SOMEONE DIFFERENT (30 page)

The beanbag he was resting against rustled as he sat up straighter. ‘Mmm, I suppose I see your point.’ He frowned thoughtfully. ‘But what can I do about it? I’ve already given my statement, he’s already been charged with the offence; I don’t
–’

‘You could drop the charges, say it was a mistake – some boisterous banter that got out of hand. It’d be easy to do. No one would mind, they ...’ My voice trailed off as Rory shook his head and glared at me.

‘And you were doing so well, Annabel. You actually, almost had me believing that you really were sorry and you really had dumped him.’ He stood up, his hands sort of twitching at his sides. ‘Did he really think he could send you here to grovel for him, and that I’d change my mind? He must be even more stupid than I thought.’

A cold draft of panic rose through me. ‘I’ve no idea what you mean.’

‘Don’t fucking insult me.’ Some of his spit landed on my cheek as he leaned over me and shouted. ‘Obviously, the only reason you’ve come here is to try and persuade me to drop the charges. Obviously, you think I’m idiotic enough to fall for it. Well, you can forget it. Both of you. In fact, it’ll be the best day of my life when I see him standing in that dock – I can’t wait.’

I pushed myself back so hard against the sofa, the wooden frame dug into my spine through the cushion. The only movement came from my chest; forced up, then down by my empty lungs. I opened my mouth, hoping something useful might come out.

‘Don’t!’ Rory whizzed around, but carried on yelling as he walked away. ‘Don’t even try to tell me anymore of your lies, Annabel. Go on, get out. Go and tell him his plan didn’t work, tell him it just proves what a loser he is.’

A few breaths later, I pushed myself up with my hand, but immediately my legs almost buckled – it was as if my weight had doubled while I’d been sitting there. Using the arm of the sofa, I stayed upright, and edged my way along.

The door loomed up in front of me like some kind of portal. Walking through it meant all this would be over; I’d be out, I could leave. But it also meant I’d failed. I’d let Jay down, and any ideas I’d had of saving him from the charges, from prison, from pleading guilty, had been way beyond me.

With a big effort, I took my hand off the sofa and reached for the door handle instead.

If anything, I’d probably made it eve
n worse. Because now Rory believed Jay had actually asked me to do it for him. He’d got the satisfaction of thinking Jay had sunk that low. Well, perhaps that was at least one thing I could still try to put right.

‘Just so you know,’ I said, pulling down the handle. ‘Jay didn’t send me. He’d rather go to prison than have me come cr
awling to you. It was my idea; I did it because I care about him, and I did it because I can’t bear the thought of him being locked up.’

The snigger he spewed out as he turned to face me made me shudder. ‘Oh, how very touching. The lengths you’re prepared to go to eh, for true love?’

He paused, tipped his head slightly, then the idea lit up in his eyes like a gas explosion. ‘Sooo ...’ the word seeped through his closed, smiling lips as he slithered towards me. ‘What lengths, exactly, are you prepared to go to?’

‘W ... what?’

My confusion turned to panic, as he reached up and took a lock of my hair in his fingers. His sweet, citrusy aftershave clogged my nose. ‘Come on, Annabel; we all know you’re not as innocent as you like to make out – as that text message proved. And apparently you care about him; apparently, you can’t bear the thought of him going to some stinking hole of a prison. But just how much; what are you really willing to do to stop it?’

The hold I had on the door handle tightened. His hand slid down the front of my T-shirt then up underneath it; his clammy skin dragged against mine. ‘You mean ...?’ I couldn’t bring myself to say it, let alone think about doing it.

‘Why not?’ Rory shrugged indifferently. ‘We’re alone in the house, God knows I’ve been wanting to for weeks, and you’ll get lover boy off the hook.’ His fingers spread out around the back of my ribs while his thumb stayed at the front. He pulled me forward, then leaned over until his lips touched my ear. ‘You ...
sleep
with me – just once – and I’ll phone that police officer and tell him I’ve decided to drop the charges; tell him – how did you put it again? That it was ...
boisterous banter,
and
that it,
got out of hand
?’

