Chapter Twenty-Three
Zane pulled into the parking area at Carrdale and turned off the ignition. At four o’clock on an early November day it was already beginning to go dark. He just wanted to make sure everything was OK after being away from the place for a day on his camping trip with Faith. All right, so he was paranoid. But, just for his own peace of mind, he wanted to make sure.
Standing in the car park he looked around him, taking it all in – Carrdale with its stone façade, the slate name sign near the entrance, the way the Centre nestled amongst the rock and grass-strewn hills, and the trees swaying in the strengthening breeze. He owned half of this place. Well, he along with the bank. He took a moment, thinking, appreciating how he’d actually done it. All he’d worked for since college, all he’d sacrificed to get to this point.
Now, it seemed, he would have to sacrifice something else as well.
Walking across to the entrance he spotted Matt’s and Dave’s cars still in the parking area. There was also another car which he didn’t recognise, a sporty little hatchback. That was odd. There were no activities planned for now, so there shouldn’t be any customers around at this time of day. Perhaps it was just someone who had called in to buy a gift voucher. The sale of the vouchers which let people book whatever activity they wanted at a date to suit were proving very popular; even more so as people’s thoughts started to turn towards buying Christmas presents.
Heading for the office Zane turned the door handle and stopped. The door was locked. That was weird. A light was on in there (he’d seen it through the window when he’d walked into the Centre), but maybe Matt and Dave were off elsewhere in the Centre sorting equipment, and had locked the door for security.
Zane ferreted around in his jacket pocket for his bundle of keys, then froze. Had he just heard voices? Holding his breath he listened hard.
Yep, the voices came again. And a girlish giggle.
Zane backed quietly away and headed for the stairs and the top landing. From here he could watch the entrance to the room whilst remaining out of sight. A few minutes later he heard the door unlock. He saw a woman leave the room, tucking a T-shirt into her trousers with one hand and fluffing up her hair with the other. She paused in the doorway, reaching up to kiss Matt, who was now leaning on the doorframe, his shirt unbuttoned.
Zane’s heart sank.
He leaned back against the wall of the upstairs landing, taking care to stay hidden. Twenty-four hours he’d left the place under Matt’s management, and this was how he behaved. Zane hadn’t recognised the woman, which meant there was a good chance she wasn’t a local. Which in turn meant there was every chance that the woman was a customer of the Centre.
As soon as Zane heard the front door of the Centre open and then close behind the woman, he raced down the stairs two at a time and stormed into the office, slamming the door behind him.
“You’re not supposed to be back.” Matt looked distinctly uncomfortable as he did up the last button of his shirt. “I didn’t expect you to call in today.”
“Obviously not.”
Matt sighed and flopped into the chair behind the desk. “By the look on your face I assume it was you not Dave who tried the office door a few minutes ago.”
Zane nodded. “Yep, afraid so.”
“Go on then,” Matt rubbed at his forehead and eyes. “Get the lecture over with!”
“I didn’t recognise her.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“Who was she, Matt?”
“OK, OK. You already know the answer to that question. She was one of the women on this afternoon’s corporate team-building group.”
Zane muttered something under his breath as he paced the room, shoving his hands in his pockets so he couldn’t grab hold of Matt and do something he would later regret.
“She made it pretty obvious she was interested in me. After the rest of the group went she stayed behind, and we fooled around a bit.” Matt chewed nervously on his bottom lip. “Go on, say it.”
Zane stopped pacing and turned on Matt. “A customer? Seriously? I thought we’d agreed you wouldn’t do that anymore. It was risky enough when you were messing around with the customers when we were working for someone else. But this is our own business, and we’ve put pretty much every penny we’ve got into this place. Not to mention all the years of planning, preparation and hard work to get to this stage. And you want to risk it all for some casual thing with a woman you just met?”
Matt got to his feet, planting his hands on the edge of the office desk. “I’m sorry, OK? So we can’t all be Mr. Perfect like you. I screwed up.”
“You know,” Zane paused, taking a breath, trying to stay in control. “You know how it works, Matt. If we get a reputation for stuff like this, it could ruin us and the Centre!”
