Free Saving from Monkeys by Jessie L. Star Page B

you that I know what you did."
    Ah, her feet had found the warpath.
    He felt like he'd been kicked in the stomach, but he worked desperately hard on not showing how winded he felt. "If you finish that sentence with 'last summer' and pull out a butcher's hook I'm out of here," he said and she narrowed her eyes at him.
    "You think you're funny," she emphasised each word by poking his shoulder with her finger, but before he could make some comment about who was invading whose personal space now, she pulled back. "But you're not and I see right through you."
    "Yeah?" He asked.
    "Yeah," she said firmly. "You-" she stopped as if she suddenly couldn't find the words.
    "I...?" He prompted, taking a sip of his beer that he couldn't swallow past his clogged throat.
    "You had sex with me because of your grandma," she said all in a rush, and the beer he hadn't been able to get down sprayed back out of his mouth and onto the polished bar top.
    "I what ?"
    "You wanted to make Nan happy so you had sex with me, and that's what you've been hiding." Her piece said, she folded her arms and stared at him, waiting for his reaction to her big announcement.
    He looked at her for one long moment and then burst out laughing.

Chapter 5 – The Years she Doesn’t Have and the Help
     
    Elliot laughed for a really long time.
    Like, an off-putting, mentally ill, long time. I waited for a little while to see if he would stop on his own, but when he was still at the eyes watering, gripping the bar for balance stage after a good minute or so, I had to intervene.
    I reached forward with my hand and quickly flicked his ear as hard as I could, a trick I hadn't used since grade 7 when Ryan Hayes had been trying to kiss me on the overpass after school. It worked as well as it had then, with Elliot jumping and then immediately clapping a hand to the abused skin.
    "Ow!" He complained and I plastered a fake contrite look on my face.
    "Sorry, I thought you were hysterical."
    "Don't people usually slap someone who's hysterical?" Obviously seeing the contemplative gleam in my eye he hastily added, "That wasn't a suggestion."
    "Have you got yourself under control then?" I asked snarkily, seething at having my big reveal so thoroughly laughed off. "Your little crazy episode is over?"
    " My little crazy episode?" He repeated disbelievingly. "Did you hear what you just said? Christ's sake, Rox, I've used a lot of excuses to get girls into bed over the years, but trust me on this one, my grandma has never been one of them."
    I raised an eyebrow at the way he'd phrased it and he glared at me. "An excuse," he clarified. "She's never been one of the excuses."
    To give myself time to answer, I picked up my drink, but instead of taking a sip, I chewed hard at the straw as I considered him.
    I really wished in that moment that he was more of a stranger to me. If he was, then I could've claimed he was lying and gone on thinking I was right about what had happened the night I'd slept with him. I'd been so sure that was it! That I'd found out about Nan having had a stroke and when I'd gone over to his place to talk to him about it we'd drowned our sorrows in drink, he’d seen a good opportunity to make Nan happy and...
    However we'd ended up in bed together, though, I knew now for sure that it hadn't happened the way I’d thought. Elliot had been too openly and honestly amused by the suggestion.
    "Nan had just had her stroke when I came round though, right?" I asked, sure that my maths re the dates hadn't been off at least.
    He sighed and then looked away from me and I followed his gaze up to where there was another mezzanine level with tables and chairs scattered around.
    "Let's go upstairs," he suggested, turning back to look at me and, when I opened my mouth to protest that he was just avoiding my question, he rolled his eyes. "Come on, Rox, grandmas and strokes? We're being a real downer at the bar."
    Looking around and realising that we were surrounded by a sea of people