Down London Road (On Dublin Street 2)

We were all laughing, and I turned to Cam to share a smile with him, only to find his head bent over his phone.

‘You okay?’ I asked, looking down at the text message he was typing and feeling that ugly compression on my chest again.

He glanced up and gave me a barely there smile. ‘Yeah, you?’

‘Fine. Who are you texting?’

‘Just Blair. She wanted my address.’

‘Hmm.’ I nodded, hoping my fury wasn’t evident in my eyes. I turned away from him, cursing him to the moon and back.

Come to a party for my friend’s engagement as my bloody date and stand there not paying attention to anything anyone’s saying, tapping away at your bloody phone, talking to an ex-girlfriend you casually mention you were in love with, and expect me not to be bloody well pissed off, you bloody swine, you utter –

‘So, Jo, how are you liking the new job?’ Adam asked me, interrupting my inner diatribe against my boyfriend.

‘Oh, good.’

Adam waited for me to say more, but I couldn’t make my brain work. While my blood was hot with anger, my chest hurt, and my melancholy thoughts took up all my head space. Realizing he wasn’t going to get anything else out of me, Adam engaged Olivia in conversation and I ignored the worried looks Ellie kept shooting me.

I glanced around the room, wishing I could just escape, lock myself in the bathroom and cry. But that seemed awfully melodramatic, considering Cam hadn’t actually done anything wrong. It was my insecurities that were making me feel this way, right?

I caught Uncle Mick’s eye across the room and smiled. He grinned and then turned back to Clark. The two men were so different, one a scholar, one a manual labourer, and yet they seemed to get on incredibly well with each other. I was glad. It was nice of Joss and Braden to invite Mick and Olivia to their engagement party, but I had worried that they would feel out of place.

Turned out the only one feeling out of place was me.

I listened with half an ear as Ellie managed to engage Cam in conversation. Although he chatted with her about the new project he was creating the graphics for, an independent chocolate shop that was opening in Edinburgh, I could hear the lack of enthusiasm in his voice. I knew him too well. I knew his mind was off somewhere else tonight.

Was it really my insecurities telling me his mind was on Blair? Or was it my instincts?

I needed the opinion of a blunt, straightforward, honest couple.

Sweeping the crowded sitting room, I couldn’t see Joss and Braden anywhere. I excused myself and headed out into the empty hallway, then proceeded to check the kitchen, where a large group of people had congregated. They weren’t there either. I checked the bedrooms. Both empty.

Wondering if they’d gone outside for some fresh air, I headed down the hall towards the door and that was when I heard the deep, rumbling chuckle.

I halted, my eyebrows at my hairline as I turned to face the bathroom door.

No.

They wouldn’t.

Would they?

‘Oh, wait, I think my leg cramped up.’ Joss snorted and then giggled. Actually giggled. I didn’t know she could do that.

‘How did it cramp up?’ Braden murmured.

‘Well, I don’t know if you know this about me, baby, but my body isn’t a pretzel.’

My mouth fell open and I muffled a laugh into my hand despite myself. What position had he got her into?

‘Do you want me to massage it?’

There was a moment of silence and then … ‘Oh, yeah, right there,’ she moaned.

‘Fuck,’ Braden huffed. ‘You’ll set me off again.’

‘Seriously?’ she asked incredulously. ‘I just moaned.’

‘That’s all it takes, babe.’

Joss giggled again. I decided it was a nice sound.

And then I realized I was creepily eavesdropping on their sex-in-the-bathroom-at-their-own-fricking-engagement encounter. I knocked on the door.

‘Uh, just a minute!’ Joss yelled.

‘It’s me,’ I called semi-loudly through the door. ‘Are you decent yet?’

‘Um, not yet. Wait.’ I heard clothes rustling and then a muffled ‘oof’ before something clattered to the floor. ‘Are you trying to kill me?’

Braden laughed. ‘You were the one that wanted to f**k in the bathroom.’

‘Ssssh!’ Joss hissed. ‘Jo is outside.’

‘I think she knows what we’re up to.’

‘She does,’ I offered helpfully.

Braden laughed.

The door swung open. Braden stood over me, his hair ruffled, and his shirt tucked messily back into his trousers. Joss was hopping on one foot behind him, trying to get her shoe back on. Her cheeks were flushed and the French knot in her hair was a little more than worse for wear.

‘Really?’ I asked, glancing around to make sure we were still alone. ‘The bathroom during your engagement party?’

Joss rolled her eyes at me. ‘What, like you’ve never done it somewhere a little risqué?’

My cheeks bloomed bright red as I remembered how risqué it had got with Cam just this morning. God, it seemed like a lifetime ago already.

Bloody Blair.

Braden scrutinized me and nodded smugly at Joss. ‘She’s definitely done it somewhere risqué.’

Joss grinned, finally getting her shoe on and coming to a standstill. ‘I do believe you’re right, Mr Carmichael. Look at those pretty cheeks blush.’

I sighed impatiently, trying to cover my embarrassment. ‘I didn’t hunt you down to talk about risqué sex.’ I brushed past Braden and motioned to him to shut the door.