My voice shook even more than my head as I tried to pull away. ‘But I can’t. I mean,
we
, can’t. Rory, it’s wrong, it’s –’

‘It’s the only chance you’re going to get. I hate that kid’s guts, I can’t believe I’m even making the offer.’

What was he doing? How could he use Jay against me like that? How could he bribe me into having sex with him – he was supposed to be my friend, my childhood friend? And, how could I possibly let him look at me in that way, or touch me in that way? How the hell could I agree to have sex with him?

My face screwed up in disgust; I just couldn’t stop it.

Rory tutted dramatically and let his arm fall to his side. ‘Well, don’t force yourself; I’ve no intention of pushing you into anything you don’t want. Although, after shagging a scrubber like him, I can’t really understand where all the modesty’s suddenly come from. But it’s fine; if you’d rather see him squirming in court, getting dragged around in handcuffs and living like an animal in a cage, that’s up to you. I guess you don’t care for him quite as much as you said you did.’

A violent pain shot through my head and made me wince. Images of everything he’d just described clawed at my conscience. Was he right? Ultimately, when it came down to it, would I rather let Jay suffer than do what Rory wanted?

A sour taste filled my mouth. Was that why Jay could do whatever it took, and I couldn’t? Because I didn’t have his loyalty or his strength? Because I didn’t love him enough?

My hair fell over my eyes, blocking out my vision. Well, maybe I just needed to make more of an effort. Maybe I needed to be braver, and more determined. After all, I’d been handed a chance to make sure he stayed free – was I really going to let it pass? I lifted my head and stared at Rory. How bad would it be, really? It wasn’t like he was a complete stranger, or some old pervert. And it’d be over in what? A few minutes, maximum. That’s all it’d take, and Jay would be saved from months or even years inside.

The door handle slipped from my hand. I blocked out the emotion and concentrated on the deal. One thing I had to be absolutely sure of, was that he’d keep to his side of the bargain. ‘Suppose I do,’ I whispered. ‘How do I know that you’ll ...’

Rory reached into his pocket, bringing out his wallet and his phone. ‘Look; this is the card the police officer gave me with his number on it. As soon as we’re done, you can listen to me make the call. Don’t worry, you’ll get your reward.’ He leered at me. ‘And, I’m sure it’ll be a much bigger reward than you’re used to getting.’

Oh my God. My stomach lurched. Please, no; save me the bravado. I hated him, I loathed him – I had to get this over with before I changed my mind. Finally, I managed to swallow, but found my saliva had turned so bitter it burned my throat. ‘OK. We do this once, right? And then you make the call?’

‘I swear. And it definitely will be once, Annabel – you’ve become a lot less appealing as a girlfriend, now I’ve had chance to think about who’s been there before me. A one-off though, that’ll be fun.’

With both hands, he pushed my jacket off my shoulders, over my arms, then threw it on to a beanbag. He stepped closer until his chest rested heavily against mine. His hair rubbed my face, his lips slobbered at my neck. Only the cold wall behind me kept me on my feet; holding me firm. All the time I stared past him. A strawberry on the floor caught my eye; crushed-up and ground into the carpet. Focus on that, I told myself. Focus on that and switch off to everything else.

But when his fingers crawled over my stomach and touched the buttons on my jeans, something like a cry escaped from my mouth.

‘What’s up?’ he said.

‘I err, Rory ...
I can’t.’ I looked everywhere except at him. Come on, don’t bottle it now; whatever it takes, remember? I blinked. ‘Not without a condom, I mean.’

The infuriated look on his face filled me with hope that he hadn’t got one.

‘It’ll be OK,’ he snapped.

‘No, no; it won’t.’ Had I found my way out? ‘What if I got pregnant, they can do tests, they’d know it was yours?’

