CHAPTER HUNDRED AND FORTY-NINE

CAIN POV

“Are you gonna be alright?” I ask him. “I can cancel…”

      He holds up a hand. “Of course I’ll be alright.”

      “I can go next year if you need me around. I’ll send Lim instead of me.”

      He shakes his head. “Christ, Cain, don’t be so fucking melodramatic. I’m sure I’ll survive without doing anything too radical for the ten long days you’re away.”

      I hope he’s right.

      I could send Lim Chu, my product manager, but I’ve already lined up seminars I want to attend, plus the networking opportunities are going to be good this year. This conference is for proper business, not just a jolly out of the office. I’m still not feeling entirely at ease about the prospect of leaving, though.

 Brian doesn’t have all that many friends. He has his work and he has his colleagues – a drink out with them for birthdays and Christmas and leaving parties, but that’s about all. Being with his ex for so long cut off his already limited social circle, and to be honest, I’m surprised they didn’t survive long distance since the two of them were so ingrained in their relationship. I thought they’d be together forever, for better or worse. The split came as a shock.

     

I thought he was good with it, and good with being single, but this thing with Moona leads me to believe he’s not so happy with his life outside work after all.

 He’d say this is ridiculous, and he’s perfectly happy with his lot. He’d say he’s too engrossed in his work to socialise all that much outside of it. Plus, he’d say he has family. He sees his folks every month down in Devon – they surprised us all when they opted to retire to the coast, not least Brian– but I guess the weekend trips are a good change of scenery for him.

  If you traced both of our family trees back through the ages they’d have this place right through them. We’re from these parts, my parents are still down in Coleford, just a few miles away. Brian’s got cousins here, and an elderly aunt and uncle at the care home in Lydbrook, but besides that it’s really just us for him here now.

      I pick up my tablet and thumb through my emails, checking my flights again for tomorrow. My schedule is rammed, back to back meetings in London before I fly late evening. I’m seriously considering firing an email off to Lim to get him to take my place at everything when Brian sighs at me.

  “Seriously, Cain, what do you think I’m going to do? Elope with her? She’ll be at Amie and Nick’s for a few days and then I’ll do my best to hook her up through the proper channels.”

     

“And that’s it? No ridiculous maverick stunt moves? No smuggling her into your apartment?”

 He smiles like I’m a crazy man, but he’s been a crazy man these past few months. “I’m sure I’ll be able to hold things together until you get back.”

 “Fine.” I put my tablet back on standby then finished up my beer. I open the fridge as he finishes his. “Are you having another? A goodbye drink before I head overseas?”

 It’s nice to see him relax a little. “As long as you don’t mind an overnight guest.”

  I hand him a fresh beer. “When have I ever minded an overnight guest? Stay the whole week if you want, keep an eye on the place.”

 That would suit me well enough and he knows it. This place is too big to be empty, not so much that I’m worried about a burglary attempt, it’s just old. A little rough around the edges. Places like this need to be kept an eye on.

He pulls his keys out of his pocket and my front door key jangles on his keyring. “I’ll make myself at home. Scope out your p**n subscriptions on your big screen.”

 He’s not even joking and it makes me smile. “Might as well get the best out of them, I pay enough. At least it might keep you out of trouble.”

Somehow I doubt that.

      Call it instinct, but there’s a niggle in my gut. Something that tells me I’m walking away from a disaster about to happen.

      It eases off a little as we move to the living room and kick back with beers as usual. Talk of Moona eases up, and it leaves me no reason to red flag my travel plans.

      So I keep my schedule intact.

      We drink and make the same old in-jokes we’ve always made. We talk through the same old stories we’ve relived a thousand times, and at the end of it all, when it’s past two sensible men’s bedtimes on a work night, we head upstairs and I finish up my packing for Berlin.

I’m gone before him in the morning, and I hover one last time on the driveway. I fire off a text before I drive away, one last passing message before he’s on his own for the next ten days.

      ‘Don’t do anything bloody crazy.’

      I just hope he heeds the advice.

•

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MOONA POV

     

I walked for hours before I was too tired to keep going. I wake up feeling groggy, my neck stiff from using my backpack as a pillow. It takes me a second to remember where I am.

      Shit.

      I’m in one of the old bike sheds at the back of Brooke Primary School. My arms feel stiff as I stretch them and my feet are like blocks of ice in my crappy boots. I’m starving, too. My belly rumbles the minute I sit up, and I have to fight back the panic as I realise I don’t have either food or money to help fill it back up again.

  Part of me wants to go back to Nick and Amie’s and say sorry. Maybe if I asked kindly enough, maybe if I begged… but there’s no way I’m gonna beg those dicks. No way.

      They hate me and I hate them. I can take care of myself, just as my ancestors did.

      I get to my feet and shake them out a bit, trying to get back the feeling. I’m not scared of the outdoors, it’s in my blood to belong here. I’m not scared of being alone, either. I’m not scared of anything.

      It’s just… I don’t know what it is. I don’t know why one night away from a warm bed makes me feel so weak and small, but it does. I fucking hate that it does.

     

I take my bottle of water from my backpack and I’m disappointed to find there’s only a couple of sips left. I’ll need to find a tap and fill it up, and then I’m going to need to find something to eat and work out a plan to get out of here.

 There’s only one place I can head, and it’s going to take some walking, but I can make it. I’ll need to stay off the main roads in case Nick and Amie call the cops and tell them I’m missing, but I can’t imagine they care enough to do that.

 She’s a fucking nightmare. A disgusting, vindictive little shit.

They’ll probably be glad I’ve gone. They’ll probably hope I’m dead in a ditch somewhere just so I never show back up there.

 We’re right in the middle of woodland here, and I’m sure I can keep off the main routes as I head back towards Gloucester. It’s got to be twenty miles away at least, and my boots aren’t the best for long distance, but I’ll need to get there before dark if I want to call on Raul. Like I said, I’m not scared of anything, but the alleys around his place after dark sure make me edgy.

      I’m edgy around him after dark, too, but beggars can’t be choosers. Hopefully he’ll have something for me to eat at least.