It was Jenna’s oldest friend, Kate’s birthday, and to help her celebrate, a mutual friend, Debbie, hosted a party. One pink champagne led to another, and before she knew it Jenna had been dragged along to the local nightclub.
She and the birthday girl were the last women standing. Well, Kate was. She was inside, sucking on the face of a much younger man, taking just enough time out to say to Jenna that she was perfectly safe, having a great time, and if Jenna wanted to get herself a taxi and go home that was fine.
‘Thought it was you,’ she heard herself say to Luke, who was standing in the doorway, looking good in his bow-tie and black bomber jacket.
‘I didn’t see you come in.’ He looked beyond her for a possible companion. ‘On your own?’
‘You must have been on your break,’ Jenna replied, crossing her arms. She’d known it would be a waste of time to come here, but she didn’t want to let Kate down. Now she just wanted to get home and get into her pyjamas.
‘My friend…’ Jenna waved a hand in the direction of the door ‘…is fastened on to some poor guy.’ She laughed self-deprecatingly. ‘I’m way too old for this kind of thing. What’s the female equivalent of a pipe and slippers? That’s what I need in my life right now.’
‘Prosecco and an episode of Strictly?’ Luke grinned.
‘Have you been peering in my window?’ Jenna laughed, enjoying how in mere moments they’d sparked a connection.
‘Listen,’ Luke said. ‘It’s a quiet night, and I’m due another break. Why don’t I drive you home?’
‘I couldn’t impose on you like—’
‘It’s fine, honestly,’ Luke said. He looked over her shoulder, and Jenna turned to see a benign expression on a very large man.
‘Aye, on you go,’ the mountain said. ‘I’ll hold the fort.’
‘C’mon,’ Luke said, and turned in the direction of the street. ‘My car’s just over here.’
His assumption that she’d accept his offer didn’t rankle, strangely. There was something solid and reassuring about him. She caught up with him and offered him a shy thank-you.
‘No bother,’ he said, turning to the side and smiling.
As they walked almost shoulder to shoulder, she sensed his heat and felt such a draw to it that she slowed down. What was she thinking? She wasn’t in her right mind. She was breaking one of her cardinal rules: taking lifts from strangers.
‘Just here,’ he said, pointing at a small, dark car. A beep sounded. He opened the passenger door wide, stepped back and looked at her expectantly.
Biting the inside of her mouth, she gave him a little nod, moved past him and took a seat.
*
Just a hundred yards away, a hooded figure watched. Shadows obscured his face like they were part of his costume. His heartbeat thumped insistently in his neck, and his hands flexed in and out of fists, like lungs drawing in breath.