'I thought you had a creative bent', I said. 'Don't you collect art work?'
My glass was empty, and I was spinning it about absent-mindedly on the wooden table surface. Devizes took this as a cue and filled up in, even though I didn't really need any more. He rubbed the feet I had long ago lifted up onto his lap.
'I do, but I couldn't tell you the difference between a Botticelli and a fettuccine', he said, and smiled coyly. I loved how the edge of his lips would raise a little and cause a crease to run nearly all the way to the corner of his eye. 'Really I have an adviser to do that for me. I buy them as an investment.'
'And there I was thinking you had a fine appreciation of the artistic world.'
'Sorry to disappoint you', Devizes said.
'God that feels good', I said, arching my neck and reclining into the recess of the armchair Devizes had laid out on the patio instead of simple wooden chairs, while he pushed his thumb into the hollow of my foot.
'Was that a ploy then?' I said. 'To talk to me at the National Portrait Gallery.'
'It was a way in, I suppose', Devizes said. 'I like people who can appreciate art, because it's something I can't do. Really I'm very boring.'
I laughed, 'that tickles', I said.
Devizes pulled my chair closer to him, so I could wrap my legs around his waist.
'Private jets, tropical islands', I said. 'That's not boring.'
'It's not quite tropical', Devizes said. 'It's sort of on the edge.'
'You know what I mean', I said.
Devizes had his hand on my leg, dancing towards my thighs.
'I guess it's ok if you have someone to share it with', he said.
'Don't you?'
'I might do now', he said.
Devizes leaned in. He was about to plant lips on mine, a kiss I had been waiting for all evening, when his god damn phone rang. He was an inch away from me, his hand somewhere secret and warm, my legs wrapped around his waist, pulling him closer and closer into me, and his stupid bloody phone went off.
I laughed. 'Leave it', I said.
Devizes kissed me and then pulled away. 'I thought you said no work', I said.
'I did', Devizes said. 'Now I'll tell the same to whoever this is, and then we can carry on where we left off.
Devizes took the phone from his jacket pocket, looked at the caller ID and took the call in another room.
'I won't be long', he said, squeezing my shoulder softly as he left, avoiding my attempts to pull him back to me. 'I have to take this.'
I watched the blackness of the water while he was gone, and the blanket of white that turned slowly in the sky as the earth rotated. I couldn't hear who he was talking to, or what he was talking about, but as a natural worrier, I couldn't help but think he was going to come back and tell me that everything had been a huge mistake, that he couldn't pay me a million pounds to leave my job and write full time, and that I had to leave his tropical island immediately, even if it meant swimming to shore.
A million pounds, I thought. I still couldn't believe it. I'd never had more than a thousand pounds at any one time in my bank account, half of that in my hand. I was still thinking about what that actually meant, the reality of that offer not quite sinking in, when Devizes came back.
'Pick a number from one to thirteen', he said, poking his head around the door.
'Do you promise the phone won't go again?' I said.
'I can't promise it won't go, but I do promise not to answer it.'
'Mmm', I said. 'I suppose that's fair. Which ones are in the towers?'
'One, two, three and four', Devizes said.
'Then take me to one, and we'll work our way around.'
'We only have five days', Devizes said, lifting me carefully out of my chair.
'Then we'll only do two laps instead of three', I said, and nuzzled into his neck.
Suddenly I was quite tired. The alcohol, the journey, the excitement all hit me at once. Devizes could tell. He lifted me up like Superman would, pushed open the door to the house with his foot and carried me up the winding stairs to tower number one.
There, he lay me carefully on the bed. 'Do you want me to let you go to sleep, or wake you up?' he said.
'Can you do both?' I said, as he climbed on top of me to lift up the T-shirt I knew he'd been desperate to pull off me all night.
'I can do everything and anything that you want', Devizes said, sending kisses along the bare skin of my torso.
'Then do exactly that', I said, rolling onto my side, and pulling lazily at my jeans, a dozen breaths from sleep. 'Kiss me, cuddle me, and fuck me to sleep.'
