Page 84 of Knots About You
‘Get off me, you crazy bitch!’ Becky yelled.
‘I’m not the crazy one. You’re stalking your ex and playing with mine like a maniac.’
Becky escaped my grasp and crawled toward the stage front, sending fiddles and the drum kit tipping in her wake.
I threw myself after her, utterly miscalculating the whole thing, and not realising until we tumbled through the air and landed on the floor below.
My breath left my chest in one heavy whump, and Becky groaned beside me. There was no time for injury wallowing. I had to get the black USB; she still gripped it tight.
The villagers parted like I was a tipsy Noah as I launched myself back at her, swiping for the USB. But Becky fought like an angry badger who held the last worm.
‘Get off me!’ Becky hissed. ‘You aresoinsecure?—’
‘Says the woman who’s trying to ruin her ex, for what? Being happy?’ I grunted, hauling her wrist.
‘He doesn’t deserve to be happy,’ she snapped, yanking my hair with a vicious tug.
‘Ow! Stop it.’
‘He doesn’t get to be happy while my life went to shit?—’
‘You blew yours up yourself. By cheating and blackmailing and being an all-around whacko.’
Owen appeared off to my left, three drinks in his hands and a shocked expression on his face.
‘Scruff!’ I squealed as Becky wriggled like a cat in a bin bag, and my knee banged into a chair.
‘You are stealing my life,’ Becky panted, kicking me off.
Owen abandoned the drinks and came rushing toward me.
‘You are trying to ruin his,’ I panted back, dragging her ankle. ‘Why would he want you back?’
‘He wants adoration.’ She writhed and kicked. ‘I gave it to him!’
‘You gave him an empty bank account and heartache,’ I said, gaining ground. I clambered on top of her and clamped both hands around the USB, playing tug-of-war. The thing slid out of its cap, pinged off the wood and skittered across the floor.
The crowd collectively inhaled.
‘Nobody move!’ Isla yelled. ‘What the fuck is going on?’
Becky and I both dove. I belly-flopped while Becky army crawled across the room. The USB disappeared under the raffle table.
‘NO,’ Eilidh shrieked as Becky reached the table and yanked the tablecloth, which upended half of the prizes.
Becky got there a beat before me, a victorious laugh pealing out of her. Her hair stuck up like she’d jammed her thumb in a socket, and I let out a groan of defeat. She found the USB and held it in the air.
Morag stepped forward behind Becky and raised her walking stick, before bonking Becky on the top of her head.
‘Enough.’ Morag thumped her again. Not hard enough to maim, but hard enough to give her a headache.
Becky yelped and dropped the USB. The hall watched its path across the floor.
‘SCRUFF!’ I screamed on instinct. ‘Fetch!’
From beneath a trestle table, like a furry Superman, my tawny hero launched himself forward and caught the USB neatly between his teeth. Becky, one hand still holding her head, lunged. Scruff outpaced her easily. Laughter rose around us as Scruff bounced around while Becky cursed at him.
He beelined for me, tail wagging, and dropped the slobbery, teeth-marked prize into my hand.
