Page 15 of The First Chord

“Don’t even think of finishing that sentence.” Beau moved in between us and pointed a finger at Jimmy. He turned to me. “Are you okay taking him back to your room, or do you want me to come with you?”

I looked over his shoulder at Ronnie, who was looking down at the floor and shaking his head. Swallowing, I nodded at Beau. “I’ll be fine. He’s not too far gone.”

“I am here,” Jimmy complained. “And I’m not going back to our room.”

Moving a step to the right so I could see him, I held my head high and said, “For once in your life, stop acting like a spoiled child. We’re going.Now.”

When I walked away I wasn’t sure whether he was following me or not, but something told me other people would make sure that he was.

* * *

“I don’t know why everyone thinks this is my fault,” Jimmy moaned, helping himself to a large tumbler of whisky. “Fucking Dwyer was the one who started it, for no pissing reason.”

Still, he complained andstillhe couldn’t contemplate what he was supposed to have done wrong.

“Maybe some people don’t like you disrespecting me,” I offered from my seat on the sofa of our room, now totally sobered up from the tequila I’d drunk to hide my embarrassment.

Jimmy turned to me and frowned. “You? How have I disrespected you? Why wouldhecare anyway?”

I didn’t know whether I’d hidden my growing friendship with Ronnie well, or whether Jimmy was so narcissistic he couldn’t see past his own self and his over-inflated ego. Probably the latter, in fact, definitely the latter. He would never, not for one moment, consider I’d find anyone more charming, endearing, or interesting than him. After all, he was the great Jimmy Fox, why would I even want to look at anyone else?

“Maybe because he’s a gentleman and respects people.”

“That doesn’t explain what I’m supposed to have done to you.”

I leaned over to grab my hoodie from the other end of the sofa, feeling too exposed in my barely-there outfit. When I pulled it over my head, I could smell the weed that Jimmy had been smoking before we went to the party, so immediately discarded it. Looking around I couldn’t see anything else to put on so got up and made my way to the bedroom.

Stopping by the open wardrobe door, I unzipped the skirt and shimmied out of it before hanging it back up, followed by the top. When I was just in a black lace thong, Jimmy ambled into the bedroom.

“Are you going to explain then?”

Ignoring him I moved to the set of drawers and pulled out a pair of soft, forest green pyjamas. Jimmy hated me wearing anything to bed but it was tough shit.

“Amber,” he snapped. “I’m fucking talking to you. You made me come up here and miss the rest of the party, so at least tell me what the hell I’ve done wrong.”

“Think about how you’d feel, Jimmy,” I said as I stepped into the bottoms, “if I kissed, oh I don’t know, Ronnie, in front of you and a load of other people at a party.”

“That’s what this is all about.” He came to stand in front of me and the first thing that struck me was, once again, how sweaty he was. His hair was wet too, almost like he’d been in a shower of rain. “I can’t help it if people get excited around me. I couldn’t exactly tell her to fuck off, could I?”

I scoffed just as I was about to pull the top over my head. “Really?”

“Yeah.” He curled his top lip. “She was a fan.”

As soon as I had the top on, I stalked back towards the lounge part of our room. It wasn’t a huge suite like I knew the Warrior Creek boys had but it was still pretty plush. Pity it stunk of weed, whisky, and sadness.

“Will you just stand still and talk to me?” Jimmy yelled from the bedroom. “Explain to me why you’re being such a fucking baby.”

“No, Jimmy,” I said, snatching up the remote and turning on the TV. “I won’t explain anything to you, because if you can’t see it for yourself then you’re not going to listen to me.”

“Honestly, Amber, I really don’t know what’s got into you. You never used to be this boring. There was a time you’d have joined in if you saw me kissing another girl.”

My stomach lurched as I recalled a hazy memory. Hazy because I’d done everything I could to forget it. Jimmy had decided he wanted a threesome and pressured me into it. I hadn’t really wanted to, but he’d said it would be fun, especially if we smoked some weed beforehand. So, I’d agreed, and it was bloody awful. I had too many shots for bravery, so that along with smoking some really strong weed made me puke all over myself. Jimmy was fuming but shagged the girl anyway, and I lay there crying while trying to remove chunks from my hair. Like a fool I forgave him because after all, ‘you agreed to it, Amber. I couldn’t just leave her there, could I?Not when I’d promised her.’.

As Jimmy dropped down beside me on the sofa, my nerves jangled with irritation. All I wanted to do was watch some TV, alone, and try to get the past few hours out of my head, but he wouldn’t even let me do that.

“What the hell is this crap you’re watching?” He flopped back, his temper manifesting itself like that of an over tired toddler. “At least put a music channel on.”

“I’m watching this.” I had no clue what it was, but I was watching it.

---