Page 39 of Chasing Blue
“Are you ready to order, or do you need a few more minutes?” the waiter asks.
“Can you give us a few please, mate?” I request. He leaves, and I know I have no choice but to make eye contact with Jules. Her light brown gaze pierces me. She closes her menu, crosses her legs, and leans back in her chair.
“So,The JMC. What’s that all about?” she questions.
I watch as she takes a sip of her Mojito, tilts her head, and raises her brows.
“I have no fucking idea,” I tell her honestly. Not mentioning that I will most definitely be finding out.
“I thought your middle name was Finn, that’s why Finn . . .”
“It is,” I interrupt, wondering how she knows my middle name. I don’t remember ever sharing that information with her.
She shakes her head while pulling a breadstick from the glass in the centre of the table and nibbles on the end.
Eyes on me, I watch as she flicks her tongue out and rubs the tip over her top lip. Julia’s a beautiful woman, but everything about her is just a little too perfect. I grew up at the beach, girls wore little to no makeup, and their hair was usually sun-bleached and piled on top of their heads. Don’t get me wrong, Julia’s hair is gorgeous, long, glossy, blonde, but there’s nothing natural about it, and I’ve never, not once, seen her without a full face of makeup. I feel bad for thinking all this as she eyes me seductively across the table. Our entire relationship happened out of convenience. She was the agent selling a development I’d worked on. She turned up at the site a couple of times while I was there and made it apparent she was interested. I asked for her number, and we went for a drink a week later. We fucked at her place that night and continued with casual hook-ups. Sometimes once a week, sometimes twice, then she turned up at a job site one day, claiming she just happened to be passing and introduced herself to Finn. Then she turned up at the office and introduced herself to Milly, and now she turns up at the bar at least three times a week, offering her input and advice, and making plans. I know I shouldn’t have let things get so out of hand, but I’ve been busy, and like I said, it was convenient.
“She’s obviously been talking about you to Zoe to have come up with the whole JMC thing.”
Apparently so, but I don’t say that out loud. Instead, I offer a nonchalant shrug.
“Zoe’s her business partner, so yeah, I’m sure I’ve come up in their conversations. Knowing Blue . . .”
I trail off. Realising I’ve fucked up, I reach for my drink and take a long sip. Fuck it, I’ll Uber home.
“Knowing Blue? By Blue, do you mean Scarlett? I thought that’s what I heard you call her earlier. What’s that all about? Do you know her then? Did you know her before you employed her?”
Julia reels off her questions without giving me a chance to answer as she throws her half-eaten breadstick onto the table and leans towards me.
“You better start talking, Jack, before I start walking.”
I want to tell her to go, walk away, fuck off, but that would mean I was behaving like all those things I claim not to be, so fuck it, I go with honesty instead.
“Scarlett comes from Palmers Bay, I’ve known her for years,” I start to explain.
Julia takes another swig of her drink before lacing her fingers together and resting them on the table in front of her. She looks like she’s about to start negotiations on one of her property deals. I feel bad that tonight’s deal isn’t going to go favourably for her, but it is what it is. We’re done, and the terms are non-negotiable. After seeing Scarlett in her little black dress, bare legs, and ankle boots, all I wanted to do was throw her over my shoulder and carry her home to my bed, not let her wander Main Street looking for a fucking alpha.
“I knew it. I fucking knew I walked in on something earlier.”
I nod and shrug. “We’ve got history, but I’ve not seen her in eighteen years, and I had no idea she was living down here.”
“Yeah, right. You’re a developer, and you’ve never heard of one of the best interior decorating and designers to hit the peninsula since Lauren Wild?”
“Yeah, I’ve heard the company mentioned, but had no clue Scarlett was involved. I’ve always used Lauren to dress our new builds. I’m mates with Gabe, so I’ve always given her the work. She’s just too busy to take on the bar and restaurant so close to Christmas, so Milly booked Ilahi. I was as shocked as shit when I walked into my bar Monday to find Bl—Scarlett standing there, believe me.”
“So, what’s your history with her?”
I knock back my vodka, rub my hand over the week-old growth covering my chin, and decide to go with brutal honesty. I don’t want to hurt Jules, but I’m not gonna lie to her either. I’m too fucking old and tired to be playing games.
My eyes meeting hers, I gesture with arms spread, palms open towards her. “She was the one.”
Julia’s head jerks back like I’ve slapped her, but she deserves the truth, so I lay it out.
“I’d been split with Eden, Finn’s mum, for three or four months when I met her. I spent the next couple of months falling hard and fast, then Eden called and told me she was four months pregnant, and the baby was mine.” Even all these years later, my head spins as I recall that phone call.
“I took a couple of days to get my shit together, and when I finally reached out to Scarlett, she’d already heard the news and upped and left for Sydney to start Uni a couple of weeks early. I’ve never seen her since.”
Her cheeks are sucked in between her teeth, making her lips purse as she shoots daggers my way.
