Page 106 of The Match Faker

‘Nope. Don’t you remember? My family weren’t interested in board games.’

‘What about Boris?’

‘The only games he liked were playing with our finances.’

‘How d’you mean?’

I took a deep breath.

‘He’s the reason I’m in this mess. He used all our savings on different get-rich-quick schemes. He ran up so much debt that we had to sell the house. He used my credit card too and ended up screwing up my rating. That’s why I can’t get a loan, why I’m renting a shitty flat and why this competition prize money is so important.’

‘Shit. I’m sorry, Mia. You know my views on Boris.’

‘Oh, and he cheated too. Found that out when I went over the credit card statements he’d diverted to his email account. Apparently it was my fault because I was always busy working and “neglected him”.’

Instead of understanding that getting my business off the ground was hard work and trying to support me, he went and fucked other women.

I still wasn’t sure if he’d cheated through our whole relationship. I think it probably started when he realised I was serious about setting up my business. He didn’t like the idea of me making a success of myself. Maybe he thought that if I did, I’d leave him behind.

Boris always craved money and success. He liked to ‘win’. But he didn’t want to put in the hard work that it took to make it. He wanted the easy way. That was why he got sucked into those stupid schemes. And when the funds in our joint accounts ran out, he decided to steal from me and use every penny I had instead.

‘What a dick.’ Liam shook his head. ‘He didn’t deserve you. I never understood why you dated him in the first place.’

‘You want to know the truth?’

‘Course.’

‘It was because I couldn’t have you.’ I blew out a breath. Somehow getting that off my chest instantly made me feel better.

‘What? I was crazy about you, Mia. You were the one that wasn’t into me.’

‘Come on!’ I knew that after the interview, Liam said he’d liked me, but part of me thought he was just romanticising the past. ‘You were always with a different girl. We’d talked about going to the school dance together and then next thing I heard you were going with Natalie Davies.’

‘That was only because Boris told me you’d agreed to go with him!’

‘No! I only agreed after Natalie told me she was going with you.’

‘Well, shit. I think we both got played.’

I wouldn’t have put it past Boris to have lied. He was always jealous of Liam, especially when he got picked for the football team and Boris didn’t.

He hated that I was friends with Liam. I guessed Boris wanted a way to get Liam out of the picture, and it worked.

‘Classic miscommunication.’ I shook my head. ‘We were young, but still. We should’ve talked about it.’

‘I know why I didn’t. You were too important to me. I didn’t want to tell you how I felt and risk it ending our friendship. With all the shit going on with my parents, back then it felt like you were all I had.’

My stomach twisted. At one point, things were so bad with Liam’s parents he was at our house every day just to escape what was going on.

His parents’ relationship was always so up and down. They’d fight, then make up, then fight again. During the low points, I did everything I could to be there for him. That was why it felt like a giant kick in the gut when he took someone else to the school dance. I’d thought that we had something special. And the idea of him getting close to someone else crushed me.

‘God, what a mess we made. I didn’t raise it because I was worried about you rejecting me. You were the most popular boy in school and even though we spent time together and had a few moments, I just never truly believed you’d choose me. So when I heard you were going with Natalie, who was the prettiest girl in school, it confirmed that.’

‘Is that why you were so cold to me?’

‘Yeah. I was hurt. And everyone was talking about how you and her had sex and that killed me. That’s why I avoided you.’

‘And then you started dating Boris properly.’

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