Page 34 of Retrograde
He was going to hell for lying to Lucie. And his teammates and his bosses and his family. But Lucie most of all. He didn’t know what had come over him when he’d suggested to Lucie that they enter some sort of friends-with-benefits situation, considering he’d been in Sienna’s bed mere days ago. Those women often made his head fuzzier than alcohol. And he’d lied about his sobriety, too. A sure-fire sign of addiction that he was going to continue to push aside.
As the waiter came round and mistakenly offered him alcohol, he felt all eyes on him. He was sick of it. They didn’t need to walk on eggshells around him. ‘I’m okay,but how about a round of tequila shots for everyone else?’
‘We’re all right, mate,’ Julien rejected his suggestion, which irked Brett even more.
‘The hotel’s walking distance, go on. We’re here to celebrate, aren’t we?’ He was challenging him, Julien continuing to say no would cause a scene.
‘I’ll take his shot, so one for each of us.’ Marco thanked the waiter and nodded at Brett, signalling that he had his back.
‘Sorry I’m late!’ Bea burst in right as the shots were delivered and helped herself to one, saving Marco, world’s biggest lightweight, from giggling into his pasta when the main courses came out.
‘You okay?’ Lucie leaned into his side.
‘Fine.’ He hastily turned to talk to Gabriel and Jasper so she couldn’t make a drama out of nothing. His plan worked and she chatted away with the girls, but it didn’t stop her from resting her hand on his knee like he was about to crumble. Which, in fairness, he was.
He should tell her about Sienna, or at least tell someone. Julien would get it, he would understand. Instead, he excused himself from the table and took his phone with him.
‘Hello?’ She sounded happy to hear his voice, and it broke him even further.
‘Hey, Sen. What you up to?’ He didn’t quite know what to say to her, considering he hadn’t seen her since that night at the bar, and they’d barely texted.
‘Uh, I just woke up… is everything all right?’
‘Oh, shit! I forgot it’s early morning there. I’m so sorry.’
‘No worries. So…’ She trailed off. Right, he should speak. He called her.
‘I don’t really know why I called… I guess I just wanted to check in.’
‘You don’t have to, Brett. If you wanted the other night to be a one-time thing, for old times’ sake, then that’s what it is. Don’t stress about it.’ She didn’t sound sure, and hewasn’tsure.
‘Um… can I get back to you on that?’ He grimaced. He sounded like such a tool and he hated himself for it.
‘Sure. I’m going back to sleep, Brett. Take care of yourself, okay?’
‘You too.’
He slunk back to the table, his cheeks flushed with embarrassment for who he was becoming. He was turning into a stereotypical bloke who played with women’s feelings and the horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach only grew as he watched Lucie laughing with their friends. How could a man like him ever be ready for a woman like her?
‘Would you like a glass of wine?’ Lucie nearly jumped out of her skin when the flight attendant appeared at her side, looming over her in the dim lighting of the cabin.
‘I’m good, thank you.’ She nodded at the gigantic bottle of water on the table beside her, her third since they’d boarded the flight to Sydney five hours ago. She and the airplane toilets were becoming fast friends. SinceBrett was equally as dehydrated, they’d raced each other twice and fought their way into the tiny cubicle. Brett might be fast, but Lucie had elbows she wasn’t afraid to use.
‘Excuse me, ma’am? Do you happen to have any milkshakes? Chocolate, strawberry? I’ll take banana as a last resort.’ Brett spoke loud enough that anyone in the surrounding seats could hear him, and Lucie tried to hold in her laughter. She failed when she caught his eye.
‘A milkshake? Sophistication truly is not your strong suit, is it?’
‘What? I need some sugar. Don’t mock me, Sunny. Do you thinkhe’smocking me?’ He gestured at the older gentleman in his suit in the seat next to him. ‘No, he’s minding his own business, like you should.’ He fake huffed at her.
‘Hello, Mr Anderson. Nice to have you flying with us again. But as I told you last time, we don’t do milkshakes. Can I get you something else?’ The flight attended raised an eyebrow.
‘What if I had type one diabetes and was having low blood sugar?’ Brett blinked at her.
‘We have Coca-Cola.’ She waved a menu at him.
‘Fine, that’ll have to do. Two, please.’ He tapped his card on the machine. ‘So, how’s your flight, Susie?’ he grinned up at her.
‘Susan. My flight would be better if I didn’t have to deal with your mischief.’
