‘You bloody well slept with my girlfriend. With my Rhia. Shit Steve, I’ve been seeing her long enough. There are some things you just don’t do, you know. Some stuff that you just do not do. Fucking hell man, all the time we’ve known each other and you do this.’ Ben shook his head at his friend. I never thought I’d be having this conversation.
‘I know mate, no excuses. It’s a shitty thing to do and I can’t believe I have, especially to you. I’m sorry eh?’
Ben looked over at the squirming figure in front of him and realised that, in spite of himself, he was trying to avoid saying things that would cause him to fall out with Steve. It was ridiculous, but he was scared of going too far and being alone again. At least with Steve here, he had a sounding board and could voice the thoughts that were filling his head to the point where he couldn’t get the words out fast enough to keep up.
‘I don’t think that’s gonna cover it do you? It’s not like you threw up on the carpet is it, although you’ve done that enough times.’ Stop letting him off you coward. You should be smashing his teeth down his throat.
Steve took the lead and smiled, ‘God yeah. About where you’re stood the last time I think.’
Ben was finding this even more difficult than his encounter with Rhia earlier in the day. At least then he’d been able to reach a state of frenzy fairly easily thanks to the revelations that kept spilling from her lying little mouth. But Steve was different, he wasn’t prepared for the confrontation and Ben seemed to have used up his daily quota of hatred and rage on Rhia. Now he was drained and, although he was angry, he was also hurt by the betrayal from this, his closest friend.
‘You know what really fucking stings?’ Ben asked after a few moments of silence, his voice wavering for the first time. ‘The fact that she was so against us having a baby and then she ends up pregnant by you.’
Steve’s eyes narrowed as he took in the statement and then he shook his head slightly, ‘What bloody baby? What the hell are you on about?’
‘Don’t fucking start Steve, I’m in no mood for you pissing about,’ Ben snarled, annoyed and upset, his face reddening as he fought to keep his voice normal.
‘Mate, I haven’t the faintest what you’re on about.’
‘Rhia was fucking pregnant you dick! Don’t even begin to make out you didn’t know.’
Tears welled up in Ben’s eyes and he lost control of his emotions. If he denies it once more I’m gonna crack him again, the bastard.
‘How do you mean?’ Steve asked stupidly, annoyed himself now.
‘Exactly what I say knob head. She was with child, and now she is without.’
‘Fuck off. She would’ve said.’
‘Apparently not eh?’ Ben smiled, though it looked more like the grimace of a mad man as he stood there red faced, tears spilling down his face, breathing heavily and wearing only a pair of old jeans.
‘Was it mine?’ Steve asked quietly, nervously, as if he were afraid to ask in the first place and even more afraid of what the answer might be.
‘Why ask me, I’m just the bloke who’s lived with her and been obsessed with her for the past three sodding years. Why the fuck would I know?’
‘God Ben, I’m sorry. I know you were mad keen on having kids. Shit, what a mess.’
‘It is rather isn’t it, and a lot of it seems to involve you oddly enough. Oh well not to worry, I’m sure I’ll get over it mate. In fact, fuck it. You may as well carry on shagging her now I know all about it. Dive in my friend.’ Go on. Hit him, knock him down. Think what he’s done.
‘Stop it Ben. I didn’t know and I certainly didn’t make her get rid of it.’
‘Must be my fault then Steve, no two ways about it. God, I deserve everything I get don’t I? I’m lucky you stopped at just shagging my bird eh? While you’re at it why not move in me bloody house as well?’ He took a few steps forward and pushed Steve hard in the chest.
Steve was forced to take a few steps back but chose not to retaliate.
‘Steady on Ben, let’s not go mad.’
‘Oh who do I think I am? Losing my temper in my own house with a bloke who’s been at it with my girlfriend. How fucking,’ he kept advancing and pushed Steve again, ‘unreasonable of me.’
‘Right. Sod this.’ Steve said in an attempt at looking hard done by. ‘I’m off. I’ll ring you in a bit when you’ve got a grip.’
