Silence (Silence #1)(52)

“No, you shouldn’t have gone with the blue shirt.” I shoved him in the back of the taxi. “What you’re wearing looks good. So does your hair.”

He laughed and scooted over so I could get in too. I gave the drive Ben’s address, and we went to pick him up too.

“I’m flattered, man, I really am, but you’re with my sister, and if I’m honest, man bits just don’t do it for me.”

Why didn’t I drink before I left the house? A whole evening with Jasper, I must be mad. Ben was waiting by his front door as we pulled up.

“Hey.” He greeted us with an excited smile. “Ready to get shit faced?”

I laughed. “Oh yeah!”

It had been a while since I’d had a night out with the lads and I was looking forward to it. Most of my time was spent with Oakley now and I was more than happy with that, but it was good to do separate things too. We both needed time with our friends.

The queue into the club was short, and we barely had to wait two minutes before making it to the front. The built to hell bouncer shot his muscular arm out, stopping us just as we were about to go in. He must be eating ten pounds of steak and raw eggs every day or taking steroids. The veins in his neck were popping through his skin, and the material of his black top was stretched around his shape.

“ID,” he demanded of Jasper.

I watched with a smile as Jasper’s face fell and he pulled his driving licence out of his wallet. The bouncer studied it for a second and handed it back, nodding for us to go inside. We made our way through the crowd of barely dressed girls to the bar.

“I’m fucking older than you!” Jasper exclaimed, waving his hand in mine and Ben’s direction.

“Well, clearly you don’t look it.” Or act it. He grumbled something under his breath and turned to get the bartenders attention.

Just as the barman got to us, Jasper turned to his side.

“Well hello, ladies,” he purred. Oh my God! I ordered three JD’s and cokes and three shots of tequila.. Ben and I sat down on a stool and got comfortable, ready to watch Jasper make an arse out of himself.

“You wanna dance?” he asked the blonde and scooted a little close to her. Give her some personal space, Jasper. Watching him chat up women was like watching a car crash.

“I have a boyfriend,” she responded, raising her eyebrows, but not actually looking too bothered about the fact.

Without saying a word, he turned away from her. It was as if she had just told him she had murdered a litter of kittens.

“Wanna dance?” he asked her friend, who was standing right next to her! Ben burst out laughing, and I just watched open-mouthed. You would at least try a different group of girls! Unless, of course, you were Jasper.

The blonde’s friend snorted. “Are you serious? Do I look like a backup or something?” Jasper’s face turned thoughtful. He was taking way too long to respond. Say no!

He shrugged. “Sorry, I like her more.”

I chocked on my drink, my eyes widening in shock. Did he really just say that? The girls face reddened. She slapped his cheek, and the sound made me flinch. That had to hurt. It didn’t seem to faze Jasper. I had a feeling that wasn’t the first time he had been slapped.

“No need to be all touchy, love, I was just being honest!” he shouted after her as she stormed off with her friends.

“We’ve only been in here five minutes, and you’ve been slapped already. That must be some sort of a record,” Ben praised, slapping him on the back. Jasper smiled proudly and downed his shot.

Halfway through the night, Jasper ditched us for a group of Thai girls, here for a holiday. He was in his own little idea of heaven. I sat back at the bar with Ben, downing drinks.

“So it’s never awkward or anything?” he questioned, referring to Oakley and me.

“Nope.” Shaking my head, I explained, “I know what she’s thinking pretty much all of the time, so I don’t really need her to say it.”

He nodded along. “Wow. I have no idea what Kerry thinks, and she doesn’t shut up!” They were different ends of the extreme, one never talking, and one always talking. No wonder they got along so well. They balanced each other out perfectly.

“Do you ever wish she would talk though? I mean, doesn’t it bother you that you’ll never hear her say she loves you? And what about the future? When you get married? She won’t be able to say the vows and shit.”

That was something I had thought about, but surely we could get married without her actually saying the words? It wasn’t something we needed to worry about for a long time yet, but I definitely wanted to marry her some day.

“Of course, I wish she would talk, but I don’t really care. And she does say she loves me, she just doesn’t say it.”

Ben’s black eyebrows knitted together in confusion. I couldn’t help laughing at him.

“I’ll get the next round,” I said, pulling a tenner out of my wallet.

Jasper appeared back at the bar, not to talk to me and Ben, but for the redhead standing just along from us.

“This should be good,” Ben muttered. I moved slightly closer, making sure I left a reasonable amount of space between me and the stranger I was standing next to, so I couldn’t be accused of being a pervert.

“Hotel room,” I heard Jasper say. Wow, he got straight to the point. A song with a lot of bass started playing, making it harder to hear. The next thing out of his mouth was, “Hitler.”