Page 9 of Spiralling Skywards
Still, she was his sister. Hislittlesister. Better than being his ex, though, much better.
Her small hand slid into mine, I placed my other hand over the top of both of them, enveloping hers.
I gave my head a shake, no clue what was actually going on with me. I didn’t think about the size of a girl’s hand, what they were wearing, or the colour of their skin. Yet, all of those things had run through my head that night. Perhaps high-end recruitment wasn’t my forte, perhaps I should apply for a job reporting on E News or Next Top Model instead.
“Sarah, good to finally meet you.” I couldn’t think of a single other thing to say. My mouth felt dry, and my brain had apparently shut down any kind of communication with my voice box and mouth.
“You too, Liam. Wow, Australia. Big change for you then? When did you arrive?”
“Wednesday . . . No, Tuesday. Shit, I can’t remember. What day is it now?”
See? Idiot, fucking idiot.
“Friday.” The Carter siblings responded together and laughed. It was then I noticed the resemblance across their eyes. They both had the same shade of blue.
“Jet lag, it’s a killer. You won’t know if you’re on your head or your arse for the next week or so dude.” Luke reminded me.
“Yeah, I remember it well.”
“Have you been over here before?” Sarah asked.
“Yeah, back when I finished school. I travelled for around two years.” She nodded and smiled, seeming genuinely interested, which made me happy and sort of nervous. I’d no clue why.
“What about you—” Before I got a chance to finish, Will arrived with a bottle of Moët and a waitress with a tray full of glasses.
“Happy birthday, Luke. Here’s to many more as well as the very best of British to you and Del here in your new business venture and thank you, Sunshine, for being the best and the prettiest event organiser I’ve had the pleasure of working with.”
Prettiest? Is that right, fucker?
The dark haired girl that Sarah has been with all night appeared at her side. “Hold on a minute, what about the best event organiser’s assistant?”
“Sorry, sorry, Sash. And to the best assistant an event organiser has ever had,” Will added.
“And prettiest.” Sasha nodded.
“That too,” Will agreed.
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Sarah said, smiling and giving Sasha a cheeky wink. Why was it that Sarah’s wink made my pants tight, while Dicklan’s just felt wrong on every level?
“Popping the good stuff, are we? Hope there’s a glass there for me.” I heard the collective groan as if right on cue, the little orange fiend appeared.
He leaned in to give Sarah a kiss, and it was thanks only to her own skilful manoeuvring that he didn’t land one on her lips. She pulled a face and physically shuddered as he moved in on Sasha. Sarah caught me watching her, blushed, and gave me her one-dimpled smile.
Stick a fork in me. I was done.
“Happy birthday!” I heard from over my shoulder. “Great party, thanks for the invite, Sunshine.” I turned and came face to face with the blonde that I was avoiding earlier.
“I didn’t invite you, and the name’s Sarah.”
“Whatever,” the tall blonde responded. “How are you, Luke? I thought you might’ve called?” I stepped back a little so I could observe their interaction.
“I’m good, Mel. Thanks for coming, but I don’t think we really have any more to discuss, do you?”
Ah, so this was Mel. Dicklan must’ve thought I was looking at her when he warned me off. I knew there was something about her I didn’t like.
“Ol’ Luke here is now an international, jet-setting businessman, he doesn’t have time for the likes of us anymore,” Dicklan told Mel. She looked him up and down before ignoring his remark and turning her attention back to Luke.
“I think we have plenty to discuss,especiallyafter last week andespeciallyabout work. Did you read the email I sent you?” she asked him.
