Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 115737 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115737 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
I blink a few times, letting everything he’s just shouted at me drip into my brain. ‘It’s one o’clock?’ I blurt in panic, turning and running into my lounge to find my phone. ‘I was supposed to meet Micky at ten,’ I cry, pulling cushions from the couch and throwing them over my shoulder. No phone. I shove my hand down the sides in turn, feeling around.
‘Looking for this?’ Jack picks up my phone from the TV cabinet and holds it up.
‘Yes!’ I rush over and snatch it from his hand, finding its battery is dead. ‘Shit.’ I quickly plug it in and wait impatiently for it to switch on. Sounds start ringing, dinging and singing chaotically when it comes to life. I wince with every separate sound, seeing missed calls and text messages springing onto my screen; not just from Micky, but from Nat and Lizzy too. I can see Micky in my mind now, calling them to try and find out where I am. Going through the texts, I see each and every one of my mates has left a message asking where the hell I am and if my lay was up to scratch. I quickly call Micky, worried that he might be on his way over to track me down. ‘Damn,’ I mutter when it goes to voicemail. ‘It’s me. I slept in.’ I laugh like an idiot. ‘Call me!’ Hanging up, I proceed to call Nat, telling her the same excuse, moving away from Jack when she asks, a bit too loudly, if I’m able to walk this morning. I peek at him, and his nostrils flare dangerously. ‘I’ll call you later,’ I say, hanging up. Then I dial Lizzy. She might not be so easy to fob off.
‘Where the hell are you?’ she answers in greeting.
‘Slept in.’ I screw my face up, waiting for her scoff of disbelief. In the ten years I’ve known Lizzy, I’ve never slept in. Not this late, anyway. I look at Jack and see him roll his eyes, a sign of his annoyance.
‘I’m on my way over to check you’re not dead.’
‘No need.’ I shoot Jack a pained look, watching as he flops down on the couch. ‘I’m on my way to my mum and dad’s.’
‘Oh. Okay. So how was it? You seeing him again? I like Rugby Player Tom!’
I turn away from Jack and cringe. ‘I can’t talk right now.’
‘Oh my God! Is he still there?’ she squeals excitedly. ‘Call me later. I want every dirty little detail.’
‘I will.’ I hang up and drop my phone on the couch, exhausted after my mammoth session of bullshit. ‘I cannot believe I slept in till this time.’ It shouldn’t be a surprise. The locksmith didn’t turn up until 4 a.m. and I didn’t get to bed until five.
‘Don’t sweat it,’ Jack grumbles. ‘It’s not like you’ve given me a heart attack or anything.’
‘What did you think had happened to me?’ I ask, passing him to go to the kitchen. ‘There was no risk of the madman who beat my door down returning.’
‘He’s here now,’ he replies, low and husky and . . . very close behind me.
I whirl around and collide with his chest. ‘Oh!’ I’m grabbed and hauled up to his lips, and then indulged with a long, passionate hello kiss. ‘Hmmm,’ I sigh, relaxing into the smooth, slow rotations of his tongue. ‘Hello to you too.’
‘Fuck, I’ve missed you.’ He keeps our lips sealed as he lowers me back down to my feet.
‘It’s been twelve hours.’
‘Every minute felt like a century,’ he mumbles into my mouth moodily. ‘I didn’t sleep a wink, I daydreamed my way through my morning and tapped the table in the restaurant a million times with my fork while I waited for you.’ He pulls back and scowls at me.
It’s then I see it. A nasty red mark on his cheekbone. My eyes root on the blemish, fury burning a hole through my gut.
‘It’s nothing.’ He covers the mark and steps away, avoiding my furious eyes.
‘Nothing?’ I ask, astounded. Nothing? I can feel myself beginning to quiver with the rage building. Last night she shredded him with her fucking nails, and now this? ‘You might not be able to retaliate, Jack, but there’s nothing to stop me.’ I storm past him, enraged, set on finding Stephanie and giving her payback for all the marks I’ve seen on Jack, and the ones I haven’t too.
‘Annie, stop.’ He snakes his arm around my waist from behind and lifts me from my feet, stopping me.
‘She can’t do this to you.’ I shout, wriggling to break free from his hold. ‘I swear, Jack, I’ll rip her fucking arms off so she can’t touch you again!’
‘Annie, calm the hell down.’ His voice is so level, so composed, as he takes me back to the kitchen. ‘You will be doing nothing.’ Placing me on my feet, he tilts me a warning look.