Page 60 of Double or Nothing

The driver keys in the address as I get in the back seat, and I get another wave of nausea.

I shouldn’t be doing this.

If Bill found out…

That thought is the one that has me ready to bail, my hand on the doorhandle until the driver sets off and gets us moving.

Jack might not be in. Alice might have long gone. I might just be getting a cab ride straight back to security once I’ve realised his place is empty.

But somehow, I very much doubt that.

With every street that passes, and every fresh turn towards my destination, the zing of the forbidden thrums back into life in my veins.

I don’t want to be boring.

Not anymore.

“Wait a few seconds,” I tell the driver when we pull up outside Jack’s tower and I hand over the fare. “My friend might not be at home.”

“Sure,” he says, and my legs feel weak on my approach to the main entrance.

My palms are sweaty when I press the buzzer for his apartment.

Fuck, my heart is racing as I wait for a reply. A pang of need that takes me aback. The fear of being left behind in the realm of boring is more powerful than I’d expected.

I press the buzzer again, holding it longer this time.

I smile over at the cab driver as he waits, hoping, praying, that Jack is up there. That he’ll answer me.

The afternoon is almost over, and I can’t face another night of boring. Chewing up fears while my soul screams and shrivels inside me.

I close my eyes and press once more. Third time lucky. Please!

And it is third time lucky. There’s a crackle before Jack’s voice sounds out of the speaker.

“Hey, BT, is that you?”

It’s like a bowling ball has landed in my stomach. Such a thump of shock at his words.

“Yeah, it’s me,” I say, and his laughter is magnetic.

“Thought it would be. I’ve been expecting you.” He pauses. “Well, half of us has been expecting you. Alice thought you’d bailed for good.”

The relief that washes over me is insane. I’m grinning as I wave the cab driver away, craziness already overtaking me.

“Come on up,” Jack says, and a beep sounds out as the doors open.

I’m not dressed for the occasion in the slightest, this was all on a crazy whim. I’m in a basic blue shirt and navy chinos, hungover and hardly polished. I’m not even in my brogues, just bland lace-ups.

I’ve got no tie to straighten, and there are beads of sweat on my forehead when I check myself out in the mirrored elevator. I dab myself down with my shirt cuff, and run my fingers through my hair, but there will be no disguising my lack of prowess.

I feel awkward as hell as I approach the door to Jack’s penthouse.

And as for Alice… what she’ll be like…

My thoughts don’t have the chance to go that far.

The door to Jack’s apartment swings open in front of me, and Adonis himself is standing there tall, wrapped in a light blue bathrobe.