Merry Measure - Lily Morton Page 0,28

and while semen contains zinc and potassium, that shot has got enough sugar to rot your teeth.” Diana and I blink at him, and he shrugs. “What? It’s the truth.”

“It’s your truth, sweetie,” I say. “And that’s all that counts.”

He rolls his eyes and takes the glass off me. “Come and dance before Tom sees his best friend eye-fucking you, and we end up with a huge scene.”

“Wait. What?” I spin round and find Jack eyeing my arse. When he catches my gaze, he doesn’t even attempt an embarrassed expression. Instead, he looks me up and down and drops me a slow wink. I gape at him. The bloody man gets more attractive every minute.

Bee tugs my arm, and I turn back to him.

“What do you think Tom would say?” I ask.

He bites his lip. “It depends on a lot of things.”

“Like what?”

He shrugs. “Time of day, how hungry he is, whether anyone has pissed him off.” He winks. “If he’s sexually fulfilled.” He nudges me. “That always makes him happy. I’ll lie back and think of England just for you and Jack. No need to thank me.”

I try to suppress a smile and fail. “I wasn’t going to thank you.”

He sobers. “Tom is actually the best man I know. I admit I didn’t think that when I met him. I dismissed him as an arrogant twat, but I realised very quickly that I’d got him completely wrong. He’s kind and lovely, and he gives everything when he loves you. You’re his brother, and he loves you more than anything. He wants the best for you, and he’ll need to know just one thing. If he gets that, he’ll be fine.”

“What does that mean? What thing?” He gives me an enigmatic smile and refuses to answer, so I shrug and follow him and Diana onto the dancefloor. The club is packed. The walls are stripped back to the bare brick and the whole place is decorated in red tones, giving it an intimate feel.

I’m too tipsy to puzzle things out. I’ll think about it tomorrow. I imagine myself as Scarlett O’Hara being carried upstairs by Jack as Rhett Butler. Then I imagine Jack with a moustache and have to adjust myself. That’s so hot.

Bee, Diana, and I dance for ages, losing ourselves in the music. It’s loud and pumping, and I feel it through the soles of my feet. When I turn from refusing a bloke’s rather forceful advances, I find my brother and Freddy dancing with us.

“Alright?” my brother shouts.

I grimace. “Well, I’d like to report that sticking your hand down the back of a bloke’s trousers will never make it into a Mills and Boon storyline.”

“What?” he shouts, and I give up.

I look around. “Where’s Jack?”

Tom shrugs. “Some bloke’s chatting him up at the bar.”

I stop dead. My ears are ringing like a bomb just went off next to me. “Sorry?” I say. “What was that?”

My brother points at the bar. “Some redhead is chatting Jack up, so we left them to it.”

I can’t see anything through the glare of the lights on the dancefloor, but my heart starts to beat fast. Is Jack lining up someone else? Someone who won’t cause problems because his brother is his best friend? I swallow hard, feeling sick.

“I’m going to get a drink,” I say, giving my brother a cautious glance.

He smiles at me. “Okay. Be careful.”

I push my way through the crowd and stop dead. Jack is standing at the bar with a redhead draped half over him. The stranger has his hand on Jack’s arm, and his attention is entirely on Jack. Rage sears through me. What the hell is going on?

Jack catches sight of me, and a huge, cheesy grin breaks across his face. I falter as his gaze stays on mine, his eyebrows rising. Is he trying to tell me something? I head in his direction, and as soon as I’m within reach, Jack reaches out, grabs me, and pulls me against him.

“Here he is,” he says enthusiastically. He’s slurring slightly. “Here’s my Arlo.”

“Hmm,” I say as the other man glares at me.

“Yes,” Jack says. “I was just saying to David here that my boyfriend was coming back.”

Realisation dawns. I blame the huge amount of cherry pop shots that I’ve consumed for how slow I am on the uptake.

“Ahh, yes, I’m the boyfriend,” I inform the redheaded man.

He removes his hand from Jack’s arm, but not before giving him a slow caress. I direct a narrow-eyed glare