Page 54 of Just a Taste
I need to talk to someone who doesn’t short circuit at the first sign of anything vaguely emotional.
Luckily, I have a twin.
Eve answers the call wearing a Santa hat and I’m pretty sure that’s gold tinsel wrapped around her neck in lieu of a scarf. I can hear the sound of raucous laughter in the background and Christmas tunes playing softly in a nearby room.
A pang of longing hits me. I should be there – with my sister, with my family, enjoying Christmas the only way the Joneses know how. Not cooped up in a glorified cell with only the company of a man whose two emotional extremes seem to jump from passionate kissing to passionate ignoring.
‘Noelle!’ Eve coos, and the slight slur to her voice is unmistakable. I’d bet any money that someone – probably Uncle Lloyd – has broken out the Christmas rum, and Eve has definitely had her fair share.
Urgh. I’m so jealous.
‘Looks like you’re having fun,’ I laugh, trying and failing to keep the bitterness out of my tone, as Eve uses her free hand to take another swig from something in a mug. Definitely the Christmas rum, then.
‘Ain’t that the truth,’ a voice says from off-screen. Eve scowls and then flips her camera over, putting me face toface with her fiancé, Nathan. He’s also wearing a Santa hat and there’s a tipsy glint in his eye.
‘Hey, Noelle. How’s it going?’
I give my future brother-in-law a wave. ‘I’ve been better.’
He winces and I realise I’m probably not doing a great job at masking my bitterness. ‘Yeah. Eve filled me in on everything. How’s SC?’
‘Don’t you start calling him that too.’
Nathan shrugs, his lips curling at the corners. ‘Eve still hasn’t told me his name.’
‘It’s Alex,’ I mutter, because having my brother-in-law refer to Hoxton asSexy Clientmight just be what finally does me in. ‘Alexander, actually. And yeah, things aren’t going great.’
The camera blurs suddenly as Eve flips it back towards her without warning. When her face comes into view again, she’s staring at me with a strange intensity. ‘What did you just say?’
Except she’s slurring a little and it sounds more like ‘whayoudjussay?’ It’s a testament to our twin telepathy that I even understand her at all.
‘Things aren’t going great,’ I repeat, my shoulders sagging a little. ‘He’s been avoiding me for—’
‘Notthat,’ Eve says, rolling her eyes like I’m purposely misunderstanding her. ‘Before that. You told Nathan what SC’s name is.’
I frown at my sister. Maybe she’s drunker than I thought. ‘Yeah. Alex.’
Her eyes light up and she pulls the camera a little closer to her face. ‘Alex. NotHoxton.’
My frown deepens. ‘Not sure what you’re getting at. That is literally his name.’
‘Not once,’ Eve declares, her voice rising with each syllable, ‘not once over the last two years have you ever called that man Alex. It’s always “Hoxton this” or “Hoxton that” or “Hoxton’s a miserable prick”.’ She tilts the camera down a little so it’s hitting her face at an awkward angle. ‘NeverAlex.’ She takes another swig of her drink, a wicked glint in her eye. ‘But now you’re dropping his name like it’s all natural, like you guys are on a first-name basis or something. Like you’refriends.’ She gives me a self-satisfied smirk. ‘What gives? What’s changed?’
We are, I realise with a jolt, technically on a first-name basis now. Hoxton’s been calling me Noelle for the last forty-eight hours and, apparently, I’m happy to call him by his first name too.
When didthathappen?
My mind floods with the memory of Hoxton deftly squeezing my ass, my fingers fisting against the fabric of his sweatshirt. The sound of his deep groans mixing with my moans and the word ‘Alex’ falling from my lips just before he pulled away.
Ah. So that was it.
‘You guys fucked, didn’t you?’ Eve says suddenly, still looking irritatingly smug. Outside of the camera frame I hear Nathan groan and chide her gently, ‘Babe, the kids are still running around’ and Eve shoots him an apologetic grin.
‘Sorry,’ she says in a dramatic stage whisper, the best her drunken self can do with dropping her voice. ‘But you did.’ She turns her attention back to me. ‘Didn’t you?’
‘No!’
Eve purses her lips, clearly unconvinced.
