Tiredness had crept up on her. It was nearly midnight and her peaceful evening had been snatched away. She didn’t want to put up with it any longer.
‘Hey,’ she said, standing up. ‘It’s getting late. I think it’s about time you two left.’ She looked firmly at Raff, hoping she was coming across with enough authority for him to actually listen to her this time.
‘Good luck trying to shift him.’ He nodded at Emilio, lounging on the sofa looking worse for wear.
Tabitha huffed. ‘I’m going to make coffee; see if you two can sober up enough to leave.’
She paced to the kitchen, filled the kettle and switched it on. She leaned on the worktop and breathed deeply. She was mad at herself for being taken in by Raff and for letting his attractiveness overshadow his behaviour.
Footsteps sounded on the tiled floor behind her.
‘Hey, Tabitha,’ Raff said soothingly. ‘I didn’t mean to upset you. I thought you’d be glad of the company.’
‘Not like this, I’m not.’ She swung round to face him, only to realise he was standing closer than she’d expected. He’d better not try to kiss her. And yet he didn’t have to even touch her for her to sense the pull between them as if a magnetic force was drawing them together. Just as well she’d laid off the spirits tonight…
She tried to focus on what he was saying rather than onhim.
‘I was hoping to stay at Emilio’s, but the situation’s kinda changed since the last time I saw him.’
‘Because he’s got a wife and baby?’
He shrugged. ‘She wasn’t best pleased when I showed up – we er, have a history…’
Tabitha frowned.
Raff looked at her sheepishly. ‘She thinks I’m a bad influence.’
Tabitha snorted. ‘No shit.’
‘I’m just asking to stay here one more night, that’s all.’
‘No,’ Tabitha said firmly. ‘Why do you have to be my problem? You’re Emilio’s problem now. I get that his wife is unhappy, and with good reason, but I’m not doing this.’ She turned her back on him, heaped instant coffee into a mug, poured on the boiling water and splashed in milk. ‘Call a taxi, Emilio can drink this, then you go back to his place.’
Picking up the mug, and determined to not allow Raff to argue with her, she carried it into the living room. She couldn’t work out where Emilio had gone until she heard snoring. Her heart sank. She walked over to the sofa. He was sprawled out, mouth open, dead to the world.
Raff joined her. ‘Looks like we might be staying.’
‘You’re a dick.’ Tabitha slammed the mug on the coffee table, slopping liquid onto the glass. She intended to walk away but turned back. ‘How can you be so at ease ingratiating yourself with someone you don’t know, somewhere you shouldn’t be?’
‘I’m used to having to fit into new places and fend for myself. I assume it’s the same for you, new places and new people all the time?’
‘I amsupposed to be here though.’
‘Touché.’
Trying her best to ignore Raff, and the guttural snores emanating from his friend, Tabitha pulled the bifold doors closed on the night, double-checking that both Fudge and Bailey were inside, still asleep on the rug.
She rushed past Raff to the kitchen and rummaged through the cupboards for a plastic bowl. She went back into the living room and placed it on the floor next to Emilio.
‘Just in case,’ she said at Raff’s bemused expression. ‘I’m going to bed. You’re doing just fine making yourself at home, so knock yourself out.’
She was fuming now and didn’t care about hurting his feelings when he was taking the piss and his friend was lying passed out on the sofa.
As if understanding that it was bedtime, Fudge scrambled to his feet, with Bailey pattering after them seconds later. Tabitha left Raff standing in the living room and escaped into the bedroom, the only place that felt like hers.
* * *
Fudge woke Tabitha as usual by inching his way up her legs until his head and paws rested on her stomach, his big brown eyes filled with love. Or was it hunger? With sunshine streaming through the glass doors and without a hangover or the awkwardness of Raff in bed with her, a feeling of contentedness slowly spread through her. Until she remembered that Raff and his unconscious friend were still here.