Page 25 of Just for Me
“Uh …” Hayden said, “I’m not feeling all that sexy at the moment. Can’t believe you’re finding me attractive, either, no matter how much rugby you’ve played.”
Luke smiled a little. “Acupressure. For the nausea.”
“Oh.” Maybe it was helping, or maybe it just felt nice. Soothing, possibly. “I’m trying to remember the last time anybody held my hand.”
“Hasn’t happened much to me, either,” Luke said. “Never in public.”
“Other than your mum,” Hayden said. “Which was a long time ago, in my case. I’m over thirty, despite my youthful physique. Don’t look too closely around the eyes.”
“Not my mum,” Luke said. “Not that I recall.”
“Oh.” Hayden considered that. “Pretty bleak, then, your childhood.”
“Yeh. Pretty much. So who was that? Both of them.”
“The tall one was my ex. Who was cheating on me with the other one.”
“Ah. The reason you’re a bit touchy on the subject.”
“And it’s even worse than that,” Hayden said, because why not? “I wasn’t even the main attraction. I was the side piece, as it turned out. What’s that thing they say? Everybody should get to be the star in their own life? Not so much that time.”
“Never mind,” Luke said. “You can be the star in my show. I’m not much for shining.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Hayden said. “I thought you did pretty well back there. Holding up both of them at once … that was good. I’d have swooned, except, you know, I was already swooning.”
“Fella’s a wanker,” Luke said, and Hayden had to laugh.
“The other one’s on TV,” Hayden said. “The one who hit me. Soap star.”
“Ah,” Luke said. “Fancies himself.”
Which was when the two police came in, which meant Hayden had to make his statement. Which was fine, until they got to the part about why.
“The tall one was a partner,” he said reluctantly. “An ex.”
The cop stayed stoical and wrote it down. Well, he’d probably figured it out. Hayden wasn’t exactly butch, and Julian had practically written the book on “effete.” The cop said, “You may want to apply for a protection order, then.”
“He wasn’t the one who hit me,” Hayden said. “That was the new partner. Anyway, I’m a man. As you see.”
“Doesn’t matter,” the female cop said. “It’s called intimate partner violence, not violence against women. Hurts just as much for a man to be bashed. No sex-linked gene for pain.”
“Oh,” Hayden said. “Well, no, thanks. I doubt they’ll bother me again.”
“The one who hit you has been charged anyway,” she said, “as there was damage, and we have witnesses.”
“Did you recognize him?” Hayden asked. “Or did he tell you who he was? I’ll bet he told you who he was.”
“No,” she said. “He wasn’t keen on telling us who he was.”
“Courtney Place,”Hayden said.
“Oh.” She digested that. “I don’t watch the soaps. Probably be good for his image.”
“As long as they don’t mention the ‘gay’ bit,” Hayden said. “As we’re being open here.”
“The other one told us whohewas,” the male cop said. “Related to Lord Somebody, he says.”
“Wanker,” Luke said.
