Page 39 of Fool Me Twice
Okay, maybe he felt a little bit guilty.Because Si deserved so much better.
But he was a grown man, now.Capable of making his own decisions.
Standing in his bedroom, Si fought the urge to cross his fingers as his mum answered his call.“Mum?You called?”He lowered his voice, despite the closed door and all the clattering and splashing sounds coming from the kitchen.“If this is about Zig again—”
“It’s not.Well, it is, but...Your dad’s been telling me I’ve been coming on too heavy.Turning up at your work like that.Says I’m treating you like a child.”
Si could hear his dad’s voice in the background, saying, “Too right!”He bit back a laugh, and his tone was gentle when he answered.“Well, I’m not gonna lie, it coulda been a bit awkward, Mum.What if one of the lads had been there to hear you?”
“You know I’m only thinking of you.I don’t want to see you get hurt again.”
“I know, Mum.And it’s not...”Si lowered his voice even more.“Zig’s changed.He really has.He came from a bad place, but he’s put all that behind him now.You don’t need to worry about him leading me astray or nothing.”
“What about him leading you on, though?Strikes me, the sort of man who turns up with no warning is the sort who’ll disappear just as easily.”
Si couldn’t help the chill that ran through him at the thought of Zig leaving.“That ain’t fair, Mum.He ain’t got no obligations to me.”
“Hasn’t,” Mum corrected absently.“As long as you keep that in mind, love.Don’t let yourself get drawn in deep only to find he leaves you without a thought.”
Si did laugh that time.“Mum!When have you ever known me to getdrawn in deepby a man?”
“Once only, my lad.Once, and that was enough.”
Si winced.“It ain’t like that this time,” he said weakly.“Listen, I gotta go, all right?We’re heading out.”
“Fine.But you call me, Simon Greczik.I want to know how you’re getting on.”
Si said his goodbyes and took a deep breath, then opened up the browser on his phone.
Ten minutes later he headed into the kitchen, finding it spick-and-span with everything dried and put away.
Zig was in the living room, thumbing through his phone.He looked up as Si entered, his expression wary.“Everything okay?”
Si nodded.“Crackin’.Right, you ready to go?”
Zig grinned.“Me?I’m always ready.Let me get me coat.”
It was a short walk from the flat to the lockup garage where Si kept his bike.The sun was shining, and the air was bracing.
Zig was animated, almost dancing around him as he tried to get Si to say where they were going.“C’mon, give us a hint.”
“Nope.My lips are sealed.”
“At least tell me what sort of bike you’ve got these days, then.I hope it’s a bit bigger than the one you had in London.There was barely room for the two of us on that, and you’re about twice the size now you were then.”
Si smiled enigmatically.Well, that was the intention, anyhow.Gods knew what it actually looked like.“Maybe.You’ll see.”
He unlocked the garage door and threw it open with a flourish.“Big enough for you?”
Zig stared in admiration.Then he whistled.
Si’s old bike had been a crappy little thing, barely better than a moped, but riding on the back of it, his arms around Si’s waist, Zig had felt...looked after, somehow.Like when he’d been a kid and his gran’s bloke had driven them around in that old Morris Minor he’d somehow kept going for, like, a century or something.
But, bloody hell, this was something else.Si had an honest-to-god Harley-Davidson now, a great monstrous thing in black and chrome.
“What do you think?”Si asked.
“I think I’m in love,” Zig answered honestly.
