Nick’s office door was closed when Jacky arrived at work the next day at her usual nine o’clock. She was pretty sure it would be closed for the rest of the morning. There was no sign of Adam’s fancy new blue Bugatti Chiron that Nick had talked him into buying only a few weeks prior. She was somewhat relieved.

Jacky sat down behind her desk and switched on the computer, more out of habit than any intention of actually doing any work. The truth was, there wasn’t really much day-to-day secretarial work for her to do other than answering the phones. The boys had a separate accountant who took care of the actual financial stuff and the coffee machine only really needed switching on—it did everything else automatically.

She knew they didn’t really need her, but she was glad Nick convinced her to pack up her bags and move to the city to ‘live the dream’ with them. After she found out Paul was cheating on her, she wasn’t really sure what to do with her life. They’d been together since high school and the plan was always to get married as soon as he finished his law degree. They were going to move to Europe. He’d finished his degree years ago already but for some reason kept delaying their plans. She assumed he was too busy at work to organize the finer details, which was what he always said. And with all the late nights he was working all the time, who was she to question? He was the breadwinner after all.

Her own dreams of studying a journalism degree were put on hold as she took on the full-time job of running the household and Paul’s life. There simply wasn’t money for her to study. She came from a family of modest means and she was too proud to ever ask her folks for more hand outs. But her independence meant a complete dependence on the cheating man she eventually caught when he carelessly left a receipt for a pair of fancy earrings in his jacket pocket.

She would never forget the day it all came crashing down. She remembered staring at the receipt for a long time after she fished it out of his pocket during her usual laundry routine. She thought maybe he was planning to give her them, even though it wasn’t his style to shower her with surprises. He never bought her anything fancy on her birthday, usually he’d blame her lack of presents on saving for their life overseas. She felt trapped at home but the thought of their new life in Prague kept her going. She’d looked up so many things she wanted to do there. She even had a list written out in a notebook that she kept in her bedside table.

The receipt made no sense but she was never suspicious. It took more than a month before she finally questioned him about it because he never gave her the earrings.

They’d been together since they were 15 years old. He was the third in the trio of Adam and Nick’s clique but the more assertive when it came to pursuing her when she moved to their town and school. Her parents always moved around a lot but they settled in the town with the uniform box-shaped houses lining the wide roads with lush tree canopies.

It still took him a year to convince Jacky to even have a milkshake with him. After that, things moved pretty quickly. He went off to college and she stayed at home, waitressing to scrape together some money to pay her parents a measly rent for her room and board. She wasn’t really living, she was just waiting for Paul to finish so they could start their life together. He’d come home on weekends or at least every second weekend and they would sit under the tree where they carved their initials, just holding one another and dreaming of their future…

Life at the restaurant was uneventful and basic. She lived day to day, only escaping into the books she devoured when she sat in the park alone after hours, wondering what Paul was doing and if he was thinking about her.

Sometimes Nick or Adam would come home for the weekend and she’d forget about her worries. They were hard at work on an app she didn’t understand but admired their passion for it. They were staying with Adam’s dad in California, working day and night on what seemed like an endless series of bad ideas. But she was always happy to see them when they came home.

Adam always bought her a fridge magnet as a gift, even though she didn’t own a fridge. She kept them all in a box in her cupboard. She still had them somewhere at home.

It would take as long as Paul’s studies for the boys to finally get it right and perfect the app that would change the financial world forever. She was so proud of them. They offered to pay for her studies when their first big paycheck rolled in but she declined politely. She had a future with Paul and she was patiently waiting for it to start.

It was the longest seven years of her life but she was focused on the goal and managed to get through the days, the weeks, the months without losing hope that it would get better. The year of Paul’s graduation, she walked dogs during her off-periods and even did some babysitting, just to scrape together enough cash to attend the ceremony. It was so foreign to finally see his world, his life without her. He had so many friends, so many things that he never shared with her. After the ceremony, he left her behind and went out celebrating with everyone. She didn’t question it.

