Trace of Innocence (No Control Book 3)

Chapter 49 - part i

(No Control - 49. More Than This, first part)

"Ed Sheeran?" she repeats, looking at me with wide eyes. "Really? Isn't he touring the world at the moment?"

I can't stop grinning. She looks pretty impressed.

"Yep," I nod. "He's on a week's break between New Zealand and South America. There will only be a few hundred people there. And you won't need to worry about keeping your distance from me while we're there," I add. "No one will be taking pictures or anything."

The good thing about private gigs like this is that they're usually full of celebrities who also want some privacy. Camera phones are frowned upon, and security is tight.

"Really?" she says excitedly. Her whole face lights up and she positively beams at me, her eyes full of... affection? Something along those lines.

"You seem more excited about that than you do about meeting Ed Sheeran," I say casually, trying to hide the fact that my stomach is doing backflips at this realisation.

"I am," she says, looking me straight in the eye, and my heart starts to pound. "Not in an ungrateful way," she says quickly. "But that night we first met and we went to that club, Lagoon, where we could just do what we wanted and not have to worry about paparazzi... well, that was awesome."

Oh my God. Did she really just say that? Was Lou right? She does care...?

I can't stop smiling.

"And there was me thinking you weren't that into me," I say, without thinking.

"What?!" she says in disbelief. She's staring at me like I've grown another head or something.

Is it so hard to believe I'm insecure around her?

She's waiting for me to speak, to explain myself, but this isn't the time or the place.

"This isn't a conversation for here," I reply in a low voice.

"What isn't?" she asks.

Oh God. Don't make me spell it out, Jess.

"What do you mean?" she persists, and I lose my bottle again and look away.

"Nothing."

"Are you guys ready?" Lou calls down the table, breaking the tension.

"Yeah," I call back, louder than necessary and looking at Lou over-eagerly so I don't have to look at Jess.

"We should get going really," Lou says, looking at me, and I scramble to my feet and make my way to the door. When I turn around to make sure Jess is behind me I can see she's hanging back nervously. Liam steps forward and takes her under his wing as we step outside, and he accompanies her to my car, waiting until she has slid onto the backseat next to me before he scoots along to the car behind.

Fuck. That should have been me, guiding her to the car. Although it's probably a good thing the paps didn't get a picture of us together.

"Big crowd of paps," I remark to Dale and Paul as the car moves off.

"Yeah, they must have been tipped off," Paul replies.

"You reckon? Seemed just like luck to me. Saw a few faces I didn't recognise," I gabble, trying to keep the conversation flowing so I don't have to look at Jess.

She's staring at me, and I know as soon as there is a pause she will ask me what I meant just now in the restaurant.

And I will tell her. I will have the conversation tonight, before she leaves for London tomorrow. I just need some Dutch courage first.