Fire and Freedom - Book One of the Café Latte Trilogy

Chapter Seven - Jasper

Chapter Seven – Jasper

My brother had done something he'd never done; cancelled a dinner party last-minute. Granted, it was because he'd missed his train and there wasn't another one that got him home until gone eleven, but the way my parents reacted, you would have assumed he'd died tragically. I waited approximately a half-hour before I started hinting at wanting to go out.

"You know," I said, helping mum pack away some of the nibbles she had put out. "Cyri and Rory were thinking of hanging out, now that Andrew isn't going to be here."

Mum sighed. "Jasper, if you want to go out, go out."

I grinned. "Thanks, ma. Hey - why don't we re-plan the dinner for tomorrow? We can make it extra-special. I'll help bake something."

Slightly mollified, she smiled and said, "Okay, just let me know when you're coming home, okay?"

"I will," I kissed her on the cheek and sprinted to my room, texting Tom to let him know some cosmic force of luck had arrived and freed me from this crappy evening.

Awesome, I'll come pick you up. x

I was ready in about five minutes. Tom had gone shopping for me and bought me things he thought I'd look good in, so I wasn't getting ready here. Probably a good thing anyway, because I had a feeling some of the clothes Tom might have bought would raise some questions from my parents - or at the very least, raise some eyebrows.

"I'm just going to my friend Tom's," I told them, which was technically not a lie as I currently had no plans other than staying with Tom. "Cyri and Rory are coming, too." Okay, that one was a lie.

"Who's Tom?" Mum asked, confused.

"Just a guy from school," I replied. "One of the guys that's redoing A Levels with us. We were working together on a project and we just kind of clicked - he's a nice guy. Here's his phone number if I don't answer my mobile."

I handed them a piece of paper with the landline on it, having secured Jenny and Lucie's reluctant agreement not to rat me out if I wasn't there. They didn't feel super comfortable lying to other parents, but they understood that I was an adult, and why it was happening. Mum tucked it into the notepad next to the phone, and I left the house and waited for Tom to arrive.

****

Everyone had arrived an hour or so later at Tom's. Edward wasn't in drag this time, which I had to assume was much more comfortable, because that makeup had looked thick. I couldn't imagine being under club lights in that many layers of foundation. Raven looked nice, more relaxed than the last time I had seen her - and I got fewer confused stares thrown my way. Harper was quiet, and he looked tired, but he was smiling anyway.

Tom was showing everyone a drinking game he had come up with, and we were all trying to pay attention to the overly complicated rules, when Edward's phone had rung.

"Ha, it's Ross," he said. I couldn't help blushing slightly as I thought about last night. Edward answered it. "Hellooooo?" We all heard Ross' agitated voice come down the phone, but couldn't make out any of the words.

"What?" Edward asked, baffled. "Where are you?"

"He's at a company dinner," Raven explained, looking amused. "Clearly having a great time, of course."

Edward laughed, his face lighting up in mirth. "You're at a company dinner? That's hilarious. One sec."

He put it on speakerphone, and everyone started talking with him, offering him solutions to get out of his dinner. Thanks to two cocktails, and the alcohol tolerance of a standard nineteen year old, I was a little tipsy, and kept quiet. All I could think about was that voice. It was irritated, and I heard him literally growl at one point, and my entire body tightened. I had heard him growl other things, things the others had never experienced with him. I knew that voice in so many different ways. I knew that voice when he told me what he was going to do to me. I knew that voice when he came. I knew that voice when he whispered things to me while we fell asleep together.