We stab him until we feel better.
19. Gray
WILLOW AND LILLY RAN SQUEALING AND giggling after I hauled them out of the bath, dropping their towels and doing their usual nudie run around the house. What was it about baths that got kids so excited? Actually, it was just the prospect of water that got them excited. When we went for a walk to the park, Lilly would cackle like a tiny, gleeful witch if she found the smallest puddle to stomp in.
Ordering them into Willow’s room, I dressed them both in tracksuits. Evie usually took a lot of care when dressing them, and she’d spent a lot of money on outfits for them lately. Her restaurant job had meant she could buy things she couldn’t normally. But bad luck—it was my rules now. And my rules were whatever was easiest.
Putting a Toy Story DVD on for the girls, I headed downstairs. The girls were snuggled together on Willow’s bed.
I’d promised myself I wouldn’t check the companions website again today. But that promise didn’t hold.
Seating myself on the sofa, I grabbed the laptop and browsed to the companions site. I signed up. I had to pay a hundred and fifty bucks for the privilege. That hurt bad. I only had seven hundred in the bank. My week’s wage. But I was driven. I had to talk to my wife.
I found a photo of an older guy online who looked rich, and I used it for my profile. My gut turned upside down as I wrote a quick blurb about myself.
A green symbol next to her username told me Evie had come online.
Pressing my back into the sofa, I told myself to keep it under control. Play the part, just like she was.
I clicked on the chat symbol for her profile.
Be cool. Smooth.
Me: Hey, Velvette. I like your smile. Why don’t we meet and you let me see that smile in person?
Holding my breath, I waited.
Her: Thank you! I’m afraid I’m pretty busy.
Choice names spun through my head—all the names that men spat at women. Whore. Slut. Two-bit skank. I wanted to call her every one of them.
Play it cool, Gray.
Me: Too busy for me? You’re exactly what I like. I’m very generous with women I like. I can offer you trips, expensive gifts, money. Tell me more about yourself.
Her: I do a bit of Latin dancing. Morning jogs along the beach. I like a good red with good company.
Evie didn’t do any of that stuff. She had two left feet. She didn’t even like red wine that much. She was playing a role.
Me: What sex things do you do? Your profile didn’t say much. Give me something.
Her: For a generous man, the sky’s the limit.
The blood rushed from my body.
Me: Great to know. I have a shoe and foot fetish. I have a number of feathers that I like to tickle women’s feet with. Interested?
Her: I’m wearing red stilettos and red nail polish right now. I would adore that.
Breath gone.
Evie was too ticklish to even have her feet touched, let alone with a feather. She was really willing to do anything to please these guys.
Me: How about tonight? Nine o’clock?
How would I even swing that? I didn’t know. I couldn’t think.
Her: Sorry, tonight is no good for me.
Me: Tomorrow night? Same time?
Her: You’re the kind of man every girl wants. But I must apologise. I cannot see you. I am seeing a couple of gents at the moment and I don’t have the time. Try me again soon.
The green chat symbol went red.
My head thumped as I tried to put the pieces of the brief conversation together. She’d been running two different lives. For how long?
I regretted contacting her. I didn’t need to know any of that stuff. I was just torturing myself.
The marriage was over.
THE SECOND CHALLENGE
20. Evie
“HEY,” POPPY WHISPERED TO ME AS the eight ‘o’clock curfew sounded and we began walking towards the dormitory. “Are we good?”
“Of course,” I told her.
“Cool, because I don’t want you mad at me.”
I shot her a smile. “I’m not mad at you. Hope we blitz our challenge tonight.”
“We can do it. Bring it on.” She didn’t sound as confident as her words. Drawing in a breath through pursed lips, she tied her red locks up into a messy bun. “Hope Greta will be okay. She’ll still get ten thousand for completing the first challenge. Maybe she’ll use it to go into rehab in Germany?”
“Maybe she will.” I didn’t say what I was thinking privately. Some people weren’t ready to be helped.
When I slipped under the covers in the dormitory, Kara was sitting rigidly on the edge of her bed, staring at me.