Still, though, it was tempting. If he was going to have any kind of a life, he needed to get away from the lie he’d been living. He had no roots here, none that he wanted to acknowledge, apart from his sister, who he could probably visit as regularly as he did now. The issue, of course, was his kids. There was no way he intended them not to be part of his future. As things stood, however, he had nothing to offer them. He needed to sort out the practicalities: a decent income and somewhere to live.

Grabbing his mug of coffee, caffeine being the only thing keeping him awake now he was back to not sleeping – Karla hadn’t come home again last night – he stopped as his phone alerted him to an incoming message. Realising it was Jessie, he checked his watch, surprised. They did most of their talking at night, while Jessie was on her breaks at the hospital, just before she went on shift or just after. Shouldn’t she be tucked up in bed about now?

Taking a gulp of his coffee as he turned his attention to the photo she’d attached, Jason almost spat it out. Bloody hell. Feeling extremely hot under the collar, he perused the selfie slowly – a body shot, giving him a tantalising glimpse of stocking tops. He swallowed hard at the sight of white lace knickers stretched over her hips, above which was the new teasing belly piercing. Jesus. Taking another glug of his coffee, he was about to message her back to tell her that whatever she was trying to do to him, it was working, when his phone rang, almost giving him heart failure.

‘Caught you looking,’ Jessie laughed, when he picked up.

‘You wear stockings?’ was all Jason could manage.

‘Hold-ups,’ Jessie corrected him. ‘For your delectation only. I don’t send explicit pics to everyone, you’ll be pleased to know.’

‘Very,’ Jason concurred, smiling. He had no reason to believe her, but somehow he did. There was something about her that was genuine, a lightness that was enticing. To say little of the ‘explicit pic’ she’d just sent him. Jason indulged in erotic thoughts of what he would like to do to her in those hold-ups, preferably with her white nurse’s uniform on. Assailed, then, by the memory of a time he and Karla had indulged in acting out their fantasies, he found himself struggling with a sudden sense of gut-wrenching loss.

‘So, did it cheer you up?’ Jessie asked.

‘Your timing couldn’t have been better,’ Jason assured her, his voice tight with a combination of deep guilt and grief.

‘That bad, hey?’ Jessie’s tone grew sympathetic.

‘That bad,’ Jason confirmed, hating himself for it. But the fact was, it couldn’t get any worse.