Unintended

My eyebrows drew together.

“Evie. You said he was younger than you. You said that lots of times. But you failed to mention he’s gorgeous!”

If it weren’t for the fact that I had just had a similar thought, I would have been taken aback.

The thing was, I had never been looking at him that way. I’d seen him as first an acquaintance, then as someone who really needed a friend, just like I did. I couldn’t deny that, with everything he’d been through, the fact that he’d still managed to be there for me when I needed him had made me think of him as a best friend. But that was as far as it had gone until that fleeting thought outside.

“You think?” I asked.

“You don’t?”

I shrugged, concerned that now it had been pointed out, I was thinking about it. God, I’d only been in the door thirty seconds. I had a feeling it was going to be a long evening.

“Keely, his looks have been the last thing on my mind,” I told her honestly.

“You didn’t notice when you first met him?” She sounded astonished and I laughed out loud.

“You’re acting like I walked in here with a Hemsworth. The first time I met him, I was in the middle of a panic attack, remember? He could have been the hottest guy in the world and all I would have cared about was not being inside that club anymore.”

She shrugged. “Fair enough. I’ll shut up.” But the smirk on her face told me she wouldn’t, and I sighed.

“Stop it now,” I told her firmly. “He has been through some serious trauma. What he needs is someone in his life who doesn’t want anything from him. I’m not about to ruin that by getting all googly-eyed over him.”

Keely held up her hand. “Okay. Fine. I’m sorry. Let’s go get a drink.”

Good plan. I suddenly realised how much I needed one.

As I followed Keely through to the living room, I stopped to greet mutual friends and have a quick chat. I was a little anxious about how Ash might be feeling, in a strange house with someone he’d only just met, but I also hadn’t seen some of the people in the room since last New Year, and I found I was enjoying catching up. It wasn’t long, maybe ten minutes at the most, but I eventually made my way through to the kitchen where there were a few more people, mostly men standing by the drinks on the breakfast table. Keely was talking to the couple who lived next door to them, and I found Ash talking to Nick by the door that led to the garage.

I watched them for a moment before approac

hing. Both guys were holding a bottle of beer, although it looked like Ash had hardly had any of his yet, but his body was a lot less tense than it had been when we’d arrived. He and Nick were chatting as if they’d known each other forever.

“Here you go, Evie Bear,” Keely said, approaching me from the side with a glass of chilled white wine in her hand and holding it out for me. She was holding a glass of red for herself.

“Thank you,” I said, taking a bigger sip than I’d intended. Maybe it was the surprise of Ash taking to the party so quickly. Or maybe it was just Nick. He was so chilled that you couldn’t help but feel relaxed around him.

Keely and I walked towards them and they looked our way. Nick smiled brightly, and said, “Evie, where have you been hiding this guy? You didn’t tell me he was a football fan.”

“I didn’t know,” I said, shrugging, the reminder that there was still probably a lot we didn’t know about each other prickling at me for some reason.

“We never talked about it,” Ash said. “Which is weird when you think about how many things we have talked about.”

I nodded in agreement. We’d discussed music, TV shows, movies, food, places we liked to go and places we wanted to go. But somehow, this particular thing had passed us by.

“I’ve already decided I’m taking him to a match one day,” Nick went on, nodding in Ash’s direction, and I chuckled. I guessed he’d had more than a few beers. Sober, he was pretty quiet, but after a couple of drinks, he was more confident. Not in a brash way, just more outgoing than usual.

The four of us stood chatting for a while, more drinks consumed by all of us, and I loved how easily Ash spoke with Keely and Nick. He seemed to actually be enjoying himself, and it was refreshing to see him that way when out in public. It probably helped a lot to know that, in Stockport, in the house of my best friends, there was absolutely no danger of Natalie showing up.

While we were chatting, I suddenly became aware of a raised voice from the living room and people talking faster, the tone less casual and a bit more anxious.

I looked to Nick and Keely to see if they’d sensed it too when my heart froze in my chest.

“Evie. There you are.”

Jay.

It felt like the entire kitchen had paused as Jay and I stared at each other.