“Plus, I love the idea of my own watch. Nobody’s ever offered me that before. I like your ethos. It’ll all come down to timing, but I hope it can work. Shoot my manager some dates and a contract, and let’s see what we can do.” She paused. “What are you doing tonight?”
I shrugged, trying to look casual while internally having a complete meltdown about my feelings and Roka’s agreement. “It’s our final night, we’re going to see where it takes us and soak up the city.”
“I’ve got a friend who runs a bar in Bushwick. She’s having a sapphic night if you want to go along? I’m going to try to make it, but her nights are always brilliant. Lots of queer women, good music, bad dancing, the works.”
I glanced at Eliza, whose cheeks had gone slightly pink. “Sounds good to me.”
CHAPTER 14
It’d rained in the afternoon, and the burnt orange evening sky was reflected in the puddles on the cracked pavement. The bar in Bushwick reminded me of the bars I sometimes ended up at in Dalston or Stoke Newington. Small, exposed brick walls covered in queer art, and more undercuts per capita than most cities.
“We’re friends of Roka’s,” I told the woman behind the bar, a statuesque blonde with sleeve tattoos and the kind of confident smile that suggested she could handle anything from drunk tourists to minor apocalypses.
Her face lit up. “Any friend of Roka’s is a friend of mine.”
I ordered two gin and tonics, but before she made those, she lined up two shot glasses and filled them with something that looked suspiciously like it could strip paint.
“These are on the house. Fair warning: they’re strong enough to make you confess your deepest secrets. Or start a fight with a street lamp.”
I grinned, then knocked mine back, making an immediate face. Was it, in fact, paint stripper?
Eliza threw hers back and did similar. “Blimey, that is lethal. But if it makes you confess your secrets, here’s mine. I’mimpressed with myself because I’ve been in New York for more than 24 hours and I haven’t contacted or shagged Michelle. This is genuine progress.”
I nodded. “I was surprised you brought Michelle up with Roka. What happened to keeping it professional?”
“Normal rules went out the window with a pop star. Also, after you gave us both an early bath. Which I still haven’t forgiven you for.”
“You have,” I told her with a grin. “And I’m proud of you for not contacting Michelle.” I framed my face like I was in the Vogue video. “Clearly, all you really needed was this gorgeous face to distract you.”
Eliza’s smile died midway to fruition.
I didn’t think my boast wasthatout of bounds.
“You’re like a reformed addict, but instead of avoiding drugs, you’re avoiding your ex-wife’s—”
“Don’t finish that sentence.” The colour drained from Eliza’s face. “Oh, fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Whose idea was it to come to a sapphic night where Michelle might also turn up, too?”
My mouth dropped open as I swivelled on my bar stool. “She’s here?”
I followed Eliza’s gaze to the entrance and saw the woman I’d only ever viewed via Instagram. Tall, dark-haired, wearing a highly styled jeans-and-cardigan combo. Like Eliza, Michelle was the kind of woman who turned heads. She’d just turned both of ours, but not for the right reasons.
Michelle scanned the room, and I turned back to the bar, slapping Eliza’s leg in an effort to make her do the same. She complied.
The bartender delivered our gins.
“I can’t deal with this,” Eliza said. “Not tonight. Not when I was finally feeling like I might be getting my life together. I don’t want to speak to her. I don’t want to be weak again.”
This was panic stations. But Eliza had helped me out. I had to return the favour.
Then it struck me what we needed to do.
“Right,” I said, my brain kicking into gear. “We’re together. As of right now, we’re madly in love and have been for a few months.”
“What?” Eliza looked at me like I’d suggested we rob a bank. However, when she looked over my shoulder, she swore, then ducked her head.
“Shit, I think she saw me. She might be walking this way.”
“This is not the world’s biggest bar. You can’t avoid her unless you do something drastic.”
