The night seemed to speed up then, as we went up and down in the big lifts between the ballroom and the free booze and the caners in Suite 103 until I realised I was having a positive whale of a time. Johnson left Renee downstairs chatting up a courteous Trevor McDonald and skinned up several enormous spliffs of Sam’s skunk that I didn’t dare try; my head had started to spin already and everyone was drinking champagne and Mojitos and dancing to Kanye West and then I felt so pissed suddenly that I decided to have a line of Naz’s coke. It seemed like a blinding idea at the time, and Sam had one too, and then I felt very peculiar and suddenly much more sober, like I’d just seen everything with great clarity, like the whole room had stopped tilting, was brightening and sharpening into cartoon-like colour. The music was so loud it rocked through my body as Sam pulled me into the ornate bathroom and pushed the door shut behind us and we kissed again, and this time it wasn’t quite so innocent. I leaned over him as he sat on the edge of the bath and he unbuttoned my shirt and kissed my neck, and I thought this is nice, really, really nice, although it was also rather blurry and this time I had to push away thoughts of Alex in the flat earlier – and then suddenly there was a massive pounding on the door and I jumped. I turned towards the door to see Johnson.

‘Blood, there’s some bloke looking for you – and that kid Joseph downstairs told him you were up here. He don’t look too happy, I must say.’

I thought Johnson was talking to Sam until suddenly there was Alex looming behind him, oh Christ, and I didn’t even have time to button my shirt as he pushed past the other man to haul me off Sam’s lap, and then he literally picked Sam up by the scruff of his neck and punched him so hard that I heard the bone in Sam’s nose crack.

‘Sam,’ I screamed, far too late. Then Alex lifted me right off my own feet, dragging me backwards towards the door.

‘Ow.’ Tears sprang to my eyes. He had hold of handfuls of my hair, and Johnson was moving to pick Sam up off the floor, and I tried to speak, to explain, but I was shaking with fear and adrenaline.

‘I was just –’

‘Fuck off,’ Alex snarled.

Sam was trying to stand now, holding his nose, blood seeping through his fingers, and I reached out to him. ‘Oh God, Sam. I’m so sorry –’

‘Shut up, you stupid cow,’ Alex howled, flinging me back so I banged my head against the door-frame. ‘What the fuck are you up to?’

‘Easy now, bruv.’ Johnson was coming towards us now, arms extended, pacifying.