Devizes tore off his shirt. As he descended on me like a shadow, he could do nothing to keep the pleasures of my dreams at bay.
When I woke, Devizes wasn't with me. I had no idea what time it was, but the windows in the tower had been opened, and I could smell the saltiness of the sea air. It was a little windy, and looking out at the sky and the sea that surrounded us, I could tell the day was already moving along with itself.
From here, I could see now what I had been unable to see last night. We were effectively in the middle of a dense forest, at the edge of the sea, with a line of white sand beach below us and absolutely nothing at all on the horizon. The water glistened as the sun hit it, dazzling like a sheet of gold.
'Devizes', I called as I climbed down the stairs. When I got to the bottom, I was disappointed to see he was on the phone, this time out on the same balcony we'd had dinner on the night before.
'I thought'- I said, and Devizes put his hand up to stop me.
I sat down at the table where breakfast had already been laid out. There was coffee, croissants, bread, juices, fruits and a basket of different teas. I poured myself some juice and waited until Devizes was done, watching him and listening into his conversation, the context of which I couldn't quite understand.
'Alice', he said, when he'd finally finished. He came over and kissed me.
'Do you break all of your promises?' I said.
'I'm sorry, I know I said I wouldn't answer the phone, but this one I just had to take. You would have wanted me to.'
'I would have wanted you to?' I said, confused.
'It was about your book', Devizes said. 'They've set the date for the campaign. They needed my go ahead.'
'Wow', I said. 'That's amazing.'
'Am I forgiven?' Devizes said.
'Of course', I said. 'Look, you can answer your phone if you like, I don't mind. I was being silly yesterday. I know you have to work.'
'They'll begin putting the posters up next weekend', Devizes said. 'They've set the launch date for the 21st, how does that sound?'
'That's two weeks from now', I said. 'That's fast.'
'Is that ok?'
'Of course it's ok.'
'You'll have to do a book signing, a speech and a reading, the normal kind of thing. Do you think you can handle that?'
'Sure', I said. 'I still can't believe it though. This is really happening.'
'It's really happening', Devizes said.
'Thank you so much', I said, and showered him with kisses.
'They're planning to use the picture of you from the back cover of the book, but I said we could take another one here, perhaps of you relaxing on the beach, and send it to them to use instead. What do you say?'
'Ok', I said. 'Whatever you think works best.'
'We'll take one, send it, and let the professionals decide, while we relax on our tropical island with private beach. Which reminds me, what would you like to do today?'
'Mmmmm, let me think', I said. 'Sex, more sex, beach, food, sex, more food, champagne, sex, and sleep. How does that sound?'
'That sounds like music to my ears', Devizes said and pulled me into him once again, my nakedness exposing itself accidentally below my Egyptian cotton dressing gown.
Chapter 12
Alice stared up at her parents in disbelief.
'James', she said, looking over to him.
&nb
sp; 'What can we do?' James said, shrugging his shoulders.
'Why didn't you tell me before?' Alice protested, her eyes red where she'd been rubbing the tears away with the palms of her hands.
'Would it have made a difference?' Peter said.
Pam was sat next to Alice, trying to console her daughter, who pushed her away at every attempt.
'And what about Toby?' Alice said.
Peter scoffed. 'Toby', he said. 'What's that little runt got to do with this?'
'I hate you', Alice said. She pushed away from her mother's outstretched arms and headed up to her bedroom.
'They'll be plenty of decent boys in London', Peter called after her as she ran up the stairs, slamming every door she could on the way to her bedroom.
'Do you want to do the same?' Peter said to James.
'She'll get over it', James said. 'It wasn't like I didn't when we got here.'
***
It was results day at school. Toby, who now had his head shaved, and his left ear pierced with a stud, sat with Alice at the end of the football field, smoking a joint. They were with Lisa, Clare, Lisa and Clare's boyfriends, Cal and Jack - two of the jerks that used to bully Toby relentlessly on the school bus home - and a group of less popular kids, who formed a sort of outside circle around them. Each one had their school uniform covered in graffiti, scrawled over by friends and teachers alike. They were only sixteen years old, but already looked like men and women. Toby was a far cry from the floppy haired eight year old with sticky out ears he was when Alice met him. Alice hadn't changed much. She'd gone from a pretty child, to an even prettier adult.
