Adam looked incredulous. "What-y'r arse?"
Given that Wolverine had been sleeping in my bed, that was the sort of image of which nightmares are made. "The house, as if you didn't know. Look, I'm really sorry."
He shrugged. "'S all right. Guess I'll be off, then."
"Uh, yes. Sorry."
He left, and as I closed the door behind him, Wolverine came to wind his way between my legs, acting as if butter wouldn't melt in his stinky, befanged mouth. "I ought to kick you out after that shocking display of cattus interruptus," I muttered. Then I bent down to stroke him. "What was that all about, anyway? Determined to be the only ginger in the village?"
Wolverine just yawned and batted his head against my legs until I headed up to bed.
Chapter Fourteen
I woke up so late on Sunday morning it barely still qualified as such. My head ached, and the fact I'd been outed in front of Matt-which I'd conveniently managed to forget while blinded by lust last night-came back to haunt me like the ghost of an all-nighter on Russian vodka. He must think I was a coward, a hypocrite-
I sat bolt upright as self-loathing was booted out of play by abject terror. It might not just be Matt I had to worry about. God, what if he'd gone to see Jay last night-or this morning? What if he'd told him the whole story?
I should have asked Matt not to say anything. Bloody hell, I should have got down on my knees and begged him not to. So much for my risk-free experiment. Even now, a hysterical Mum was probably being restrained by teams of bulky male nurses …
Usually when I fantasized about bulky male nurses, Mum was nowhere in sight, and a bloody good thing too.
I scrambled out of bed and pulled on the jeans I'd been wearing last night. My first instinct was to dash down to the hospital and find out if my worst fears had been realised-but then what? Either Matt had done it, or he hadn't, and either way, I wouldn't be able to do a thing about it. There was an outside chance, I supposed, of me getting there in the nick of time to stop him blurting it all out, but I had a feeling that bursting into the room waving my arms and shouting, "Don't tell him, Matt!" probably wasn't the best way to keep a secret.
I had Matt's email address, so I supposed I could send him a message-but God, trying to explain to him why I didn't want anyone to know about my inclinations would be tough enough in person. I really didn't want to attempt it by email, where I'd probably come off like a total prick no matter how many ROFLs and smileys I used.
It was slightly worrying to realise I cared more about Matt's good opinion than about my family's. Doubly so, as there was a good chance Matt's opinion of me was tarnished beyond recovery in any case.
So. No dash to the hospital, then. I looked at my watch. There was barely time to make it to karate, and I seriously considered missing training-but sitting at home worrying wasn't going to do me any good. Better to go and improve my fighting techniques, ready for the first gay-bashing.
Not that I was being unduly pessimistic about the whole bloody mess, of course.
I got there just as the warm-up was starting. Sensei mimed tapping a non-existent watch as I got into line next to John, so when we got onto basics, I was extra conscientious about doing the techniques correctly. It helped take my mind off things, anyway.
"Good night, last night, was it?" John murmured as we waited for the next command.
My stomach lurched-and then I realised, feeling like an idiot, that he'd only been referring to my lateness. "Bit mixed, really," I told him truthfully.
"Oh? I'd been hoping that one of us, at least, had got lucky."
"Luck takes one look at me and runs for the hills," I muttered, just before Sensei bellowed at us again.
I certainly hadn't been lucky enough to have Pritchard miss the class again. He glowered at me from a few places down the line. Not feeling in the mood for a confrontation, when we split into pairs for kumite I made sure I grabbed John and dragged him over to the other side of the dojo where we could practice our set attacks and retaliations in peace.
Trouble was, we were told to change partners several times, and each swap seemed to bring me closer and closer to Pritchard. We were almost side-by-side-and then Sensei called for us to get back in line. Breathing a sigh of relief, I turned to head back-only to find myself sprawling to the floor as something took my foot out from under me.
I was pretty certain that something had been Pritchard's outstretched foot.
I fell awkwardly and landed heavily, throwing out my right arm to try to break my fall. It mainly succeeded in jarring my shoulder, and I winced at the pain.
"Are you all right?" John asked, reaching down a hand. I took it with my left, and he pulled me up easily.