Paul moved back and started at a small firm in their town, earning way less than he was worth. He was always a bit bitter that the boys made it big without him and projected his resentment towards Jacky. He blamed her for distracting him and separating him from their group. He liked bringing it up whenever they were struggling with money.

After a few months, she moved out of her parents’ house and into a small one-bedroom apartment with Paul to help with cleaning and making his meals. But he said it’s so they could finally be together. He wasn’t always so distant. The first year was amazing. She finally had her lover back and he was a passionate lover at that. It felt like her life was finally unpausing again and everything she was waiting for was about to become worth it.

They lived modestly but it was the best time of her life. She finally had a purpose and she lived for the sound of hearing his keys in the door at the end of the day. She still had to take a few shifts at the restaurant so they could get by and on Tuesdays and Thursdays, she looked after the woman next door’s unruly kids for a small fee. It was supposed to be temporary, but he kept moving the date of their departure, never proposing either. Her mother kept pestering her for a wedding date but they never had money for a ring.

They were saving every penny, not allowing themselves any luxuries as they planned their new life in Prague. That’s why that jewelry receipt made no sense—it was half his salary.

He was so angry when she questioned him about it they had their worst fight. After that, she was more vigilant, picking up the foreign smells on his shirts, the way he would send messages late at night, keeping the screen turned away from her.

One evening he was working late she called the office. The security guard who answered the phone informed her that Paul always left at six o’clock on the do. Jacky found him at the local strip club with his colleague after searching the small town high and low for his beat-up 1989 Mazda Midge.

The betrayal was brutal and his reaction even more so. He blamed it all on her. She packed her bags that same night and moved back in with her parents, her entire world shattered.

She had never asked her mom about it but Jacky was pretty sure Nick didn’t just phone out of the blue a week later to casually catch up. Her mother must have contacted him out of desperation, unsure what to do with her emotionally unstable daughter who refused to leave her room or even eat.

This time, when Nick asked her to move to the city and be their secretary, she uncharacteristically decided to do it. She’d never been one for rash decisions but she was desperate for a new start. It felt like her life was over and she was willing to try anything if it meant not being a burden on her parents.

The boys were efficient, or more precisely, they had the means to make things happen efficiently. She was in California within a week, set up in a modest but beautifully furnished apartment just down the road from their office. It was the first time she had a place for herself. And although she arrived with two suitcases and nothing else, it had become her home.

Three months on, Jacky had added a few things here and there to make it her own. She knew they were overpaying her but she saved it away for her studies. One day she’d pay them back, but for now, she knew she had to get over her pride and accept the neatly-disguised hand-out.

When Adam kissed her it was simply too much for her to process. She enjoyed the kiss, that much she knew, but it threatened her new-found stability and future. She knew they were just drunk and that it was probably nothing, but she couldn’t stop thinking about it. She’d known Adam for so long but she’d never thought of him in that way. She’d never really cared for a man other than Paul.

Sure, when she first got to California, she took full advantage of her newfound freedom. A single woman in the city, and especially one as good-looking as her, she had no trouble finding a new bed every night. She made sure the boys never knew about her newfound sexual prowess, but during the first two months, she caught up everything she’d missed out on over the years.

It didn’t do much for the empty feeling inside though. After every pointless one-night stand, she’d pick up her things and tip-toe out, returning to her apartment to lock herself away from the world and bury herself in the blankets. She realized that it wasn’t the way to find love, and resorted to her old ways of devouring every book she could get her hands on, drinking slow glasses of cheap red wine in the fortress that was now her home.

She never let any men come to her place—it was her sanctuary. So, when Adam kissed her on her own turf, it got to her on a level that she’d never imagined. But she knew it could never be. Not if she wanted to keep this world she was building for herself. She had to keep work and her private life separate. Adam and Nick were her lifelines in the city and she wouldn’t mess with that.

