Page 80 of The Making of Jonty Bloom
Fuck. Lie!
Don’t lie.
“Yes.”
“Then you should go. Drive safe.”
“I could have lied to you. I didn’t.I have no interest in Ravi anymore, but I…”
Jonty headed for his door without saying another word.
When Devan looked in his mirror as he drove away, Jonty was staring after the car. No interest in Ravi, yet he was driving away from the person he wanted to be with—towards one he no longer cared about. That was all Jonty would see. But his job… He kept driving. It took four tortuous miles before he came to his senses and turned around. Ravi didn’t matter. The hotel purchase didn’t matter. He swallowed hard.
Jontydidmatter.
There was no answer when Devan banged on Jonty’s door though that didn’t mean he wasn’t there, unless he’d already gone to see his friend. Devan called him, but the phone went straight to voicemail.
“I’m sorry,” Devan said. “I came back. Call me.”
The pain in his chest alarmed him. He sat in his car for a while, texted Stan the names of Jonty’s parents, then gave a heavy sigh. There was little point sitting waiting when he had no idea when Jonty would return. He set off for the hotel. The sooner he got rid of Ravi, the better.
Chapter Twelve
DEVAN’S CAR DISAPPEARED INTO THEdistance with his final words echoing in Jonty’s head.I have no interest in Ravi anymore, but…It was thebutthat did it for Jonty. They’d been going to have fantastic sex—and one call from his ex had sent Devan running in his direction.No interest.Right.
Jonty huffed, kicked at some imaginary rock on the pavement and jarred his toes—shit. Well, that was it with Devan or it wasn’t. Nothing he could do about it. Maybe it was for the best, because he was growing increasingly attached to Mr Difficult. Jonty was enjoying making him smile and laugh. They’d had fun today and he’d planned for that fun to…Fuck it.Everyone walked away. Or was pulled away. Devan was no different.
Let it go!He unlocked his door, stepped inside and froze for a split second, before going into a lightning-fast reverse back onto the street, just retaining enough presence of mind to slam the door.Oh my God. OH MY GOD!What he’d seen couldn’t be right.Couldn’t, couldn’t, couldn’t.
He felt as chilled as if he’d been thrown into the sea. His entire body prickled with goose bumps. He really didn’t want to open the door and take another peek, but he had to, because if he didn’t check and called for help and he was wrong about what he’d seen, he’d look such a prat.
You hear about the idiot who couldn’t tell the difference between a rubber snake and a real one?
Jonty gulped.Shit.Maybe he’d just go with being that idiot because he didn’t want to open the door.Devan was a prick, but he wished he was there because somehow Jonty knew hewouldopen the door. He stared at his letterbox. He could peek through that and make absolutely sure it wasa real snake wrapped around his bike, except… What if the snake had slithered across the floor and up the door and was currently waiting on the other side of the letterbox flap, poised to shoot out and bite him on the nose?
In the end, Jonty opened the door again, took a quick look and closed it. The shiver that ran through him was like a personal seismic shock. He almost expected his knees to give way and the ground to crack. Though with his luck, he’d fall into a pit of snakes. He wasn’t wrong about what he’d seen. That was most definitely a snake. A stripy grey and yellow thing. And not rubber, because it was moving.
I need help.
He put his hand in his jacket pocket for his phone, didn’t find it, and tried the other pocket. No phone.What the hell?He checked his backpack, though he was certain he hadn’t put it in there, and he hadn’t. So it was either lost in the sand or in Devan’s car.Damn.
Jonty went into the hair salon next to his door.
“Hi, Jonty!” Miriam, the owner, sat behind the reception desk, filing her nails.
Her dog Snoopy, came up to Jonty and flopped on his back with his feet in the air. Despite Jonty’s anxiety, he managed a smile. “Snoopy, you are such a tart.” He bent to tickle the dog’s stomach, and looked up at Miriam. “I need a favour. I’ve mislaid my phone and I need to call the police.”
She paled and handed him her mobile. “Are you okay?”
Jonty stood up. “Don’t freak out, but I opened my door…” He lowered his voice. “…and I saw a snake.”
Miriam shuddered. “Oh my God. Go into the back room. Don’t let anyone hear you say that.”
Jonty went through and pressed 1-0-1 even though it was afuckingemergency. What bigger emergency could there be than him being confronted by a snake? Okay, there might be a few other things that would qualify. A zombie would have been worse but…
“Alnwick police. How can I help you?”
He took a deep breath. “Oh hi. My name’s Jonty Bloom. I live at 5A Hayton Street. I just came home and opened my door to find a snake on the stairs that go up to my flat.”
