MASTERMIND | Jamie Tartt

SIXTEEN: CURIOSITY SAVED THE CAT

double update: read 15 first!!

Billie was alone. As she rubbed the sleep from her eyes, as she shuffled closer to the side of the bed where Jamie had fallen asleep that night, reaching her arm out to wrap around his torso, she realised he was gone.

It wasn't that she expected him to stay, he was a busy man who needed to get back to Manchester, and it's not like they were even together, they were just having fun, she'd just hoped that maybe he would've said goodbye before he left.

The night she had spent with him was so different from any night she'd once spent with Brad, she wanted to remember every moment and she did. The way his hands wandered her skin as he freed her body from her clothes and she did the same to him, the way his lips trailed mindlessly across her skin, the scent of his aftershave that lingered in the air.

It was the first time in a long time that she had felt actually wanted, and the person who wanted her didn't just want it all for himself, he wanted her to feel good too, something that Brad was never overly eager to deliver on.

So as she lay there, staring at the ceiling, sheets strewn over her bare skin she wondered why he didn't say goodbye, she wouldn't have minded if he'd woken her up for that, to see his face before he sped back to the other side of London.

The feelings she felt were complicated, or at least she thought they were. Jamie Tartt had always been a 'no go zone' yet there she was feeling safe in his company, safe in his arms in a way that she didn't feel with Brad.

A gentle knock against her bedroom door snapped her out of her spiralling thoughts, "Yeah," She muttered.

The door opened and in slipped Madison who was already dressed for work, closing the door behind herself, "This room smells of sex," She sighed, opening the curtains to let natural light flood the room.

"Fuck off," Billie mumbled, blinking the sun out of her eyes, "He did."

"Was this the first one since Brad?" Madison asked as she perched at the end of the bed.

"Yeah, but it was different," Billie sighed, even though she didn't really want to unpack the whole night at that moment.

"Good different?"

"Definitely," Billie smiled to herself.

"So why do you look so down, babe?" Madison asked her best friend.

"I thought he would be here, I thought he would've at least said goodbye, maybe that's stupid," Billie sighed.

"Who is it?" Madison asked, "Someone you met on an app? Someone from work?"

"You don't know him." Billie hummed.

"So it's not Jamie Tartt?" Madison quipped with a grin.

"Why would it be-"

"He's in the kitchen making you breakfast." Madison replied with a grin.

"And you didn't think to lead with that?" Billie exclaimed, tossing a cushion at her best friend, her heart racing against her chest at the thought of Jamie making breakfast, Jamie who didn't leave, Jamie who stayed.

"I thought you knew!" Madison laughed as she stood up from the bed, rummaging in Billie's drawers and tossing her friend her 'cutest pyjamas' which was a white ribbed vest top and shorts with small flowers embroidered on them, "Put those on."

"Why are you trying to pimp me out?" Billie hissed as she slipped the pyjamas onto her body before retrieving Jamie's black hoodie she had acquired in Manchester and slipping that on to.