‘Bugger off you arse.’
‘Fair enough, I’ll leave you to it then.’
‘Bugger off,’ he repeated, still walking after Steve as he headed for the front door and then slamming it shut behind him.
Ben’s hands were shaking owing to the adrenalin racing around his exhausted body as he thumped the front door in frustration and then, deciding that he’d be unable to sleep; he threw himself on to the couch and grabbed the remote control for the stereo. Seconds later, following an introduction by a boys choir and some French horns, Mick Jagger tried to console him.
You can’t always get what you want.
Fair point there Mick, spot on as always.
But if you try sometimes, you might find, you get what you need.
Perhaps, but do I really need this? The music began to relax him and his sore, red-eyes closed, Mick singing insistently in the background as the choir returned for another go.
She was practiced at the art of deception. Well, I could tell by her blood stained hands.
Bitch, rotten lying bitch.
Chapter Twenty-one
Katie opened her eyes and was immediately aware of somebody beside her. She rolled to her left and focused on the face in front of her, smiling as she watched Jack sleeping, his hair fluffy where her hands had ruffled the gel away, his smooth chest rising and falling as he breathed. Instead of awkwardness, she felt happy and relaxed, although her head was beginning to ache from the excess of alcohol she’d consumed the night before.
Suddenly Jack stirred slightly and she caught her breath, not wanting to wake him yet, wanting to look at him a little longer. Then his eyelids lifted to reveal his dark eyes, as black as coal, the pupils dilated, giving his face a bewildered, sleepy expression that Katie thought she might never get tired of seeing.
‘Hello you,’ she said playfully, tapping him on the end of his nose.
‘Morning,’ he said, sitting up and rubbing the sleep from his eyes then looking around the room.
She waited for him to say something else but instead he yawned a few times and seemed to be looking anywhere but in her direction.
‘What’s up?’ She asked, her initial ease giving way to the more familiar post one-night stand feeling of stupidity as she realised that the bloke in question couldn’t get away quick enough now he was sober. She’d hoped Jack was different, she’d been utterly knocked sideways by his presence, so much so that she’d done nearly all the running and had, after only knowing him a few hours, chased him into her bed. In the sobering light of day, she realised that she must have given the impression of an easy lay, throwing herself at him all evening before leading him to the bedroom. She looked round the room and saw her clothes scattered across the floor and caught sight of herself in the mirror on the opposite wall. She looked like an utter slut, big hair and last night’s make-up smeared around her eyes. She doubtless reeked of stale alcohol too; no wonder he hadn’t tried to kiss her.
She tried to recall details of the previous evening and found that they were sketchy at best. She remembered insisting that Jack stay to meet Jen and she also remembered getting extremely drunk, as she was very nervous in front of him. There were a few gaps and then she could see herself sitting on his knee and they were kissing. Then what? They’d obviously gone to bed at some point and she had vague recollections of pulling down his jeans and laughing as she pushed him on to the bed. After that was a total blank until she’d crawled out of bed in the middle of the night to be sick. Oh God was I sick? Katie groaned at the thought.
‘You feeling rough?’ Jack asked, finally looking at her from his
side of the bed.
‘Oh yes,’ she replied definitely, ‘I must look awful.’
‘Not to worry,’ he said quickly, swinging his legs on to the floor and reaching for his trousers, being careful not to let her see him naked as though suddenly very conscious of his body.
Katie had hoped for a reassuring comment on her appearance but instead she’d been dismissed and now Jack was up and putting on his shirt, his back to her.
‘I take it that you’re going then?’ She felt utterly miserable, her throat burning from the dehydration and being sick.
‘Yeah,’ he replied pulling on his socks, ‘I’d better get off. I’m playing football in a couple of hours and I want to have a shower and that first.’
She took in his explanation and then felt worse as she thought of him telling his teammates about the tramp he pulled last night. She decided to get up and show him out then have a coffee in the bath to soothe her aching head and leaden body. She threw back the duvet and suddenly stopped, surprised. It appeared that she was not, in fact, naked as she expected. She had her knickers on which struck her as odd and her hair was tied back behind her head. She asked Jack to throw her robe across to her and dragged herself out of bed.
