“Okay, what’s going on?”
Rayah Graham sat down next to him. Jake realised that Sorrell and Keren had disappeared somewhere else and he hadn't even realised.
He wasn't sure that he was actually in a mood to be able to tolerate his sister; Rayah happened to teach one of the youngest classes at the local primary school, and one of the things she had become extremely good at was eliciting information out of any child who was either slightly unhappy or planning world domination. Not to mention, she was stepmother to Sadie Grace, and was far too clued up on her diabolical schemes for only an idiot to think that Rayah wasn't somehow involved in them.
“Nothing.” Jake wasn't in the mood to confess anything to his sister, but he was bracing himself for the fact that he was probably going to end up telling her at least something of what was going on.
Rayah sighed, sat back, and rested a hand on her belly. “We can do this the hard way or the easy way, but you moping is going to have people other than me asking questions. and if you’re not careful, they'll be assuming that it’s you who's interested in Abby instead of Alex.”
Jake’s attention focused back onto Lainey, as she laughed at something Marley was saying.
“So what's actually happened between you and Lainey? Don't try and bullshit me, Jake, I know something’s going on.”
Jake took a long drink of his pint and pulled his sunglasses out of his pocket, putting them on in the hope that it would disguise the amount of times he stared over where Lainey was. “We've been sleeping together.”
He waited for the fallout from his sister, knowing that she would definitely have something to say to this because Rayah always had something to say about everything.
“Not surprised.”
He was. “Aren't you meant to tell me that it was a really bad idea and I should know better?”
“By the look on your face, I'd suggest you know that it was a very bad idea, and you did know better and you still did it anyway. You're aware of the phrase don't shit on your own doorstep?” Rayah took a set of whatever non-alcoholic drink she was trying to content herself with.
“I thought it would get it out of our systems. I really thought that if we had a couple of nights together then we'd be able to just be friends, and live next door to each other without any problems. This hasn't been a problem before, Ray.” And it hadn’t, it truly hadn’t. With any other woman, he'd been able to just carry on being friendly and that was that. Maybe they'd have had a second night, sometime much after the first, but he wouldn't be watching them talking to whoever like he was with Lainey now.
Like some kind of possessive bear.
“Sometimes I don't think you're clever enough to be my brother. I do wonder if our parents were given the wrong child when they came out of the hospital with you.” Rayah rubbed her bump again.
Jake wished yet again that whatever spawn she gave birth to revenged both him and their parents for all the misdeeds that she had done in her thirty plus years.
“Do you remember when you jumped off the top of the cliff, straight into the tarn? Do you also remember when you tried to do that black run when we went skiing when you were fifteen?” He glared at his sister, some of his annoyance at Lainey becoming directed at her. “And there was that time when you ended up free climbing up Devil’s Edge and got stuck.”
“What’s your point, brother dear?”
“We’re definitely related.”
She shrugged. “There are some similarities with our behaviour, I’ll agree with that.” She turned her head quick enough to resemble something from a horror film. “I didn’t think you liked each other at all.”
“We didn’t.”
“Because you were bloody horrible to her. You didn’t exactly give her a warm welcome.” Rayah was looking over at where Lainey was talking to Olly again.
“Yeah, well. We started to get along and things happened.” Things he wanted to happen again.
Rayah started to laugh. “This all seems like a taste of your own medicine, Jakey. All those girls you had a good time with, and they looked at you longingly the day after, only for you to go down the ‘friends having a good time’ route. This is how it felt for them.”
“You don’t need to make it any worse. You know I never go into anything wanting to hurt someone.” Lainey’s words had still left a scab from when she’d accused him of sleeping around. “You know that gossip round here had me with a lot more women than there actually was.”
“I know that. But you never did anything to stop that gossip, Jake. Your reputation is as obvious as the newly graffitied wall on the Post Office.”
The artist currently known as Severtonsy had been at it again, on a larger scale than ever before. This time it was an image of the battle of the bands, with Scott holding up his guitar. Scott was not impressed. Keren, his wife, was loving it.
“I never encouraged that.”
“Bullshit, Jake. You did. Or, at least, you never discouraged it.” Rayah paused, glancing over at Lainey who was now sitting down with Robin and Marley, Jake’s search and rescue colleagues elsewhere, where he should probably be.
He had to concede what Rayah was saying. “Fair enough. It’s biting me on the arse now though, isn’t it?”
