“What is wrong with her?” Rachel says aloud as she takes it out. Regardless of whether it’s a Portuguese symbol or not, it’s not something you would give to your fiancé’s brother, and that’s without the double entendre that Paige so helpfully observed.
If there’s one thing Rachel’s sure of, it’s that Ali can’t know Jack very well, because there’s nothing about this he would like. It’s ostentatious, indiscreet and, dare she say, a little tacky. It takes Rachel a few seconds to realize that it has Ali written all over it. If she were ever to be immortalized in a sculpture form, this preening figure—so out there and cocksure of itself—would surely be it.
Thankfully, Jack is more refined, more discerning; he’d never dream of giving a gift like this. It’s only then, that it occurs to her that if he were to give a gift to someone he cared about, he’d take time to get it right, be sure that he chose it carefully.
She doesn’t know she’s going to do it until she’s in the closet, checking the pockets of his two jackets that are hanging there. His wallet must be there somewhere, as she’s pretty sure he didn’t take it out with him tonight, opting instead to take a bundle of euro notes and a credit card. Though, he hadn’t needed either as his parents had generously paid for everything. She finds it in his shorts pocket; the ones he was wearing earlier in the day, but now that she has it, she’s not sure what she’s looking for. She thumbs through the receipts that make the leather bulge, wondering if she’s got enough time to quickly go through them. She’ll know it when she sees it; an anomaly among the petrol-station counterfoils and black cab chits. The glaringly obvious proof that he’s been somewhere he shouldn’t, bought something he shouldn’t or done something he shouldn’t.
She listens to the noise still emanating from the room below, trying to make out Jack’s voice above the cacophony, which, unsurprisingly, is mainly Ali’s high-pitched squawking.
“I always knew you fancied her,” Ali squeals. “You wait until I tell her.”
Rachel opens the door a little, straining to listen. “I didn’t say I fancied her.” Will laughs. “You asked me which of your friends I thought was the most attractive.”
“Yeah, and if you had to spend a night with one of them, who would it be?”
“So, if you’re forcing me, I’d probably opt for Pippa.”
“I’ll have to keep an eye on you two tomorrow,” Ali says, giggling. “So, Jack, what about you?”
Rachel’s breath catches in her throat as a loaded silence creeps into the air. She wishes she could see the expression on Jack’s face, or maybe Ali’s would give more away as she looks at him, forcing him into a corner.
“What about me?” says Jack tightly.
“If you had to sleep with a woman you and Rachel know, who would it be?”
The question hangs there, heavily, as the seconds stretch out. Rachel imagines Jack shifting uncomfortably in his chair as he contemplates the safest answer. Ali’s clearly only started this to put him on the spot; to see if he’s going to admit that it’s her he’d have sex with over Paige or any of their other friends. What is she trying to achieve? Apart from making herself look foolish.
Unless, Rachel wonders, it’s all part and parcel of their relationship. Perhaps this is what they do to turn each other on when they’re unable to physically be together: play sick mind games that risk their affair being exposed; the pair of them aroused by the danger of it being put out there under everyone’s noses, all the time thinking they’re in control, or that everyone else is too stupid to notice.
“I think I’ll refrain from answering that,” says Jack wearily.
“Awwww,” Ali whines, like a child who’s had her favorite candy taken away. “You’re no fun.”
“Maybe I’m just not in the mood to play tonight,” says Jack tersely, his voice coming closer.
Rachel realizes she’s still holding his wallet in her hand and rushes to put it back where she found it. There’s a part of her that wishes she had time to get herself into bed and pretend that she’s asleep, so that they don’t have the fight that otherwise feels inevitable. Though, it occurs to her that they’d be having two very different arguments; she’d be demanding to know what the hell is going on between him and Ali, and he’d no doubt harp back to her and Noah. She shudders as she realizes he doesn’t yet know the half of it.