Chapter 10

 

“I can’t do it,” I said, thrusting the phone into Alex’s hand.

Alex swiped his thumb across the screen to accept the call. “What?” he snapped in the mouthpiece.

Not my usual way of answering the phone, but it was obviously Alex’s way. I don’t know why I expected anything else. Stefan smiled indulgently and knelt on the floor by the sofa, resting his arms on Alex’s legs as he leaned forward to listen. Alex reached out automatically, running his free hand through Stefan’s fine, blond hair. My heart ached at the simple gesture and I wondered if I would ever experience that kind of mutual devotion.

“Oh, it’s you,” Alex said scathingly. He handed me back the phone. “It’s Randolph.”

“Shit,” Stefan muttered, which was all the warning I got that Rufus didn’t know they had asked me to stay with them.

“What the fuck are you doing at Stefan’s?” Rufus raged the moment I lifted the phone to my ear. “He’s my friend, not yours. If anyone is going to stay with him, it should be me.”

“I’m here because they invited me,” I said, resisting the urge to roll my eyes. “Anyway, it’s not just Stefan, is it? Alex lives here too.”

“Well, it’s not fair,” Rufus whinged. “You swanning off to the seaside and leaving me to cope with everything alone. The neighbours are complaining about your car and the landlord threatened to throw me out if I didn’t get the paint off the door. Which took me hours, by the way.”

“Rufus, you told me to not to come back…”

“I know, but I didn’t mean it. You know I can’t cope on my own, Eric. I’ve got no money and no car. You even took the phone charger.”

My phone charger, I wanted to say. My car and my money. They were what he wanted back – not me. “Rufus, whose phone are you using? It’s not yours. I know your number.”

The pause that followed was a little too long for his answer to be convincing. “It’s a friend’s. Nobody special.”

I wondered if the ‘nobody special’ knew he had been relegated to the friend zone, probably around the same time he lent Rufus his phone. Knowing Rufus, he was keeping the other guy in reserve until he was sure I had left for good. I rubbed one hand over my tired eyes, unable to think of anything to say. What was there to talk about? This morning, Rufus had wanted me gone. Less than twenty fours on his own, and he wanted me back. But what did I want? God, if only I knew…

“Eric!” Rufus said sharply, and even on the phone I could sense his impatience. Although I couldn’t see him, he would scowl and stamp his dainty, little foot, growing annoyed because he wasn’t getting his own way. Probably, the fact I was the one not giving in to him would fuel his anger further, because I never said no to him. “Are you coming home or what?”

“I couldn’t even if I wanted to,” I told him. “I haven’t got the money for the train.”

“Oh, for God’s sake, Eric. I…”

Whatever the end of that sentence, I didn’t get to hear it. Alex leaned over and calmly took the phone out of my hand.

“Yeah, listen, Rudyard… whatever, I don’t care… I’ll bring Eric back on Sunday, if it’s what he wants. No, I don’t give a shit what you want…” Alex held the phone away from his ear so that we could all hear Rufus yelling at him. Alex pulled a face and stuck his tongue out at the phone. Stefan put his hand over his mouth, smothering a giggle. Before I could stop him, Alex killed the call, cutting Rufus off mid-stream. He tossed the phone onto the cushion between us. “There’s no talking to some people.”

We took it in turns to use the miniscule bathroom. Honestly, it was a wonder Alex could fit in there without getting his massive shoulders wedged between the walls it was so tiny. Afterward, Stefan and Alex retired to bed behind the wooden screen, and I built myself a nest of pillows and blankets out of the bedding the landlord, Tony, had supplied on loan. It was surprisingly comfortable and I soon drifted to sleep, listening to the low rumble of Alex’s voice and Stefan’s soft giggles.

I was woken in the early hours by the ringing of a phone. My phone, I realised, groping groggily on the floor in the dark where I thought I’d left it the night before. I snatched it up and peered, bleary eyed at the number. Rufus again, on his “friend’s” phone. Quickly, I swiped the touch-screen to answer, hoping the ringing hadn’t woken Alex and Stefan. Both had work in the morning and far be it from me and my problems to disturb their beauty sleep.

