The Honeymoon Trap Read Free Page A

What’s not to enjoy? Spend some time with this girl. Check out the latest games. For chrissakes have some fun .’
    ‘I have fun.’ Eli hefted his sledgehammer. ‘This is fun.’
    ‘No, this is you sticking a window in the cave you crawled into after Simone died.’
    ‘It’s fun,’ Eli offered curtly.
    Caleb had stopped pounding on the wall and had turned to face him, his eyes, like his words, a little too direct for Eli’s liking. ‘Isn’t it time you started to get out more?’
    ‘I get out enough.’
    ‘You live like a monk.’
    ‘I don’t want a new woman in my bed every three weeks.’ Which was about how long a woman lasted with Caleb.
    ‘Five years, Eli. You haven’t even looked at a woman in five years. That’s not normal.’
    ‘I loved Simone.’
    ‘You were twenty-one .’ Caleb took one look at Eli’s face and relented. ‘And okay… maybe you loved her and she loved you, but she’s been dead for five years. What do you think she’d tell you to do?’
    ‘She’d probably tell me not to push you out this dirty great hole in the wall.’
    ‘And she’d be right. Look.’ Caleb sounded supremely frustrated. ‘Five nights, a convention hall full of new computer games and gadgets to look at and a nerdy costume-designing room-mate who seems like a good sport. Even if she did ambush her own men.’
    ‘She gave you fair warning.’
    ‘See? You like her. You’re defending her. No one’s telling you to bed her. Just be open to the thought that you might actually enjoy spending some face to face time with her.’
    ‘When’s it on?’ Eli wasn’t agreeing. He was just… wondering.
    ‘Starts next Friday, runs through until Sunday afternoon and the accommodation goes through until Tuesday.’
    ‘There’s too much work to do here.’
    ‘We’re bringing Bobby in. Any other objections?’
    ‘Yeah, cost.’
    ‘Birthday present from me and Cutter. Apart from that you’re hardly a pauper. Spend some money, Eli. There’s no point earning it if you never spend it.’
    ‘I just blew plenty on windows and doors.’
    ‘And they’re worth it. Maybe they’ll broaden your horizons.’
    Eli swung the sledgehammer and it cracked wood and rammed through the wall with satisfying force. ‘What’s the catch?’
    ‘There is no catch. This is me worrying about my little brother’s lack of a life and trying to do something about it.’ This time it was Caleb’s sledgehammer that sent splinters of wood flying. Caleb’s face set in grim, unyielding lines. ‘Get out more, Eli. Please.’
    ‘Since when do you say please?’
    Caleb’s pithy reply definitely didn’t include the word please.
    They spent the next several minutes making the wooden wall disappear, before Caleb finally took out the last plank and stood back. The windows were going to open this place right up. Eli wasn’t at all convinced that he needed opening up as well. One thing at a time.
    ‘Cutter and I took a vote. You weren’t included ‘cause you were the subject. You’re getting out more, starting now, even if we have to drag you out.’ Caleb sounded dead serious. ‘Because you need to lighten up and live a little.’
    ‘If I go will you stop nagging?’
    Caleb grinned, sensing victory. ‘Put it this way. If you go, you won’t be able to hear me.’

Chapter Three
    ‘Y ou’re going where?’
    Zoey stopped stacking warm coffee cups on top of the red and silver espresso machine and turned to face her sister, Sophie. Sophie worked hard, worried enough for the both of them and took most of life’s twists and turns altogether too seriously. It was a function of their childhood, mostly, and for that Zoey felt both guilty and grateful.
    Sophie had encouraged Zoey to visit her six months ago – a visit that had turned into something else altogether when Zoey had fallen in love with the place. Soph had let her turn the room above the café into a costume design workshop and she’d insisted that Zoey stay with her until a