Set Me Free (8 page)

‘Whether or not
she comes after you might depend on her relationship with Craig,’ Charlotte
remarked dryly, glancing towards the bar again. ‘If they are dating maybe she
will have the good sense to refrain from performing.'

‘They don’t look
like they're dating,’ Emily observed, dropping her hand for a second and
looking across the club. Charlotte warmed slightly with the relief that comes
with a second opinion confirming what you want to hear.

Emily then
plastered on her best fake smile and waved towards the bar. ‘Too late to make a
run for it,’ she said through gritted teeth.

‘What are they
doing?’ Charlotte asked, frozen. If they were coming over, she was running out
of time to plan her biting remarks. An escape would be in order. Where
was
Jackson?

‘They’re still
talking. Cassette and Mr Developer just got their drinks. Geoff’s waiting and
they seem to be waiting for him.’

‘They’re
definitely coming over, aren’t they?'

‘Uh-huh. Here they
come.’

Charlotte had
barely enough time to get her breathing under control when seconds later, Geoff
leaned across her seat to give her a belated welcome home kiss before sliding
in next to his wife.  

‘Hi, honey.' Geoff
gave Emily a kiss on the forehead. He looked good tonight, like he’d taken the
time to shower instead of coming straight from the office, but even in his
casual gear, he screamed lawyer. With his top button undone and his crisp white
shirt untucked from his dark jeans, he looked slightly uncomfortable. His
obsidian short hair was long enough to part on one side, but not long enough to
fall across his face. With his chiselled jaw line, he looked like Clark Kent
posing as a barrister for a Levi’s advertisement.

Feeling herself
drawn slightly sideways, Charlotte determined Craig was standing just behind
her. She kept her eyes anchored on Emily. Cassette was there too, as she didn’t
imagine the cloud of patchouli engulfing them was Craig’s.

‘Look who I ran
into at the bar,’ Geoff was saying. ‘And this is her friend, Craig. I didn’t
think you’d mind if they joined us.’

She glanced up to
find Craig staring at her, a hint of horror mirrored on his unjustly handsome
face.

‘Hello,’ they both
said at once, awkwardly.

‘Oh, I forgot you
two must know each other,’ Cassette declared, performing badly as she slid
across the seat, boxing Charlotte into the corner.

Charlotte and
Emily scowled at her. Geoff took the bait. ‘Really? How do you know each
other?’ he asked innocently.

Emily rescued
Charlotte. ‘Craig works for the developer who is proposing to knock down the
gallery.’

‘Oh,’ said Geoff, now
gauche, his face straining in much the same manner as Charlotte’s and Craig’s.

‘Sit down, Craig,’
Cassette commanded, clearly comfortable with bossing him around. Charlotte
looked between the two of them, wondering again what their relationship was. She
noticed Craig noticed, then huffed slightly before throwing back the last of
her drink.

Before Craig could
follow Cassette’s instructions, she stopped him in his tracks. ‘Oh, no wait,’
she interrupted. ‘Looks like I need a refill.' She waved her empty glass at Cassette,
nudging her to let her out.

Grumbling,
Cassette slid out of the booth again. Craig stepped back to allow Charlotte to
pass, watching her through hooded and calculating eyes.

‘Small world isn’t
it?’ she murmured quietly, edging her way around him.

‘Indeed,’ he
replied, and then slid in beside Cassette.

Self-consciously,
Charlotte made her way to the bar. After she ordered another Pimm’s, she slyly
glanced over her shoulder to find Craig engrossed in something Cassette was
saying. One thing she knew for sure, she wasn’t about to sit there and watch
Cassette fawn all over him all night. Especially given Cassette seemed to have
decided all she needed to wear tonight was a man’s handkerchief tied around her
chest above a pair of denim hot pants. Sure it was hot in Brisbane, but really,
couldn’t she wear proper clothes? 

She shifted her
scrutiny to Emily, who was quietly seething.

