Page 32 of Chasing Storm
“So she said she wouldn’t go?” I’m getting confused now.
“No, she’s still going. I think.” He sighs. “But so are we. We are going to thatcute little bar,” he says in a terrible Italian accent, “to stop whatever ideas that arsehole has.”
I stop to think about this for a moment. Rationally. How can we turn up on her date to ruin it and still have her give us a chance? But on the other hand, what if she goes and ends up in bed with Franco? I mean, I’ve seen this guy at work. He is super smooth, extremely hot andItalian,and the women love him. The chances that she falls onto his cock are not that slim. Or maybe I’m being too harsh, and she will see right through him.
I sigh.
“We need to tell JP.”
“Not it,” Thatch says quickly, almost as if he was waiting for me to say it.
“You’re a dick, you know that?”
He grins and shrugs. “Look, all I know is that we have our plans for Storm, and we can’t let her go out with this knobber until we see them through. If we seriously can’t get her to love us, then we will have to let her go, and she can bounce up and down on Franco all she likes. But until then…” He pauses, a stricken look on his face.
“What?”
“It just suddenly struck me that she might not love us.”
“You’re only realising thatnow?” I baulk. He is such a dumbfuck.
“Not that I’m not realising it, but it’s hitting home that we might lose her before we’ve even got her. We need to act quicker. Two weeks is too long. She’s out there for any old cock to snap her up.”
I consider his words. He’s not wrong. But turning up on her date might only push her straight into Franco.
“Okay, we need to speak to JP.” This at least gives me some time to figure out what we can possibly do about this predicament that won’t end badly for us.
“We will have to wait. He went into the city at the arsecrack of dawn to see his dad. Something about his thirtieth trust.”
“Oh yeah, shit. I forgot about that. Dammit. Well, it’ll have to wait. Go home, think of something that we can do that won’t put Storm off us for life, and I’ll do the same. Maybe when we get to JP later, we will both have some ideas.”
He nods and heads off, leaving me to return to Elle and the old man who came in the other day.
“All right, son?” he asks. “How’s the fair maiden?”
“Not mine, not yet,” I grouse.
“But they kissed!” Elle exclaims. “That has to mean something.”
“Ah, kisses,” he says with a nod. “Better than sex.”
Elle and I exchange an amused glance at his comment.
“She likes you, boy. She wouldn’t have kissed you if she didn’t.”
“He didn’t give her much choice,” Elle says with a laugh. “Kinda swooped in and claimed her.”
He frowns. “Did she kiss you back?”
I nod, feeling like such a fucking idiot. I’m glad there is no one else listening to this. I want to quietly lower myself to the floor behind the counter and stay there for the rest of the day.
“Well, then, there you go.” He grins. “Send me a save-the-date card!”
He waves and also leaves, thankfully. “This is a disaster,” I groan.
“It’s not great,” Elle says sympathetically. “But at least you know she’s not been avoiding you. I think you need to confront this head-on. Go and speak to her. She works at Robb & Robb.”
“I can’t go and speak to her at her place of work. It’s not like this place whereeveryoneseems to get involved.”
