Page 30 of Payback
“Was that your wee mum?” he asks with a lascivious smirk on his face that I don’t like.
“It was,” I reply through clenched teeth.
“Did she ask about me?”
I exhale heavily and shake my head. “No, she didn’t fucking ask about you, Mac. Would you stop, please?”
“Stop what?” he asks, his green eyes wide and innocent. “It’s not my fault she thinks I’m handsome.”
Mac is referring to the one time my mom made me FaceTime with her to show her the house I’d bought. She got one look at his red hair and gushed about it so much, the idiot has decided she must be in love with him.
“I’m hitting the hay early. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Aye, you do that, lad. You need your beauty rest for all the wooing you’re planning on doing with blondie.”
I eye him seriously. “Don’t you be noticing her hair, all right?”
He hoots with laughter. “Don’t you be getting possessive of a burd who’s not yours yet. You got her phone number, lad. You still have to win her over.”
I make my way upstairs, hoping that is exactly what happens tomorrow. My thoughts earlier about not calling her right away are forgotten when I flop down on my bed and pull her number up on my phone.
Me: Drinks after the fitting tomorrow?
Allie: Who dis?
I laugh at her humourous response and get a flash of her bright blue eyes as we laid in bed together two years ago. She started that night as a woman on a mission who was tense and nervous and completely focused on her goal. But after we had sex, there was a lightness in her eyes that I’m desperate to see again.
Me: This is the best sex you ever had…obviously.
Allie: Jake! I haven’t heard from you in ages!
Me: I don’t know who Jake is, but I’m certain my cock is bigger than his.
After a minute delay, she replies.
Allie: Just drinks?
I sigh heavily because she is not going to make this easy for me.
Me: For now, yes. Because I evidently need to remind you how much fun we can have together.
Allie: I do remember a little something to that effect.
Me: I remember everything, mooi. Let me remind you.
Allie: Okay. See you then…Jake.
And there it is—a glimpse of that sarcasm I remember so fondly.
After training the next day, Mac and I head to Kindred Spirits Boutique to get styled for our Win A Date shoot tomorrow. My muscles are tense as I drive behind Mac’s jeep down the narrow Redchurch Street, and it has nothing to do with the road being narrow. It’s because I’m going to see Allie and I need to get her beyond the “just drinks” mindset.
I slide into a parking spot behind Mac outside of the clothing boutique located on the corner. It’s a red painted brick building with a large graffiti-style logo splashed across its window.
Mac smiles broadly as I hop out of my vehicle and approach. “Are you ready to woo your lass?”
I roll my eyes. “I don’t woo.”
“What do you do then?” he asks, genuinely curious.
