“Hi!” Meg shouted, even though she was right next to us.
“Hi, Meg.” I answered, putting a finger in my ear and wiggling it. She always liked being the centre of attention. “Hi, Izzy.”
“Hi, Beth.”
Megan walked up and stared at my ears.
“Wow, nice earrings! Jason buy you them?”
“No, it was Sam, I think.”
“What do you mean, you think?”
I lifted my drink to my mouth, took a sip and said, “Well, when they came they weren’t signed by anyone. So I’m guessing Sam.”
“Very nice.” She turned to the bar. “Hi, can I have a martini please?” She turned back. “So I heard that Sam and Russell are coming tonight.”
“Yes, so I’ve been told.”
“Well, I’m warning you all now; if they start again tonight, then I’ll be finishing it. So they best behave.”
“I agree, Meg. Trust me, if they do it again, I’ll be stopping them myself. It’s Joe and Rachel’s night tonight.”
Meg paid for her drink and twisted round.
“Talk of the devils.”
I looked towards the door and my heart began racing, thinking that it was Sam and Russell. It was only Joe and Rachel. Ben was with them. They walked over to us.
“Hi, everyone.” Joe grinned at us. Rachel was next to him and they were holding hands. Everyone cheered. Megan ordered them their first drinks. “Thanks for all celebrating with us tonight. It means a lot.”
“To Joe and Rach on their engagement,” Jason said, as he raised his drink. Everybody joined in, lifting their glasses. “May it be a long and happy marriage.” Again, everybody cheered.
Jason got off his stool. “I’m just going to the toilet,” he told me. “I won’t be long.”
“OK.” I smiled.
Jason strolled off and I began to chat with Izzy. A couple of minutes went by. I heard a voice near my ear.
“Happy birthday, Bethenny.” The voice was a whisper. I looked ’round and there stood Russell. My heart began to beat hard in my chest and my mouth went dry. “Did you like the present?” he asked. Then I realised that Russell had bought the earrings. Oh, God. How stupid of me. I should have known.
“Yes, thanks. Does Sam know about them?”
“No.” His dark eyes searched mine. I felt my heart miss a beat.
“Where is Sam?”I asked, looking over his shoulder.
“She’s gone to the toilets.”
“Good. I’ll be back in a minute.” I walked over to Izabelle. This had to be quick. I looked over towards the gents’; there was no sign of Jason. “Izzy, can I talk to you over here a minute?”
“Yes, what’s wrong?”
I walked away from the group and Izabelle followed.
“I need you to say that you bought these earrings.” I pointed to my ears.
Izabelle looked confused at me.
“Why? I thought Sam bought them?”
“I can’t explain now; please, could you? I promise I’ll explain everything later.”
She sighed. I knew she didn’t want to do it, but she was my only hope.
“OK, but you best tell me later why I’m lying to people.”
“I will. Thanks.”
I walked back to where everyone stood laughing. Meg walked over to me.
“What was that all about?”
I looked away from her.
“What do you mean?”
“Beth, I heard what you said to Izzy. Why do you want her to lie about the earrings?”
“They weren’t from Sam.”
“Who were they from, then?”
Something caught my eye. Jason was coming back.
“Can I tell you later? Jason’s coming.”
She looked to make sure I was telling the truth.
“I’ll be holding you to it, mind. Don’t think I’ll forget.”
This was the worst birthday ever. Now I had to tell Izzy and Meg what was going on. I just hoped they understood.
At about 10 p.m., Jason came over to me.
“Hey, I’m gonna go. I’ve got work tomorrow and I need to be up early.” He gave me a kiss.
“I’ll come with you, if you like.” Hoping that this would get me out of telling the girls anything until I’d had chance to think about it first.
“No, you stay and enjoy yourself with your friends.”
“Are you sure? We haven’t seen much of each other tonight.”
“I know. I’ll tell you what, though. I’ll stay at yours, then we can have some alone time when you get home?”