“Just relax,” Matt said, pushing his hand through his hair. “It won’t happen again. I swear.”
“But what if that woman tells her friends? What if they start booking on courses at the Centre expecting more for their money than just a go on the assault course? You know how it was in Austria, some women think they’ve bought the services of the instructor in more ways than just a climbing lesson!”
“I know, I know. I made a mistake. I won’t let it happen again. I was feeling low. I just wanted someone to want me.”
“You’re an idiot, Matt,” he sighed. “Will you never learn?”
“How many times can I say I’m sorry? What do you want me to do?”
“I want you to take the Centre seriously. We’ve a lot of time and money invested here.”
“I am doing. Don’t forget it’s my money as well as yours that’s made this place happen. You think I’m going to risk it all? It was one time. I swear. I was lonely and fed up. I just thought, well, why not.”
“You know why not. It’s asking for trouble, it’s bad for business, and it’s totally unprofessional.”
“Well, you were off doing God-knows-what with Faith in the woods, and I cracked. You were enjoying yourself, why shouldn’t I?”
Zane shook his head. “If you really had to, then at least you could have taken her on a date, or gone somewhere else. It’s not exactly discreet, is it?”
Matt shrugged. “There was nobody else around except for Dave, and I sent him down to the equipment stores to clean and check everything. I knew that would keep him out of the way for a while. Nobody would have been any the wiser. Until you turned up of course.”
Zane closed his eyes and started counting to ten under his breath.
“Why don’t you just do what you really want to, Zane eh? Hit me, shout at me, and swear at me! Go on…”
“I don’t want to hit you. I know you’re angry with the world these days, but believe me, Matt, this isn’t the answer. I know what it feels like, remember?”
Matt said nothing, staring out of the window into the darkness.
“You helped me through it, Matt, now I just want to help you. I’m trying to.”
Silence hung heavily in the air.
Matt sighed, still looking out the window. “It didn’t work. With this woman it meant nothing, and I didn’t even enjoy it. I just kept thinking about Karolina.”
Zane walked across the room and rested a hand on Matt’s shoulder. “I’m sorry. You say you were thinking about Karolina, but I thought you were involved with Emily. What happened there?”
“She’s away on business at the minute. Before you say anything: yes, I know, I’m scum. I don’t need you to tell me. Why do I always mess everything up?”
“You don’t, mate. It’s not just you.” Zane sighed, thinking of Faith. “It’s life.”
“Right now, I hate life.” Matt took a deep breath. “So anyway, how was your little woodland escape with Faith?”
“Great, thanks.” Zane crossed over to the filing cabinet. He wasn’t comfortable talking about private things between him and Faith with anyone, let alone Matt. Besides, right now, he wasn’t sure what he was going to do about his relationship with her.
Matt stopped staring into the darkness and looked at Zane as he flicked his way through one of the cabinet drawers looking for a file.
“You’re very lucky, do you know that?”
Zane didn’t look up.
“Faith is amazing. I might have a pathetic love life at the moment, but at least one of us is having a good time in a proper relationship.”
Zane continued to look for the file, ignoring Matt but feeling himself tense at his words.
“I know how lucky you are. Faith and I were together for years. We were childhood sweethearts.”
Zane felt sick but knew he still had to ask the question. “Meaning?”
“You know what I mean.”
“You’re saying you slept with her all those years ago?” Zane asked, barely able to get his mouth to say the words.
“Of course we slept together.”
In two strides Zane was across the room, grabbing Matt and pinning him against the wall. “Shut up!”
Matt smirked. “Go on, hit me! I dare you.”
Zane released him, backing off and shaking his head.
“No. That’s what you want me to do. To punish you for what you just did with that woman, because, right now, you hate yourself for doing it. And it wasn’t even worth it. It didn’t help. I’m telling you it never will help.”
Matt rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand.
“You’re still blaming yourself,” Zane went on. “You’re trying to punish yourself. I recognise the signs. So I’m just going to walk out of here and not beat you to a pulp.”
“No,” Matt shouted. “You’re walking away from me because you don’t have it in you to hit me, and we both know it. In some things, Zane, you’re just a coward.”