeverywhereyou go,” I reply defensively. “It’s just been three places. So far. And it’s really been more likeyouturning up everywhereIgo, actually. Or everywhere Iwork.”
“Yeah, and you seem to be working everywhere I go,” Jett points out, not unreasonably. “You know Violet’s going to throw a fit if she sees you here, right?”
Violet. Of course. Italwayshas to be about Violet, doesn’t it?
“Well, I’ll just have to make sure she doesn’t see me then, won’t I?” I reply tightly, digging my nails into the bar to stop myself saying what Ireallythink about his precious Violet.
“Look, Jett, I needed a job, okay?” I say, lowering my voice so his colleagues — who keep glancing over at us with undisguised interest — can’t hear me. “Because, thanks to Violet and her ‘fits’, I got the sack from the last one. And, well, the one before that.”
Okay, it was technically my own fault that I lost my job at The Wildcat. I guess throwing food at customers would be considered reasonable grounds for dismissal. Even if the customer in question richly deserved it — which she did, and you won’t convince me otherwise. I didn’t do anything wrong at The Crown, though, other than running out before the end of my shift. And I’m pretty sure I’d over-stayed my welcome by that point, anyway.
“They fired you?” Jett frowns. “The place from last night? But why?”
“Why do you think?”
I pick up a cloth and start wiping down the bar, even though it’s already spotless.
“I’ll speak to Asher,” says Jett. “I’ll call him tonight and tell him to get you your job back.”
“Don’t bother,” I mutter. “If it’s not Asher complaining about me, it’ll just be someone else. They’re not going to want me back now. So don’t waste your time. I’ll be fine.”
“I don’t doubt it,” he says coolly. “I know you always land on your feet, Lexie. And if you don’t, well, hey, I guess good ol’ McTavish will be there to catch you, won’t he? No one keeps Lexie Steele down for long.”
I stop cleaning, shocked.
“Don’t speak about him like that,” I say hotly. “He’s one of the good guys, Jett. And he was just comforting me before. I was upset, and he was there for me. He’s one of the few people who has been. So don’t you dare try to put him down for it; he doesn’t deserve it.”
It’s not exactly what I’d intended to say. I just meant to tell him it wasn’t what it looked like. That McTavish was just being a friend to me, nothing more. Instead, though, what came out was a much stronger defense of him than was really necessary. And, judging by the look on Jett’s face, all it’s done is serve to reinforce whatever idea it was he had about me and McTavish.
An idea that I planted — or at least haven’t tried to change.
Now, however, is really not the time to start getting into this with my ex. Already, the guys who arrived with him have stopped even pretending not to be trying to listen in to our conversation. At the reception desk, Hazel’s just come back from her break, and is casting worried looks in my direction.
I really can’t afford to lose this job, too.
“Look,” I say, trying again. “Me and McTavish — it’s nothing. Really. And I’m not here to cause trouble, okay? I just want to do my job, then go home. So if you don’t bother me, I won’t bother you. Deal?”
“It’s too late for that, Lexie,” says Jett. His arms are still crossed, and his eyes have turned a very dark green, the way they do when he’s angry or upset. “You’re already bothering me. You’re bothering me a lot. And if Violet finds out you’re working here, you better believe it’ll bother her even more.”
He turns and strides off, without waiting for me to reply; which is probably a good thing, because I feel like I’ve been struck dumb.
“Hey, Jett,” one of his friends yells after him. “Where are you going, man? I thought we were having a beer?”
“Changed my mind,” Jett says, not bothering to look round. The door of the clubhouse slams shut behind him. Everyone turns to look at me accusingly, and I raise my hands in a “Don’t blame me,” gesture, before turning my back and busying myself with the drinks bottles, so no one can see the hurt on my face.
I know he doesn’t love me anymore, but I thought he’d at least be able totolerateme. Heseemedto be tolerating me last night. And he stood up for me when Asher was trying to get me kicked out of The Crown, too.
Why did he do that if I “bother” him as much as he’s just told me I do? Why did he try to help me find Mum? He could just have put me in a taxi, or even sent me off in his car on his own. He didn’t have to come with me; and he definitely didn’t have to buy me an entire bottle of wine, and look at me as if I might still matter to him.