“Yeah, all right. I’ll see you later.”
When I turned back around, Meg stood next to me.
“So then, you can tell me now. What’s going on?”
I looked ’round. Sam wasn’t anywhere close.
“They weren’t from Sam, the earrings, and they weren’t from Jason, either.”
“Well, I guessed that. So who are they from?”
The words wouldn’t come out of my mouth.
“I can’t tell you.”
“Like hell, you can’t! Tell me now. What do you think I’m gonna say?” I stayed silent. “Beth, it can’t be that bad.”
I looked straight at her and said, “Russell.” I grabbed my drink and swallowed all of it. “Another, please,” I said to the barman.
“So, what’s wrong with that?” I looked at her and I must have painted a picture. “Oh, right. I think we need to have a longer chat, but not now. Tomorrow, then, and I want to hear everything.”
I nodded my head and again my drink disappeared down my throat.
After an hour, the drink was making me feel quite a bit happier. I began to enjoy myself. The night was going well, so we all decided to move on to a club. Walking through the doors, the music was pumping. It felt great to be out with all my friends. Sam had a few drinks. However, she was behaving herself. Possibly because of Megan. I think they had a little chat.
Meg and I went straight to the dance floor while everyone else went to the bar. As we went past her, I grabbed Sam’s arm and pulled her with us. At last, it looked as though everyone was enjoying themselves.
Feeling as though I couldn’t hold on any longer, I went to the toilet. I reapplied my lipstick and walked out only to bump into Russell. He gently took my arm and pulled me to one side.
“Hi, Beth. You enjoying your birthday?”
“Yes, thanks. Are you?”
“Yeah. What have you told Jason about the earrings?”
I touched my left ear. I had forgotten I was wearing them.
“I said Izzy bought them.” I leaned my head against the wall.
“I hope you didn’t mind that I bought them.”
“No, not really. It was nice of you.”
Then there was silence. We just looked at each other. Not knowing what was going to happen next, and not wanting anything to happen I began to walk away.
“Beth...”
I twisted ’round.
“Russell, don’t. I’ll see you out there.” I walked back to the bar to get a drink. I don’t think anyone noticed that I’d gone, which was good. I didn’t have to answer any questions.
I was talking to Ben when I saw Russell walk back in. Sam went up to him and they began to talk. When they had finished, she walked away and Russell followed her. Sam then headed in my direction.
“Beth, I don’t feel very well. We’re gonna get going now, OK?”
“Yeah, no problem. I’m glad you came. We’ll have to catch up sometime in the week.”
“Yeah. Happy birthday, Beth.” She kissed me and then they were gone.
I carried on talking to Ben when Meg pulled me away to a corner.
“OK; Sam slept with some mystery person, right?”
“Yes.”
“Well I think I know who it was.”
This news stunned me.
“Who, tell me?” Meg looked a little worried, and I wondered what it was she was about to tell me. “Well,
Meg? Tell me.”
“I think it was Ben.”
CHAPTER 15
I froze. This information had floored me. I loved Ben like a brother, but why would Sam do that with Ben when she had Russell at home?
I was mad at Ben, because he’d messed around with my sister, but that was nothing to how mad I felt with Sam. Ben had been in love, or at least lust, with Sam for years. Sam never really noticed him. In fact, I knew that Sam wasn’t interested in Ben at all in that way; however, she did enjoy the attention from him.
That’s what made it worse; Sam knew how Ben felt about her, and she had used him to make herself feel better. Now it was going to break his heart. It would also probably ruin his and my friendship a little, now that he and Sam had stepped over that line.
“How did you find out, Meg?”
“We went to the cinema, just Ben and me, and about halfway through the film he told me.”
This just didn’t make sense.
“He just came out with it?”
“Yeah. Perhaps he wanted to unburden himself. I don’t know.”
“What did he say, exactly?”
