Chapter 50
Jenny leaned into the mirror and swept a thick coat of mascara over her eyelashes, inwardly cursing the bad lighting in her bedroom. When she was satisfied with the application, she straightened up and smoothed her hands over her hips, flattening her black silk dress.
"I still don't see why we can't just order in tonight," Wilder complained, still reclined in the bed, his muscular chest visible over the duvet.
Jenny sighed playfully and turned to face him. "If you had it your way, we'd never leave this room."
"To bloody right we wouldn't," he grunted, shifting himself so that he was sitting up against the headboard. "Why would I want to leave this room when you're in it?"
"Well in about five minutes I'm leaving this room to go to dinner with or without you," she said briskly. "So you can either get dressed and accompany me, or have a little alone time with yourself here whilst I'm gone," she added, turning back to the mirror and picking up her lipstick.
He let out a deep sigh from behind her, although she heard the bed creak not long after, telling her that he had gotten out of bed. "Has anyone ever told you that you're incredibly bossy?" he grumbled as he pulled his pants on.
"Has anyone ever told you that you're supposed to enjoy taking your girlfriend out to dinner?" she retorted, giving him a sweet smile in the mirror as she applied her lipstick.
He chuckled as he walked up behind her. "Touché," he said as he slipped his arms around her waist, hugging her from behind. She relaxed back into him and sighed contentedly. "How was work today?" he added, nuzzling into her neck.
She stiffened, her eyes meeting his in the mirror. "I thought we'd agreed not to talk about work?" she said, feeling the tension mount.
"I was only asking," he stated, resting his chin on her shoulder.
"Well how about I start asking you where you've hidden the creatures and what you're planning on doing with them?" she snapped sarcastically. She felt him freeze, and a second later he withdrew his touch. "I'm sorry," Jenny said hurriedly, her heart thawing as she turned to face him.
"No, it's okay," he mumbled, reaching down and scooping his long-since shirt up off the floor. "You're right. We should just leave work out of the conversation," he added as he pulled it on.
"I think that'd be best," she agreed, reaching over and running her hand over the creases in his shirt. "And that needs an iron," she added with a small smile, tugging his collar.
"That's a woman's job," he said with a smirk, his fingers working on the buttons.
She tutted, and smacked him lightly on the arm. "Well it's not this woman's job," she informed him, turning back to the mirror. She shrieked when he grabbed her around the waist, turning him back to face him sharply. "Can I help you?" she joked, looking down at his lips.
He pulled her into him roughly and kissed her, his hands sliding down her back. She kissed him back before she pushed him away again. "We're already late," she protested meekly.
"So we'll be later," he murmured, pulling her in again.
"We'll lose the table . . ." she trailed off as he kissed down her neck.
"So we'll go to a bar instead," he whispered against her skin, his warm breath making her tingle.
Cutter stared sullenly into his beer as Stephen meandered back towards the table with another round of drinks in his hands. He placed the pints down haphazardly and slipped into the seat opposite Cutter, and immediately picked up the conversation they'd be discussing earlier. Usually Nick would have relished a lively debate about the Permian – Triassic event being the mother of all extinctions, but this evening he couldn't summon up the enthusiasm to be remotely interested in the conversation.
Stephen had suggested going out for a drink that evening, clearly wanting to keep Nick's mind occupied, and he had protested for several minutes before giving up. He'd reluctantly allowed his friend to drag him off to some swanky bar, and although it wasn't really to Cutter's taste, at least it was getting him out of the house. The music swelled deafeningly as Stephen whittled on, clearly trying to stop Cutter from dwelling on Jenny. But it didn't seem to be working. Every time there was a pause in the conversation, the image of Jenny with some faceless guy kept popping up in his mind, and a familiar pulse of jealousy flared up. When this happened, it was all he could do to stop himself launching his glass at the wall. He kept asking himself over and over again why he had pushed her away when she leaned in to kiss him after Lester's rant. If he hadn't, perhaps it would be him she was dating instead of this random bloke he knew nothing about. He had wanted to kiss her of course; in fact, he had thought of little else since they had ended things between them. But it had just felt wrong at the time. She had been through so much lately, and he had felt like kissing her back would be taking advantage. Well that, and the fact that a tiny part of him would always wonder if she'd only kissed him because she was feeling vulnerable and scared. He wouldn't have wanted that to be the foundation of them to getting back together. Of course, thinking about it was completely pointless – she was dating someone else now. He had unwittingly pushed in into another man's arms. And he hated it.
