Free Left for Dead: A Maeve Kerrigan Novella (Maeve Kerrigan Novels) by Jane Casey Page B

wasn’t going to like it. And I didn’t. But I hadn’t anticipated it in the least.
    ‘Don’t sleep with Gary.’ The words burst out of him, as if he’d been holding them back for too long.
    ‘What? What are you talking about?’
    ‘He’s got a bet on with a few of the others. He says he’ll have shagged you by the end of the month. He said he nearly managed it today.’
    Andy paused, presumably waiting for me to deny it. I stared at him dumbly.
    ‘He waited until Chris was off because he knew Chris would stop him if he tried it on when he was around. Chris has been looking out for you, but Gary’s not bothered. He likes the challenge, he says.’
    ‘That’s just talk,’ I said firmly. ‘You know what it’s like. He’s not going to tell you lot how he really feels because you’d rip the piss out of him.’
    ‘Do you think he’s told his girlfriend how he really feels then?’
    ‘His …’
    ‘Girlfriend.’ He nodded. ‘That’s right, he’s got a girlfriend. Leila. She’s seven months pregnant. He lives with her.’
    In the house that was on such a busy road, he’d insisted I stop around the corner. And then he’d kissed me and told me he was aching to see me again, and then he’d checked himself out in the little mirror in the sun-visor and he’d left.
    I was
such
an idiot.
    Now that Andy had started talking about Gary, there was a chance he might never stop. The words were tumbling out of him. ‘He’s slept around on her ever since they moved in together. He said it was as if he had something to prove to himself.’
    ‘That he’s an arsehole?’ I suggested.
    ‘That, definitely.’
    ‘I thought the two of you were mates.’
    He looked deeply uncomfortable. ‘I thought he was all right, you know. I thought he was a laugh.’
    ‘And you’ve changed your mind.’
    Andy frowned. ‘You believe me, don’t you?’
    ‘I don’t …’
want to believe you
, was what I wanted to say. ‘I don’t know what to believe. Tell me the truth. Are you in on the betting?’
    I knew from his face that he was. ‘I didn’t think he was serious. It was ages ago. I didn’t even know you then.’
    ‘You don’t know me now.’ I let that hang in the air for a second, then followed it up with, ‘What are you trying to do? What do you get out of this?’
    He rocked back on his heels, surprised, and then his expression darkened. ‘I’m not trying to do anything except warn you. I didn’t think it was fair if he tricked you intoshagging him. If you still want to do him, that’s your business. I don’t know. Maybe you can forget about his girlfriend and their baby.’
    ‘If they even exist.’
    His face had gone red, the freckles almost disappearing. ‘Ask him.’
    ‘I’ll certainly tell him we had this chat.’
    ‘I’m trying to help you out and you’re dropping me in the shit? Next time, remind me not to bother.’
    ‘You’re telling me to be suspicious of him. It just makes sense for me to be wary of you, doesn’t it? Especially if you’ve got something to lose if I
do
sleep with him.’
    The answer I got was a dirty look before he flung open the door and stormed out. I stayed where I was and bit the edge of my thumbnail, thinking about what he’d said and how he’d said it. Then I thought about how Gary had behaved with me earlier. His single-minded pursuit of me that I’d thought was passion now looked rather like opportunism. Then I thought about what Chris had said: that Andy liked me.
    I still thought he had a funny way of showing it.
    * * *
    Going through the motions – that was about all you could say I was managing at the start of the shift. We were busy, which was a blessing. A further blessing was that Gary had already been deployed by the time I got to the car park to find Chris inspecting our car for the night. I didn’t want to have to talk to Gary yet. I was veering between trying to persuade myself that Andy had misunderstood about Andy’s flatmate (obviously not