Page 66 of The Making of Jonty Bloom
“That was yesterday. Today there is.” Jonty took out his phone, holding it tight so Brad didn’t see the way his fingers were shaking.
“You little cunt,” Brad snarled.
“Fuck off, Brad, or I’ll call them,” Jonty said quietly.
“He’s my boyfriend,” Brad said to Devan.
“No, I’m not.”
“Leave. Now,” Devan snapped.
Jonty was a bit surprised when Brad walked away. He almost yelled to ask him if he was a coward as well as a bully, but managed not to. He didn’t want to risk Devan getting hurt. Jonty’s heart slowed its frantic cartwheels to slow rolls. He still felt sick.
“You okay?” Devan asked.
“Yeah, let’s go.”
“Want to tell me what that was about?”
“Let me send one text, then I will.”
Jonty felt like he only exhaled once they were in the car and heading out of town. He pulled out his phone and messaged Gill.CU in 30 mins
“Head for the A1 north,” Jonty said. “I’ll tell you when to turn.”
“So… Brad?”
“Otherwise known as The Big Mistake. I met him five months ago in Alnwick library. I thought, he has to be a decent guy if he’s using a library, right? Wrong.” Jonty sighed. “I was an idiot for not seeing through him the day we met. But I didn’t, probably because I like to think I’m a great judge of character. Only that might be one of my character flaws, because I didn’t see through him on the next few dates either.”
“What did you think of me the day you met me?”
“Er… I named you Mr Impossible, Mr Trouble, Mr Difficult, Mr Sexy—oops, no forget I said that. Mr Greedy, Mr Awkward, Mr—”
“Are you going to go through the entire Mr Men collection?”
“No because I didn’t think you were Mr Happy, though you’re smiling more now. But you’re not Mr Happy yet. I’m still working on that.”
“Tell me about Brad.”
“Why are you so difficult to distract? I’m really good at distraction and you’re like a bloody guided missile.”
“Brad?”
“We went on six dates. Four were…okay. Not lovely, but I thought there was potential. Though when I talked to Tay about them, Tay had a different opinion. He didn’t think Brad was right for me. He wasn’t. Brad didn’t like me being friends with Tay and that should have been enough for me to have walked away. The next date was much better. I had a good time. Brad was really nice. But on the last date, I went back to his house—and he turned into a different person. I should have run when I saw what books he’d gotten out of the library.Britain’s Worst Serial KillersandHow to Build a Shed.”
Devan took the turn for the A1. “I have the shed book.”
Jonty laughed. “So long as you don’t actually have a shed.”
“No.”
“Phew.”
“What happened on that last date?”
“He wanted to stay in. That was okay but, he…didn’t listen to no. Not that I was in a position to actually say no. Not when he’d handcuffed me and strapped a ball gag over my mouth.” Jonty’s exhalation was shaky. “I was so shocked. I mean, he could have just asked me to shut up. I usually can.”
He was trying to keep this light but wasn’t sure he was succeeding.