Fresh drink in
hand, Charlotte scanned the crowd for Jackson. She found him, contradicting
himself with a sexy young thing in the thick of the dancers. So much for only
having eyes for her. Still, she needed to dance with him, because the tension
that was starting to build wasn’t going to abate if she danced with just anyone.
She needed to be more than tossed and pulled; she needed to be thrown. She
tried to catch Jackson’s eye but failed.

Resigned, she
returned to the booth, and slid in next to Geoff, resisting the magnetic pull of
Craig and leaning back in her seat to leave as much air between them as
possible. Craig shifted uncomfortably and edged back himself, as though the
angry heat coming off her might scald him. Geoff was holding court, talking
sports, oblivious to the fact the people surrounding him wanted to poke each
other’s eyes out.

Craig glanced at
her every now and then, searching for something to say. She beat him to it.

‘So did you get
what you needed out of your community meeting last night?’ she asked as Geoff
and Cassette began arguing about some jockey who’d ridden in the Melbourne Cup.

Craig gave
Charlotte a steely look. ‘What do you think?’

‘I think you would
have gotten an idea of how the local community feels about the proposal.’

‘I’m not sure I
did,’ he countered, self-assurance returning. He geared up to challenge her. ‘Crowds
are a funny thing. They're easily led and easily swayed.’

Charlotte stared
at him. He was frighteningly smart. Smart enough to recognise she was smart. This
was going to be an interesting battle.

‘And they didn’t sway
your way, did they?’ she said, leaning forward a little and lowering her voice.

‘That was only round
one, Charlotte. I know how to get what I want,’ he added just as quietly, discretely
looking her up and down.

Charlotte’s fist
clenched, and she was ready to swing when Jackson miraculously, and finally,
appeared at her side.  

‘You warmed up
now?’ he asked, offering his hand.

Craig’s head
snapped up, and he looked daggers at Jackson.

‘For sure,’
Charlotte said, accepting Jackson’s hand and giving him her best girly smile. As
he led her on to the dance floor, she pranced, clacking her heels and swinging
her hips. Now she was the confident one. This dance was going to clear her
head.

‘Something fast,’
she called to Sanjay as Jackson pulled her into the middle of the floor.

Sanjay got the
message. ‘You’re in for a treat now, ladies and gentleman. It looks like
Jackson and Charlotte have found their groove. Step back if you don’t want to
get blown away!’

The crowd on the
dance floor cleared, leaving them alone in the centre. The drummer counted them
in, and a great rocking beat roared out of the guitars. Granted the space,
Jackson was not gentle with her. He pulled her with him, their feet perfect
mirrors as they moved back and forth across the floor. After their first triple
step, he didn’t just nudge her backwards, he pushed hard and she responded,
throwing herself into the dance. Their feet became a blur as they indulged in
some technical footwork, in no rush to reach the climax but in sync with what
they were building to. Their barrel rolls were fast and elaborate.

As expected,
Charlotte’s anger evaporated quickly, and her mind cleared of everything but
the dance. She could feel the burn and damn it felt good.

Half way through
the song, Jackson pulled her in and asked if she was ready. ‘You bet,’ she
replied.

They started a
series of lifts with a Pop Around the Back immediately followed up with a
Crocodile Roll. The crowd cheered the first lift and then roared after the
second. Jackson was in his element, and Charlotte was happy to tolerate his
showmanship because he was pushing her so hard and throwing her so high. He
threw her back out again and they rocked their way back together, hips swivelling,
feet snapping. He tossed her sideways and she returned, rolling and wrapping in
tight. Picking her up, he laid her out horizontally across his torso. When he
unrolled her, she threw out her arm in a flourish, much to the crowd’s
appreciation.

But they weren’t
done yet. One last Hammerlock, then he steadied her in front of him. He grasped
her hips and lifted her, pitching her first left, then right and then between
his legs, sliding her halfway across the floor with the force of his throw. She
flicked her arms out as she slid on her hip across the stage, and came to a
stop in perfect timing with the end of the song.

The crowd roared,
and the applause was deafening. The entire bar was whooping.

‘Hate to say I
told you so,’ announced Sanjay over the hooting and whistling. ‘Give it up for
Jackson and Charlotte, everybody.' And unbelievably, the roar got louder.