“Rufus,” I hissed into the phone. “Do you have any idea what time it is?”

A pause and then – “It’s not Rufus.”

“Mason?” I sat up, suddenly wide awake. “How did you…what are you doing with Rufus’s phone?”

“It’s my phone.”

“You’re the ‘nobody special’?” I shook my head in disbelief. “How did you even find him?”

“It wasn’t easy,” Mason admitted. “I had to ask round the club until I found someone who knew where you lived. Your boyfriend…”

“Ex-boyfriend.”

“Fine. Your ex-boyfriend said you’d moved out. Little shit made me pay him for your phone number.”

“How much?” What was I worth, I wondered? How much would Rufus be willing to sell me out for after eighteen months together? How much would Mason pay to find me after seeing me only three brief times?

“Two hundred.”

Okay, now I was more confused than ever. Two hundred pounds seemed a low amount to betray a lover and over the odds to track down a stranger. I didn’t know whether I should be insulted or flattered.

“He told me he’d put your number into my phone,” Mason continued. “Only, then he rang you without asking, and I guess he pissed you off or something, because you hung up before I could get the phone back from him.”

“I shouldn’t be talking to you anyway.” Was this all part of whatever game he was playing? For all I knew, he was recording our conversation. It wouldn’t matter what the context of that conversation was if they had evidence that I had broken the terms of the injunction. “Why did you do it, Mason?”

“Because I wanted to see you again. I wanted to explain about Liam. I’d like to have this conversation face to face, but I get the feeling you’re not going to tell me where you’re staying, are you? Maybe I’ll go back and see Rufus. Find out how much it would cost to get an address out of him.”

“That’s not what I meant,” I said, realising he thought I was asking why he’d gone to the effort and expense of getting my phone number. “Why did you get the injunction?”

“What injunction?” Mason sounded genuinely puzzled. “Eric, I don’t know what you’re on about.”

“Give me the phone.”

I looked up to see Alex looming over me, holding out his hand. A sleepy-eyed Stefan hovered behind him. Both were bare-chested, Alex tanned and muscled, Stefan thin and pale. Alex raised an eyebrow, is if to say don’t-make-me-ask-again, and I meekly handed over the phone.

“Mace White? Yeah, I know who you are. Big fan, by the way, but just because I like your music, it doesn’t mean I won’t kick seven shades of shit out of you if you don’t fuck off and leave Eric alone.”

I gasped, impressed, horrified and somewhat amused all at the same time. Not only that…I was grateful too. There had never been anyone in life prepared to stand up for me the way Alex Gill just had. Stefan crawled onto the sofa beside me and wrapped one of the blankets around his shoulders. He looked at me and smiled, before turning his adoring gaze back to his boyfriend.

“Who am I?” Alex said into the phone. “I’m Alex Gill… Oh, you’ve heard of me? My reputation precedes me? Good, then you know I’m not a guy you want to mess with… No, I’m not fucking Eric, although it wouldn’t be any of your business if I was.” Stefan scowled at that, clearly not pleased by even the idea of Alex sleeping with anyone else. I took his hand and squeezed it, silent reassurance that it was never going to happen. “If you liked him that much, why get the injunction?” Alex demanded. “Don’t bullshit me. You know what injunction… Well, I suggest you talk to your fucking legal team, mate… No, you can’t talk to him. I told you, leave him alone.”

For the second time that night, Alex hung up my phone and tossed it onto the sofa.

“Fucking arsehole. Stefan, bed.” Stefan shrugged off his blanket and trotted off to bed obediently. “And you…” Alex pointed to my phone. “…you answer that damn thing again tonight and I’m throwing it out the window.”

I nodded mutely, snatching up my phone and cradling it to my chest for protection. As Alex stomped back to bed, I held down the power button, deciding that turning it off was probably the safest option. I lay down again, but sleep did not return. I kept going over Mason’s call in my head. I wanted to believe him so badly, but it hardly seemed feasible that he was telling the truth. What injunction? He’d sounded so confused, so convincing. Could it be possible Mason really didn’t know? But, if not him, then who? It hadn’t made sense when I’d thought it was Mason behind it all, and now that there was a chance he wasn’t, it made even less.