Page 65 of Look What You Made Me Do

Daisy and Iris were, as usual, tucking in heartily as the conversation turned to football. “I still can’t believe we made the playoffs,” Ella said.

“Believe it.” Pete grinned.

“Just,” Jake clarified. They’d exceeded expectations but the playoffs were a real step up and he didn’t want to give anyone false hope.

Pete, who was clearly in an optimistic mood tonight, shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. We wipe the slate clean now and start all over again.”

“And we go in as underdogs,” Rosie pointed out.

“Which can work in our favor,” Simon added.

“Yep.” Pete nodded. “And even if we’re knocked out of the playoffs, we’re the most improved team in the competition so we should have done enough to secure the game with Chiswick and that sucker gets a lot of attention.”

Ella looked across the table at Iris. “What do the cards say?”

The older woman didn’t hesitate, she put down her fork, moved her bowl aside, shuffled the worn, ever-present pack and laid out a spread.

“They’re still favorable,” she murmured, staring a bit longer before she grimaced. “But it’s going to get worse before it gets better.”

“What does that mean?” Jake asked.

Irish shrugged as she collected the cards. “Time will tell.” Then she picked up her fork and started eating again like predictions of doom were nothing much to worry about. Certainly not enough to put her off her curry.

But it sure as hell shot an itch up Jake’s spine.

Half an hour later, Jake stood to leave. He didn’t want to, he was enjoying himself too much. Laughter flowed and the company was great. Daisy had dialed up Ella Fitzgerald on Spotify and with her crooning ‘It’s a Lovely Day Today’ the atmosphere was decidedly mellow. Three beers had finally doused the fire in his mouth and his buzz fit the mood quite nicely.

But the other Ella hadn’t stopped glowing (non-curry related) and it was driving him nuts. Her hair was loose and her Demons jersey fit snug across her breasts and he was having a hard time remembering why they were keeping it professional.

Not even the niggle of Iris’s warning was enough to blunt his desire to burrow his fingers in her hair and put his mouth on hers. Telling himself he was backward didn’t help either.

Libido had no pride.

To much protest, he made his goodbyes, nodding at Ella as he departed and he almost made it out unscathed before she said, “Wait up. I’ll see you out.”

Jake gave an internal groan as he followed her through the house, her round ass swaying in front of him. The same ass he’d gripped as he’d sat her on the pool table.

The same ass he dreamed about night after night.

Dragging his thoughts back, he called goodbye to Cameron and Miranda before he stepped outside after Ella, barely noticing the naked branches of the trees planted sparsely along the sidewalk or the fact the nearest streetlight had blown, drawing the night in around them.

She stopped at the gate, not opening it. He stopped too as a weird vibe descended. She seemed like she wanted to say something and part of Jake urged him to leave but the message wasn’t getting through to his legs.

The faint strains of ‘A Fine Romance’ floated out to them which couldn’t have been a more perfect song for the state of their relationship.

He cleared his throat. “Ella Fitzgerald, huh?”

She nodded. “They play it for me. They know Rachel named me after her, that she was a huge fan.”

It was on the tip of Jake’s tongue to tell her he knew. How many times had he been to Rachel’s while Ms. Fitzgerald sang the blues? But given what had happened last time he’d mentioned being at the house, he didn’t feel so inspired.

“You didn’t have to walk me out.”

“I know. I just wanted to say…” Her fingers slid to the top rail of the gate and absently caressed the metal. “Thank you. I didn’t get a chance to say it after the game.”

“There was a bit of a crush.”

“That, is an understatement.” She gave a half-smile. “Well, anyway… thank you. You don’t know how much this means to me.”

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