Jackson pulled her
to her feet, and they bowed graciously. She was exploding with elation, and her
face was alight. She was even giddy enough to ignore Jackson’s hands as they possessively
snaked their way around her midriff. Emily, her biggest fan, was on her feet,
whooping over the top of the cheers and waving at her sister, beaming.

Mischievously, and
of their own accord, Charlotte’s eyes shifted to Craig. She was miffed to find
him engrossed in peeling the label off his beer bottle, oblivious to the crowd
around him. Her shit-eating grin faltered.   

As the roar
started to die down, the band started up again, and the other dancers returned
to the floor. Jackson was still running his hands all over her while enjoying
the pats on the back from the other dancers. He was even leering at a few of
the women making eyes at him. Another escape was in order, and glancing back
towards the booth, Charlotte clocked Emily signalling at her madly, in
desperate need of moral support.

She looked between
Craig and Jackson, trying to decide which was the lesser of two evils. Her
demons exorcised for now, she decided on the one ignoring her rather than the
one feeling her up.

Peeling off Jackson’s
hands, she leant in to give him a thank you peck on the cheek. He turned his
head at the last moment, catching her lips with his and prolonging the kiss by
clasping the back of her head. A small roar from the crowd ensued. Charlotte
pushed Jackson away and played it up for the audience, who were watching them
to see if they would dance again. She wagged a finger at him, although she really
wanted to wipe her mouth. He shrugged his shoulders and held out his hands
innocently. The crowd snickered as she left the floor, suggesting he was still
hamming it up behind her back. Without turning she waved him away over her
shoulder.

Back at the booth,
she slid back into the seat next to Geoff. Craig was still madly working on his
beer label. Cassette was scowling. Charlotte studied them surreptitiously,
searching for clues. Geoff was smiling proudly, and Emily reached around her
husband to take her sister’s hand. ‘That was brilliant, Charlotte. You two are
amazing together!’

Charlotte gave her
sister a grateful smile but chose to be silent and mysterious. Her survival
instinct was telling her to keep all her cards close to her chest. Regardless
of their relationship and her role in it, she didn’t want either Craig or
Cassette to know who or what Jackson was to her.

Geoff was not
playing on the right team tonight. ‘I thought you two broke up,’ he said.

With considerable
restraint, Charlotte replied. ‘We did. We still dance together though.' She
thought she saw Craig glance at her out of the corner of her eye, but as she
was fastidiously trying not to look at him, she could have easily been
mistaken.

‘So, Charlotte,’
Cassette suddenly chimed in, studying her with malicious intent. ‘What are you
going to do when your gallery is demolished?’

It dropped on the
table like a bomb. The woman’s tactlessness was mind-blowing. Emily rolled her
eyes. Geoff shifted uncomfortably, and even Craig squirmed in his chair.

Avoiding Craig’s
eye, Charlotte answered, ‘I don’t think I need to worry about that until the
demolition notice is on the door.’

‘Well, I’d think about
it if I were you. It’s not often that a developer doesn’t get what they want. Believe
me, I know.' Cassette gave Craig a sultry smirk and slipped her arm through his.
Charlotte felt a wave of nausea and reclaimed the drink she’d abandoned earlier
to wash it away.

It didn’t work.

Cassette continued
pushing her buttons. ‘I see you have a new exhibition opening tomorrow night. I’m
not really a fan of M Talbot’s.’

Well then
hopefully you won’t come along
,
Charlotte thought, but held her tongue. Instead, she said, ‘Each to their own,
I guess,’ and took another hard sip of her drink. She looked out over the dance
floor, disinterested in whatever else Cassette had to say.

Reluctant to
cancel M Talbot’s show, even though the promotion had been minimal, Charlotte
had been in hot pursuit of him over the last few days. When she finally pinned
him down, she convinced him to hang whatever he had ready for Friday night and
offered the opportunity to add additional pieces to the exhibition during the
four weeks he was showing. Truth be told, she wasn’t really a fan of M Talbot’s
either, but not because of his art.