I let out a huge sigh, honestly having no time for any more drama.
‘Saying what?’ Zola asked, pointing to Katy’s phone in her hand.
Katy’s eyes lowered and she read the message aloud: ‘Hey, just checking in and making sure you are all good? I’m sorry you were a part of that, Katy. Are you at home?’ Katy’s colour drained from her panicked face. ‘What do I fucking say?’
Zola glanced at me, then back at Katy. ‘OK, breathe,’ she instructed her. ‘Why is he asking if you’re home? He must want to visit, but why?’
I huffed. ‘Probably to make sure his wife hasn’t contacted her about the affair!’
Zola raised her shoulders. ‘Fair. It is a bit strange that Fee hasn’t reached out.’
‘You didn’t reach out to Curtis’s gym girl,’ Katy interrupted, and I watched Zola look like she’d been slapped right across the dish.
‘Katy!’ I said under my breath.
Zola regained composure. ‘She’s right, but ouch, girl!’
‘Sorry.’ Katy shrugged. ‘Different circumstances, I know.’
Zola took a second. ‘OK, well, why don’t we invite him up? Ask him what he knows, but don’t tell him we’re onto the snake! Or even searching for them! We could probably get great intel from him.’
Katy looked terrified, as if we had asked her to have a coffee with Ed Gein, ‘I don’t want to! I’m a terrible liar and I’ll forget all the details. Plus, what if he tries to kill me?’
‘There’s more chance he’ll try to shag you,’ I replied bluntly.
Zola and Katy both smirked, and Katy’s face changed; the idea clearly appealed to her for a fleeting moment.
‘Err .?.?. No. No, I can’t. I’m sorry, but I can’t,’ she said, crossing over her arms like a child and raising up her chin.
Zola sighed. ‘OK, we can’t force you, babe. But you did get us into this mess in the first place, just saying,’ she added.
I giggled at how ruthless and stubborn my friends were being.
‘I don’t want to be alone with that man,’ Katy moaned.
I turned to Zola, completely understanding Katy’s point. Although Travis had always seemed harmless, we had no idea who he was or what he was capable of. Especially now that he was exposed and set to lose everything. What if he did try to silence her? There was a stalker out there, and we still had no idea who it could be.
‘We could be in my room?’ I suggested. ‘Yeah, so we could stay quiet and camp out in my room, and you could just tell him to be quick because we’re on our way back or something?’
Katy chewed her bottom lip, going over her options. After a moment of Zola’s impatient toe tapping on the wooden floor, she caved.
‘Oh, for fuck’s sake, fine!’
She grabbed her phone, and the three of us came up with a reply to Travis together.
Katy:Hey, yeah, didn’t expect any of that, to be honest, but I’m getting there. Hope things haven’t been too tough on you. I’m home. Zola and Ella are just grabbing a pizza, is everything OK?
We hovered over the phone, nervously watching his WhatsApp status change to ‘typing’.
Travis:I’ll be up in ten mins if that’s OK? Can’t get you out of my head. And I’m really sorry again.
Katy’s eyes were filling up, and I was almost speechless. This man had put her through complete and utter hell and here she was, nearly falling for the same shite all over again.
‘Dry your eyes, mate!’ Zola nudged her, shaking her head at the sudden emotion.
‘No bother, Mike Skinner!’ she spat back, angrily.
I burst out laughing, both of them joining in. ‘Katy, remember all the shitty things he’s done to you, babe. It’s your turn to use him and get any information you can to fix this.’ I smiled.
