Page 8 of Spiralling Skywards
I spent thenext few hours people-watching. Well, really I was watching shorty and her mate while they danced. I tried not to pay attention to the sway of her hips, the wiggle of her arse, and the jiggle of her tits. For a whole thirty seconds I tried, but at the end of the day, I was a bloke, so I stopped trying and just enjoyed. Dicklan finally got bored of looking at my back and being ignored, so he decided to make his way around the room, striking up small talk with various groups of people, until they too, turned their backs on him. Wasn’t just me then.
A few different people spoke to me at the bar. Some Will had pointed me out to, explaining who I was and they came over, introduced themselves, and left business cards, a few others just struck up conversations, heard the accent, gave me their version of it, asked if I was drinking Fosters, and then left, thinking they were hilarious. They weren’t.
The whole while, I avoided making eye contact with the tall blonde. I could see from my peripheral that she kept looking my way, but I wasn’t interested. There was something predatory about her, something that reminded me way too much of Olivia.
What a fuck-up I’d made there.
My thoughts were interrupted as I watched Will stride across the dance floor and say something into the ear of the girl I’d barely been able to keep my eyes off of. It wasn’t just the curve of her hips and the jiggle of her tits that kept me mesmerised, it was something else, something primal drew my eyes to her, and it left me feeling both unsettled and curious. She smiled up at him, and I could clearly see the dimples that appeared in her cheeks.
I think I fell a little bit in love.
Her and her mate said something to the people around them, the dance floor cleared, and the lights went off everywhere but the bar fridges. The room fell silent for just a few seconds before I heard Luke’s voice asking, “Why the fuck have we come up here? S’not even open.” He was drunk, I’d recognise that slur anywhere. The lights behind the bar came on to reveal Luke standing just inside the entrance to the VIP area, two waitresses made their way towards him carrying a huge birthday cake lit with candles and sparklers, and I couldn’t help but smile at the wide-eyed look of shock on his face as the whole place started to sing “Happy Birthday”.
“You fuckers.” He laughed as he spoke and raked his fingers through his hair. Something I knew for a fact he did when he was nervous.
He blew out the candles, and everyone cheered. I cheered and smiled, but thenshewas there. Walking towardshim. Without even thinking about it, I made my way through the crowd and got closer so that I could witness their interaction myself.
The lights had been turned back on, and despite the handshakes and back slaps going on, I knew the instant his eyes met hers.Hisface lit up,shesmiled big, once again revealing those dimples. He smiled and shook his head as he pulled her into him and kissed the top of her head.
When she wrapped her arms around his neck, I felt out of control. A burning rage twisting up from my toes, coiling its way through my belly, lodging itself in my chest.
Anger, jealousy? Of what, I had no clue. I didn’t knowher, andhewas one of the nicest blokes I had ever met and my business partner. I seriously felt the need to break something, or someone. What the fuck was wrong with me?
He leaned back so he could look at her and said something in her ear and they both laughed. She’d cheated on him. We’d gotten pissed up in Sydney and spent an entire night bitching about unfaithful women, but here he was looking at her as if she were the only girl on the planet, and they laughed, theywerelaughing, together.
Too much vodka.
Jet lag and too much vodka. That was the only explanation as to why I was feeling like this. Unhinged. Fucking deranged in fact.
“Del?” I looked up, only my Aussie mates and Luke called me Del. “No fucking way. You fucker.”
Luke made his way the few steps towards me, his arm still around the girl. His smile was infectious, I couldn’t help but return it, despite the fact I felt like I was gonna throw up or have a heart attack, or both.
“I spoke to you. You’re here. You said you were still there.” He threw his arm around my shoulder and laughed. Yeah, he was definitely drunk.
“You fuckers. The lot of ya. I can’t believe it. When? How did you know?” He took a step back. Someone put a drink in his hand, and I noticed he was shaking. I didn’t know why, but that calmed me somewhat. I took a deep breath and reminded myself that he was my mate. This wasn’t high school, and apparently I was a complete wanker for being jealous.
“Did you do this?” He turned to the girl, who was still standing at his side. She blushed and smiled, and it was then that I realised she had only one dimple on her right cheek.
“It was a joint effort between me and Will, but Sasha helped me out big time too.”
Her voice was soft and a little bit raspy and sexy as fuck and I really shouldn’t have been having those thoughts.
“Did you meet?” Luke asked. “Did you two already get introduced?” He looked down at the girl, eyebrows drawn into a tight frown before adding, “Fucking hell, Sunshine, you’ve got underwear on, where are your clothes, your top, or a blouse thing, or summit?”
Despite her looking up at him, rolling her eyes, and saying through gritted teeth, “Don’t start,” every inch of her exposed skin turned a beautiful shade of pink.
“No, no we haven’t been introduced.” For some reason I felt compelled to help her out.
“Liam, Liam Delaney. Luke’s business partner.” I held out my hand and watched as her mouth dropped open. Before she got a chance to speak, Luke said, “Del, this is my little sister Sarah.”
My heart stopped. Started, froze? Who the fuck knew, but it felt like it did a lot of shit at once, shit it had no right to be doing. Noise, light, and air all ceased to exist for a few short seconds before almost flooring me when they reappeared in a rush.
His sister.
Not the ex. Not his lying, cheating, whore of an ex.
Sarah, his little sister. She was a good girl. He had told me what a good girl she was.