‘Oh for fuck’s sake. They’re in my room, upstairs.’

My eyes closed.

Rory grabbed my wrist. ‘Come on,’ he said, and he tugged at me until I followed him out.

The blue swirling pattern on the stair carpet became hazier as we climbed up. He didn’t even glance back, just towed me along like a trawler might pull a sinking dinghy
; except he had no intention of taking me to a safe harbour. Instead, he was dragging me further out, out into an open treacherous sea. And that’s where he’d abandon me. And even if I didn’t sink to the bottom, it’d be left up to me to find my way back – and maybe, I never would.

Without realising it, I must have slowed down, because Rory gave another tug. ‘Christ, Annabel, are you always this enthusiastic? Mind you, I suppose that figures if your expectations are based on your past experience.’

Ugh. The jumped-up, self-important, cringe-inducing sleaze-ball. I jerked my wrist out of his hand. ‘My past experiences have been ... orgasmic, literally, thank you very much. It’s the prospect of sleeping
with you that makes me want to vomit.’

He laughed. ‘But you’re still going to do it though, aren’t you? And all for the love of that skip-rat. I wonder if he’ll feel like vomiting whe ...’

Rory’s mouth froze mid-word, then his lips juddered, striving desperately to suck back-in that last sentence.

I stepped away. That was it. That’s what Rory was really up to. Even if he did go ahead and drop the charges, he’d tell Jay what we’d done. Jay would never forgive me
– not completely – he wouldn’t be able to. For him, it’d be the worst kind of betrayal, and he’d never understand it, whatever my reasons had been.

I’d even said it, myself, downstairs; Jay would rather go to prison than have me come crawling to Rory. So why hadn’t I believed it? Why hadn’t I the courage to stand up for what I’d known all along? Jay would hate me if I did this, and even if he didn’t, I’d always hate myself.

Anger smouldered on Rory’s face like a volcano. He watched me work it all out and recognised my decision at the same time as I arrived at it. I spun around. He caught my arm though, and squeezed it like a tourniquet. ‘Let me go,’ I screamed.

But he rammed me back into one of the doors. I fought to shove him away, but his hands were everywhere, pulling at my T-shirt, tearing at my skin. The weight of his whole body crushed me into the door.

Going forwards was impossible, I knew that. So with my elbow, I felt around for the handle behind me. The tips of Rory’s fingers skimmed my spine, snatched at my shoulder blades. I wriggled and twisted and pushed him away like crazy; resisting with every inch of my body, but then his mouth covered mine, suffocating my shouts, suffocating me. I shook my head fiercely, struggling to shake him off, gasping for clean air, and then a click – the handle; I’d found it.

Slamming it down as hard as I could, I made the door behind me fly open. I grabbed the doorframe, swung to the side, and watched as Rory plummeted towards the ground.

The desk he reached out for gave him no support whatsoever. His fingers slid over a pile of folders sitting on top, but they just flipped off, spilling out their contents as they landed on the floor and surrounded him. His face must have taken the full force of the fall, because he screeched like a burglar alarm; his already wounded nose receiving its second battering in three days.

Still depending on the doorframe to keep
me steady, I held on to it like it was the metal bar on a speeding roundabout. My shoulders jerked as my lungs fought for air, and I spluttered and coughed and spat to try and get the taste of Rory’s saliva out of my mouth.

Then I looked down at him. He’d reached up to cover his bloody nose with his ha
nd, screwed up his eyes, and was rolling around, groaning, amongst all the pieces of paper on the floor. The sight of him gave me just about enough confidence to let go of the doorframe. I turned, determined to make a run for it.

But the bold, black print on one of the pieces of paper suddenly flashed up in my mind. I gazed back at it. I read the words over and over again. It couldn’t be; it just couldn’t. But there it was, right in front of me, there, in big letters. My hand trembled a little as I bent down and picked it up.

God, I thought, as I glanced at Rory one last time; it looks like that mashed-up face is going to be the least of your worries.