but when the time comes I hover around in the kitchen.
When the doorbell rings, Mari doesn’t see me loitering in the hallway when she rushes to answer the door. But I see her. It’s pretty fucking hard to miss her in that sexy short white dress with pencil point heels.
I see the back of her dress. It is low enough that it comes down all the way to her lower back. I hiss out a breath. She’s not even wearing a bra.
This revelation smacks me in my gut.
She says something to Jamie, and by the time I’ve realized that her voice is getting louder and that she’s coming into the kitchen, it’s too late for me to hide.
Too damn late.
She almost walks into me skulking in the shadows. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t see you there.”
My mouth hangs open. I want to disappear. Before I have time to collect my thoughts and find something to say, she sashays past me again.
I hear laughter, and then the door slams shut. I kick the door closest to me. Screw the gym. I search for junk food to fix my mood and find chocolate, and a packet of chips, and some cans of fizzy drink.
This evening, I’m going to do nothing but eat, and watch TV. But as I flick channels automatically, not watching anything, my mind is in chaos. Soon enough, the floor is littered with wrappers and empty cans.
I stay up until two in the morning, waiting for her to return. I wait and wait, and when it turns to four AM, my stomach is in knots. She’s with Jamie, probably in his bed and she has no intention of coming back tonight.
Fuck her.
And fuck Jamie.
Chapter 29
MARI
I must be a walking magnet for men to treat me badly, but I never seem to learn my lesson. First Dale, now Ward. Jamie is right. I feel ashamed. Well, I’m going to wash Ward right out of my hair. Just like I did Dale.
I twist and turn as I admire myself in the mirror. These heels are going to be killer to walk in but they make my legs look long, and accentuate my calf muscles. I turn around and glance over my shoulder to check out the dress from behind.
It’s low at the back and thank goodness I remembered to bring my backless bra which gives me the confidence to wear this without worrying that I’ll have an accident and reveal all. I had to pick my dress up from Jamie’s place because I had no going out clothes here. I feel homeless with my belongings scattered between Jamie’s and Ward’s homes. I need to get my own place and start over.
Still, I’m looking forward to tonight. I haven’t dressed up like this for months and now I’ve gone all out. But as I take another look at myself, I’m worried that it’s too much. The dress is too fancy, too sexy, and the heels are killer.
It’s only Jamie.
Yet I’m not dressing for him.
I want Ward to see me before I leave. I rush to get the door when Jamie arrives. His face lights up the moment he sets eyes on me, but I don’t pay much attention to his compliments because I’m trying to work out how to get Ward to see me. I can’t walk into the study, which is where he most likely is. But he sometimes hangs out in the kitchen.
“Just a moment,” I tell Jamie, and before he can say a word, I head into the kitchen, not because I need something, but because I can almost sense, can almost feel Ward is nearby.
I’m right, because as soon as I round the corner, I almost walk into him.
He was lurking in the shadows.
I just didn’t expect him to be so bad at spying.
I apologize and swan past him into the kitchen, but there’s nothing I need. He saw me. That’s all I wanted, for him to know what he had turned away. Jamie keeps staring at me, to the point that I find it annoying. I feel naked, and uncomfortable, as I step into the cab, wearing my pin-heel stilettoes.
I won’t last the night in these and will have to take them off in the club.
“Is it a club or a bar?” I ask Jamie as we settle into the cab.
“It’s both. She said it’s a new place.” His eyes take in my dress again, and he looks at me, then looks away. “You look amazing, Mari. Knock-them-dead