“That was it. We were sat down, I was about to put a handful of popcorn in, he turned and whispered to me that her slept with her. I asked who and he replied Sam. I just guessed that he meant at the party.”
“Oh, my God! What has she done?” Meg raised her eyebrows. I looked up at the bar to where Ben stood laughing, drinking his beer. I needed to calm down. I didn’t what to have another row with anyone, but I was furious. This would have been the time that I would probably have rung Russell, but because it involved him, I couldn’t. Thank God for Megan. “I have to go and talk to Ben,” I told her.
Meg looked at me and frowned. “Do you think that’s wise, considering how upset you are?”
I thought about it. “Well, what do you think I should do?”
“Why don’t you sleep on it and ask Sam tomorrow?
I sighed. “I suppose so. I need a drink now, though. Come on.”
I went to walk off and realised that Meg wasn’t following me. When I turned ’round, she was still exactly where she had been.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” she said.
“What do you mean?”
Meg said, “Russell.” I closed my eyes. I could hear the music in the background and everyone in the club shouting over it as best as they could. “Beth, you may as well tell me. I’ll find out anyway, in the end.”
I walked back slowly. What was she going to say? How was she going to react? I took a deep breath.
“We kissed,” I told her. I put my head down. I couldn’t look at her.
“You kissed Russell?”
“Yes.”
“Your sister’s fiancé?”
“Yes.”
She didn’t say anything. I looked up at her.
“What, just that and nothing else?”
“No, of course not, Meg. It was just a couple of kisses.” I said with indignation in my voice. Then I realised how that must have sounded.
“A couple of kisses!” Meg said, still obviously not buying it.
“Yes, but it’s finished now.”
“Well, it sure doesn’t look like that to me.” She flicked a hand in the direction of my ears.
“Like I said, I didn’t know they were from him.”
“Where and when did this start?”
“When Dad was in hospital. I was on the stairs, Russell found me and asked if I was OK and it just happened.”
“Oh, Beth; what have you done?”
My tears came quickly, then. I couldn’t stop them. Meg reached into her bag and pulled out a tissue. I dried my eyes and she gave me a hug.
“I know; I’m sorry and I won’t be doing anything else with him.”
Meg smiled. “I believe you. We’ll keep this our little secret?”
“What about Izzy? She wants to know why I lied.”
“Beth, let me sort that out.”
I smiled, but I was completely drained.
“Can we get some drinks, Meg? I need one.”
Meg laughed. “Let’s do shots; they get you there quicker.” She winked, put her arm around my shoulders and walked me to the bar.
The next day after work, I was slightly hung over, but I was determined to speak with Sam about Ben. Straight after my last client I drove ’round to hers and knocked on the door. Sam answered.
“Hi, Beth. Are you all right?”
“It depends.”
“What’s wrong?” Sam was beginning to look a little worried.
“Are you on your own?”
“Yes. Russell’s still at work. Why?”
“Can I come in?”
She leaned on the door so that it swung backwards and allowed me to walk into the hallway. After taking my blue trainers off in the entryway, I made my way into the living room and sat down. Sam came in behind me, apparently sure that she was going to hear something that she wouldn’t like.
“Do you want a drink?” Her voice quivered.
“Sam, sit down. Please.” I gestured to the seat beside me. Sam took the chair. “I’m going to ask you something and I want you to answer truthfully.”
“OK.” She was chewing on her bottom lip.
“Meg told me something that she was told and I want to check if it’s right. The person that you slept with; was it Ben?” I held my breath as I waited for the answer.
“No, it wasn’t! Who told her that?” Her voice was getting higher.
“Sam calm down! Ben told her, himself.”
“No way! There’s no way that I’d sleep with Ben. I really don’t know why he said that he did.”
This was beginning to get confusing. Who was lying? There was only one way to find out.
“Well, then, would you come with me to sort this mess out?”
“Where?”