The door suddenly opened and Adam rushed in, snapping Jacky out of her hungover-nostalgia. She looked away.

Adam shot Jacky a panicked look briefly before disappearing into his office and slamming the door behind him. He looked flustered and awkward but he was gone before Jacky could say anything. Not that she knew what she would have said.

Nick’s door opened moments later. He looked rugged from the night before and had clearly just woken up. Oh, the perks of working for oneself.

“Jax! Jesus…” he pushed his messy blonde hair from his eyes.

“Coffee and some paracetamol?” she smiled, her own hangover nursed the same way not too long ago.

“Hmm, please. That sounds good. Was that Adam? Is he in? We need to talk about this meeting we have later,” he mumbled, walking towards the other door without even waiting for an answer.

“Don’t you knock?” Adam asked, looking up from his blank computer screen.

“Since when do I have to knock? What’s going on?” Nick looked at him suspiciously.

“Nothing. What do you want?”

“Wow, and I thought I was the one with the hangover, what has gotten into you? I…”

He was interrupted by Jacky bringing in the promised coffee. She knocked on the open door before awkwardly setting down the cup in front of Nick.

“Sorry, your coffee, I…” she looked at Adam briefly before stumbling out of the room again.

“What the fuck is up with you guys?” Nick took a sip of his coffee, questionably eyeing his best friend.

“You came in here for something? Do you want to talk about the meeting?” Adam tried to change the topic but with no luck.

“C’mon Adam, I’ve known you longer than that. Why is Jax being so strange and why can’t you look her in the eye? Did you two hook up? What happened last night when I passed out?” He never beat around the bush.

“What? I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Adam was blushing and he knew it. He got up and walked towards the fridge to look for something to drink, grabbing a bottle of water he had no intention of drinking from the top rack.

“You sly dog… did you finally fuck her? Strange, I always thought I’d be the first one to get with Jax.” Nick laughed.

“Lower your voice, damn it!” Adam scolded, slamming the door shut behind them. “It was just a kiss. Nothing happened.”

“Oh shit, so I was right?” Nick burst out laughing, his hangover almost forgotten.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Adam muttered.

“You do know that’s not really an acceptable answer, right? How was it? Did you grab her breasts? I always wanted to do that… they look so firm—were they firm?”

“Ugh, you’re such a dog. It wasn’t like that. It was just a kiss. And now it’s all weird.”

“You are seriously overthinking this, dude. It’s just a kiss.”

“But it was Jax, man.”

“Don’t you like her?”

“Yeah, you know I do. That’s the whole point.”

“You’re being way too emotional. You either fuck a chick or you don’t. This in between stuff is way too complicated. If I was you, I would’ve nailed her right there on the pavement before she even knew what hit her!”

“You’re being such a tool.”

“I think I’m still drunk. Doesn’t matter. Now that the gates are open, it’s a free for all. Thanks, man!”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Clearly she’s over Paul, so she’s on the market again. Just in time too, I’ve been looking for another challenge.”

“Don’t be like that, Nick. Not Jax. You can literally have any damn girl you want, why her?”

“That is exactly why and you know it. I’ve been waiting way too long to get inside her.”

“That’s disgusting, don’t talk about her like that. She’s got more class than to fall for your tricks.”

“Well, she can’t have that much class if she kissed you.”

“Now you’re just being an asshole.”

“Stop sulking like a little bitch. You know I’m just pulling your leg,” he teased, walking towards the door. “If I wanted to fuck Jax, I’d just do it. I wouldn’t be here talking to you about it.” He winked and walked out.

“Dick! Close the door behind you!” Adam shouted after him.

He slumped back in his chair, once more replaying the scene from the previous night in his head. He could still feel her lips, how soft they were, the closeness of her body to his. His pants stirred just thinking about it.

Nick was right about one thing… he’d always had a thing for Jax but she’d never been his for the taking. Maybe that was about to change. She wouldn’t be stupid enough to fall for Nick’s stupid moves. Would she?