Decision made, he went into his kitchen to phone her mobile. No answer. He tried her home line. No answer. He tried her mobile again. No answer. He tried her home line again. No answer. Half an hour went by and nothing. No answer from either phone, no returning his calls, no answering the voicemail messages he’d left. Unfortunately Ollie had gotten himself a new secretary and she was not easy to charm like the last one so that got him nowhere.
“Oi, Warren,” he said, a thought forming. “Where’s Anna tonight?” Because wherever she was, Jaxx was likely to be close.
That had Warren licking his lips nervously. He’d been dreading Connor might ask him about Anna in case he accidentally said too much. “Oh, er, she’s, um, in…Europe.”
Connor frowned. Europe? Hmm. Had to be a modelling thing. He was sure he’d heard Jaxx say something about Anna going to Paris and Milan a lot. He checked his Blackberry; still no messages.
“Waiting on a phone call?” Dane tried to hold back his amusement. It was obvious that Connor had finally cracked and wanted to see Jaxxon again. Warren had told Dane all about the holiday and how Anna had sworn him to secrecy, but he forgot to do one thing: he forgot to make Dane swear to keep it secret from Connor. Dane had absolutely no intention of holding back the fact that Jaxxon was in a whole other country where males of all ages could flock around her and there wasn’t a thing Connor could do about it. He was going to go off his rocker. Boy this was going to be so much fun.
Connor said nothing to Dane’s question and shoved his Blackberry back into his pocket. A few minutes later he fished it out again and returned to the bedroom to try Jaxx’s mobile again…still nothing. Home line…still nothing. Secretary…still not charmed. He growled. Jaxx didn’t play ‘ignore the ring tone’. She’d sooner answer it, tell him to sod off, and then hang up if she didn’t want to speak to him. In which case, he had to assume that she hadn’t seen his attempts to contact her. He should be able to shrug and think ‘she’ll phone when she can’. But it was doing his nut in wondering when, exactly, he should expect a response. Was this how she felt when he didn’t give her any idea of when he’d next be in touch? On re-entering the living area he caught the latter part of Dane’s sentence:
“…doesn’t bother you she’s on holiday without you?”
“Who’s on holiday?” When Dane and Warren exchanged an odd look, Connor frowned.
Warren cleared his throat. “Anna.”
“Oh so it’s not some modelling job she’s away doing?”
“No,” said Dane. “A last minute booking wasn’t it, Warren?”
“Er, yeah.”
Dane folded his arms across his chest. “I’m surprised you didn’t go with her, even if three is a crowd.”
“Another time I will.” Warren sighed internally. He wasn’t going to pull this flippant act off, not while Dane, whatever his game was, seemed like he intended to let it slip to Connor that Jaxxon had gone with her.
“I wouldn’t like it if it was me,” said Dane gravely, shaking his head.
“It’s just a holiday, she’s not relocating.”
“Yeah but still…Just the idea of Niki that far away from me…I think I’d lose my head.”
“How far away are we talking?” asked Connor.
“France.” Warren internally winced as he realised he’d released a detail of the holiday.
Dane tskd. “It’s still a foreign country which means it’d too far away for my liking. Even worse, the French are supposed to be right smoothies. And women love those European accents, don’t they?” He sighed. “Personally, I’d be a paranoid wreck.”
“I trust Anna.” That hadn’t stopped him being worried though.
“Yeah, but do you trust the smoothies around her? That’s the question. You told me Anna loves her drink. One weak moment, one very smooth smoothie…” Dane jiggled his head. “At least she’s not on her own and there’s someone to make sure she’s got her wits about her.”
Connor was starting to feel as though he was missing out on something important.
“What about you, Con?” asked Dane. “If it was Jaxx, would you be alright with it?”
“Did I say you could call her Jaxx? She’s my Jaxx, she’s Jaxxon to you.” Then it occurred to Connor that Dane had spoken in a very odd tone. Suddenly, as snippets of the conversation flicked through his mind, it all came together. He took a deep breath, determined to maintain his composure. Then he slowly swerved his head to look at Warren who was looking awfully nervous and awkward. “Warren, who’s Anna on holiday with?”
“A mate,” he said flippantly.
“Would that mate be Jaxx?” His voice was deceptively patient. Warren’s twist of the lips and hesitation to speak told Connor what he needed to know. “When did they leave?”
“Monday morning.”
“Monday morning? What, and you never thought to tell me?” When he heard Dane giggling quietly he turned on him. “You’ve known all this time as well, haven’t you.” The giggling stopped.
“No need to have a panic attack,” said Dane. “They’ll be back on this Monday coming.”
“Monday.” He couldn’t wait that long to see her. Nor did he want to. What he wanted to do was grab her, yell at her for sodding off like that and then shag her senseless.
Dane kept all amusement from his manner. “Now, see, you haven’t really got a right to go all nuts, have you? Okay so Jaxx – sorry, Jaxxon – didn’t tell you she was going on holiday. Should she have to tell someone who only shows up when he feels like shagging her?”
Connor knew what Dane was getting at and he knew he was right but it still didn’t take the sting away of her buggering off without a word. “Where in France?” he asked Warren.
“Oh I can’t pronounce it.”
Dane laughed. He had to admire Warren for his never-ending loyalty to Anna’s promise.
“Is it in the North, South, what?”
Warren scratched his head. “Um…”
“Is it near Paris?”
“I’m really not comfortable with these questions.”
Connor pinned Dane with his serious gaze. “You know where, don’t you?”
“Come on, mate, don’t get yourself all worked up. She’s probably not into the French accents.” It was killing him not to laugh. “It’s just the tourists you’ve got to worry about. You can’t blame them if they try sniffing around her. I mean, come on, you would have. Even believing she was in some high publicity relationship with an insane twat you’d have still tried your luck. I bet you’re glad you and her made that agreement about not shagging other people. Tell me, though, did you specify if kissing or touching or oral sex was allowed?” Connor growled. Dane faked a horrified gasp. “Tell me you definitely specified no anal sex.”
As much as Connor knew that Dane was trying to get a rise out of him, he couldn’t help but give it to him. The idea that she was so far out of reach… “How would you like it if it was Niki, eh? If I knew where she was and wouldn’t tell you?”
Dane smiled. “Ah, but Niki’s my wife. What is Jaxxon to you again?”