Page 16 of Next Time I Fall (Excess All Areas 2)

By the time Cerys was done and put her knife and fork down on the plate, she was resolved. She’d expense her father for the meal. It hadn’t been her idea to go to the fancy restaurant where even the house wine was twenty dollars a glass.

If he wanted things to be only business, she’d roll that way.

She’d just placed her glass back on the table when the chair opposite her moved suddenly and Jase sat down on it. “Why are you eating alone, Baby Bexter?”

Cerys looked over towards the doorway, then scanned the restaurant for the rest of the band. “Where did you come from?”

“Manchester, on an airplane. I’m serious, why are you sitting here alone?”

“Perhaps I’m not. Perhaps my date is currently in the bathroom.”

Jase reached for her glass of wine and took a gulp, then shuddered. “Don’t like white wine. I don’t know why I did that.”

A server approached. “Can I get something for your guest?”

“No, he’s just leaving.”

“I’ll have a pint of whatever’s on draught,” Jase said, his eyes on hers, daring her to say something different.

“Fine. Yes, a pint. And I think I’m going to need another glass of wine.” Cerys watched the server head to the bar. “I’m serious, what are you doing here?”

“I’m waiting for you to tell me why you are here alone.”

They glared at each other for a moment until the server arrived. He placed the wine down first, then the beer. “Because it’s your birthday, this drink is on the house,” the server said.

“Birthday?” Jase said. “Why on earth are you sitting here alone on your birthday?”

Cerys took a large gulp of her wine. “Have you met my dad?”

Jase leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. “He left you here alone?”

She laughed sadly. “Never even showed.”

“Cerys.” The sympathy in his tone made her chest tighten.

“Yes. Well. Probably tied up in the recording studio or something.”

“Tell me he called you. Tell me he left his credit card number or something.”

She cricked her neck from left to right, knowing full well that it was the extra glass of wine that would make her share secrets she wanted to keep hidden. “It’s not as big a deal as it sounds. I had a lovely day thanks to Mum and a friend. Then I got to put on a nice dress and eat some lovely ahi tuna cooked to perfection.”

Wait. Why was she being so forthcoming with information to a virtual stranger?

Jase leaned forward and took her hand. “You know what you need?”

Cerys snatched it back. “You to tell me what you are doing here?”

“Was walking by with Alex and Ben. Saw you in the window. Told them I needed a piss and that I’d catch them up. Anyway, you know what you need?”

“Are they waiting for you?”

Jase looked confused. “No. Because we’re grown men. But if it’s bothering you ...” He pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Alex ... yeah. Look. Met a chick in the bathroom. Birthday fuck and all that. Catch you in half an hour.”

Cerys’s jaw dropped. “You honestly talk to each other all the time like that?”

Jase looked sheepish. “In fairness, it’s usually true.”

Cerys rolled her eyes. “I can only imagine.”

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