Blood Sisters by Cate Quinn

Author:Cate Quinn [Quinn, Cate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781409197034
Publisher: Orion
Published: 2022-07-20T16:00:00+00:00

50

Mike

Good times never last, do they? One minute I was sat with Beth leaned up against me, looking out on those Min Min lights. I went off to find the last sleeping bag. When I came back, Beth was with Paul.

What could I do? I just walked away. Slept in Paul’s car.

I was gutted, but all’s fair in love and war, right? You can’t let a girl come between mates.

Beth

Last thing I knew I was falling asleep on Mike. Then Paul was sitting next to me.

The rest comes in flashes. Like a movie missing some parts.

Paul started unbuttoning my shorts. It was so unexpected. Even though I was too drunk to see straight, I remember how strongly I felt that. There was no invitation, no warning.

I began to say something, and he put a palm over my mouth.

‘Shh,’ he said. ‘They’ll hear us.’

I was so drunk, I didn’t feel his hand sliding into my underwear. I had this sensation of having a big clumsy cloth body, useless and numb. Next – I remember this so clearly – it was like this part of me, under my clothes, somehow wasn’t drunk. This part could feel everything as intrusively as if I was stone cold sober.

Then it was like I went out of myself. I have an abstract memory of a thought process. My mind said: Something bad is going to happen, Beth. Better put yourself somewhere safe. And my body did it, without checking in with me.

So … the main parts of what happened are not there. Only moments, you know? I remember the weight of him at one point, because a button was digging into my hip bone. I also have an image of a circular whorl in his blonde stubble, about the size of a dime and orange-hued in the firelight.

The next thing I knew, Paul said: ‘Are you going to lie there with your pants down?’

It took a few seconds to realise he was talking to me.

‘Here,’ he threw a sleeping bag, ‘you can have it.’

I took it. I think I even thanked him.

Paul sat there looking at the dying embers. He said: ‘Don’t tell anyone, OK? This was just a bit of fun.’ He didn’t look at me. ‘Hey,’ he said when I didn’t answer. ‘This was just a bit of fun, right? If you ruin my chances with Lauren, I’ll fucking kill you.’

I got inside the sleeping bag and lay down. It seemed like the best thing to do. My body ached and I could feel a bruise at the back of my head, like I’d been lying on rock or something. After a few moments I heard grass rustling. I risked a glance up and Paul had gone.

I sat up, and stared out into the dark night for a long, long time. It was ironic that I now felt super sober. Exactly when I didn’t want to be that way.

After a while, there they were. The Min Min lights. Billowing and folding in on themselves in the distance.

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