My heart beats erratically in a combination of fear and curiosity as I wait for Jason’s reaction to my announcement that I’ve looked at his phone; that I know about her. She’s fake, I want to scream. Can’t you see that this is a woman presenting what she imagines men want? Is this woman, with her fake tan and body piercings, what Jason really wants? My heart thrums faster. Light-headed with nausea and nerves, I feel the floor shift beneath me.

Jason’s eyes are agonised, his expression somewhere between deep shame and anger. ‘Christ,’ he utters, eventually, and slips his arm from around me.

But who is he angry with, I wonder, tears springing to my eyes. Me? Why? I made a mistake; I pressurised him. I didn’t trust him. Sided with my deplorable father against him. I’m deeply ashamed, but was it really that bad? Was anything I did ever really that bad? Because if it was, then I must be completely insensitive, because I don’t remember myself that way.

‘She’s obviously the confident sort, flaunting her body jewellery like that,’ I say, my own anger rising as I bite the tears back. ‘But then, perhaps she hasn’t had her confidence crushed by a man too cowardly to tell her the truth!’

Jason looks away. ‘We should talk about this later, Karla,’ he says, uncomfortably. ‘Not now.’

‘Yes, now,’ I demand, as he moves away. ‘Does that do it for you, Jason?’ I follow him, catching his arm and commanding his attention. ‘Fantasising about what you’re going to do to her when she sends you her teasing little photos, does that do it for you?’

Jason looks ill, so very tired, but still I can’t curtail the fury festering inside me. Because I’m hurting. Can’t he see that?

‘Do you visualise her?’ I ask him. ‘Lying beneath you, as you—’

‘Karla, stop,’ Jason says, the blood visibly draining from his face.

‘Imagine her piercings pressing into your skin?’ I don’t stop. With tears cascading down my face, though I try hard not to let them, and fury and humiliation driving me, I can’t stop. ‘Do you want to lick her flat belly, Jason?’ Mine’s flat! I want to shout. I can’t eat. I can’t breathe. Do you even know what I look like? ‘Trail your tongue over her salty, wet skin? Push it into her mouth? Bite her? Work your way down her body and—’

‘Enough!’ Jason raises his voice, his face now rigid with anger. ‘For God’s sake, Karla, just stop this, will you?’

‘Why should I?’ I clench my fists at my sides, my fingernails digging painfully into my flesh. ‘What do you expect me to do? Say nothing? Pay her a bloody compliment?’

Jason looks destabilised for a second, alarm flitting across his features, as I step towards him.