'Aren't you going to open it?' Alice said to Toby.
'Maybe later', he said. 'What did you get?'
'What do you think she got?' Lisa said, 'little miss brain-box.'
Toby held up the joint up and Clare took it. He had little scars all over reddened knuckles.
'I did well enough', Alice said. 'Not as well as I wanted to.'
Toby leaned back on the grass. 'Fuck school', he said.
'Amen', Cal said.
Alice stretched her legs out and rested her head on Toby's thigh. He ran his fingers through her hair.
'What will you do now?' Jack said.
'No idea. That depends what's written on the inside of that envelope. If I did well enough in art, I'm going to college to study it.'
'There's no way you won't get an A', Alice said. 'You're better than anyone else in the school.'
'If they like my style', Toby said. 'It's not exactly conventional. They didn't like the graffiti I did on the wall of the geography block for instance.'
'What if they didn't grade you?' Lisa said.
'Then I'll do something else', Toby said.
'I'm going to be a famous actress', Clare said, posing theatrically. Cal threw a handful of daises at her. 'It's better than geologist. I mean how fucking boring is that?'
'I never knew you were such a geek, Cal', Toby said.
'I like rocks, what can I say', Cal said. He was so strong, no one would argue with him even if it was geeky. If there was one person who could get away with being a geek, it was Cal. He had arms like thick tree branches, and knew his way around a fight.
The joint came round to Alice and she shook her head. She took it anyway and passed it to Toby.
'What about you, Lisa?' Alice said.
'I don't know', Lisa said. 'My parents want me to be a doctor.'
Jack laughed.
'What's so funny, dick-wad? It's better than being an accountant.'
'You won't earn as much money', Jack said.
'And don't you need good grades anyway', Cal said, another handful of daises heading her way.
'I don't want to be a doctor anyway you retard. I'm going to college to train to be a vet, so fuck you.'
'That's a noble profession', Toby said, between blowing smoke rings into the air. 'Which Cambridge college are you going to, to follow that distant dream?'
'Fuck the lot of you', Lisa said. 'I've already got in to Turnpike.'
Lisa dug around in her bag for the envelope that carried the report of her grades, and when she found it, she showed it to everyone with pride.
'Let me see that', Jack said, snatching it away from her. 'You sure this isn't Alice's?'
He passed it to Toby, and Toby sat up lazily on his elbows to look.
'Six A*s, two As and a B. What the fuck Lisa, how did you do this?' Alice said.
'Thanks Al', Lisa said.
'I didn't mean it like that', Alice said. 'These are amazing grades.'
'You're not the only one who works hard', Lisa said, snatching the grade sheet back.
'Damn', Cal said. 'You're full of surprises. 'Lisa and Alice are going to save the world.'
'I wouldn't count on it. Lisa blew me away. I got a fucking B in English.' Alice said.
Toby took her grade sheet from her and studied it. 'Don't worry about it', he said. 'Grades don't mean shit. I know you can write.'
'I wish Mr Rutter knew that', Alice said.
'Mr Rutter can go fuck himself', Toby said.
'What's the plan then?' Cal said.
'Skin up', Toby said. 'The rest will work itself out.'
'Nah I'm done', Cal said. 'I might go and get something to eat. They'll be plenty of time for that later.'
'Do you ever stop eating?' Clare said.
'Only when I'm fucking', Cal said, and mimicked the action.
'Yeah you wish', Clare said, looking at him as though what he was doing was the most pathetic thing she'd ever seen.
Cal got up. 'Come on Kate Winslet, let's go and steal some burgers from the canteen', he said and helped Clare to her feet.
'Anyone else in?' Clare said.
'Yeah I could do with eating', Jack said. 'Lees?'
'Yeah I'll come down with you. Fuck it', Lisa said.
'Mind how you go with that big head of yours', Cal said, and Lisa stuck her middle finger up at him.
Cal laughed it off. 'Toby?' he said.
