Page 69 of Fling

‘Babe, of course not,’ he said calmly.

‘Really?’

‘I’d recycle you.’

‘You can’t recycle worms, Colin!’ Tara snapped.

‘And what about me? Would you still love me if I was a worm?’ Colin asked, turning the question back on her.

‘You already are a worm!’

‘Great, we can be worms together,’ Colin said as he took another sip of tea, forgetting it tasted horrible. He was almost at boiling point but he cooled down his internal temperature by focusing on his objective. He had one more play. There was nothing Tara valued more than her beauty sleep. If Colin could get in the way of it, she would surely banish him to the couch immediately.

‘Oh, I forgot to tell you, I’m reading this new book that says successful people wake up at five a.m. every morning, without fail. You don’t mind if I set an alarm for five, do you, babe?’ Colin said, knowing victory was in sight.

‘Five a.m.?’ Tara laughed. ‘You’re not waking me up at five a.m.!’

‘You’re always telling me I should read more books to help me work on myself. I’m just trying to make you happy,’ he said, shrugging.

‘Getting up at five a.m. is just pure madness!’

‘Well, you know what they say about madness and genius. I guess that’s why so many CEOs get up at five a.m. Early bird gets the worm! Oh, you can be my worm, babe!’ Colin said, in an annoyingly chirpy tone.

Colin could see the vein on Tara’s temple protruding like a river of rage.

Her blood had officially come to a boil.

Checkmate.

‘WELL, IF YOU’RE GOING TO BE WAKING UP AT FIVE A.M., YOU CAN GO BACK TO SLEEPING ON THE FECKIN’ COUCH!’ Tara screamed as she stormed out of the room, defeated.

Manchester scored a goal on-screen and Colin leaped out of his seat with excitement. He had beaten Tara in their little battle of wits and he was now free to chat to Claire at 11.11 every night.

Chapter 23

TUESDAY – 11.11 P.M.

Jack: Hey there, stranger

Claire: Jack, I owe you a huge apology

I’m so so sorry for standing you up

Please don’t hate me x

Jack: I could never hate you. But it did hurt when you didn’t show up.

What happened?

Claire: Long story short, I felt like I was about to be caught.

I just completely panicked and deleted the app.

I think maybe we rushed into meeting

Can you forgive me? x

Jack: I forgive you, Claire, but you do need to be punished

---