Page 5 of Last Breath

‘Piss off – I heard the keys.’

‘Yet, you didn’t stop. I could have been a—’ He stopped himself in time.

‘I wasthisclose to an orgasm.’ Her fingers were almost touching. ‘Youtwat-blockedme.’

Don’t respond. Don’t negotiate with Barbaranis.

‘Really?’ Jett picked up a corn-crusted Mexican takeaway box. ‘That’swhat you look like when you’re about to come? It looked more like he’d dropped the key to his hybrid Prius and was trying to find it in your underwear.’ He shoved the box into the purple bin bag lined with an optimistic lavender scent.

Kitchen drawers slammed as he continued to wade through the takeaway debris. He didn’t want to look. She was probably finding the sharpest carving knife they had.

‘Go on then.’ Her voice was heavy.

He turned and almost dropped the bin bag. She was brandishing a long, bubble-gum pink vibrator like it was a medieval sword.

‘Show me how it’s done. Or I’ll just do it myself.’

He swallowed, crinkling an empty packet of Tim Tams until it was a tiny ball in his fist. ‘You keep your vibrator in the kitchen?’

‘It’s a utensil. Utensils go in the kitchen.’

‘Not exactly sanitary.’ Stupid argument. This entire apartment should be quarantined.

‘Well?’

Jett sighed. Everything he needed to tell her kicked against his chest like he’d buried someone alive in the coffin of his ribcage. ‘Get dressed, Nella.’

She swallowed, her eyes raking from his fist, still squeezing the Tim Tam packet, to his face, where he knew she would always find disappointment, just like everyone else. She had known him long enough to not flinch at his scar. But whenever she held his gaze like that, his inner gambler raised its drunken head.

Sometimes he thought he’d go all in – give all the money in the world, his car, his home, his left kidney – to hear the echoes of her thoughts when she looked at him. Even if it was only to reassure himself that she was just as spoiled and bratty and shallow as everyone thought. To know she had the same reaction to his scar as the rest of the world.

Her gaze hadn’t left him. ‘No? Fine. I’ll do it myself then.’

It was a challenge. He let the packet drop into the bag. The sound of it uncrinkling woke something inside her and she snarled, pushing past him (the vibrator whacked his stomach) towards the enormous bathroom door.

Which she slammed behind her.

3

Nella

If he threw one more thing into that bin bag ...

One more exasperated sigh and she was going to throw her hairdryer in the bathtub. She’d turned on the spa so he wouldn’t hear her sob. She could still hearhim, because Jett had a distinct sigh he’d patented just for her.

This is what that sigh was trying to say:Typical Barbarani brat. So she’s just been partying away the past six months while I’ve been working my arse off trying to salvage the shitshow left behind after the gala and the funeral? So happy for you, Nella, you do you.

Or:She’s still never apologised for what she said.

Or probably:It would have made my life a hell of a lot easier if Raphael had actually shot her six months ago.

She threw the vibrator against the door. It landed with a satisfyingthunkon the white tiles, with the battery compartment shattered open. Three Triple As rolled to freedom. On the other side of the door: silence. She stared at the shell-shaped door handle, imagining it twisting and a tall, dark figure bursting in to make sure she was okay.

But he wouldn’t, because there was the chance she’d be naked. And no matter what evil villain role she’d cast Jett into during her feverish nightmares these past six months, he wasn’tthatguy. She couldn’t imagine the expression on the Barbarani driver’s face if he walked in here and saw her nipples peeking out over the white foam mountain range she was half submerged under. Jett had never seen her the way men like Victor did. (Was that actually his name?)

Drunk crying was sobering her up. Lavender and hibiscus soap suds glistened in the rainbow swirls of the bathwater, wafting up her nose like a dangerous love potion.

‘I’m turning on the coffee machine,’ he called.Ha, it must be killing him to break the silence first.