Page 78 of Worth Every Game
Our conversation in the car after the race comes back to me. I’d pretty much forgotten about it. Over Mum’s shoulder, I can see Elly talking to Kate, and the urge to go over there and grab her is almost all-consuming. I have to force myself to finish this conversation with Mum. “I don’t want to have a date with any of them.”
“I thought you’d say that.” She gives my arm a reassuring squeeze. “Enjoy yourself tonight, won’t you? Mingle. Chat. Make some new friends.” She blows me a kiss and leaves me wondering what on earth has gotten into her.
Without Elly by my side, the time passes agonisingly slowly. Another fucking event where I can’t touch her, only this time we’re a legitimate couple, and pining has been replaced by compulsive need, at least on my part. Somehow, that only makes it harder to endure the temporary separation, and jealousy burns through me whenever any other guy talks to her. She’s so friendly and flirtatious that I’m sure they’d get the wrong idea in no time.She’s mine.
Maybe she was right. Perhaps I should be telling my family. Perhaps I need to stake my claim. At least then I’d be able to hold her hand in public. But, God, is it worth it with Mum? She wouldn’t like it, that’s for sure, and I’d rather spare us both the pain of Mum’s condemnation for as long as possible.
I’ve had a few drinks and caught up with some of my father’s friends by the time Elly reappears at my side, her expression so concerned that my stomach drops. Her hands latch onto my arm. “Jack. They’re all here,” she hisses.
“Who is?”
“The women from the cards. Every single one of them your mum picked out.” An unsettling shiver rolls down my spine and settles in my gut. Elly takes note of my alarm and says, “Didn’t you notice?”
“No. To be honest, you’re the only woman I notice.”
Elly waves away the compliment. “I’m serious. I counted them. All of them. Even Princess Astrid.” She points over to the window, where Astrid is talking to Nico and Matt Hawkston.
“Oh, fuck me.”
“Yeah,” she nods emphatically. “This is like some crazy speed-dating event for you, disguised as a charity event in memory of your dad.”
I scan the room, noting more familiar faces. There’s the woman who might be getting divorced, dressed in a floor-length silk gown, her hair twirled up on her head. She’s talking to two other women I recognise from Mum’s cards. One is the daughter of a Yorkshire baronet who I know has never worked a day in her life, and the other runs her own hedge fund. Mum has all bases covered with these women.
All bases but the one I’m interested in.
“Shit,” I mutter.
“Yeah. Shit,” Elly says, wide-eyed.
We turn to look at one another, and, after a moment of heavy silence, we nearly burst out laughing, and as I’m standing there in the middle of the event, my hand smothering inappropriate laughter, Elly leaning into me to hide her own, I’m hit by the realisation that she isn’t only a gorgeous woman I’m sleeping with, she’s also a friend, and I don’t know exactly when it happened, but it has, and I fucking love it.
An idea pops into my head, and I feel compelled to act upon it. “You know what you’re going to do?” I curl my arm around her waist. “You’re going to show everyone in this room how talentedyou are.” Elly doesn’t have a moment to object before I haul her up towards the band, who are just finishing a song.
“Jack, no,” she hisses, resisting my pull, but it’s a token effort. She’s mostly following me, and I’m confident I can ignore her empty protests as I lead her through the party.
When we reach the band, I step up to the guitarist. “Would you mind if my friend here…” I indicate Elly. “Performed a song quickly?”
He’s young, maybe in his early twenties, and he looks like a startled rabbit. “I can’t do that.”
“Nonsense,” I say, one hand reaching for his guitar. “Just one song. I’m Jack Lansen. This event is in memory of my father. My mother and sister hired you. They won’t mind.”
The poor young bloke looks utterly confused, but he hands me the guitar, which I pass to Elly, who looks as stricken as the guitarist.
I step up to the microphone. “Good Evening,” I begin, my voice booming through Nico’s enormous flat. “I’d like to thank you all for coming tonight. My father would have been delighted to see so many familiar faces and new friends.” Someone claps, and I note Lydia near the front, gazing at me.I wish she'd fuck off. “I’d like to take this moment to introduce an extraordinary new talent. Miss Elly Carter.”
I stick out my arm in Elly’s direction. She rises to the occasion perfectly, stepping up to the microphone, whispering to me as she passes, “You’ll pay for this later. Putting me on the spot like this.”
“Play with the pros, El,” I whisper back. “I know you can do it.” My fingers trail over her lower back as she moves past me. I return to the crowd, letting her hold the stage alone.
Everyone begins to clap, and Kate is grinning, grabbing Nico’s arm and hauling him closer to us. Mum is over to my left, gesticulating angrily at me as though she’s about to fly off thehandle, but I don’t give a fuck. If she’s going to surprise me with a load of unsolicited dates, then she ought to be prepared for a return shot.
“Well, this is unexpected,” Elly begins, adjusting the guitar. “But I’m honoured to sing something while we’re all gathered to remember Mr Lansen.”
She begins to sing, and she’s barely got a few bars in, her sultry voice floating over the crowd, before a voice beside me says, “Holy fuck, she is smoking.”
I turn to find Seb Hawkston grinning, eyes pinned on Elly. “Jesus, Seb,” I mutter, shaking my head. “Let it go.”
“Oh, come on, Jacko. Tell me you’re fucking her, because if you aren’t, you’re missing a fucking trick.”