Page 47 of Slow Burn (The Boston Beauties)

DREW

I was dreading leaving Jessa; yesterday and last night had been perfect. We’d been able to talk, really talk. She told me all about her time in Australia, the friends she made, the places she traveled to and the resort she was at, how it put her on her current path and the courses she was working on. There was nothing better than waking up next to her, holding her in my arms. She was awake, reading on her phone, but didn’t move from my hold on her.

‘Are you hungry?’ she asked me when I opened my eyes.

‘Not for food,’ I smirked, still half asleep, but ready to go nonetheless, pulling her in closer to me to rub up against her.

‘You’re insatiable,’ she giggled, grinding on me.

‘And you're all too happy to enable me.’

‘Guilty as charged,’ she told me, adjusting herself to allow better access to kiss me.

We spent most of our morning in bed, talking, making out, checking our phones and making out more. We only got up when we heard Breton come home, carrying coffee and bagels, which, I found out, Jessa had asked him to pick up on his way.

I had seen Breton recently, just last month, but it was still cool to hang out with him in the city I grew up in. I took them to lunch at a Turkish place I loved near where I grew up, as Jessa wanted to see the area I was from.

I had been hesitant, as I didn’t want to run into anyone. I hadn’t told any of my family that I would be in town, not even my sister Nicole, who I knew would be upset with me over it. Breton had arranged a car service to take us around for the day, so that helped.

I really enjoyed my day with the two of them and seeing how their life in London drastically differed from the one I grew up living.

The driver dropped us off at a Tesco near their flat so I could stock up on some goodies to bring back to Boston with me. My friend Will had asked for a few things which had me making a list of my own.

‘I’m going to head to the gym for an hour or so,’ Jessa told me as we walked back to her flat. ‘Did you want to join me?’

‘If you want me to,’ I replied. The gym wasn’t really my thing. I occasionally went for a run, but as far as going to the gym to work out, I couldn’t recall the last time I actually did it. I didn’t need a gym when I did manual labor for a living.

‘It’s up to you, I’m just doing a quick cardio and leg circuit today.’

‘How about I let you do your thing, and I’ll go hang with Breton a bit?’ I offered. ‘I can make dinner.’

She shook her head, ‘I was thinking of getting a curry to take away, there’s a good place not far from here.’

I never could pass up a good curry.

Breton and I played some video games as we chatted about trivial things, passing the time until Jessa came back. I’d been skirting the issue the past few days with Jessa, not sure if she would give me an honest answer or not, but I knew with Breton, he’d tell me straight.

‘Are you close to finishing getting all the proof and ending this any time soon?’ I asked Breton, who was lying on one end of the sectional, while I slouched on the other end, controllers in hand. Breton looked dead tired and I appreciated that he was making the effort for me today.

He shrugged a bit. ‘We just need one more piece of information, but it’s proving a bit tricky to get,’ he told me as if reporting the weather. ‘I think we have a plan, but it could take a bit. Basically, it’s a matter of our timing aligning that’s just not working out.’ He looked at me, concerned. ‘I’ll need to use Jessa to get Matt’s brother to confess.’

I sat up quickly, ‘No,’ I yelled, dropping the controller. ‘She can’t be messed up in this.’

Breton looked at me with a confused expression on his face. ‘In case you’ve missed it, she’s already very much caught up in it.’

‘But surely, that’s dangerous, no?’ I asked, ‘I can’t have her getting hurt.’

Breton shook his head, ‘She’d never be alone, or at least, she’d have cameras on her and we’d be close to her.’

‘We who?’ I prompted, leaning forward. I trusted Breton with her completely, but I didn’t want her safety in the hands of just anyone.

‘We as in one or more of the guys I work with, either Nyall or the other guys who helped her escape off the boat.’

I nodded, she had told me that story this morning in bed. She never would talk about it over the phone. Needless to say, I had been curious and the one time I asked Breton, he just shook his head and said he couldn’t talk about it.

‘And they can protect her?’

He laughed, ‘Yeah, I put my life in their hands on missions. And they also protect people much more important than me.’

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