Esme checks under her duvet. Hot-water bottle is still warm. She watches him for a moment and then the next, her eyes fall. Asleep within seconds. So peaceful – he envies it. It must be his presence that is making her feel safe. Not some imaginary fucking horned cunt. There is a tap at the front door. Who and what the fuck? If it’s some cunting junkies, they’re going to get a rapid punch tae the fucking pus. Wearing nothing but his Calvin Klein shorts, Ivor yanks opens the door. His best mate is stood there.

– What the fuck do you want?

– Don’t shut the door, Ivor. I’m sorry!

He holds his hands up.

– I am warning you, Jake – get the fuck away fae this door or I’m gonna come out and leather ye in the fucking stairwell. I mean it!

The vein on Ivor’s forehead throbs.

It’s hard not to close his fist and put it through Jake’s face.

So hard!

– If you want tae hit me, Ivor, go fir it. I know, though – about Joanne.

His pal wrinkles his nose like he has done since they were little kids. Ivor knows what Joanne is like. A few drinks, a high mood… hard to resist for anyone. His wife is the kind of woman who lights up a room, no matter how fucked up she is – he will give her that, at least.

– I am begging you, Ivor, you are my auldest pal, please let me explain.

– You’ve got five minutes and you’ll have tae whisper.

They go into the wee bedroom, lit only by Esme’s glow-in-the-dark stars stuck all over the ceiling. Ivor sits on the bunk, Care Bears all around him. The wee troll things Esme collects too, and all the My Little Ponyies with their smug pus’s. Despite himself, he smiles. So does Jake. They are the hardest men from their town.

Jake sits on the floor, offers him a tin.

– Can I smoke in here?

– Aye.

Ivor pushes a red Tennent’s ashtray over to him.

– Alright, Jake, what have you got tae say for yourself then?

The anger is back in his voice then, just looking at him – thinking of him touching her.

– Joanne stabbed me.

– What?

– With a biro, in the leg. It’s fucking sair!

He pulls up his jeans and there is a bandage with blood seeping out.

– Fucks sake!

– Is that Hubba Bubba the bairn’s, Ivor? Can I have a piece? What kind is it?

– It’s Awesome Original Bubble Tape.

– I prefer Groovy Grape.

Jake unwraps the gum and chews it and looks at him seriously.

– Joanne confessed to me what’s been going on, ay, it was a sair yin for her to admit to it but I made her, I could tell, I think I’ve ken’t for years really if I think about it now.