Night Fires by Sidebottom D H

Author:Sidebottom, D H [Sidebottom, D H]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: novel
Publisher: D H Sidebottom
Published: 2016-01-14T08:00:00+00:00

By midnight we’d found a club that played good music, and the price of beer was decent enough. We found a booth for the men to settle in while Janie and I danced, and Beth went on a manhunt.

“Ignore Beth,” Janie shouted into my ear against the throb of the music. It was the first time we’d been alone and I had a feeling she’d been slowly becoming aware of Beth’s digs at me. “I think she knows what went off between you and Carter.”

I leaned back and frowned at her. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, come off it, Alice. I know you slept with him.”

The blush on my face confirmed her beliefs.

“Beth seems aware of it too,” she added with a grimace.

“But why is that a problem?”

“She’s had a crush on Carter for years. But she can never get anywhere near him.”

“But according to her they were together last night,” I argued, the pang in my gut back at the thought of her and Carter spending the night together.

Janie shook her head slowly. “She wishes. Carter hasn’t been near anyone since Liz died. He’s been completely off the radar for anyone, other than as friends.” She leaned closer. “There’s rumours that Beth even came on to him when Elizabeth was out one night. Carter walked in from work and Beth was sat on his sofa, naked, with one of his ties around her neck, and without a hint of embarrassment.”

I gawped at her. “Why would she do that if Elizabeth was her friend too?”

Abba’s Dancing Queen came on and the dancers whooped in delight. Even Janie grinned and grabbed at my hips, turning me around so she could grind against me to the music.

“Beth is Beth. I can’t tell you whether Carter reciprocated or not, ‘cos, like I said, it’s just rumours but there’s this atmosphere between them now, and not a good atmosphere. So I reckon he turned her down. Then, here you come and all of a sudden he’s jumping into bed with you, after years of her trying and getting nowhere.”

I felt bad – sort of. Well, I would have if she had been nice to me. Instead I just nodded and focussed on a couple dancing in front of me. Janie went quiet as we lost ourselves to the music.

I’d been regretting telling her I would come but, apart from Beth, it had turned out to be a good night. A couple of men had flirted with me, giving me a confidence I had lost months ago. Bray and David had been protective but kept their distance. I liked that they were close enough to watch out for us but not enough to ruin our fun. It felt like taking your brother out with you; protective yet considerate. I had, however, noticed Bray’s eyes on Janie most of the night.

My eyes slid to our booth and I smiled when, once again, Bray was watching Janie behind me. Noticing me looking, he stood up and walked over to us.

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