Tit for Tat Baby (14 page)

“Hi Jason. I did not sum you up as a
culture person.”

“See.  Proof that you should
never judge a book by its cover!  Are you not going to tell me your name?”

“Jenna Burkes.”

“What are your plans after the show,
Jenna?”

She looked at him and decided being
surrounded by young, energetic people with the only aim pleasure and fun, was
just what she needed. 

“I guess that depends on where you’re
going.”

He froze and stared at her.

“Really?  You will go on a date
with me?”

She chuckled and shook her head.

“Not a date, Jason and no chance of
hugs and kisses or making out.  I need people around me tonight and I have
this inkling to get roaring drunk.  Dancing till the sun rises sounds like
a good plan for tonight.”

“Well … then joining us is a step in
the right direction.  A few of our friends are in the show, which is why
we are here.  Afterwards we are going to a new nightclub that opened on
York Street.”

He stood up and waved his friends
over.  A bunch of young guys and girls joined them.  She relaxed and
by the time they left for the nightclub, she was relaxed and laughed and joked
along with them.  Jason and two girls drove with her to the club.  He
made her think of her brother, Kevin, which was probably why she was so
comfortable with him.

At
first Jenna felt uncomfortable as she was probably the oldest person in the
club, but everyone treated her as one of them, so she completely relaxed. She
joined them on the dance floor, drank shooters and tequila until the pain in
her heart was no more and she felt like a young student herself.

She even allowed Jason to hold her close
when they danced and when he tilted her head and kissed her, she returned the
kiss.  He smiled at her and she said with regret.

“I am sorry.  I should not have
allowed you to do that.  I guess I am not that drunk yet.”

“You mean you’re not too drunk to
forget about whoever drove you to drink in the first place?”

“Something like that.”

“I guess we need some more tequila
then!  Boys … Jenna is in the
blue
zone!”

“Not the blue zone!”

They all said in unison and flocked
around her.  From that moment on she was on the dance floor all the
time.  They fed her shooters and she allowed them to turn her into a
drunken, heartbroken idiot.  She danced on the tables and sang with them
drunkenly, dishing love and arrogant Irishmen to hell.  By one in the
morning she realized she had to stop, she had gone overboard totally. 
Something she never did even when she was a student.

She waved at Jason and he walked over,
totally sober.  He was the designated driver and took his responsibility
serious.

“I … thingsh I had enougssh.  I …
uhm goin’ homsh.”

“Oh Jenna … you really were very blue
… I am glad I am not going to have your head tomorrow.”

He waved at the second designated
driver and they walked outside with her, supporting her on both sides.
 She was so unsteady on her feet, she would not have make it to the car.

“You don’ hav’ te drive me … cab … get
me a cab.”

“Sorry Jenna, we don’t leave our
buddies like that. Keys?”

She dug the keys out of her purse and
Jason assisted her into the car.  The drive did not take too long and she
sang all the way up the castle driveway.

Jason whistled when he stopped in
front of the castle.

“You live here, Jenna?  Wow!”

“Wowser, smowser!  Hahaha … I
worksh here.”

Jason shook his head and got out of
the car and helped her out.  She giggled and leaned heavily against the
car.  He wanted to help her into the house, but she patted him on his
chest and shook her head.

“Nooo, Jace, lovey.  Thersh a big
bad wolfssh insshide.  He will eatshh … hick … you up!”

“Only if you’re sure?”

She nodded and he handed her the car
keys.  He hugged her briefly, kissed her on her cheek and jogged to the
other car.  She waved at them and then pushed herself upright.  She
took small steps and it all went well while she had the car to hold onto. 
She stumbled when she let the car go and she giggled, concentrating placing one
foot in front of the other.  She ran into a wall and fell back on her ass.

She sat on the driveway and giggled,
slapping her thigh. She looked up and laughed when she realized the wall she
ran into was none other than Callum.

“Aahh schweet … itsh the big bad
wolfsh!”

He leaned down and snatched her to her
feet and into the house.  Once inside he yanked her up against his chest.
She gasped and he reared back.

“You’re drunk!”

She slapped him on his chest.

“Ash as schkunk!” 

She stumbled around him and staggered
slowly to the stairs, ignoring Callum’s rage and singing ‘We will rock you’ in
a drunken voice.

“Jenna, get back here!”

His voice was furious and his body tight
as a wire.  He nearly killed the young man when he kissed her and he would
have, had he reached him in time.  He hardly noticed Megan, Liam and
Shelly appearing at the top of the balustrade, being awakened by the ruckus
Jenna and he was making.

“Naw,  hineybunsh … I’ve had qui
… hick … quite enoughsh for now … of every … hick … thingsh … you know wha’ I …
hick … mean.”

Callum lost it totally.  He
yanked her back from the stairs and he ground out through his teeth.  His
nose against hers.

“Did you sleep with him, Jenna?”

She slapped him on his chest,
laughing.

“Och … now hineybunsh … itsch not …!”

“Answer me, damn you!  Did you
have sex with him!”

He shouted and did not heed the gasps
from above.  He shook Jenna in his anger and she cried out, grabbing her
aching head.  Callum nearly socked Liam on his nose when he touched him on
the arm.  Liam grasped him hard until he looked at him.  His eyes
calm and his voice soft.

“Buddy, you are going to hurt
her.  Let me take her to her room.”

“No!  No one touches her!”  

Callum cursed when she whimpered and
her knees gave in.  He caught her in his arms and ran up the stairs. 
He slammed through her door and stormed into the bathroom.  He held her in
his arms and opened the cold water in the shower and shoved her under the spray
of water.