After a brief, and very formal, goodbye, Katie put the kettle on and ran a bath, filling it with various oils to pamper herself a little. Laying with her eyes closed, her coffee held loosely in one hand on the edge of the bath, she thought about Jack and how, yet again, she’d managed to end up with such a toad. She supposed he wasn’t really to blame, after all she’d offered herself on a plate, what was he supposed to do? Say thanks but I’d rather not take advantage of a fairly attractive woman who’s very drunk and quite obviously wants to fuck my brains out. What a sodding mess.
She felt stupid and a little cheap, not least because of her memory loss. Images of Dave filtered into her head, causing her to feel even worse. She could picture him with some long-legged blond piece with great tits and not a trace of a cellulite dimple on the back of her thighs. Evidently getting over him wasn’t going to be as easy as jumping into bed with the first bloke who came along.
At that moment, there was a knock on the bathroom door which made her jump and instinctively she pulled her arms across her chest to cover herself and, in doing so, managed to tip the entire cup of coffee into the bath with her.
‘Hiya,’ said Jen brightly as her head appeared around the door, ‘Has he gone then? What happened?’
‘Oh for God’s sake, I’ve lashed coffee all over myself now. What the bloody hell are you doing here?’ Katie asked, surprised, relieved, then angry.
Jen laughed as Katie stepped from the bath which now had a murky cloud filtering through the water, then handed her a large towel before they headed for the living room. Jen made fresh coffee and they sat down.
‘I take it that you don’t remember asking me to stay then? Mind you, you were a bit distracted. So come on, tell,’ Jen demanded.
‘Oh Christ, don’t ask.’ Katie replied wearily, rolling her eyes to the ceiling.
‘That bad eh? Never mind, at least he had the good grace to clear off early. Sometimes it’s murder trying to get them to shift themselves. I had this bloke once…’
‘No, that’s just it mate,’ she interrupted, ‘I don’t know what he was like. I can’t bloody remember.’
‘Nice one. You get a well-fit bloke in the sack and you can’t even remember what you did. God, he could’ve had you doing all sorts, you dirty cow.’ Jen laughed the laugh of someone who’d been there and done that more than once.
‘Oh don’t,’ she groaned, ‘Either way he cleared off double quick. The weird thing is though, I still had my knickers on and my hair was tied back.’
‘You what. How do you mean tied back?’
‘With a hair bobble. I’ve no idea why I put that on and why the hell would I put my knickers back on if I’d slept with him?’
‘You’re a weird cow Katie.’ Jen observed. ‘Did Jack the lad not drop any hints this morning as to what you got up to? A thank-you perhaps?’
‘No he bloody didn’t! Either way, I think I’ll have to chalk it down as another waste of time. I really liked him though Jen. He had something about him; I couldn’t keep my eyes off him all day yesterday.’
‘Cheer up kid; you got a nice looking bloke in the sack totally out of the blue. It’ll do you good to have someone else in your bed; get rid of the residue left by crap Dave. I call that a result.’
‘Urr, you dirty bitch! I do change the sheets you know,’ Katie insisted.
‘You know what I meant.’
‘I suppose. It’s just that as much as I might fancy the idea of your fuck ‘em and chuck ‘em policy, it’s just not me. I really liked him and now I’ve scared him off by doing God knows what last night.’
Jen was distracted by her mobile ringing in her bag which was in the living room. She dashed off to answer it and then Katie heard the bedroom door click shut. I wonder who she’s on the phone to that’s such a secret.
* * * * * *
After spending the rest of the weekend moping around her flat and finishing some reports for the office, Katie was less than happy about having to go into work on Monday morning. The prospect of seeing Simon the I.T. boy filled her with dread as Jack had no doubt filled him in on all the graphic details of her antics on Saturday night. She’d toyed briefly with the idea of going round to see Jack and apologising in person; after all she knew where he lived. She’d even got in the car and driven past his flat a few times, finally giving up and going home before the local Neighbourhood Watch called the police regarding a desperate looking woman cruising the streets of Castlefield and staring at a particular house each time she passed.
