Page 23 of The Rest is History
‘He looked… good,’ I say lamely. ‘Impressive. He cut quite an intimidating figure, but in a good way. Majestic, I suppose.’
‘More Eric Bana than Humpty Dumpty?’
I laugh. ‘Definitely.’ I take a sip of my espresso. Mmm. The hot, bitter liquid burns better than alcohol as it slips down my throat.
‘Codpiece?’
I splutter. Clamp my hand to my mouth.
‘Good grief, woman.’
She giggles. ‘Sorry. But you knew it was coming. Yes or no.’
I lick a slick of escaped coffee off my palm before answering.
‘I believe there was, yes. I didn’t look directly at it.’
‘Kind of like a solar eclipse? Was it too blinding for your tastes?’
‘Oh my God. You arehorrific. Remind me why we’re friends.’
‘Because if you didn’t have me, you’d be forced to hang out—in hostile silence, obviously—with Cheery Chops.’
‘Point taken.’
‘So, reading between the lines of your pathetic attempt at gossip, he looked hot and interacted with people like a normal human being. Yes?’
‘Yeah. Except?—’
She leans straight in. This woman is vicious.‘Tell me.’
‘Well, we had a slightly awkward moment. It was a bit—intense.’ That was an understatement. I have a brief flash of memory again.
My hand braced on the wall.
My acute awareness as Charlie’s mouth came closer to my neck.
The goosebumps that erupted on my skin despite the warmth of his breath.
A hyper-awareness of him and me. Alone.
A stillness in the air. Like time was suspended for a few magical seconds.
The best thing to do with Zara, now I’ve been stupid enough to bring it up, is to downplay it.
‘The back of my hood got caught in my necklace,’ I explain. ‘Charlie couldn’t get it untangled, so he had to kind of… bite the threads off.’
Zara’s eyes are wide and she presses her lips together as if this is the most tickled she’s ever been and trying desperately to control herself.
She cocks her head. ‘El.’
‘Yeah.’ I aim for nonchalance, sipping at my espresso with studied nonchalance.
‘Babe. Charlie Vaughan put his teeth on you and you thought you could brush it under the carpet?’
‘Not on me. Jesus. He just snagged the fabric with his teeth.’
‘Where? Here?’ She touches her throat.
