Take My Hand Read Online Free PDF

smarmy
grin as he beckoned me over to join him. Cutie? Really? I suddenly felt
even more nauseous.
    “Hey,” I mumbled back.
    “You wanna catch a drink here or head
straight out?” Hmm. After pausing briefly to think about it I decided the pub
might be best to start with. It was somewhat familiar and there were plenty of
witnesses, so I perched myself gracefully onto a red velvet-topped barstool
next to him. My heart was bouncing like a pogo stick in my chest. I was absolutely not cut out for this being sociable lark.
    “Here’s fine.”
    Talk, Em! Remember? Chat, speak, converse…
reply with sentences longer than two syllables.
    “So do you live near here?” Go on girl! An
actual, well constructed, reasonable question without a hint of a crack in my
voice.
    “Yeah not too far. I rent a flat in Kings
Cross.” Now from my limited knowledge of London, I was pretty sure Kings Cross
was a fairly affluent district of the city. But then, he worked in a pub so it
was possible (and more likely) I was mistaken. “What about you? Am I allowed to
know where you live now your friend’s not around?” he teased. God I wished
Rachel were there. My mouth was so dry my lips were sticking to my
teeth.
    “Rachel and I share a ground floor flat in those
maisonettes opposite Tesco over there.” I pointed over my shoulder like the
supermarket and flats in question could actually be seen from where we
were sitting. Then I felt stupid about it.
    “Rachel. She’s, um… quite the feisty type I
noticed.” I couldn’t help but giggle at that. Feisty was a serious
under-evaluation.
    “Yeah. She is,” I agreed with a smile.
    “And she’s pretty hard to miss with the
purple hair and all the tats. I was kinda surprised she doesn’t tone it down a
bit – blend in. What with… you know… the chair and shit.” This was
definitely the point where someone with a dirty mouth would’ve yelled ‘what the
actual fuck?’
    “Excuse me?” I snapped, offended. His cocky
smile dropped instantly when he realised his mistake. His now beaming red
cheeks were a sharp contrast to his sandy-blonde hair and he stuttered as he
tried to choke out what I hoped was an apology.
    “Hey I’m- I mean I… Look that was a stupid
thing to say. I wasn’t judging I swear. Guess I’m just not sure I could be as
outgoing as her if the roles were reversed. But that’s my issue, not hers.
Fuck, you must think I’m a total dickhead.” Hmm, yes I was leaning towards that
conclusion. “Sorry.” He sounded sincere so I decided to let it go. I had to
give this being sociable thing longer than five minutes if I was to succeed.
    “No worries. Just don’t ever say that to
Rachel. Her legs might not work but believe me that wouldn’t stop her kicking
your arse twice over,” I said with a forgiving smile even though I was deadly serious. No one messes with Rachel more than once and lives to tell the
tale.
    “Yeah, I kinda got that vibe from her last
night,” he muttered, staring down at the bar. “Right, what’ll it be?” Jared
asked, beckoning Mr Nameless over with his empty pint glass.
    “Just a Coke for me please.”
    “Same again and a Coke, mate,” he said whilst
never taking his cheeky brown eyes off mine. Mr Nameless nodded and set about
getting our glasses.
    “He always so chatty?” I quipped to Jared and
I was actually a little proud of myself for finding something amusing to say
all on my own. Jared made a grunting kind of laugh sound and cocked one of his
overly bushy eyebrows.
    “Totally. Can’t shut him up most days,” he
teased – or at least I assumed he was teasing. I can’t imagine the
brooding American having a full-on conversation with anyone. Miserable
pig. “Nah, he’s cool when you get to know him.” Oops. Guess my face must’ve
given away what I was thinking. “Just likes his own space, you know.” Oh. Maybe
miserable pig was a little strong. I detest people who judge others and that
was precisely what I just