‘I’ll just take it off.’ I spit.

‘No, you won’t.’ he assures me, and he’s probably right.

I get off the bed, heading for the bathroom in the ridiculous jumper. ‘You’re an unreasonable arse.’ I mutter, slamming the door behind me.

I go for a wee and make a mental note, never to let him get to zero again. That was my worst nightmare. I rub my poor abused hips, the sensitive flesh above my bones still tingling.

When I’m done, I find Jesse in the kitchen with Sam and Kate, who both run their eyes over my jumper clad body. I shrug, pouring myself another wine.

‘Made up?’ Kate asks, perching on Sam’s lap. He separates his thighs, causing Kate to slip between his legs on a squeal. She playfully slaps him before looking at me for an answer.

‘No,’ I mutter, throwing Jesse a disgruntled look. ‘And if you’d like to know who has put a hole in your kitchen door, look no further.’ I point my glass at Jesse. ‘He also smashed your wine glass.’ I add, like the pathetic snitch I am.

I watch as Jesse reaches in his pockets, palms off a pile of twenties and slaps them on the table in front of Kate. ‘Let me know if it’s anymore.’ he says, keeping his eyes firmly on me. I look down at the table. There must be at least five hundred quid there. And I notice he didn’t apologise, the arrogant arse.

Kate shrugs and scoops the money up. ‘That should cover it.’

Jesse shoves his hands back in his pockets, saunters over to me and bends so his face is level with mine. ‘I like your jumper.’

‘Fuck off.’ I mouth, before taking a huge swig of wine.

He grins, kissing my nose. ‘Mouth,’ he warns. He grasps the back of my head, bunching my hair in his fist and pulls me forward so we’re nose to nose. ‘Don’t drink too much.’ he orders, and then lands me with a searing hot kiss. I try to resist…a little.

When I’m free from his lips and I’ve regained my senses, I scoff, taking another glug.

He shakes his head mildly, inhaling deeply, before turning away from me. ‘My work here is done.’ he says smugly as he leaves.

‘Bye.’ Kate sings on a laugh. I throw her a filthy look.

‘My man,’ Sam holds his hand up on a grin. ‘Ava, where’s the love?’

‘Up his arse!’ I snap, discarding my wine glass and collecting my phone before storming out of the kitchen, back to my room. The man is impossible. I hear Sam and Kate laughing as I crawl into bed with my jumper on.

I’m pretending the only reason I’m pissed is because Jesse has just manhandled me into a jumper. The fact that he’s on his way to The Manor, and a certain pouty lipped witch is sure be there, has nothing to do with my bad mood – nothing at all.

As I’m dozing off, my phone starts singing The Stone Roses, This is the One. I roll my eyes, reaching for it from my bedside table. I need to teach that man some phone manners.

‘What?’ I snap.

‘Who do you think you’re talking to, lady?’

‘An unreasonable arse!’

‘I’ll ignore that. Have you still got the jumper on?’

I want to say no. ‘Yes.’ I grumble. Would he come back and torture me some more if I did say no? ‘Is that all you rang for?’

‘No, I wanted to hear your voice.’ he says softly. ‘I’m having Ava withdrawal.’

I melt a little on a sigh. He can be so domineering, bossy and unreasonable, and in the next breath, completely soppy and lovely. ‘You’ve been messing with my phone again.’ I accuse.

‘You’re not going to hear me call if it’s on silent, are you?’

‘No, but how did you know it was on silent?’ I ask, although I already know. I need to put a PIN lock on it. ‘Anyway, it’s rude. And you need to apologise to Sally.’

‘I’m sorry. Who’s Sally?’

‘No, you’re not. Sally is the waif like creature in my office who you verbally attacked.’

‘Oh, I’ll take care of it. Make sure you dream of me.’

I smile. ‘I will. Goodnight.’

‘Oh, Ava?’

‘What?’

‘You’re the one, baby.’ He hangs up, and my heart jumps up into my throat. What is the one? Does he mean what I think he means? I start chewing my thumb nail and drift off to sleep considering his coded statement.

Am I The One?

Is he The One?

Oh, hell. I really want him to be.

Chapter 24

 

I sit at my desk in a complete daydream, my mind racing with thoughts of The One and fuckings of various degrees. If – in my perfect little world – I end up in a relationship with Jesse, would this be how it is all of the time? Jesse making his commands and me who obeys?  It’s that or receiving some sort of fuck, or being subjected to some kind of countdown and torture until I relent, or he manhandles me into complying. I’m not denying the certain element of fun in the fucking side of things, but there has to be give and take. And I’m not sure Jesse knows how to give – unless it’s one of his varying degrees of fucking. He’s so good at it, though. I bristle when I conclude that it is, undoubtedly, because he’s had plenty of practice. My pencil snaps in my hand. What? I look at the splintered wood in my grasp. Oh…dear.

‘Ava, you’re here early.’ Sally walks into the office, and I immediately giggle to myself. I saw Sally in a different light yesterday.

‘Yes, I woke up early.’ I say, wanting to add that it’s because a neurotic arse made me wear a winter jumper in bed, causing me to wake up in a pool of sweat.

She settles herself at her desk. ‘I tried calling you yesterday after you left.’

‘You did?’ I frown, but then realise that I probably cleared Sally’s missed call with the dozens of others from Jesse.

‘Yes, that angry man came into the office shortly after you left.’

‘He did?’ I should have known.

‘He did. And his mood had not improved.’ she says dryly.

I can imagine. I smile. ‘Did you give him a cuddle?’

Sally snorts, flopping back in her chair in another fit of laughter. I join her, laughing helplessly as I watch Sal fall apart all over her desk.

Patrick walks in and looks at both of us in exasperation before making his way to his own office, shutting the door behind him.

Oh, shit! ‘Was Patrick here?’ I ask.

She takes her glasses off and starts cleaning them with the hem of her brown, polyester blouse. ‘What? When the lunatic came in? No, he was collecting Irene from the train station.’

I let out a sigh of relief. What’s Jesse thinking? He’s a client. He can’t come into my office and start throwing his weight around. I can hardly pass off Jesse’s temper as a normal client grievance scenario.  He’s already heaved me out of the office once.

The office door opens and the flower delivery girl –Lusso girl again – trundles in with two lavish sprays. ‘Flower deliveries for Ava and Sally?’

I watch as Sally nearly passes out at her desk. I bet she’s never had flowers brought for her. I already know who they’re from, though. The smooth bastard.

‘Me?’ Sally gushes, grabbing the colourful bouquet from the delivery girl and shooing her towards my desk.

‘Thanks.’ I smile, taking the simple spray of calla lilies before signing on behalf of Sally and myself. Sal looks like she might be in a daydream for the rest of the day. ‘What does the card say, Sal?’ I call, watching her eyes dart from left to right across the words.

She leans back, placing her hand over her heart. ‘It says…“Please accept my apologies. That woman makes me crazy” Oh, Ava!’ She looks up at me all soppy. ‘I would love to make a man that crazy!’

I roll my eyes, retrieving the card from my own flowers. I bet I don’t have an apology. And Sally wouldn’t be saying that if she was on the receiving end of Jesse’s unreasonable, neurotic behavior. I make him crazy? What a joke.

I open my card.

You’re the one I’ve been waiting for…

Jx