Oceans Apart Book 1 (Oceans Apart #1)(26)

And the fact that her arsehole boyfriend had been lurking around didn’t help. She’d mentioned seeing him at least four times after the encounter at the club, and I knew she was afraid. Who knew what that idiot might do to her if he was determined enough to get her back?

I wanted to protect her, be her knight in shining armor, but there wasn’t a lot I could do from London. Fuck.

Apparently my thoughts weren’t as private as I’d hoped, because Mike thumped down on the stool next to mine and slid a pint in front of me.

“You need to lighten up,” he said, a sheepish grin on his face.

The thing about Mike was he was a great friend. We didn’t spend a lot of time talking about feelings or anything like that because we always managed to just “get” each other. I’d known him for over half my life, and he didn’t need me to say anything when it came down to this.

“I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about, man,” I hedged because it was easier than admitting I was obsessing. I hadn’t done that since right after Vanessa left me, and it didn’t feel good.

“Yeah, you do,” he replied. “You’ve got those lines on your forehead and I can hear you thinking from the pool table. Where I just got my ass kicked because you’re not over there helping me, by the way.”

I laughed and gulped down the drink. “Sorry, mate. Things on my mind.”

“No kidding. American girl?”

“She has a name.”

“Ginny, then. What’s going on with that?”

I sighed. “I don’t know. We’re…together, I guess. Feels like we are, anyway. But I don’t know how it’ll work out. Or even if it will. She’s amazing.”

Mike laughed. “Look at you, Mr. International. Too bad your dick isn’t five thousand miles long, huh?” He waggled his eyebrows, and I couldn’t help but snort.

“Yeah, so far that hasn’t been the problem.” Even though I hadn’t touched her at all, I couldn’t get the image of her out of my head. Her thick thighs spread, fingers plunging in and out of her *, calling out my name. I’d wanked to it in the shower more than once that week already.

“Whoa, really? I would’ve thought you’d need to at least f*ck her before you could even consider anything else.”

Yeah, that sounded like me. Except apparently it wasn’t an issue this time. Not being able to touch her or kiss her was definitely one of the drawbacks, but it was hardly the thing that made it so difficult.

“I don’t know, Mike,” I said, looking over at him. “I like her a lot, and I’m pretty certain the feeling’s mutual, but…she deserves better than some guy who can’t even be there for her when she needs it. She has some creepy f*cker following her around over there, and there’s nothing I can do about it. I can’t protect her. Hell, I can’t even hold her when she’s scared.”


For once Mike looked serious. It made sense. I was sure that he’d never heard me talk like that before. “You’re really into this girl, aren’t you? I dunno, man. Maybe you shouldn’t give up. You’ve been a lot happier lately than I’ve seen you in a while, and after Vanessa…”

“Yeah. But maybe it’s selfish to make her think something can happen here. It’s not like I can leave England. My dad would come close to killing me if I tried to leave the company.”

“Maybe he’ll make an American branch you could run or something. I dunno. Just seems a shame if you’re both so into each other.”

I was still thinking about Ginny when I left the pub a couple hours later. It was still early, just after eleven, but I wanted to get home and check in with her. When we texted earlier, she had mentioned a strange van parked down the street from her house, and it had been sitting there all day. Apparently, strange vehicles in her neighborhood were uncommon and she was worried it might be her ex, because he had been bothering her a lot more lately.

“Fucking time zones,” I muttered to myself as I made the walk back to my apartment in the dark. If that f*cker hurt her, I didn’t know what I would do. But there was a feeling in my gut that told me that arsehole wasn’t anywhere near as innocent as she thought he was.

My phone vibrated with a new message. I started to pull it out of my pocket when I heard a familiar female voice.

“Do I really look that different?”

I turned and stared. She did look different, actually. When we were together, she’d had full, wavy dark hair that fell down to her waist, but now it was short in some trendy cut or something. It was definitely her, though. Same posture, same dark eyes, same wry twist to her mouth. She was still beautiful, too, and the dress she was wearing only emphasized her tiny waist and slim figure.

The Mercedes was more expensive than anything she could have afforded on her teacher’s salary, and it left a bitter taste in my mouth. She lived within walking distance of her job and pretty much all the places that she usually went, so it was just for show, of course. She had always loved having things to show off. “Gift from the billionaire?” I asked, nodding at it. Sleek and black, it was something a rich person would love.

Vanessa smiled, flashing that dimple on her left cheek that I had always loved. “It was, yeah. But we’re done now. This was just something I kept to remember him by.”