"You wanna watch where you're going," Prick-tard muttered at me, looking as if he'd have liked nothing better than to give me a good kicking while I was down.
"Are you all right, Mr. Knight?" Sensei bounded over with a look of concern.
"I'm fine," I said through teeth I was trying very hard not to grit. "Just tripped. Not sure what over, though," I added with a look over at Prick-tard that was so pointed it could have etched glass.
Sensei must have seen me glaring but decided not to pursue the matter. Maybe he thought it best to just let things blow over. Or maybe he realised I'd have been a bit more direct in accusing Pritchard if I'd actually had any evidence-even that of my own eyes-that he'd deliberately tripped me.
"What on earth has Pit-bull got against you?" John murmured in my ear as we got back into line. "Did you sleep with his girlfriend or something?"
Pit-bull Pritchard with a girlfriend … Now that was a scary thought. I wondered what she'd be like. Brash and common? No-someone like that might be tempted to argue with him, and I didn't reckon Prick-tard would go for that at all. No, she was probably small, mousey and timid, too terrified to have an opinion of her own in case Prick-tard disagreed. "Well, he knows about the bike shop. Maybe Jay once sold him a dodgy pump adaptor?"
When the session finished, I made sure I kept an eye on Pritchard in case he was tempted to go for the double. He made do with glaring at me, and I managed to get home without getting into a fight.
I had a quick shower and some beans on toast, feeling positively virtuous at the moderately healthy meal. And I hadn't used the microwave at all.
Then I forced myself to go and visit Jay. Whatever happened, at least I'd know where I stood. For now, at least.
***
"Hi!" I said brightly, bounding into Jay's room, nervous excitement giving me wings no energy drink could match. "How are you? Feeling any better today?"
Jay looked up from the mountain bike magazine he was leafing through. "I'm all right. You look like you've had a bit too much caffeine, though. Either that or you've been nicking my drugs."
"I'm fine!" I said a bit too loudly. "Um. Have you seen Matt?" I mentally crossed my fingers. Surely if Matt had been in to spill the beans, Jay would have mentioned it straight away?
"Yeah-he came in last night." Jay grinned. "Bit of an interesting visit."
Oh, bugger. "Really?" I squawked.
"You got a sore throat or something? Yeah, he had to wait until Mum went home, though." Jay laughed. "He told me all about you-I can't believe it!"
I swallowed. "Um … "
"Showing this kind of stuff to kids! You can get in trouble for that, you know!" He turned the bike mag around to show me the magazine he'd concealed inside, and with a sense of relief so profound I nearly collapsed under the force of it, I recognised Samantha, age twenty-three, who apparently liked dancing and looking after the elderly. Although hopefully with a few more clothes on than she was wearing in this particular picture.
"Oh, that!" I froze, hoping I hadn't given myself away, then realised standing there gaping like a dead fish wasn't exactly going to allay suspicion. "That was entirely unintentional," I finished hurriedly.
"Should bloody well hope so. Now, how's the shop going? Really-I mean, takings and stuff."
Pleased to get back to my area of expertise, I gave him a quick run-down, making it even quicker when I realised his eyes were starting to glaze over. "So in summary, takings are up on the last few weeks, but I assume that's just seasonal. Oh, and I signed you up to a local business directory, and I've been thinking about promotions-there's no reason why we can't spread the servicing work out over the year a bit more, and it'd be good to attract some new customers … " I noticed Jay wasn't exactly looking overjoyed. "What? I thought you'd be pleased I wasn't running the business into the ground."
"Yeah, but … " Jay waved at Frankenstein's leg. "Just feeling a bit useless, that's all."
"Don't worry," I said with false heartiness. "You'll be back on your feet in no time."
Jay brightened a bit. "Have been already, actually, although they told me I won't be able to go home for a while yet." He grinned. "Although I reckon it might be just the hospital trying to get as much money as they can out of the insurers."
"Well, if your doctors are telling you to stay in hospital, I think you should listen to them," I said piously, mentally crossing my fingers Jay wouldn't realise there was an element of self-interest there. "So how did the walking go, anyway?"