Page 137 of Pelvic Flaws

“I was calling you all morning and then decided to come and see you, but my car actually broke down yesterday. I tried to get hold of Barry, but his phone kept going to voicemail, then I called for a taxi and it didn’t turn up, so in the end I borrowed my mum’s scooter.”

My heart thudded at the thought of her on that thing. I hated the fact that D’reen rode it, never mind Katie.

“So why didn’t you get here?” I asked, my voice low and commanding. There was more to this story, I could tell by the way she was chewing on the inside of her mouth.

“I fell off,” she whispered.

“What!”

I took a step forward and reached a hand out, laying it on her shoulder.

“Did you hurt yourself?”

“Just grazed my leg, it was nothing. Oh and my elbow, I took the skin off that too.”

“What about your head? Did you hit that?” I looked her up and down as both my hands smoothed along her arms, trying to feel for any damage.

“No, I was wearing the helmet.” She started to giggle. “Good job I haven’t got my Roly perm, it would never have fit.”

“Fuck, Katie,” I growled. “This isn’t a laughing matter, you could have been hurt. Did anyone come and help you?”

She nodded and cleared her throat.

“What? Tell me?”

“My mum, I hadn’t even made it off the drive.”

Shit – if I wasn’t so fucking pissed at her, I’d have damn well belly laughed. I could see her in my mind’s eye, only managing two turns of the wheels before collapsing in a heap on the floor.

“It’s far more difficult than my mum makes it look,” she said, her face full of consternation. “I wanted to try again, but she wouldn’t let me and by that time it was almost nine at night, so I figured I’d just leave it until today.”

“So let me get this straight, you were going to ride here, in the dark, on a fucking pink scooter that’s light enough to be blown over in a gust of wind?”

“Well I was, but like I said, Mum said no.”

“So you were badly hurt, that’s why she wouldn’t let you try riding it again?”

“Oh God no, nothing a couple of plasters wouldn’t sort out.” She lifted the arm of her long sleeve t-shirt to show me the large band aid on her elbow. “She was worried I was going to damage Delilah – that’s her scooter.”

I scrubbed my hand over my face, wondering who was crazier, D’reen or Katie.

“How come you ended up walking here today? Why not get a taxi or a bus?”

“I made Carl come and get my car started for me after he took Charlie to school,” she whispered, rightly thinking I’d not want to hear his fucking name. “But the sodding thing died on the bypass.”

“You walked from the fucking bypass!” I cried, forgetting how damn mad I was at Carl over the car, well, over fucking everything. “You stupid idiot.”

“Hey,” Katie gasped. “Don’t disrespect me, you’d tell the kids off for that.”

“Yeah well this time you damn well are. How the hell did you get here in one piece?”

“A nice man offered me a lift,” she said with a smile.

I felt the color drain from my face and an ice cold shiver envelop me.

“Tell me you didn’t get in with him.”

“I didn’t get in with him. He was turning off at the big roundabout anyway, so I’d have only got a few minutes with him.”

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