" . . . my money's on increased volcanism or a shift in ocean circulation," Stephen was saying. Cutter forced himself to nod along as he took a deep gulp of his drink, suddenly wishing that he was alone. "And when you think about it - " Stephen went to continue, but he suddenly stopped, narrowing his eyes at something over Cutter's head.
"What?" Cutter asked, twisting to look over his shoulder.
His stomach seemed to disappear to be replaced by a block of ice. Jenny was walking over to a table at the other side of the bar, arm in arm with some guy. No, not some guy –
Wilder.
No - no it couldn't be, Cutter thought wildly; a horrible numbing feeling spreading through his veins. She wouldn't. He must be seeing things . . .
He watched, his blood boiling as Wilder's hand traced down her spine tenderly, resting on her lower back as he led her into the empty booth.
"Cutter, maybe we should go - " Stephen's voice said from far away.
But Cutter ignored him, still gaping over at Jenny. He watched as they ordered their drinks and when the waiter left them, Wilder reached over and took her hand.
Before he knew it, Cutter was on his feet, blood pounding deafeningly in his ears. He was vaguely aware of Stephen calling him back, but he took no notice and marched straight towards Jenny. She was smiling at something Wilder was saying, and she only looked around when he stopped right by their table. Her dark eyes widened in shock, and her mouth fell open.
"Nick?" she gaped, quickly slipping her hand out from underneath Wilder's.
Cutter sensed Stephen walk up behind him, but nothing whatsoever could extinguish the fury that had flared up inside his stomach. "What – what are you doing with him?" he stammered, feeling himself trembling with anger.
"Look mate, this is none of your business - " Wilder began, but Nick cut him off.
"I wouldn't direct any sort of comment at me if I was you," he snarled at the man before turning back to Jenny. "Are you going to explain to me what the hell is going on?"
"If we're going to discuss this, let's go outside," she said brusquely as she stood up. She barged purposely past Cutter's shoulder as she threaded her way towards the door.
After throwing Wilder a look of disgust, Cutter followed and stepped out into the chilly night after her.
"What are you doing?" he exclaimed when she turned around to face him. "Please don't tell me he's your new boyfriend?"
"So what if he is?" she replied insolently, folding her arms.
"Have – have you had some sort of breakdown?" he yelled, earning him strange looks from several bystanders. "Do you remember what he did to us?"
"That's in the past," she stated coldly, her voice sounding bored and unconcerned.
He gawped at her, unable to comprehend what he was hearing. "He's – he's using you!" he finally managed to splutter. "He's using you to get information on the ARC! He knows that your minds all over the place and he's playing on it!"
She rolled her eyes, placing her hands on her hips. "He happens to a nice guy Nick. He treats me with respect."
"Oh I bet he does," Cutter laughed humourlessly, feeling himself grow flushed with anger. "He was really treating you with respect when he gave you a back-hander - "
"You know what? At least he likes me for me and not because I look like someone else!" Jenny shouted, matching his rage.
Sudden footsteps signalled the unwanted arrival of Wilder, and Stephen hurried along in his wake, looking thoroughly harassed.
"Let's go Jen," Wilder said abruptly, giving Cutter a cold look as he placed his hand on her back to lead her away.
Cutter was baffled that she actually obeyed the command instantly, but as she turned to allow herself to by guided away, he reached forward and grabbed her arm to stop her. "Hang on - "
Before he could even comprehend what had happened, Cutter suddenly felt himself being lifted off his feet and shoved painfully against the wall. It took his reeling brain several seconds before he realised that Wilder was pinning him there by the collar of his jacket. "I've got no argument with you mate, but if you touch her again you won't live to see the morning okay?" Wilder snarled, his enraged face inches from Cutter's.
"Come on," Jenny said sternly, placing her hand on Wilder's shoulder to pull him away. "Joe, just leave him."
Reluctantly it seemed, Wilder let go of Cutter's collar roughly, and after giving him one last glowering look, he turned away. He put one arm around Jenny's shoulder and without another word, he led her away.
Cutter staggered up, ignoring the dots that were still popping in front of his eyes, and furiously made him to lunge at Wilder again, but Stephen grabbed the back of his jacket to stop him. Cutter fought back with all the strength he possessed, needing to get to the man . . . needing to hurt him . . .
"Cutter – no!" Stephen shouted, his voice breaking with the exertion the scuffling. "He – he's not worth it!"
It was only when Stephen all but pinned him against the wall that Cutter gave up fighting tooth and nail, and by that time both Wilder and Jenny had disappeared off around the corner.
