Free Rocking Esme (The Rocking Series Book 1) by Kacey Hamford

road, all I wanted to do was turn around and go back and finish what I’d started. I slammed my hand down on the steering wheel in frustration, poor Esme, what must she have been thinking? I couldn’t believe I’d had to run out on her without an explanation or apology.
     
    Esmeralda
     
    I’d climbed into bed without realising it, it was as if I was on automatic pilot, I was in a dream-like state.
    All I had on my mind was Jackson… We’d had a moment… We’d almost kissed… And then his phone went off. I didn’t know if I was relieved or upset. I mean, he has a girlfriend and I didn’t want to be someone he cheated on her with, but I didn’t think Jackson was that type of guy, at least I’d hoped he wasn’t.
    Had I encouraged him to kiss me? Was it because we were drinking wine? Was that why he’d wanted to kiss me? I’d hoped it wasn’t just because of the wine. There was definitely something there and I was sure he’d felt it too.
    I loved the fact that he gave me a hug goodbye and a kiss on the cheek, I almost felt giddy from that and I was constantly replaying it in my head.
    Cindy sounded like she was hard work, very high maintenance. Jackson had to put up with a lot and for her to keep betraying him made me feel a little uneasy. I guessed I was a little protective of him too.

Chapter 15
     
    Esmeralda
     
    The following Saturday, it was Rick’s birthday party. I hadn’t seen Jackson since Monday when he came round to my place; I was hoping it wouldn’t be awkward when I bumped into him. The party was at Rick’s flat and I was looking forward to chilling out with the girls, letting my hair down and having some fun. I’d been a bit more fun and carefree since starting work at The Archer. I suppose I needed to come out of my shell a little to hold down a job in a lively bar. I was taking Marcy and Danni with me to the party as Rick said I could invite who I liked. It was a shame that Kate was working. The girls came over to my place to get ready and we were already running forty minutes late, thanks to Marcy having one wardrobe crisis after another! She insisted on nothing less than perfection, she was convinced that she was going to get lucky.
    We finally arrived an hour later than planned. We let ourselves in as Rick said he wouldn’t hear the door. We headed straight to the kitchen to unload our bags of drink and Rick’s birthday gift and card.
    We made our way across the kitchen to Rick who was standing talking to a group of guys. I held out his present to him and he said to me;
    “Es, what’s this? I said no presents.”
    “Oh, it’s only something small... Having fun?” I asked him.
    “Yeah, it’s good, Esme, Marcy, Danni, this is Joe, Mark, Ethan and Daniel. We all went to school together.” He told us, introducing us to some of the guys.
    “Hi, sorry I probably won’t remember your names; I’m not good with stuff like that.” I said to them, giggling.
    “Hey, no worries, lets grab you ladies a drink, what will it be?” Mark asked, waving his hand over all the bottles of alcohol.
    “Surprise us.” Danni said as she moved closer to him.
    Danni seemed to take a bit of a fancy to Mark, they moved away to get us some drinks and we stayed and talked to Rick and his friends.
    We were having fun, it was starting to get really busy and Marcy and I had decided we were going to go for a walk around and see if we knew anyone. We walked past Jackson and Cindy, they were having a dance in the front room with a few other people around, I caught his eye and smiled as we walked past. He didn’t respond but I could feel him watching me, I was glad he was busy with Cindy because it gave me time to have a few drinks before I had to face him properly.
    “Es, look who it is...” Marcy said, pointing to a guy across the room. I was a bit confused as I didn’t have a clue who it was until he turned around. It was Drew, we all used to go to the same school together and I hadn’t seen him for