‘I’m sorry to turn up unannounced,’ her friend began as she exited her vehicle. ‘I know your text said that you couldn’t be a part of FFA any more but . . .’
Corrine wrapped her arms around her and drew her in tightly. ‘It’s so good to see you,’ she said. ‘I’m sorry I left you all so abruptly but I had no choice. Please come in and let me explain.’
Yan smiled. ‘I’ve brought someone to see you.’
She waved at her car and, as the window unwound and the passenger came into view, Corrine clamped her hands over her mouth.
84
Jeffrey
Without warning, everything and everyone in Noah andLuca’s bedroom fell away into nothing. There was only Jeffrey and the email that had told him he’d been DNA Matched.
He re-read the subject title again to ensure he wasn’t imagining it. Someone out there had been Matched to him. Just him. Only him. And, all at once, the possibilities became endless. He might find a love he had never felt before, a genuine one, not an unrequited obsession. There would be no need for any more lies, manipulation or misdirecting to get what he wanted. He would no longer have to grasp for affection as and when it appeared. No more being rebuffed, rejected, refused, shunned, scorned or pitied.
Only loved.
A thousand small explosions ignited throughout his body at just the notion of it. His eyes darted towards Luca, only now with fresh perspective. Perhaps Luca was right. He might never love Jeffrey because Noah was his Match. Could Jeffrey really live the rest of his life being second best? Just moments ago he’d assumed he could, but this email had the power to change his perception of everything he thought he knew.
Luca appeared to sense a shift in the room. Again, he pushed his back against the wardrobe, although this time with more urgency, and tried to lever himself up. Jeffrey watched him, only this time, he didn’t try to stop him or talk him around.
‘Luca, I’m sorry,’ Jeffrey whispered instead, before inching towards him. His eyes brimmed as, for the second time that night, he wrapped his hands around Luca’s neck. But now it wouldn’t be enough to only render Luca unconscious. Now, he must go further.
Luca, still operating at half speed, tried in vain to fight back, grabbing at Jeffrey’s arms and hands and trying to prise them off him. Like Noah, Luca was no match for Jeffrey’s strength.
‘I really mean it,’ Jeffrey wept, and pushed himself up close to Luca’s head, burying his face in his hair and inhaling him one last time. He barely registered Luca thumping his fists against Jeffrey’s head. ‘You were right. We wouldn’t have worked. I see that now. Thank you. I hope you can forgive me.’
Jeffrey stared into Luca’s eyes as small blood vessels in the whites burst, leaving fine red ribbons. And as Luca’s punches and slaps weakened, Jeffrey began to imagine how his life would truly begin the moment he walked out of that house, each room behind him burning in white hot flames. He could already feel a slipstream of excitement in starting a new chapter.
85
Corrine
Corrine wheeled three decrepit office chairs across the concretefloor of the warehouse. This last remaining undemolished building in New Northampton’s Brackmills Industrial Estate was empty. Through a broken window, she could see where workers had begun constructing a wall to separate the Old part of town from where another estate of houses was to be built for Smart married couples.
Corrine leaned forward and placed a hand on the shoulder of the young man sitting between her and Yan who had driven them there.
‘It’s good to see you, Nathan,’ Corrine said. ‘I’ve been so worried about you. The hospital wouldn’t tell me anything.’
‘It’s okay, thanks for thinking of me.’
‘Were you questioned about what happened to you?’
‘Two blokes came to talk to me a couple times when I regained consciousness but I said I didn’t remember anything.’
‘The police?’ asked Yan.
‘They spoke like coppers but they avoided answering the question when I asked them. I kept telling them the last thing I recalled was leaving a function I was waitering at before everything started spinning. I assume they believed me because I didn’t see them again.’
‘I’m so sorry for everything that happened,’ said Corrine. ‘I only wish I could have reached Harrison’s flat sooner.’
‘It’s not your fault. I think she micro-dosed me when she bought me a beer at the bar because I was already feeling a bit out of it when we reached her flat. If I was thinking straight, I wouldn’t have accepted the second drink. It wasn’t long after that I was fully out of it.’
‘And how are you now? Have there been any lasting effects?’
Nathan shook his head. ‘No. What about Harrison? I saw pictures of her injuries and what I did to her. I’m so ashamed.’
‘Trust me, you have nothing to be ashamed of. She lied about most of them for public sympathy.’