Toby waved dismissively. 'I've got everything I need here', he said.
'Don't get too caned', Jack said. 'We've got that presentation to do in English this afternoon remember.'
'I might be skipping that', Toby said, rubbing his belly and smiling. 'I don't feel very well.'
'Fucking joker', Jack said, and kicked lazily at his feet.
'Alice?' Cal said.
'I'll catch you up', Alice said, covering her eyes from the sun.
The outer group was already up, they deferred a goodbye to Toby and Alice, who had somehow become king and queen of the playground, and skipped quickly after the generals.
Things had changed a lot in two years. Toby had been suspended for a week for standing up to the bullies on the bus, when one day he felt like enough was enough. It wasn't Jack or Cal he clocked, he went directly for the ring leader, Martin, a kid in the year above who had a pencil thin moustache he refused to shave off, a right hand full of thick imitation gold rings, and a squashed nose where an older brother had broken it accidentally with the back swing of a tennis racket. Toby had endured a full year of systematic abuse, and enough was enough. He hadn't exactly planned to do it, but when the moment arrived, he knew he could do nothing else. He walked to the back of the bus while it was still moving, and while everyone was still chanting, he squared up to Martin and hit him so hard in the face, his once broken nose exploded again, all over the girl sat next to him. For a moment Toby was the new king. The leader was down, the bus was in shock, and Toby had won. When that moment was over, half a second later, Toby was at the bottom of a pile of bodies, all intent on causing him harm. He got kicked in the ribs, rabbit punched in the back of the head, and jumped on full weight by Martin, who pressed his knees cowardly into his back, while Toby was already on the floor, and unable to get up. Cal hit him hard across the side of the face, and Jack made sure he didn't escape without a few carefully aimed blows. Finally, the bus was stopped, and the bus driver had to wade
through to the back of the bus to break it up. Martin spat at his bloodied face when he was pulled away, and even though a few of the other kids jeered at the sorry mess they saw in front of them, they knew that something had changed. They knew that Toby had balls. For the rest of the journey he sat in the folded down seat next to the driver, while the driver kept one eye on him, and another on the group at the back of the bus, who had since grown quiet. When Toby finally got to his stop, they shouted out of the window at him and threw anything they were happy to get rid of. An apple exploded against the side of his head, and a pencil case, stolen from one of the less important kids, spread its intestines out across the dirt, gutted by the impact.
'You're fucking dead, gypsy', Martin shouted.
Richard and Katy looked at him. They didn't know whether to help or not, but Toby didn't give them the choice. He gathered himself together, and went off in the direction of the tree-house, looking to lose himself in the only way he knew how.
Had Alice been there that day instead of in her music class, she has no idea what she would have done. She likes to think she would have followed Toby to the back of that bus, and joined in the ruck, but she has no idea whether things would have turned out that way or not.
After they shared their kiss, they became secret boyfriend and girlfriend. Distant at school, inseparable out of it. Nobody knew about their clandestine love affair, because Alice felt it would destroy her reputation at school, before she was able to fully capitalise on it. Alice had a plan. She was working her way little by little into the upper inner circle, and when she was there, and sure she was able to influence the rest, she planned to come clean about who it was she was dating. She'd turned down several boys, including Jack, with the excuse that they weren't her type, and the other girls were beginning to think she was either frigid, or something even worse - a lesbian.
Things changed the day Toby stood up to the bullies on the bus. They didn't change immediately, but with that fight, the cogs had already begun to turn. The next day, face still red and swollen, and bruises all over his back, the chants on the bus to school in the morning, although still there, were half-hearted, at best. Cal got on a stop after Toby, and as he walked past Toby's seat, he lashed out and struck him square across his cheek. It was a single solitary punch that came as a complete shock to Toby, causing his jaw to off-set in such a way in never repaired itself, but afterwards he learnt why. Cal's then girlfriend, Jenny, had been the recipient of a face full of Martin's blood, when Toby caused his nose to explode for the second time. She had been traumatised by the event, and held Toby fully responsible. That morning, Cal was acting out Jenny's revenge.
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