Spiralling Skywards: Falling (Contradictions #1) (3 page)

“Play nice, Sunshine,” he warned.

“Why is that troll here?” I questioned. “I don’t remember inviting her.”

“I invited her.”

“Nice move, dick head. Why the fuck would you do that?” Sasha asked him before I could.

He looked between us before letting out a long sigh.

“You need to let it go, girls. Luke moved on years ago, you two need to kiss and make up with her, too.”

“Get fucked.” I heard from Sasha, causing me to laugh. “I know how many cocks her lips have been around, so there’s no way I’ll be kissing them any time ever. I can smell her cum breath from here, she’s swallowed so much of the stuff it actually seeps from her pores.”

Will and I shared a look of disgust at that visual before we both started to laugh.

“I don’t know why you’re laughing, Will Bennett, I hear your spunk is part of the cause of her unique form of halitosis.”

“Fuck off, Sash, I wouldn’t touch that with a barge pole.”

“Not now you wouldn’t, but I hear there were bodily fluids exchanged back in the day.”

He glared at Sasha for a few seconds, and despite looking like he had a lot to say, he remained silent.

“I’ll send some drinks over,” he finally said. “G and T and a vodka tonic?” He looked between us again, I nodded and gave him a smile.

“I’ll give you a shout when your brother gets here.” I was then taken by complete surprise when Will leaned in and kissed my cheek.

“I meant what I said, Sunshine, you really do look gorgeous tonight.”

My heart banged hard against my rib cage as my face felt like it was going to ignite from embarrassment while I watched him turn and walk towards the bar.

“What the fuck was that all about?” Sasha asked from beside me.

“No clue,” was my whispered response.

I spent the
next few hours people-watching. Well, really I was watching shorty and her mate while they danced. I tried not to pay attention to the sway of her hips, the wiggle of her arse, and the jiggle of her tits. For a whole thirty seconds I tried, but at the end of the day, I was a bloke, so I stopped trying and just enjoyed. Dicklan finally got bored of looking at my back and being ignored, so he decided to make his way around the room, striking up small talk with various groups of people, until they too, turned their backs on him. Wasn’t just me then.

A few different people spoke to me at the bar. Some Will had pointed me out to, explaining who I was and they came over, introduced themselves, and left business cards, a few others just struck up conversations, heard the accent, gave me their version of it, asked if I was drinking Fosters, and then left, thinking they were hilarious. They weren’t.

The whole while, I avoided making eye contact with the tall blonde. I could see from my peripheral that she kept looking my way, but I wasn’t interested. There was something predatory about her, something that reminded me way too much of Olivia.

What a fuck-up I’d made there.

My thoughts were interrupted as I watched Will stride across the dance floor and say something into the ear of the girl I’d barely been able to keep my eyes off of. It wasn’t just the curve of her hips and the jiggle of her tits that kept me mesmerised, it was something else, something primal drew my eyes to her, and it left me feeling both unsettled and curious. She smiled up at him, and I could clearly see the dimples that appeared in her cheeks.

I think I fell a little bit in love.

Her and her mate said something to the people around them, the dance floor cleared, and the lights went off everywhere but the bar fridges. The room fell silent for just a few seconds before I heard Luke’s voice asking, “Why the fuck have we come up here? S’not even open.” He was drunk, I’d recognise that slur anywhere. The lights behind the bar came on to reveal Luke standing just inside the entrance to the VIP area, two waitresses made their way towards him carrying a huge birthday cake lit with candles and sparklers, and I couldn’t help but smile at the wide-eyed look of shock on his face as the whole place started to sing “Happy Birthday”.

“You fuckers.” He laughed as he spoke and raked his fingers through his hair. Something I knew for a fact he did when he was nervous.

He blew out the candles, and everyone cheered. I cheered and smiled, but then
she
was there. Walking towards
him
. Without even thinking about it, I made my way through the crowd and got closer so that I could witness their interaction myself.

The lights had been turned back on, and despite the handshakes and back slaps going on, I knew the instant his eyes met hers.
His
face lit up,
she
smiled big, once again revealing those dimples. He smiled and shook his head as he pulled her into him and kissed the top of her head.

When she wrapped her arms around his neck, I felt out of control. A burning rage twisting up from my toes, coiling its way through my belly, lodging itself in my chest.

Anger, jealousy? Of what, I had no clue. I didn’t know
her
, and
he
was one of the nicest blokes I had ever met and my business partner. I seriously felt the need to break something, or someone. What the fuck was wrong with me?

