Secret Seductress (What's Her Secret?) Read Free

like that?”
    “She isn’t,” I said. “Look, there’s a bloke coming to sit with her. Probably had to make a quick dash to the toilet. Ate a curry that was a bit too spicy.”
    Jen stubbed her cigarette out with the sole of her shoe, giggling. “You’re mad, you are.”
    Yes, I was quite mad. The funny, jolly friend who always cheered people up. Inside, though, was a different matter. But before I got maudlin myself, I fished my keys out of my bag then unlocked the street door.
    “Come on, woman,” I said. “We need our beauty sleep before we head back to The Rusty Nail tomorrow for another session. Lunchtimes there are always nice.”
    “Yeah, laid back, and the lads sit with us the whole time then.” She sighed, meaning to lean against the wall but bumping into it instead. She rubbed her shoulder. “Ow. But…shit, we’ve got no chance of getting them without messing it up, have we?”
    “No,” I said, going for cheery but failing miserably. “And if we talk about it any more tonight while we’re in this state, we’ll start blubbing and look wrecks tomorrow when we all meet up.” I pushed the door open.
    “Right. Yes. On we go!” She charged through the doorway then scrabbled up the stairs using her hands to help her.
    I followed after closing the door, more sober now as I thought about what she’d said. ‘No chance’. That was about the sum of it. At the top of the stairs, I looked down at her sitting outside her front door, her back to it. She stared up at me and giggled.
    “I’m so fucked, Mandy,” she said.
    “I can see that, and not in the way you’d rather either, I’d bet.”
    “No. Haven’t have a good fuck in ages.” She hauled herself upright only to veer to the side.
    “Me neither.” I caught her and held my hand out for her keys. “Still, not to worry. Plenty of fish in the sea and all that, and there’s always next weekend. Time enough to meet a bloke.”
    She handed her keys over, and I let her in, went inside with her to put her to bed. If I didn’t, she’d have slept right there on the hallway rug. As I drew the quilt over her, she mumbled then appeared to fall asleep. I left her keys on her bedside table and went to my own flat. It felt empty, more so than usual, and to stop myself from dwelling on it, I had a quick shower then put on my trusty cotton pajamas. In bed in the dark, sober enough to access Facebook on my phone, I browsed what everyone else had been up to, hoping I’d grow tired.
    Gary had put a comment on Leon’s wall.
    Did you have a hard time tonight with Pussy Pwoar?
    I laughed, remembering how hard he’d been. God, he’d felt so bloody good. Shame I couldn’t tell him it had been me. I looked at the comments. Quite a few of them.
    Leon: Piss off, mate.
    Gary: You sound frustrated.
    Leon: Very sodding funny.
    Gary: Go on, admit it. You are, aren’t you?
    Leon: I’m not biting.
    Gary: Pussy did.
    Leon: Who was she?
    Gary: Wouldn’t you like to know.
    Leon: I would, that’s why I asked.
    Gary: I can take you round there, if you like.
    Leon: What, you know where she lives?
    Gary: Of course I bloody do! You’d have to wear a blindfold, though.
    Leon: What?
    Gary: Yep. She likes to keep her identity a secret.
    Leon: I don’t even know her. Going round to her place wouldn’t be right.
    Gary: Why, because of ________?
    Leon: Yep.
    Gary: It’ll be fine. Trust me.
    Leon: That’s the problem, we might be mates, but I don’t trust you sometimes.
    Gary: You need to on this.
    Leon: Christ. It was one thing in the pub, but to go to her house? Bit rude!
    Gary: It will be rude, if you’d let it. I’ll come and get you now.
    My stomach rolled over. They were coming here? Now?
    I bolted out of bed and hopped from foot to foot, working out what to do next. I couldn’t think straight. My heart seemed to have grown arms and legs that were flapping about wildly, churning up all my insides. I thought I might be sick—with excitement and fear. Not the