Free Follow Me Down by Tanya Byrne Page B

with a laugh and I thought it was at me, until he told me that he’d never seen me like that before.
    ‘Like what?’
    ‘I dunno. Like you , I suppose. You’re so quiet when you’re with Scarlett.’
    ‘Am I?’
    ‘Yeah. You never say anything. This ,’ he pointed at me, ‘is the Adamma I met outside English lit last month. I’ve missed her.’ He turned to me with a loose smile. ‘I know Scarlett’s a human tornado, but you shouldn’t let her overpower you.’
    I didn’t realise I did.
    ‘I’m about to say a whole lot more if you don’t tell me where we’re going,’ I warned, as I stopped to check my make-up in the wing mirror of a car, licking my thumb and wiping away the black smudges of mascara from under my eyes before we carried on.
    ‘You’ll see.’
    When we passed his car, I frowned. ‘Aren’t we driving?’
    ‘Don’t worry, it’s only a few minutes’ walk.’
    I knew where we were going then. ‘So what’s in Savernake Forest?’
    He shot me a look, gaze narrowing as I smiled smugly. ‘How did you know?’
    ‘You don’t walk anywhere, Dominic, so we have to be going to Savernake Forest because you don’t want to damage your precious car.’
    ‘That,’ he thumbed over his shoulder, ‘is a 1964 Aston Martin DB5 and the road through Savernake Forest is barely a road. It’s some gravel held together with tree sap and the tears of drunk Crofton girls.’
    I knew what he meant, it was fine to run on, but if I had a car, I’d think twice about driving on it, too. That didn’t mean I couldn’t tease him about it, though.
    ‘It’s just a car.’
    ‘Sssh!’ he said theatrically, waving his hands about. ‘She’ll hear you.’
    ‘How come you even have a car? Don’t you have to be seventeen to drive here?’
    ‘I’m driving it illegally.’
    ‘No you’re not.’
    ‘Scarlett drives The Old Dear all the time.’
    ‘Not all the time and definitely not to school. You love that car, if you were driving it illegally, you wouldn’t risk parking it at Crofton. Security would notice.’
    ‘OK, Nancy Drew.’ He shrugged. ‘Maybe I’m a bit older than you think I am.’
    ‘How much older?’
    ‘Forty-two. That’s my car. My wife drives the Volvo.’ I raised an eyebrow at him and he sighed dramatically. ‘Fine. I’m already seventeen.’
    ‘How come?’
    ‘I lost a year.’
    ‘How do you lose a year, Dominic?’
    ‘I’m quite the scatterbrain, Miss Okomma.’ He smiled, but when I didn’t smile back, he turned away and shook his head. ‘It’s a long story.’
    ‘Give me the CliffsNotes, then.’
    ‘Harrow. The Headmaster’s daughter.’
    I sighed and shook my head. ‘Jesus, Dominic.’
    ‘What?’ He feigned innocence. ‘I loved her.’
    ‘Of course you did.’
    ‘I love them all,’ he said with an unrepentant smile, then kicked at a particularly large piece of gravel. ‘I was blacklisted after that. If Scarlett and her parents hadn’t sweet-talked Mr Lucas into giving me a reference to Eton I would have ended up at school in Alaska. They still made me retake the year, though.’
    ‘I had no idea.’
    ‘There are lots of things you don’t know about me, Miss Okomma,’ he said with a lascivious wink and I realised that he still hadn’t answered my question.
    ‘So what’s in Savernake Forest?’
    ‘You’ll see.’
    ‘I’m guessing a hot shower is out of the question?’ I asked with a shiver.
    ‘It can be arranged.’ He waggled his eyebrows.
    ‘Hands up who’s not going to get punched in the face in a minute.’ I put my hand up and looked around at the neat rows of cars still dripping with rain.
    He laughed, nudging me with his hip.
    ‘Face. Punched,’ I reminded him with a scowl.
    He went quiet and I wondered if he thought I was being serious. But then he said, ‘You’ve seen the photo, then.’
    ‘Which photo?’
    ‘You know which photo.’
    I feigned nonchalance, waving a hand at him. ‘I don’t care.’
    ‘Clearly. You’ve only