Rider Read Free Page A

tight, and kissed him. The sun was going down, melting into the ocean, its liquid-gold rays reaching out to them like the spreading fingers of Neptune , shimmering, inviting.
    Ryan had kissed his neck. ‘Don’t you wish it could be like this forever? Just us, with the world at our feet?’
    ‘Why can’t it?’ Kane asked, stifling a sleepy yawn. He collected some sand in his hand and let it trickle through his fingers.
    ‘Because things happen,’ Ryan said wistfully. He hugged Kane tighter. ‘Because people are always changing. Because nothing ever stays the same.’
    ‘The song remains the same,’ Kane joked.
    Ryan’s fingers trailed along Kane’s collarbone. ‘No matter how hard you try, it’s all going to be different. You can’t keep a bird in a cage and expect it to sing like it did when it was free. The world is a nightmare place and we’re all too fucked up to care.’
    ‘Stop going all Baby Jane on me,’ Kane said, collecting more sand.
    ‘But don’t you feel sometimes that things would be better if nothing ever changed? Because once it changes, you’ll never get it back. Once it’s gone…’ His voice drifted away, his grip around Kane’s body loosening.
    ‘That’s a bit deep,’ Kane laughed, his back pressing against Ryan’s chest.
    ‘I’m serious,’ Ryan said. When Kane dusted his hands off and turned to face him, he noticed the tears in his eyes. ‘Would you still love me if something changed you? Or me?’
    * * *
     
    Against his boss’ express wishes, Kane went back to work at Kestrel Solutions that afternoon. He had taken on a three-week temp contract in telesales with them over two years ago but loved the job so much they let him stay. He could sell redemption to the devil, Ryan had told him and he was doubling his earnings on commission from that first week. They were a telecoms solutions company that prided themselves on UK call centres and both their incoming and outgoing sales calls were routed through local centres. Kane’s base in Belfast served the whole of Northern Ireland .
    After fixing himself a coffee from the breakout area, he returned to his station and placed his next call, a follow-up on a recent sales prospect in Limavady. Behind him, at the water cooler, a couple of his colleagues stared at him behind his back. They had all heard the news about his boyfriend’s death—murder, they were calling it—and no one had expected him back so soon. But the office gossip would slither around him and nobody would dare mention it to him beyond asking him how he was.
    ‘Mr Campbell, please,’ Kane said into his headset when he spoke to a receptionist. ‘This is Kane Rider from Kestrel Solutions.’
    He waited to be put through and stared at his computer screen. If he looked at any of his colleagues he would see the pity in their eyes and it would break him.
    ‘John?’ Kane said when Mr Campbell came on the line. ‘Kane Rider. How’ve you been? Have you had a chance to go over the quote I provided last week?’
    He could feel their eyes boring into his back.
    ‘I have,’ John Campbell said. ‘And I just have a few questions, if that’s okay?’
    ‘Fire away,’ Kane said, positioning his fingers on his keyboard to take notes.
    He could hear their whispered words all around him.
    ‘You said it was the latest model?’
    ‘Absolutely,’ Kane said. ‘I can guarantee it’s fresh off production and if you take the six-year warranty you won’t have any problems.’
    He could sense their desperate need to find out the truth.
    ‘The twenty-five percent discount is a special limited-time offer, John. I’d hate for you to miss out.’
    ‘Can you leave it with me for another twenty-four hours?’ John asked.
    Kane said, ‘Let me just see if I can hold the discount open for you, John. I’ll be two seconds.’ He put the call on hold, removed his headset and buried his face in his hands.
    Breaking through the force field he had erected around himself, his boss