Page 31 of Exchange of Heart

‘Does that mean we technically have shares in this place?’ I asked.

‘You wish. What’s the deal with you two, anyway?’ She poured juice and Malibu into a glass.

I raised my perfectly shaped eyebrow at her.

‘Well, are you friends or closet lovers? I can normally pin people down in the first five minutes, but even you two don’t seem to have a damn clue what you are.’

She’d pinned us down more than she realised.

‘We’re close enough to know what it’s like to walk in each other’s shoes,’ I replied.

Nora snorted. ‘I’m a big hunk of a man; I get what I want. My parents fed me with an engraved silver spoon from birth.’

‘I’m Nora Claremont, a wee little thing who thinks I’m so hard done by, when really, I’m not cut out for what I want. Oh, and I hide it all with overwhelming enthusiasm and positivity,’ I mocked, nostrils flaring.

Nora spun on her bar stool. ‘That’s not true.’

I jumped off mine to stare her down, which was my first mistake. I became even shorter with my feet on the ground.

‘So intimidating down there.’ Nora lowered her head to me with a smirk.

It was hard to be mad when I’d flooded my body with the whiskey I’d been shotting the last thirty minutes, so I admitted defeat. ‘Damn it. Being short sucks.’

Nora rolled her eyes and accepted the new cocktail from the bartender. ‘Poor you. You’re so hard done by.’

She had me there, and I couldn’t help the laughter. ‘I’m sorry I said that.’

‘Wow, I’ll mark it in my diary. The day Corey apologised.’

Something about the amusement in her eyes sent a little spasm of… something through me. The same feeling I’m left with when Paddy points out something disappointing yet utterly true about myself.

And it gave me a little hope that this disastrous situation might at least help me to understand the little parts in life that can bring joy.

CHAPTER TEN

Nora

Another five shots later, Corey was wasted. In this giant body, I could drink forever. I was invincible. Corey though? He’d never experienced life as a five-foot-two cheap drunk. Stumbling to the bathroom, two men watched him as he hesitated outside the ladies’ and gents’ signs, unsure of which door to push open.

One chuckled. ‘What are you waiting for?’

‘For you to shut the fuck up.’ Corey’s glare wasn’t nearly as intimidating in my body.

Only I sensed the undertone in his voice, because the men smirked to each other as though he was a puppy with a bark worse than its bite.

‘Shotgun,’ said the guy with a scar through his eyebrow.

Corey’s glare turned to a scowl. ‘Excuse me?’

‘You look like you need a hand in there.’ The man gestured his head to the ladies’.

‘And you look like you need me to twist your hand and shove it far enough up your ass for you to search for your brain, ’cause it ain’t in your head.’

‘I love it when they play hard to get,’ he chuckled to his friend.

The frowning bartender took a step towards them, then stopped to look at me.

‘You gonna help your friend or do I need to step in?’ she asked.