The Pretend Boyfriend novel Chapter 79

A knot tightens his stomach. "I know."

So that is to be his punishment for doing what he did to her.

He says, "They're already going to roll me over and fuck me. But you don't have to bring Sam down in the process. You're getting what you want. Now let her go. Please. Don't do this for me. Do it because she's young and innocent and ... " he can hazard this " ... in love with me, even though I have done nothing to deserve it."

And maybe I'm in love with Sam too.

If he hopes that this will strike a chord with Adie's previous plight, she shows no signs of it. His spirits sink. He had been gambling with emotional interplay again, something he's not good at. Maybe Adie is already so hardened to hard-luck stories that she doesn't give a damn about a fellow woman's plight of being screwed over by the infamous Brian Morton.

Adie finally says, very slowly, "I will consider your request. But there is indeed something else that I want."

Time stands still in the living room. His suspicion antennae are all up.

"What is it that you want?" His throat is dry. To see him humiliated even further? This is humiliating enough - having to stand before her like a serf, pleading for someone else's life.

She says, "I want to use you ... the way you use women. You say you're not wearing a wiretap. Prove it."

For a moment, he is speechless.

"Take off your clothes," she orders. "All of them."

So that's what she wants? He warily begins to strip, aware of the undercurrents in the room. This is no ordinary request. That's why he feels uncharacteristically shy. He peels off his jacket, and then his black sleeveless tee. She has seen it all before. Then why does he feel more naked than he ever has before?

You offered to do this. You offered to do anything she wants to get her off Sam's back.

When he's naked, he steps out of his shoes and crumpled jeans.

"Come here," she says.

With trepidation, he goes to her. She doesn't hold her arms out to him, and so he approaches her with the caution of a snake-baiter. He doesn't quite know what ground he's treading upon. What if she yells rape on him again? What if this is another one of her traps? Him in her apartment this time, naked before her - right before the date of the trial. He wants revenge on me, she would cite. He wants to snuff me out before we can go to court.

There's only one thing he is sure of. He will be fucked every bit as badly as he would be in prison. But it doesn't matter, because he will be doing it for Sam.

THE PRETEND BOYFRIEND 4

Brian wakes up, completely disorientated. Gawd, but his head hurts something awful. What did he drink last night? He can't recall taking any poppers or smoking any weed, but there's definitely something in his system. His vision swims, and he can't get the room in focus.

Then his eyes snap open. Really pop open, as if there have been transparent shutters on them before which have now been tautly released to reveal the stark reality around him.

And what a reality it is.

Brian takes in the unfamiliar walls of the bedroom he is in. Lavender wallpaper, the kind with little forget-me-nots. Mirror over a white dressing table. Chintz curtains with a pattern of repeated forget-me-nots. What is this theme? Some kind of 'forget me not' message?

There are framed photographs on a white dresser. Unfamiliar photos of unfamiliar people.