THIRTEEN - JEN

LIONEL WAS THE PERFECT GENTLEMAN. He listened while I talked about Will, he nodded in all the right places, he sympathised with what had happened. “I’m afraid he’s always been like this,” he said when I finally fell quiet.

We’d been walking for about twenty minutes and I could feel a headache starting to build, pressure behind the eyes that was just starting to become painful.

“He has a tendency to see women as objects, you can’t blame him really. He’s always had money.”

“Will told me he was poor growing up.”

“Yeah,” Lionel said without skipping a beat, “that’s just one of the stories he uses, thinks it makes ‘the snatch’ sympathetic towards him.”

“That bastard.”

“I know.”

He put an arm around my shoulder and I thought nothing of it. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, it just proved how naive I’d been in believing Will.

We reached my place and I unlocked the door. Lionel stood looking at me. “I’m home,” I said, waiting for him to say goodbye.

He just stood there.

“I’m going in now.”

“Would you mind if I come up?” he asked, seeing the staircase behind me.

“Erm, I think I’d rather be alone.”

“No, of course. I just meant to use your bathroom.”

“Oh, right. I guess so. Come on up.”

He followed me, closing the outside door behind him. My housemates weren’t in, I could tell by the quiet. I stopped in the hallway at the top of the stairs. “Bathroom’s in there.”

“Great, thanks.”

I headed into the kitchen, switching on the kettle before sinking into the nearest chair, sighing loudly. I felt drained, as if I’d been running for hours on end, my limbs heavy. I didn’t even hear Lionel until he was almost on top of me. I looked up and he was standing inches away. “Ready to go?” I asked, trying to get to my feet.

He didn’t move. “Not quite,” he said, wiping his lips with the back of his hand. “I thought we could maybe get to know each other better.”

“What?”

“Come on, you didn’t invite me up here without good reason.”

“You wanted to use the bathroom.”

“Jen.” He frowned, like a teacher telling off a particularly stupid pupil. “Don’t be silly. Now do you want to do it in the bedroom or out here? I don’t mind which.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” I managed to squirm past him, pointing down at the stairs. “I think you should go.”

“I’m not going anywhere until I get to see that pussy of yours.”

I was shocked to my core, unable to believe what he was saying. At the same time, a fear was bubbling up inside me. I was alone with him and he was much taller than me. “Get out.”

“All right,” he said, reaching into his jacket pocket. “How much will it take? How much did Will pay you? A thousand? Five thousand?”

“I don’t want your money,” I said as he waved his wallet at me. “Get out of my house.”

“Of course you want my money. Look at this shithole you live in, my dog’s kennel is bigger than this.”

“Get out!”

“Ten thousand just to strip for me.”

“No!”

“Twenty thousand.”

“I’m calling the police.”

I went for the phone and that was when he lunged at me, grabbing my hand, pushing me back against the wall, his hand sliding between my legs as I did my best to push him away. “Just kiss me,” he said, his breath hot on my face. “If you fucked him, you’ve got to fuck me, I’m so much better looking.”

“Fuck off!” I said. His hand pressed harder between my legs and I screamed, hoping someone outside might hear.

It worked. The door downstairs crashed open and there was the thud of footsteps coming racing up.

All of a sudden, a hand was on the back of Lionel’s head, dragging him off me by the hair. He let out a strangled scream as I looked who see who’d come in.

I gasped as I saw it was Will, a fury in his eyes I’d never seen before.

“Keep your fucking hands off her,” he roared, shoving Lionel away.

Will was on him again before he could right himself, slamming him into the wall. Lionel muttered, “Wait,” as a fist connected with his stomach. He crumpled in two, collapsing to the floor and gasping for air, wheezing heavily, his face turning purple.

Will spun around and ran over to me. “Are you all right?”

“Look out!” I shouted, seeing the movement behind him.

He turned just in time. Lionel had picked up the vase next to him and was about to bring it down on Will’s head.

Will ducked away, reaching out for Lionel whose expression changed to an ingratiating grin as he stopped dead, still ridiculously holding the vase above his head.

“All right,” he said, his voice weak as he lowered the vase back onto its stand. “We’re all friends here, aren’t we?”

“Get out,” Will said. “And if I ever see you again, I’ll kill you.”

Lionel shot down the stairs without another word. The door slammed shut a second later. I realised I’d been holding my breath for far too long, letting it out slowly as Will turned back to me.

I was torn. He looked as handsome as ever, even more so if that was even possible. But that didn’t change what he’d done.

“What?” he asked. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I saw the email.”

“What email?”

“The bet between you and him, whether you could get a random employee into bed. Congratulations, you won. I hope it was worth it.”

“Jen, listen…”

“I think you should go.”

“But I saved you.”

“And he wouldn’t have been here if it wasn’t for your bet. Please, Will, don’t make this any harder than it already is. You’ve done enough damage.”

“Listen, it was a bet but I was an idiot. You’ve changed me, Jen. I’m not the person I was before I met you. Please, just give me a chance to explain.”

“Explain what? How you used me?”

“It wasn’t like that. I didn’t know I was going to fall for you. I didn’t know that making that phone call would make me the happiest I’ve ever been.”

“But it was based on a lie.”

“Please…”

“Will, if you have any respect for me at all, you’ll leave. Now.”

He looked at me, his eyes pleading. I shook my head and looked away. I didn’t look up until I heard the door closing downstairs. Only then did I sink to the floor and let the tears flow.

I remained there for a long time, my body feeling violated by Lionel’s touch, made all the worse for knowing it wouldn’t have happened if Will hadn’t rung me. This was why you didn’t fuck the boss. It was a bad idea all round.

I sobbed for a long time. I wasn’t just crying over what had just happened, I was crying for what might have been, how happy I thought I was, how all of what I thought I had was now gone. I couldn’t work there anymore, I couldn’t be in the same building as him.

I managed to get to my feet and stumble through to the bedroom. Climbing into bed, I wrapped the blankets around me and continued to cry, thinking how even my flat didn’t feel like home anymore, not after what had happened. I made a decision in that moment, one that although I didn’t know it, would change the entire course of my life.