Page 116 of Worth Every Game

JACK

“You look fucking miserable,” Matt Hawkston says. He’s sitting at a table in a West End bar with me. We’re supposed to be discussing the opening of a new hotel in Paris over drinks, but I can’t concentrate. “You gonna talk to me, or stare at your phone all night?”

Guilt spikes. Matt’s in the middle of a contentious divorce with his wife, Gemma, and I’m moping because Elly still won’t talk to me, even after I sent her the voice memo of Lydia confessing she’d stolen my photos and shared them. I’d hoped everything might go back to normal once Elly had heard the evidence, but I was wrong.

I glance once more at my phone, reading over the only message she has sent me in the last few weeks.

Elly: I listened to your messages, but I need time. I need to work out how I feel about all of this. Please.

I’ve read it about a million times, but the words never change. It’s been nearly a month since I last saw her. Weeks of begging Kate to let me up to see her and being rejected every fuckingtime. Weeks of my calls going unanswered. My messages being ignored. Sleeping in my fucking car outside Nico’s building.

I’m absolutely broken over this. I destroyed the best thing I had going in my life, and even my attempt to fix it didn’t work.

I give Matt the barest glance before I open Elly’s social media. I keep compulsively checking it, even though seeing her face on the screen makes my heart ache. I’m reassured she hasn’t taken her profile down, but at the same time she hasn’t put up anything else since the party, and she must have told Derek not to either. But if she hasn’t deleted everything, then there’s a fragment of hope… maybe she hasn’t given up entirely.

“Jack,” Matt reprimands.

I put my phone down. “Sorry. You want to talk?”

Matt leans back in his chair and lifts his scotch to his lips. “Do I want to talk about Gemma?” He takes a sip of the drink. “Fuck, no. What’s going on with you and Kate’s friend?”

“Elly,” I correct. “She’s still living with Nico and Kate while she’s searching for a new flat to rent.” I blow out a sigh. “Things started happening for her, you know, with the music, and then the photos came out and all those videos… It’s like a bomb went off and everything turned to shit. She packed all her stuff and left like it was all my fault.”

“It was kind of your fault though, wasn’t it?”

I clench my jaw. It hurts to know I’m the weak link that created this mess. I give the slightest of head movements to acknowledge that yes, I was culpable. “I’m doing everything I can to get those pictures taken down. You have to search pretty hard to find them now, but it’s almost impossible to get every single one.”

“You found out who did it?”

Rage roils in my stomach at the memory of Lydia’s gloating face. “Yeah. A woman I dated.” If I go into details, I’ll lose my shit right here at the table.

Matt’s eyes widen, and I swear he nearly laughs. “You dated someone who would do that? Didn’t you notice that she was—”

I point at him, cutting him off. “Hey. None of that. You were married to Gemma for fifteen years. Clearly, we’re both blind to the red flags.”

Matt grimaces, but before he can say anything else, the door to the bar opens and Kate, Nico, and Seb walk in, heading straight for our table.

My heart clenches at seeing Nico and Kate together, hand in hand. Not only are they obviously in love, deliriously happy in one another’s company, casting my misery into even harsher contrast, but they get to see Elly every morning. Every evening. At the weekend. She’s walking barefoot aroundtheirflat now, and pain leeches through me at the thought that I don’t get to witness those seemingly insignificant moments of Elly’s life anymore. The way she flicks her hair over her face, or licks her bottom lip, or even the way she holds her tea with both hands like it’s something to treasure. The light glinting on that damn nose piercing. They get to witness all of that, and it won’t mean anything to them…

Kate kisses my cheek and sits next to me, and the others crowd around the table too.

I raise my hand in greeting, and Nico slams his into it, smirking as he says, “I know you love me, but please stop sending flowers. My place smells like a funeral home.”

The others laugh, and I let out a groan. After the enormous floral delivery a few days after Nico’s party, I reined it in, but I’ve been sending at least one bouquet to Nico’s flat every day instead.Pathetic.

“At least he’s not sleeping in his car outside the apartment anymore,” Kate adds.

I cover my eyes with my hand. “Way to shame me,” I say, indicating Matt and Seb, who are eyeing me with amusement. Seb snorts.

Kate ignores us both. “But, speaking of Elly,” she continues, “I’ve had this idea. We were discussing it just now.” She glances at Seb and Nico. “Elly’s playing at the Marchmont tonight.”

My heart goes into overdrive. “And?” I ask, steeling my expression so as not to reveal the overwhelming intrigue that’s racing through me.Am I going to get to see her?

“And…” Kate pauses, her eyes flicking to Nico as though she wants to check he approves. He must give her some sign that he does because she says, “You should come. You never actually heard her play down there.”

Adrenaline spikes in my system like I’ve downed a dozen espressos. I don’t want to waste another second of my life without Elly, and if there’s any chance I can see her in person, I’m going to jump on it.

I lean back in my chair, affecting casualness, although I have no doubt they can all see through me. “I don’t want to… get in the way. Elly hasn’t answered my calls.”

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