Page 85 of Ace My Heart

I grabbed a packet of rice crackers and cracked open a cold bottle of white wine and poured myself a glass.

By the time I heard the knock on the door, I was a little tipsy. Amanda and Thomas were outside, Amanda holding wine.

“Sounded like this might be needed,” she explained. I toasted her with my half empty glass and grabbed two more from the cupboard.

“Oh, none for me,” Amanda said. “I’ve got a shift at the hospital at nine-thirty. I can stay until then, but I can’t drink.”

“Thomas?” I turned hopefully to him. He nodded, accepting a glass from me. I threw him a grateful smile.

Another knock at the door. Brad grinned at me from the other side, holding up a bag of Chinese takeaway. I grabbed bowls and chopsticks, and we all moved to the kitchen table.

“So, what’s the big dilemma?” Amanda asked, popping a dim sum into her mouth.

I scooped up a piece of honey chicken and chewed while I thought about where to start.

“Okay, so you remember that day that you came round to Joel’splace, before I went to Dubai?” The three of them nodded, waiting for me to elaborate.

“Well, you remember Ben, Joel’s uncle?” They nodded again.

“Oooh, the hot one!” Amanda said. Thomas threw her a mock hurt look and she grabbed his hand.

“Hot for Mel, not for me! You know I’m super turned on by your whole non-threatening nerd vibe!”

Thomas barked out a laugh. “Yep, I don’t feel completely emasculated right now!” But he turned and pressed a kiss to her temple, and she snuggled in closer.

Jesus, I wanted what they had so damn bad.

“Yeah, that’s Ben. Well, turns out he has a … bit of a thing for me. We stayed at his place in Dubai while we were there, and some … stuff happened between us.”

Amanda was virtually bouncing out of her seat; she loved my spicy drama. Thomas watched with polite interest, I guess not really knowing what to expect next.

Brad … his face was frozen the way I imagine someone looks when they’re trying not to be completely disgusted.

“Okay, so he seemed like a sweet, nice kind of guy. But, in the bedroom … oh my God, it was awful. Like, the worst sex you could possibly imagine; he was just completely clueless. But I didn’t realise until after that he was into me for more than just … you know. Well, he did say a couple of weird things, but I didn’t … well, I assumed it was just casual, or I would never have …

“Anyway, I told him that I thought there wasn’t any point in starting something, seeing as he lives on the other side of the planet. He seemed a bit upset, but he took it pretty well.”

I stopped to take a mouthful of wine and stuffed some fried rice into my mouth.

“So, what’s the problem then?” Amanda asked, confused. Brad looked at me with an expression of horror on his face.

“Well, uh, it seems that he’s decided that he likes me enough that he’s moved back here.”

Amanda gasped. Brad shook his head. Thomas looked from Amanda to Brad to me.

“Is your life always full of so much drama, Mel?” he asked.

I laughed nervously. “It didn’t used to be,” I replied. “This must just be my year for it.”

I went on to tell them about the note, and about the conversation I’d heard him have with Joel before we’d left for Rome.

“So, I guess I’m even keener now to make sure he doesn’t continue having the wrong impression about us.”

Brad eyed me, brows drawn. “Mel, you should have told him the truth before. He’s come back here for you, because you gave him the wrong impression! You should have made it clearer that it wasn’t going anywhere. Hell, maybe you shouldn’t have jumped into bed with yet another rando.”

“I know that, Brad!” I snapped. “But I can’t go back and change the past, can I?”

“Can I add something here?” Thomas asked. I shrugged, hoping he wasn’t going to ream me out like Brad.

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