Hard Tail(59)

"Don't be daft." It came out a bit more sharply than I'd intended. I felt my face grow hot. Bloody Adam.

Then I reminded myself Adam was Matt's best mate. "Look, it's not a problem for me, having you here, and I'm sure it won't be for Adam."

"You sure? I mean, with him still living at his mum's, it's got to be hard … " He shrugged. "You know. Getting time alone."

The heat spread down my neck and formed a tight band around my shoulders. I really, really didn't want to talk to Matt about what I did with Adam. Which was undoubtedly all the more evidence that I shouldn't have been doing it in the first place. Bloody hell, what a mess. Finally, Matt was single, and he was even living in the same house as me.

And somehow, I'd managed to be his best friend's boyfriend, not his.

***

We ordered in a takeaway for dinner-Matt declared himself more than willing to cook, but he was a guest; it wouldn't have been fair.

Plus, all I had in the fridge was ready meals, so it'd be a bit embarrassing if he went foraging for ingredients. I made a mental note to bin the packaged meals and buy some fresh stuff before Matt had a chance to look inside.

"What do you fancy?" Matt asked. "Indian-oh, wait, you had one of those on Saturday with Adam, didn't you?"

I could have done without him being apparently so determined not to let me forget about Adam. "How about Chinese?" I suggested.

"Sounds great-have you tried Fuchi yet? It's on Rumbridge Street; we could walk there from here. Or I could take the bike and pick stuff up, whatever. They do a great Tofu Macadamia Nuts-or you can have it with chicken, if you don't fancy veggie."

I shrugged. "Well, eating your veggie wraps hasn't killed me-I think I can survive the tofu for one night. It'd be better to get stuff we can share."

"Okay, how about we get the tofu and the Thai prawn curry? And the Quorn chicken in black bean sauce is pretty good, too-"

"Do you know their entire menu off by heart?" I asked with a laugh.

Matt grinned sheepishly. "Only the vegetarian bits."

"How about you just order what you fancy, and I'll eat it? I'm pretty easy-going when it comes to food."

We both ended up cycling up to Fuchi to collect the food, taking a rucksack because carrier bags and handlebars are not a match made in heaven. "Fancy a bottle of wine?" I yelled to Matt on impulse as we reached the Co-op.

Not that I was feeling the urge to celebrate Matt's breakup with Steve or anything.

Much.

It felt incredibly domestic, chaining our bikes together and walking into the supermarket to do our shopping. Just like Kate and I used to do, except back then it'd been Waitrose, not the Co-op, and we wouldn't have dreamed of taking anything other than the BMW. I couldn't help glancing at the other shoppers, wondering if they thought Matt and I were a couple.

My face must have done its usual job of broadcasting my thoughts far and wide, as Matt leaned in to whisper in my ear. "Don't worry-they'll just assume we're flatmates or something, if they think about us at all."

I turned and pretended to peer at the special offers so he wouldn't see my irrational disappointment.





Chapter Seventeen




The food, when we finally got to eat it, was every bit as good as Matt had promised. If I hadn't already known, I doubt I'd have even noticed it was vegetarian. It went well with the fruity Chardonnay I'd picked out at the Co-op. We were sitting on the sofa afterwards watching an old episode of Poirot and feeling pleasantly mellow-at least I was, and I'd assumed Matt was feeling the same way-when Matt dropped the bombshell.




 

 

"It was because of what you said," he blurted out. "Me leaving Steve, I mean."

"What?" David Suchet's fake Belgian accent and twirly moustache no longer held my attention.

"You know. When you said you couldn't believe I was with him." He ducked his head. "It got to me, you know? It was like you were disappointed in me. Like you'd thought I was better than that. I hadn't thought about it like that before. I mean, it was a lot like what Luke said, but I s'pose-"

"Luke?" I asked sharply.

"Yeah-when he came to the shop. That was what he was talking to me about, right at the end."

"Luke knows Steve?"

Matt didn't answer for a moment, just stared at his knees.

"Matt?" I prompted.

"He doesn't know Steve, but he said he'd been there."

I was totally confused. "Been where?"

Matt had obviously decided on closer inspection that his knees needed comforting. He drew them up to his chest, his feet in their stripey socks with the holes in perching on the edge of the sofa, and hugged his legs. "When he was younger. I mean, you wouldn't believe it now, would you? That he had a bloke who used to knock him around?"