Page 22 of Fool Me Twice
Bollocks.
Corin swallowed audibly.“I may not be here when you get back— Got a meeting scheduled.I just dropped in to say hi.We’ll have to catch up another time.”He smiled like all them undercurrents were washing right over his head.
Bollocks, bollocks, bollocks.Now Si was gonna be left with a suspicious Sasha and Adam, and no one to distract them from him.
“Right, I’ll be back in a jiff,” he said, and fled.
On the way down the street to the Breezy Moon Café, Si thought furiously.Maybe he could make up his own urgent appointment?Drop the goods and run?
Nah, if he played it cool, he’d befine.They’d have forgotten all about it by the time he got back.
If they didn’t spend the entire time he was gone talking about him, that was.Shit.Si quickened his pace.
Twenty minutes later, he breezed back into Furious Ink with his arms full of food.“All right, my lovers?Sasha, my sweet, I got you a bacon butty and one of them chocolate whirl things you like, to say sorry for forgettin’.Adam, I got you and Corin some spekulatius, cos they’re doing ’em special for Christmas.”
Sash and Adam looked up.Was it just Si, or did their smiles look a bit forced?True to his word, Corin had disappeared.
“Cheers, mate,” Adam said easily enough.“I’ll take them round to Corin’s tonight.”
“Yeah, thanks, Scratch.”Sasha grabbed her butty hungrily.
Si perched on the desk and opened up his own bag to take a bite from his jumbo sausage roll.
Then he thought of all the Freudian whatsits ofthatparticular choice, and put it down again.“Enough brown sauce for you, Sash?”
Mouth full, she gave him a thumbs-up.
Adam had finished eating, which unfortunately meant he had his mouth free for talking.“Listen, about earlier...Me and Sash couldn’t help noticing something’s up.”
Bollocks.
“Are your mum and dad okay?”
Guilt stabbed Si right where his jumbo sausage would have been if he hadn’t lost his appetite.“They’re fine.Sorry.It’s nothing to worry about.Honest.Just had a visit from someone we used to know, that’s all.”Shit.He’d meant to sayIused to know.
Adam cocked his head.“Yeah?Who’s that, then?Not one of the lads from London, is it?”He smiled.
“Uh...kinda?’S Zig,” Si muttered, giving up.
Adam’s face went stonier than the abbey ruins.“Zig,” he said flatly.“What’s he doing here?”
“Told you.Come for a visit.”Si stared at his sausage roll.It was nice of Adam to get concerned, course it was, but Si really wished he’d drop it.
Sasha put down her bacon butty, a smear of sauce on her chin.“He’s the one you told me about, isn’t he?The one who—” She darted a glance at Adam and fell silent.
Si’s heart was beating double-time.He’d told hereverything, when he’d come back to Glastonbury, and they’d become friends.Way before she’d met Adam.
“The one who hurt him so bad he hasn’t been out with anyone since,” Adam told her angrily, turning to Si.“That’s what you told me: you left your heart in London.”
And that was all Adam knew, wasn’t it?Si hadn’t been able to bring himself to tell Adam the rest.All he’d said was that they’d split up, and he’d let Adam assume Zig had dumped him for someone better.
“Why didn’t you tell him to piss off?”Adam demanded.
Si shrugged.Tried to make his tone sound light.“It’s been years, ain’t it?Gotta forgive and forget.”
“Bugger that,” Sasha said harshly.
Adam sent her a startled glance.“You know him too?”
