CHAPTER 6: EYES ON ME

“Terri jie, how are you today? You haven’t spent time with me for awhile now.” One of the club girls came up to me and started flirting as I walked into Double Pleasure. I brushed her aside gently and muttered some excuse. I just wasn’t in any mood tonight. I marched into my office and slammed the door. It was only then that I realised I wasn’t alone in the room.

“Jordan?! You gave me a shock.” I said, visibly startled.

“Sorry. Are you all right?”

I stared at him. Boy, those eyes. When he looked at me, I felt a warm sensation sweeping through my body. Jeez…what was wrong with me? I must be going crazy! I shook myself back to senses. Sighing, I plopped down on the chair. I was starting to feel the beginnings of another migraine. My hands automatically went to my head.

“Here, let me.” I felt Jordan’s warm hands on my shoulders and I relaxed a little as he began to massage them. Gosh, that felt so good.

“It’s Jess,” I told him.

“Your friend?”

I nodded my reply. “She’s been hanging out a lot with a cop lately.”

“I see. You’re afraid there might be trouble?”

“I’m pretty sure there will be trouble,” I sighed again. I realised I’d been doing that a lot recently. “Jordan, what do I do? I’ve tried telling her but we only end up arguing all the time. She’s hardly even talking to me now.”

In actual fact, I had not seen Jess for close to a week now. Sure, she was still staying with me but she would either choose to come home very late at night or if she came home early, she would just stay in her room. Not only was she avoiding me, she was ignoring me too. It was pure agony. Imagine having every gesture and greeting replied with a cold glare. My heart ached like never before.

“I’m scared. I think Jess is really into this guy and I don’t know if he’s going to play her out. I just don’t want to see her get hurt,” I whispered.

“Should I arrange for our people to take care of him?”

I shook my head. As much as I hated it, if Jess liked Louis, I couldn’t let anything happen to him. I didn’t want to see her hurt but I didn’t want her to be sad as well. Gosh, what a predicament I was in. I was getting more and more confused. What the hell did I want? I wanted Jess, yet I wanted her to be happy at the same time. Oh how I missed her cheerful smile and laugher.

I forced a grin. “I’m all right. A little thirsty though. Let’s get a drink.”

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I wiped the tears away and picked up the glass of whiskey in front of me. I swirled it round and round, watching the ice cubes inside knock against each other and against the glass. I downed it in one go and signalled the bartender for another. How many had I had? Eight? Nine? I couldn’t remember. All I knew was that alcohol drowned the senses and that was what I wanted it to do. I wanted to block out the searing pain that was coursing through my heart. I wanted to numb everything so that I could no longer feel.

I had been like that ever since Jess started avoiding me. I knew she didn’t want to see me. So what did I do? Like a coward, I stayed out of her way. I went drinking every night to waste the time away. Sometimes I didn’t go home too. As long as Jess was happy, I didn’t care what I was doing to myself.

“Terri?”

I looked over my shoulder and saw Jordan. Those eyes again. They penetrated right into your soul. He didn’t have to say a word. His eyes spoke of a million things. Arghh! What the hell was wrong with me? There was no way I was falling for Jordan. I didn't like men for gawd’s sake. I had to be drunk!

I grinned stupidly at him. “Hey! This place is the pits. Let’s go somewhere else to party.” I grabbed his arm and pulled him with me.

“Where do you want to go?” Jordan asked when we were in the car.

I giggled. “Wherever…as long as there are lots of girls.”

I leaned back into the seat and let the cool air of the night caress my face as we sped along the way. I was a little drowsy from all the alcohol but I knew it would take a lot more than eight or nine glasses of whiskey shots to knock me out. I turned to look towards the sidewalks. Seeing all those couples hand in hand, I smiled when I imagined myself with Jess, happily walking along the streets, spending our days together without a care in the…

“STOP the car!” I yelled.

The seatbelt cut into my chest as Jordan brought the CLK to a screeching halt. I spun round in my seat and stared at a couple who was about 50 metres away. I felt a shiver go up my spine. It was Jess and Louis. And they had their hands locked around each other. She was laughing away merrily and her eyes were twinkling brightly as she gazed intently at him. I really hadn’t seen her so happy for so long. Both she and Louis looked as if they were in a world of their own. What was merely a few seconds felt like an eternity to me. I choked back my tears and turned back round to face the front. I could no longer focus. The city lights were all a blur and everything was spinning. I was in shock.

“Terri…Terri…Terri…Terri…Terri…”

I turned, dazedly, to look at Jordan. How long had he been calling me?

“Terri, are you okay?”

I recomposed myself and forced a smile. “Yeah…let’s go party!”

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“Terri jie, I’ve missed you ar… you haven’t been here for ages,” she pouted and wrapped her arms around me.

I laughed and threw and stack of money on the table. “I’ll reward each and every one of you nicely if you can out drink me.”

The girls around me squealed in delight as they each fought for my attention. Who were they? Faces in a club. I couldn’t remember their names and I’d probably forget their faces come tomorrow. But who cared? They wanted my money and I wanted to get drunk. It was a fair enough transaction. From the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of Jordan staring at me. He had been quiet the whole night, letting me vent my frustrations and anger in alcohol.

“Hey, Jordan. Bottoms up!” I raised my glass at him.

He smiled uneasily and lifted his glass.

It was 5ish in the morning by the time we decided to leave - actually, it was more Jordan who decided. I could have carried on the whole day.

“C’mon, I’ll take you home,” Jordan said as he wrapped his arms around my waist to support me.

I shook my head forcefully. It caused me to lose my balance and I fell into his body. “No, I don’t want to go home,” I pouted. I turned to look up at him and realised that his face was only a few centimetres away from mine. I could feel the warmth of his breath on me. Shit, those damn eyes again. He was staring fixedly at me and a weird sensation filled my body. My heart was beating so fast it felt like it was going to burst out of my chest any minute. Trembling, I moved my hand up to touch his face and before I knew it, he had his lips on mine.