Page 32 of Judging Duke

Ziggy moved and sat next to me, trying not to laugh.

“That could have gone better,” he said, smirking.

“You think?” He handed me a napkin, and I wiped the water from my face. What an arsehole.

“What you gonna do about it?” He cocked an eyebrow. “Let him get away with it?”

I pondered his words. Was I going to let the wanker get away with it?

No fucking way. I was fuming.

“I’ll see you later.” I stood and rushed after Simon, catching a glimpse of him as he left the bar.

“Atta boy!” Ziggy shouted, and I heard him laugh.

Interfering twat, but I wouldn’t have him any other way.

I burst through the doors and looked both ways, searching for Simon.

There he was. Several metres away.

“Simon,” I shouted. He paused but carried on walking. “I’m talking to you.”

Again, he stopped, and I made up some of the space between us before he started on his way again.

I broke into a steady jog, grabbing his arm as I reached him. I spun him around.

“Let me go.” He twisted out of my grasp and stumbled. I took his hand to steady him.

It was soft and warm, unlike the cold, unfeeling bastard standing before me.

“What the fuck is your problem with me? I know you blame me for Robbie’s accident, but you gotta let it go.”

“You ruined his life. All our lives with your stupidity.”

“I was a boy, barely seventeen. We’ve been over this.”

“You were old enough to know it was wrong. Why else would you have run? Robbie willneverwalk again. EVER.”

Iwastruly sorry. For years I’d regretted what I’d done, never really coming to terms with what had happened. I’d avoided Robbie for that reason, Isla providing the updates when I asked.

“What do you want from me? I can’t turn back the clock. I’d give anything to change what happened to him, and because of my stupid mistake, we’ve all suffered. Do you think that’s easy for me to carry around, knowing my actions caused everyone’s anguish and pain?”

“How have you suffered? You don’t know shit about what he’s been through. What we’ve all been through.”

Tears coursed down his face. I’d never seen him like this in all the years I’d known him. Granted, it had been a while, but when we were younger, he was always the easy-going, confident one. It was the one thing that had drawn me to him.

Right now, he seemed broken, the weight of the world on his shoulders.

As much as I’d love to put him straight about my past, now wasn’t the time. Something had to have happened. The man standing before me held no resemblance to the one I saw a mere two months ago.

The more I looked at him, the closer I was to his face, I could see the dark smudges beneath his eyes, the sunken skin. His usually styled hair was messy, darker roots stark against the usual dirty blond.

Maybe it was the streetlamp casting him in a bad light. I couldn’t be sure, but he didn’t look good.

“Stop looking at me like that. I don’t need your pity.” He spat the words out.

“I’m not fucking pitying you, Simon. I just don’t understand your anger towards me.”

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