Page 51 of Last Breath

Jett

Sorry, I have to cancel tonight.

Something came up with work.

Reschedule for the weekend?

Sent 8:05pm

No problem, totally understand.

My job’s like that too sometimes!

Looking forward to it. X

Received 8:07pm

Jett barely glanced at the reply from the woman he’d technically not stood up but he may as well have. Cancelling a date five minutes after it was due to start was what Nella would call a ‘fuckboi 101 move’.

Here’s an idea, why don’t you try and have a single fucking thought that doesn’t rewire back to her?

Soon. Soon his mind would be free. He just had to push through a bit longer, get to the end of the La Marca lawsuit. Then he’d be able to give his attention to a relationship – and discredit any fuckboi rumours. Soon.

He pulled out of the Shaggy Shack car park, recognising his date’s white Corolla. He waved but didn’t wait to see if she returned it, because his mind was already back where he’d tried, fruitlessly, to drag it from. Again.

What did Eliza mean by ‘something’s gone down’?

As he rounded the corner to Bindi Drive, the main street, his lungs flattened against his back as the flashing lights of an ambulance flooded his windscreen.

Detective Noah Avery’s face was about the same colour as his beard as he paced up and down the footpath, a paramedic in green overalls visibly trying to calm him down. Avery was in board shorts and a grey singlet, not his uniform. What did that mean?

Jett ignored the honks behind him as he pulled Bessy up onto the same footpath. Nella. Where was Nella?

Don’t be in the ambulance. Please don’t be too late. Please ...

‘The hell, Randall?’

His heart drained of anxiety at the sound of that voice.

Until he saw what she was wearing.

For fuck’s sake.He clenched his fists and bit down until his jaw clicked. He was not prepared for this: Nella Barbarani in a pink lacy bra, striding towards him with her black heels ticking like the bomb that was about to go off in his head.

He needed a minute. He needed a day.

He needed a whole fucking year to get that image out of his mind.

‘Why are you here?’ she demanded.

He craned his neck to look at the ambulance and Avery. He needed to keep his gaze at this angle. ‘You called me.’

‘No,Elizacalled you to prove a point.’

‘And what point was that?’ He’d never looked up for so long. Never noticed how picturesque the heritage rooftops were in the main street ...

‘You weren’t meant to come,’ she snapped. ‘You’re meant to be on a date.’

‘What’s happened?’ He nodded at the ambulance. ‘Are you hurt?’ He couldn’t help it, he had to look down to make sure she was okay.