Page 46 of Her Lips Are Sealed

‘Because she’s ashamed to hang around with us losers.’ Declan laughed. ‘Especially him.’ He pointed at Ben who looked shocked. ‘Oops, sorry, mate, that’s the Malibu talking.’

Josie laughed. ‘You lot are mad, but I love it. I can’t remember the last time I’ve smiled so much. Thank you, it’s been a long, hard, lonely twelve months.’

Theo reached out and squeezed her fingers. ‘Well, now that you’ve been initiated into our quiz team, you will have the same weekly fix as the rest of us.’

Josie’s eyes sparkled with tears, and she turned away, picking up her drink and sipping it.

Theo didn’t miss her sadness and carried on talking. ‘What are we going to spend the winnings on?’

‘I’m not sure, what do you think, Ben, maybe a luxury yacht or a holiday home on the edge of Lake Windermere that we could take turns in using?’ Declan said, his face serious.

‘I think we should put our tenner winnings towards a pizza on the way home. I’m starving,’ Ben replied.

‘Pizza it is, I don’t know how to sail a yacht anyway.’ Declan laughed.

Ben turned to Josie. ‘We would love it if you’d join us for pizza at my house. If we don’t include Morgan and give her a slice of it, she won’t talk to me tomorrow all day at work and I need her to because she’s more of the boss than I am.’

‘I’d like that, if I’m not imposing.’

‘Definitely not imposing, she will be happy to have some female company. She spends far too much time with us, and when we tell her we came third she’ll be over the moon, not to mention impressed.’

‘Ah, but I get the feeling she can handle every single one of you without breaking a sweat.’

Theo nodded. ‘You’re not wrong, Josie. Morgan can handle everyone without breaking a sweat.’

They finished their drinks and began the short walk to Gino’s to pick up the pizza Ben ordered and then on to Ben’s house. Since The Black Dog had shut down, they’d found a new home at The White Lion that wasn’t too far from Ben’s house. Theo was the designated driver and had left his car outside. Ben, who had only been sipping lemonade all night, turned to Josie. ‘And when you’ve had enough of this lot, I’ll drive you home, Josie.’

‘No, you won’t. I can walk; I don’t want to put you out.’

‘No.’

All three of them said in unison. Ben continued. ‘We wouldn’t dream of you walking home. The least we can do after you saved our souls is get you home safely, isn’t it, guys?’

Theo and Declan were nodding. ‘He’s a copper, you have to do as he tells you I’m afraid.’ Declan slurred his words, and Theo linked an arm through his.

‘How did you get so tipsy off Malibu, it’s beyond me.’

‘It’s beyond me too.’ Declan laughed.

Ben used his key to open the door, while balancing the huge pizza box in one hand. They all filtered inside chattering so much none of them heard the alarm beeping until it began to scream so loud Josie cupped her hands across her ears. Ben thrust the pizza at Declan, who just managed to grab it, before punching the code into the keypad to turn it off. A bleary-eyed Morgan was standing at the top of the stairs clutching a huge knife in one hand.

‘What the fuck is going on?’

Theo held up his hands. ‘It’s okay, Morgan, it’s only us, sorry to scare you.’

Ben saw the knife she was holding and knew something was wrong. ‘Is everything okay? Is there anything I should know about?’

She dropped the hand with the knife behind her back when she realised Josie was standing behind Theo. ‘It’s fine, just scared myself earlier. Did you bring pizza?’

She grinned at them and ran down the stairs, putting the knife on top of the sideboard, tucked behind a picture frame out of Josie’s sight. Then she stood on her tiptoes and kissed Declan’s, Theo’s and Ben’s cheeks. She turned to Josie and held out her arms.

‘You need to know I’m a hugger. Well, for the people I like, so if you’re not tell me now so I don’t drive you mad.’

Josie opened her arms. ‘I’m a hugger too.’ She held Morgan fiercely and whispered into her ear, ‘Thank you, I had a great night.’

Morgan beamed at her. ‘Phew, they didn’t drive you the tiniest bit insane?’

‘Not at all, we had fun and we came third.’