Chapters (50)
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication Page
- Contents
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Ninteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-one
- Twenty-two
- Twenty-three
- Twenty-four
- Twenty-five
- Twenty-six
- Twenty-seven
- Twenty-eight
- Twenty-nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-one
- Thirty-two
- Thirty-three
- Thirty-four
- Thirty-five
- Thirty-six
- Thirty-seven
- Thirty-eight
- Thirty-nine
- Forty
- Forty-one
- Forty-two
- Epilogue
- Letter From the Author
- Acknowledgements
- About the Author
I looked at him, at this shell of a man. Chewed up and spat out. Was this my future?
‘That’s when she met you,’ he said. ‘I followed her that night, I admit. I watched you both. I saw her kiss you goodbye. I texted her straight away, telling her that I was going to talk to you, tell you what she was really like, put you off, if she didn’t come home with me. We spent the rest of that week here, talking. Fucking. I called you at one point, but chickened out and hung up. I hid Charlie’s phone, which made her go mad. And at the end of that week, I was worn out. I knew I couldn’t cling on anymore, that I had to let her go. We agreed that she would stay here for a little while, and she moved her stuff into the spare room. This room. And that was it – she went. Leaving me like this.’
It was raining outside now. In the silence that followed his words, I heard it beating against the window.
‘What about other people?’ I said. ‘Did anything . . . happen to any of your friends while you were with her?’
He stared at me like he didn’t understand the words. ‘What?’
‘Your friends. Especially female friends. Ex-girlfriends. Did anything weird happen to any of them?’
‘I don’t understand,’ he said. ‘But as soon as I let Charlie in, I broke contact with everyone, like I told you. I didn’t have any female friends left. And Charlie was my first proper girlfriend.’
I let this sink in. So there had been no one to threaten the relationship from the outside.
‘Do you promise you haven’t been following me or Charlie around?’ I said.
He nodded, but I wasn’t sure if I believed him. I still didn’t trust him.
‘I’d better go,’ I said.
I walked past him into the hallway, my legs unsteady. My injured knee throbbed and there were spots dancing before my eyes. I had an almost irresistible urge to go home and put the duvet over my head, blot the world out. Stay there forever.
‘There are probably others,’ Fraser said, as I opened the door.
I turned back. ‘Others?’
‘Like me. Other men, from her past. I bet she’s left a trail of fucked-up blokes and squashed hearts. And you’ll be next.’ He pointed a shaky finger at me. ‘Think of me, when she decides to leave you.’
‘I bet you’re hoping she will,’ I said. ‘Because you’d have her back, wouldn’t you? You’d want her back, anyway.’
He shook his head. But I knew he would. He’d have her back in a heartbeat.
Thirty-two
Thirty-two