He leaned back so he could look at her and said something in her ear and they both laughed. She’d cheated on him. We’d gotten pissed up in Sydney and spent an entire night bitching about unfaithful women, but here he was looking at her as if she were the only girl on the planet, and they laughed, they
were
laughing, together.

Too much vodka.

Jet lag and too much vodka. That was the only explanation as to why I was feeling like this. Unhinged. Fucking deranged in fact.

“Del?” I looked up, only my Aussie mates and Luke called me Del. “No fucking way. You fucker.”

Luke made his way the few steps towards me, his arm still around the girl. His smile was infectious, I couldn’t help but return it, despite the fact I felt like I was gonna throw up or have a heart attack, or both.

“I spoke to you. You’re here. You said you were still there.” He threw his arm around my shoulder and laughed. Yeah, he was definitely drunk.

“You fuckers. The lot of ya. I can’t believe it. When? How did you know?” He took a step back. Someone put a drink in his hand, and I noticed he was shaking. I didn’t know why, but that calmed me somewhat. I took a deep breath and reminded myself that he was my mate. This wasn’t high school, and apparently I was a complete wanker for being jealous.

“Did you do this?” He turned to the girl, who was still standing at his side. She blushed and smiled, and it was then that I realised she had only one dimple on her right cheek.

“It was a joint effort between me and Will, but Sasha helped me out big time too.”

Her voice was soft and a little bit raspy and sexy as fuck and I really shouldn’t have been having those thoughts.

“Did you meet?” Luke asked. “Did you two already get introduced?” He looked down at the girl, eyebrows drawn into a tight frown before adding, “Fucking hell, Sunshine, you’ve got underwear on, where are your clothes, your top, or a blouse thing, or summit?”

Despite her looking up at him, rolling her eyes, and saying through gritted teeth, “Don’t start,” every inch of her exposed skin turned a beautiful shade of pink.

“No, no we haven’t been introduced.” For some reason I felt compelled to help her out.

“Liam, Liam Delaney. Luke’s business partner.” I held out my hand and watched as her mouth dropped open. Before she got a chance to speak, Luke said, “Del, this is my little sister Sarah.”

My heart stopped. Started, froze? Who the fuck knew, but it felt like it did a lot of shit at once, shit it had no right to be doing. Noise, light, and air all ceased to exist for a few short seconds before almost flooring me when they reappeared in a rush.

His sister.

Not the ex. Not his lying, cheating, whore of an ex.

Sarah, his little sister. She was a good girl. He had told me what a good girl she was.

Still, she was his sister. His
little
sister. 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,
especially
after last week and
especially
about work. Did you read the email I sent you?” she asked him.

“Not here, all right? Just go, dance, drink, have a good time. I’ll talk to you next week.”

She nodded before turning and walking away.

“Especially after last week? Please tell me you didn’t?” Sarah stared up at her brother.

Her blue eyes shone in the lights of the club, and I felt gutted at the thought of her looking like she was about to cry.

“Mind your own business, Sunshine. This has fuck all to do with you,” Luke told her, and I actually jerked towards him.

“Mate, don’t talk—” I started, but he cut me off.

“Stay out of it, Del.”

Great, our new business wasn’t even off the ground and I already wanted to knock my colleague the fuck out.

There was an awkward silence amongst the six of us. Madonna’s “Sorry” was aptly being played as I took a few deep breaths.

I’d grown to love Luke like a brother over the previous two years and would trust him with my life, wife, and last dollar, but right then, I wanted to smack him right on the end of his nose for the way he had just spoken to his sister.

“Fuck all to do with her? If it’s got fuck all to do with her, why were you ringing our place at three in the morning, crying in your beer to your little sister over what that slut had done?” All eyes turned to Sasha.

“Yeah, I heard the calls
and
listened to the answerphone messages. She was so worried that I had to literally sit on your sister to stop her from flying all the way out to you. So, how the fuck dare you tell her it’s got fuck all to do with her. She was quite prepared to put her life on hold and fly thousands of miles to hold your big fat pussy hand until you got your big fat pussy shit together.”

“Sash—” Sarah tried to interrupt her mate but this girl was on a roll and she wasn’t finished yet.

“No, it needs to be said. That girl’s never been anything but a bitch to you, even when they were together. You warned him about the rumours, we both did. We also told him she’d play up as soon as his back was turned, but he wouldn’t listen. Then when it all came on top, he had the cheek to phone at stupid o’clock, pissed out of his head, and expected you to make it all better.”