She draws a chair up next to me, and the next few minutes are spent quietly as we sort the money into piles and start to count it. It’s obvious she’s biding her time, and I foolishly decide to pre-empt her.

“So, where did you and Rupert vanish off to last night?”

Bethany chokes on her coffee and gives me the evil eye. “We didn’t vanish anywhere.”

“Well, you’d gone by the time we left.” I inhale and roll my eyes because I walked into that one.

She leans forward delightedly. “You mean when you and Misha left together? When you were wrapped around each other tighter than ivy.”

“So, you were there?”

“You didn’t look very hard for us.” She pauses. “Unless you were looking for us in Misha’s underpants. You were ferreting around down there in a very intense fashion.”

Groaning, I knock my head gently against the table. “Please help me,” I say to whichever deity might be listening, but unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be one available in Southwark today.

“No one can hear you scream, baby,” Bethany hisses and laughs. She pets my hair, probably managing to completely disarrange my ponytail in the process. “Come on, Charlie,” she croons. “Spill the beans.”

“Whatever that means.” I sit and scrub my face with my hands.

“I’ve been waiting for this to happen for so long.”

“Don’t tell me that you had a bet?” I say sourly.

She shakes her head. “I’m not risking my hard-earned money on you two twats.”

“Charming,” I sniff. She stares at me with a gimlet gaze, and I give in. “Okay, we slept together.” I wince at her squeal.

“Yay, I’m so pleased.”

“Why?” I ask, bewildered. “Why is everyone so ecstatic about my sex life? What is there to be pleased about? We’ve probably just fucked up the most important relationship of our lives by having sex together.”

“But was it good sex?”

I glare in answer.

She nudges me. “Come on. It’s been a long dry spell for me. Was it good? That boy certainly looks like he knows what he’s doing. I’d hate to think it was false advertising.”

“He should know what he’s doing,” I say sourly. “He’s had enough practice over the years.” She pushes a strand of my hair behind my ear and looks at me expectantly. I sigh. “It was absolutely amazing.” I swallow as I remember him poised over me, his cock in my arse and a transported look on his face. “The heavens opened, and the angels sang,” I finish flippantly.

“I knew it.”

“How did you know that?”

“Because the two of you have this insane chemistry. You always have, Charlie.”

“Well, I must have missed it during the wilderness of my best-friend years.”