“ ’Round Ben’s. Because if he knows, which it looks like he does, then we don’t know who else he’s told. Do you really want that getting back to Russell? Your relationship is already on rocky ground.”
We got ’round there in a flash. Sam was out of the car before I’d even switched off the engine, banging on the door.
“Ben! Open the door! Are you in there?”
I ran to stop her.
“Sam, stop! We don’t know why he did it. Give him a chance to explain.”
Ben opened the door, looking slightly confused.
“Sam? Beth? What’s going on?”
“Why did you say it? Why did you lie? Who else have you lied to?” Sam demanded.
“Sam, calm down or I’ll make you wait in the car! Ben, can we come in for a minute?”
“Yeah,” he said grudgingly.
We walked through to the kitchen. Sam looked furious. I think that it had hit her that Russell could very well find out if she wasn’t careful. Ben walked in behind us. His short, mousy-blonde hair was messy. I gathered with the look and the hair that we had woke him up.
“Look, Ben—Meg said you admitted that you slept with Sam at our mum and dad’s anniversary party a month ago. Sam’s denying it.”
“Yeah, I am!” Sam interrupted.
“So what happened?”
Ben looked guilty. He said, “Sam, I heard you, OK, in that room. So I thought I would help you and take the blame.”
Sam shouted, “The blame! You mean lie to make yourself look good in front of your mates!”
“No. Not at all. Sam, I like you and I just thought that it might help. That’s it. I haven’t told anybody else. It was just Meg.”
Sam was holding her hand to her mouth.
“Are you all right?” I asked her.
Tears were falling down her cheeks. “What am I going to do, Beth?” she said.
I took her into my arms and held her close. “It’s going to be OK, Sam.” I looked back to Ben and told him, “We’ll be going now. Thanks for being honest. I’ll see you later.”
I walked out, still holding on to Sam. I got
her in the car and drove her home. Russell wasn’t back yet.
“Sam, please don’t worry, we’ll fix it. I promise.” I kissed her on the cheek. “So, can you tell me who it was yet?”
She sat in the car with her face all blotchy from crying. She looked like she did when she was 10.
“If I do, will you promise that you won’t be angry?” I moved my head up and down to nod yes. “Ollie,” she said.
Did I just hear right? Our mum and dad’s friends’ son?
“Sam, what are you doing? I mean, come on; I thought that Ben was bad, but this is even worse.” I could see her well up again. “I’m sorry. Look, it’ll be fine. We’ll sort it out.” I gave her a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll speak to you soon.”
She nodded and slowly walked back up to the house. She was in a state. I just hoped that she could struggle through it. Russell would be fine; he just thought the relationship was unsteady.
On the way home, I had a lot to think about. What was Ollie doing, messing with someone that may as well be his sister? At the minute, our family was a real mess. I walked into my living room and collapsed on to the sofa. I was tired. I could go to bed early tonight because Jason wasn’t coming ’round until tomorrow. It was nice having a bit of me-time.
I was in the middle of washing my face when the phone began to ring shrilly downstairs. Quickly patting my face dry, I rushed downstairs to answer it.
“Hello?” I didn’t recognise the number on the screen.
“Hi, Beth. It’s me, Ollie.”
What was wrong with him? Did he have a death wish? What was he ringing me for?
“What do you want, Ollie?”
“Sam rang and told me.”
“Right, so what are you ringing me for?”
“I wanted to ask you how she is.”
“Well, if you were just on the phone to her why didn’t you ask her yourself?”
“I wanted to ask you if she was really fine.”
I couldn’t believe the audacity of him. This was ridiculous.
“Look, she has had a crush on you for years. She has an argument with her boyfriend, gets drunk and then you sleep with her. How do you think she is?”
“Wow, I’m sorry. It was a drunken mistake.”
“Yes, it was a drunken mistake on Sam’s part. Not yours, Ollie. She has a boyfriend; does that not mean anything to you?”
Betrayal Page 18