He tried to sit, but due to the cabinet there wasn’t enough room for him to lean back, so he hunched forward; only his pants were too tight, and after standing again and sorting himself, he decided to just stay standing.

Aunty Beck let loose on Jamie whenever she wasn’t grilling Tony. When the focus wasn’t on him, he found himself nodding, which his aunt picked up on, and even said, at one stage: ‘See, Tony agrees with me!’

But that made Jamie look at him, and when Jamie looked at Tony, that weird scent filled his nostrils again and he was forced to turn away.

He couldn’t work out if it was him or his cousin who was exuding the stink, but his concern was that it was the same smell he noticed whenever he walked into the sex shop over the border. It was the odour of well-trodden carpet and furtive sex, and whenever Tony noticed it, he knew that some men in his vicinity could tell he wanted to fuck.

Shit!

Images of Jamie came thick and fast, underneath him, on top of him, around him.

Whenever Tony looked at Uncle Daniel, the visions threatened to appear in the room so that they could be seen by everyone. Tony decided on just not looking at anyone, and if he stood back out of his cousin’s field of vision, those hurt eyes couldn’t find him.

God, he wanted out of that room. Leanne would be wondering what was going on.

She’d been great so far, especially in those awkward moments when they were waiting for their meals to be served, when he didn’t know what to say or even think.

But she’d started up that questioning look whenever they’d been in bed. He’d already gotten into the habit of turning her over and giving her one just to stop her trying to find his secrets; but that morning she’d actually said: ‘You’re very quiet, what’s on your mind?’

Tony feared it would never change, that she’d already found him out when his eyes might have unconsciously lingered on the men around the pool. Couldn’t a man have any bloody secrets? Did women have to be so fucking inquisitive?

Aunty Beck was still getting in Jamie’s face. Tony actually felt sorry for the kid, who looked like he wasn’t going to spill anything.

He relaxed then, but as he inhaled, the smell came at him again. Intense, like he was walking up the steps under the neon lights, where someone would be waiting in the dark booths at the back of some seedy shop.