Jenna screamed when the cold water hit
her. Callum would not be moved and he held her under the water until tears ran
down her face and she begged him to turn it off.  Liam closed his arms
around Callum’s and he forced him outside.  Megan rushed in and helped a
shivering and a little more sober Jenna to undress.  She dried her and
found one of the oversized tee-shirts and pulled it over her head.

Liam still struggled with Callum to
get him out of Jenna’s room.  Shelly stood in the door, watching Callum
with amazement on her face.

“Let me go, your ass!”

“Only if you stop to be one yourself!”

“She’s drunk, Liam!  You heard
what she did!”

Liam shook him and glared at him.

“How the hell did you expect her to
react, Callum?  How?”

Callum calmed and he slumped back
against the wall.  He ran his hand over his face.

“Shit!”

“Callum, I think Liam is right. 
You need to get out of here.”

Callum startled when he noticed Shelly
in the doorway for the first time.

“Shelly … I …”

“Go Callum.  We’ll talk in the
morning.”

He stiffened when Megan helped a
shivering Jenna to her bed, her hair still wet.

“Megs, she can’t go to sleep with wet
hair.”

“And whose bloody fault is that?” she
snapped at him and he winced. 

He spun around and disappeared down the
stairs.  The anger inside him burning higher and higher, instead of
simmering down. Just the thought of her allowing another man inside her body
turned his anger to rage.  He slammed the door behind him shut and sank
down on the couch in his study.

 Callum could not stay away. When
everyone was asleep he walked into her room and sat down on the large wingback
chair in the corner in front of the window.  His eyes glued to her quiet
body on the bed.   He breathed deep and forced his anger down. 

Less than an hour later she groaned
and shot out of the bed and ran into the bathroom. She hurled and felt as if
her insides were being torn apart.

“Oh Lord!”

She drank some water, gurgled with
mouthwash and stumbled back to bed.  She fell on her stomach and fell asleep
almost immediately.  It did not last too long and she had to take a second
trip and then not long after a third.  By that time she was so weak, she
slumped against the bathtub, trying to gather the strength to walk back to
bed.  She groaned and held her head.

Strong hands picked her up and she
struggled, but Callum just clamped her tighter and carried her to her
bed.  He laid her down and drew the sheet over her.  Jenna turned her
back on him and was asleep in a wink of an eye.

Callum went back to the chair.
 His mind was in turmoil.  He cursed and called himself so many names
over the past few hours, there was none left.  He had no right to be angry
and she had every right to be.  Even to have done what she said she
did!  It had killed him to admit that he had no right to be angry or
resent her even if she did have sex with another man!

Jenna’s painful moans woke him and he
straightened in the chair.  She curled in a little ball and clutched her
head in her hands.  It was already mid-morning and his whole body was
cramped from sleeping in the chair.

She groaned again and he
stiffened.  Her eyes were shut tight and she clamped her arms around her
legs.

“Oh Lord!  What were you thinking
Jenna Burkes!”

She turned on her back and pulled the
pillow over her face. The door opened and Megan walked in with a tray. 
She was nearly at the bed when she noticed Callum sitting in the chair. 
Their eyes met and she sighed.  His eyes and face was
expressionless.  Nothing of what he was feeling showed on his face. 
She nodded her head towards the door and he shook his head.  She glared at
him and nodded at the door again.  He sighed, stood up and walked out of
the room, closing the door softly behind him.

“Jenna, are you awake, love?”

“Hmm … go away Megan!  I am too
embarrassed to face you!”

“Nonsense!  We’ve all had one day
where we needed to find solace in booze.  Come now, Jenna.  I brought
you a cocktail Liam swore would end any hangover.   Some strong
coffee and dried toast.  Liam said you won’t be able to hold anything else
down.  He seems to know a lot about hangovers, come to think of it. 
Not that I have seen him drunk once.”

Jenna sat up and moaned when her head
complained loudly.  Megan refused to budge until Jenna finished everything
on the plate.

“Why did you not tell me, Megan?”

“In all honesty, until last night none
of us realized how far things had gone between the two of you.  I had a
suspicion when I saw your face when Shelly said she was Callum’s … fiancé, but
by then it was too late.”

Jenna nodded and swallowed the
headache tablets Megan handed her.

“Why don’t you take a long bath? 
You will feel a lot better after.”

“Thank you Megan … for everything.”

“May I give you some unasked for
advice?  Be patient, Jenna.  All is not what it seems, and I know she
is not for him. They both know it too.  Just … be … patient.”

Jenna
sat on the bed for another five minutes before she got up and took a long, hot
bath. 

“Callum?”

He stiffened when Shelly called his
name from the door.  He stood staring out of the window in his
study.  He sighed and ran his hand around his neck.  He turned and
looked at Shelly.  She had a slight smile on her mouth and walked
closer.  She leaned against him and they hugged each other.  She
reached up and took his face between her hands.  She looked deep into his
eyes and shook her head.

She withdrew from his embrace and sat
down on the couch with her legs drawn up by her side.  He walked to his
desk and sat against it.

“You really acted like an ass last
night, you know.”

His jaw tightened and he scowled. She
chuckled and pointed a finger at him.

“Don’t even try and deny it, darling.
You know very well …”

“Yes, Shell, I know!  Look, I am
sorry.  I should not have behaved the way I did.

She frowned at him.

“Why are you apologizing to me,
Callum? It’s Jenna you should be apologizing to.”