Page 85 of Lesson Learned

“If you include James in the total, I think membership of that club stands at one.”

She releases her clasp, facing the sports team as they get into position for a scrum. “What did he do to you?”

I want to explain. Want to be open as I can be because the next thing I’m going to do is ask for help. But my throat clutches. For all that I don’t want to take the blame for the things he did to me, I still feel my cheeks colouring. My old friend shame back to share the spotlight.

“He’s threatened me,” I say because it’s the only part of the truth my gatekeeping lips will let escape. When I draw in another full breath, I squeeze out another quick fact. “He hurt me.”

“He borrowed my phone one time,” she says, her voice even, her eyes fixed on the tree trunk thighs and taut arse of the massive prop nearest us. “Gave himself email access to my cloud server and downloaded my private images. He threatened to upload them online if I didn’t do what he said.”

“I’m so sorry.” I clutch myself harder for a second, then force my arms to drop to my side, giving her hand a compassionate squeeze on the way. “I knew something was going on with you but I—”

“You chose Marnie.” She shrugs. “Fair enough. If it had been me, I would have chosen her over you, too.”

“Good to know where I stand.”

She turns to face me, giving me a beautiful grin before she elbows me in the side. “Did I derail your effusive apology? Please don’t let me stop you this time.”

“You have been a massive shit to me half the time.”

“Only half?” She snorts out a laugh. “Someone’s misremembering.”

“You weren’t that bad.” The ball bounces near me, and I jump, a player ploughing outside the marked lines to capture it before it goes over, without success. “I grew up with some very large cousins. Believe me, I’ll take a few snarky comments over a fist the size of a watermelon any day.”

“Sure. Keep skiting about your harem of male cousins.” She tucks her hands under her armpits as the stiff autumn breeze takes a nasty turn. “You want to head into the cafeteria to warm up?”

“There’s a seat behind the gym where nobody sits. Can we go there instead?”

I sense her sneaking a sideways glance at me, but I don’t care. Inside is warmer, but it’s also a place where James has trapped me twice. I won’t give him the opportunity to do so for a third time.

Outside, I can run.

“Or we could go to the mall. I’ll shout you a meal.”

“Big spender.” Floss hooks her arm through mine. “If I’m feeling really generous, you can shout me a movie later, too.”

* * *

“Go on, then,”Floss says, sitting back and stretching before picking French fries from my tray since she’s already demolished her own. “He’s got nasty pictures from me. What’s James got on you?”

I squirm on my seat, not wanting to divulge anything identifying.

“It’s not you and that hot teacher from the club, is it?”

My face drains of all colour and Floss laughs. “Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner.”

“What have you heard?”

“Nothing, but I understand James’ threats enough to guess what he likes. What happened? Did someone snap a picture of you at the club, dancing near enough each other to look suspicious?” She leans forward in her seat. “You didn’t take one of those weirdly angled selfies to make you look closer together, did you?”

The relief makes my body sag low in the seat. She doesn’t know anything. It’s pure speculation. “Something like that,” I hedge. “Do you think James has access to Marnie’s phone? Like to eavesdrop on her or something.”

“Wouldn’t surprise me.” She shakes her head. “Honestly, I gave him my phone to make a call while we were out, and he hacked my apps while still making the damn call. He only had it in his hands for a few minutes.”

“Did he ever get physical with you?”

I drop my eyes to the table, but I can still see the concern in her gaze. “He knows better. If he ever hurt me, my brother would be on the next flight down to tear him limb from limb.”

“I didn’t know you had a brother.”

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