Page 18 of One More Shot
It’s a subtle change in a tone, but it’s enough. This isn’t Cash, my best friend speaking. It’s Cash, Bailey’s fiancé.
Despite the flicker of annoyance shooting through me, I can’t help but feel happy that Bailey has someone like Cash in her corner. Someone who will always fight for her and what she wants.
The thought of being that person for someone is so foreign to me, I can’t even begin to comprehend it. I’ve tried to imagine myself being the kind of person Cash is for Bailey – reliable, constant, all-consuming with his love – but I comeup blank every time. Like the idea ofmeandloveare two parallel concepts my brain just can’t get to work together.
I’m glad Cash and Bailey have each other, though. Even if it does result in this. A weird kind of tension between me and Cash that I don’t think I’ve ever felt before.
The van crawls to a stop as we hit a stretch of traffic and I sigh, my fingers tapping restlessly against the wheel. ‘I don’t know what she’s going to do.’ Eliott’s irritated face swims in my mind and I wince. ‘But, yeah. Can’t see her agreeing to it.’
Cash groans and he brings a hand up to run through his hair. ‘Why? What happened?’
I hesitate. Cash and I don’t have secrets. Not when it comes to things like this. I’ve never had any problem telling him about my dates, and he’s always been happy to wingman for me, to give me advice without judging, to let me live my life the way I want to without trying to mould me into being someone else.
‘I’m not sure,’ I tell him honestly. Because I’m not. I don’t know what I’d been expecting from Eliott at the engagement party, but it definitely hadn’t been that. ‘But we’ve met before.’ I tell him about that night two years ago, about the chemistry Eliott and I had with each other on the dance floor, about how the energy between us felt almost electric as we stumbled back to her home.
Cash exhales a deep breath and shakes his head. ‘So, whathappened? You slept together and then didn’t call or something? That’s why she’s pissed?’
‘That’s the thing. We didn’t actually sleep together. Not really.’ Cash shoots me a quizzical look and I shrug. ‘It was obvious she wasn’t feeling it anymore, so I left.’
I think back to that night and try to recall if there was something I said or did that resulted in the abrupt change in her demeanour that night. How she went from being an enthusiastic participant in our evening together to awkwardly trying to end things. At the time, her truly awful fake moaning had been almost funny – keywordalmost– but now, thinking back on it, I’m pretty sure there was something else in her eyes.
A sadness I hadn’t been able to recognise back then.
I suddenly feel guilty for leaving so abruptly. Maybe I should’ve stayed and talked to her. Found out what was wrong and tried to help her through it. Is that why she’s so mad? For some reason, I doubt it. We didn’t know each other. Didn’t owe her other anything other than an orgasm, and we both ran a zero on that front.
‘I don’t know what her deal is,’ I say, shaking away my memories of that night. ‘But I’m definitely not her favourite person.’
‘And you think she’ll say no to the weddingjustto avoid you?’ Cash is looking at me in disbelief, and I can’t say that I blame him.
‘I know how it sounds, but this isn’t an ego thing or anything like that. I genuinely think she’d rather turn down a job than have to spend another minute in the same room as me.’
And that’s a jarring realisation. Especially when I have no idea what I’ve done to deserve such a visceral response from her.
Cash frowns and the contemplative look is back. I can practically see the cogs turning in his mind. ‘You need to fix this.’
‘What?’
The traffic ahead of us starts rolling forward, but I don’t make any move to follow. A car honks behind us, but I ignore it in favour of staring at Cash incredulously.
‘I need towhat?’
‘Fix this,’ Cash repeats simply. ‘The feature is important. This is Bailey’s job.’
Low blow.
I know just as well as he does how important Bailey’s work is to her. I know how hard she’s worked to build this platform for herself, and just how difficult it’s been maintaining it. I wouldn’t do anything to jeopardise that. Not after everything she’s been through to get to this point.
‘And…’ His voice softens slightly, and he gets that stupid grin on his face that only crops up whenever he’s thinking about my sister. ‘It’s our wedding, and I want it to beeverything she’s dreamt about. If that means that you have to patch things up with Eliott so Bailey can have her dream photographer, then so be it.’
The car behind us honks again and I hurriedly pull off, racing to catch up with the traffic ahead. ‘And how am I supposed to do that?’
Cash grins over at me, and any tension that’s been lingering between us dissipates immediately. ‘I’m sure you’ll figure it out.’
Chapter SevenELIOTT
The thing about working freelance is that everyone tells you how good it’ll feel to be your own boss and to set your own working hours, but nobody tells you just how little the people in your life will respect those working hours.
Case in point? It’s 3pm on a Friday and the plan had been to spend the day at my desk finishing editing the photos from a wedding two weeks prior. And yet, for some reason, I’ve spent the day playing chauffeur to my grandmother.