As soon as she stepped out of her car she spotted the I.T. boy heading towards her across the car park. Out of sheer panic and humiliation, she re-opened the car door and buried her head inside on the pretence of having forgotten something vital.
‘Alright Katie, lost something?’
‘Oh Simon, ha! No I er, thought I’d left my lights on.’ She felt her face redden at the stupidity of her comment as they stood there in the glorious morning sunshine.
‘Right. Look, it’s about the weekend…’ He began.
‘I suppose he told you all about it then. Typical bloke. I suppose you want to take me out for a drink now eh? See if you get a turn as well?’ Katie was immediately defensive and her embarrassment came out as anger.
‘Well no actually, did Jack not mention? I’m gay Katie, most people notice straight away. Someone even asked me once if there was a school we went to where we learned the mannerisms, cheeky get. I said yeah, me and Julian Clary were in the same class and that lad out of Boyzone was in the year below.’ He waved his arm around to emphasise his words.
Now she felt even worse because she remembered that she’d overheard Simon mention this in the pub at the weekend.
‘Sorry, no he didn’t. Either way, I’ve got to get on. Tell him I’m sorry to be such a letdown to him and I hope he got what he wanted.’ She started to walk away, well aware that her dignity was currently sprinting in the opposite direction.
‘Why are you sorry? Jack’s the one who’s sorry. He asked me to tell you. He says he felt awful about the other night and that’s why he left so quickly. Don’t you remember?’
She looked at Simon rather sheepishly and was forced to admit that she was, in fact, a little sketchy on some of the more intimate details of the evening.
‘So you don’t have a clue what you did with Jack then?’ Simon was smiling now since he’d obviously been told the full, sordid tale.
‘No, but I suppose you’re going to tell me aren’t you?’
‘Not at all, I think you should see Jack about that. I know he’s quite keen on seeing you again, you’ve made quite an impression.’ Simon clapped his hands together dramatically and laughed theatrically at her confused expression.
‘So he didn’t tell you what an easy shag I w
as then?’
‘No. Should he have done?’ Simon asked mischievously.
‘Cheeky git.’ But she was smiling now, pleased that at least she hadn’t ruined things completely with Jack.
‘He wasn’t too impressed by your vomiting though. Said you were very uncooperative.’
‘Oh shit, that’s why my hair was tied back. So he put me back to bed afterwards? Cool.’ She was now thoroughly impressed by Jack and equally ashamed of herself for getting in such a state.
‘Either way he was dead embarrassed about having to drag you around half the night while you were sick. One night stands really aren’t his thing, so he buggerred off a bit sharpish.’
Katie felt a wave of relief wash over her when Simon informed her that, if she were willing, then Jack would be in touch. She agreed immediately and, as she headed for her office, she was both humiliated at what she’d learned and delighted at Jack’s behaviour towards her, already thinking of things to do that didn’t involve her drinking.
Chapter Twenty-two
Rhia tapped the screen of her phone to end the call she was making. It had been diverted to the answering machine again and she’d already left four messages. She’d been trying to speak to Ben all morning, although the day was barely six hours old, having left him alone the previous evening to either calm down or get in touch with her. She’d sent him a text message at around three thirty in the morning, as she lay in bed at her sister’s house, saying that she was sorry and she hoped that he’d get in touch.
Her sister had performed a complete u-turn regarding her attitude towards Ben. She now marvelled at how he’d tolerated Rhia for so long and insisted that there was no way he would ever consider going near her again after what she’d done. According to Fran, Rhia deserved everything she got, and more, for what she’d done. When subjected to these random assaults, Rhia simply remained silent or went into another room. She couldn’t argue since everything that Fran said was true. She’d behaved in a manner she wouldn’t have thought herself capable of and as a result she’d devastated the one person who always took her side, who always fought her corner and would gladly have taken on the world for her.
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