Unspoken: A story of secrets, love and revenge by T. Belshaw (best reads of all time .TXT) 📗

‘Don’t be a party pooper, Jess.’ Calvin got to his feet unsteadily. ‘I think I’ll join Sam,’ he announced to the room. ‘I could out-pee a dray horse.’

As he staggered off towards the Gents, Jamie puffed out his cheeks and then let the air escape.

‘Are they always like this?’ he asked.

‘Pretty much,’ replied Jess. ‘At times, when these two get together it’s like there’s no one else in the room. There’s nothing in it though, they just like to bounce off each other. Don’t worry about it. He’s my partner. Sam knows that and she knows where the limit to this sort of thing is. Unlike Calvin, who is too drunk to care.’

Sam and Calvin arrived back together, leaning on each other and whispering conspiratorially.

When they were seated again, Calvin sipped his wine, looked challengingly at Jamie and asked.

‘Do you play golf?’

Jess groaned. She’d rather he flirted with Sam than talk golf.

Jamie nodded. ‘I do as it happens.’

‘Great,’ said Calvin. ‘What’s your handicap?’ He eyed him up, silently appraising him. ‘I’d say, twenty-two, twenty at a pinch. Come down to Fairgreens, it’s only ten minutes from here. I’m a member. I’ll give you a few tips.’

Jamie smiled.

‘I’m the club pro at Lakefields course,’ he said lightly. ‘I play off scratch. I was going to join the pro tour at one time but life got in the way.’

Calvin’s face went the colour of Sam’s dress.

‘Lake…Lakefields.’

Lakefields was a championship course, it had held the British Open on three occasions. The green fees were astronomical and although it was less than twenty miles away, Calvin had never played it.

‘Come over one afternoon,’ offered Jamie. ‘I’ll show you around and you can give me those tips.’

Calvin hardly said a word for the next fifteen minutes. As Jess said, he could sulk for England when he was in the mood. Sam brought him out of it by playing footsie with him under the table. When he looked across at her she winked.

‘What was it you were saying about trouser snakes?’

At eleven, Sam called for the bill. She insisted on paying it in its entirety, telling them all, ‘I’ll text you my bank details, you can pay your share in the week.’

Jess pulled on her jacket and chatted to Jamie while Sam and Calvin tottered off to the toilets again.

Sam came back a few minutes later but Calvin was nowhere to be seen.

Jess gave him a couple of minutes, then went to look for him.

‘He’s probably throwing up,’ she decided.

As she walked around one of the screens that marked off a private dining booth, she saw him next to the emergency exit, leaning on the wall, talking to a very leggy and very attractive blonde waitress. He seemed very animated. Jess stepped back behind the bamboo screen and watched through a gap in the weaving. There wasn’t much left to witness. Calvin said something to the girl and they both laughed, then she shrugged, smiled at him, and walked off towards the kitchen area.

Jess quickly returned to their table where Jamie was helping Sam with her jacket. She managed to get one arm into a sleeve but the coat got snagged on the top corner of her chair and a pair of skimpy, white knickers fell onto the timber floor. Jamie looked shocked but Sam just burst out laughing.

‘Those are my just in case knickers,’ she announced. She crouched down to pick them up while half the diners in the room looked at her in varying shades of surprise and disgust.

She stared them out and waved them in the air.

‘I’ll put them on later,’ she told them.

Outside, the temperature had taken a tumble. A still giggling Sam gave Jess a big hug.

‘That was fun,’ she said in her ear.

‘It was a memorable ending,’ said Jess. ‘You outdid yourself tonight, Sam.’ She laughed and looked for Calvin.

‘He followed Jamie round to the car park,’ Sam said. ‘They’ll be talking golf. I’ll send him back in a minute.’

Sam gave Jess another quick hug and disappeared around the corner.

Jess shivered as she waited, then she heard her friend’s voice, faint but still audible.

‘Don’t be a prat, Calvin. Go home.’

Thirty seconds later, Calvin appeared. He looked up and down the street.

‘That bloody Uber is late,’ he said.

Chapter 15

Jess

They stood in silence until their Uber cab arrived ten minutes later. Calvin got into the front and Jess climbed into the back and carefully slid across the seat as the driver adjusted his rear-view mirror to see if he could see up her skirt.

When they arrived home, Calvin got out first and headed for the flat. He opened the front door as Jess was paying the driver.

‘I’ll put a tip on the app,’ she lied.

You’re unlucky tonight, she thought. No upskirt and no tip.

When Jess arrived in the kitchen, she found Calvin waiting for her. He looked angry.

‘Don’t ever, ever, talk to me like that in public again,’ he said, his whole body shaking with anger.

‘What do you mean, I didn’t—’

‘You announced to the entire restaurant that I was showing you up.’ He grabbed her arms just below the shoulders and shook her violently.

Jess’s head cracked against the wall. She tried to lift her hands to push him away but he held on.

‘Do you UNDERSTAND?’

Tears flowed down Jess’s face.

‘I’m sorry, I won’t do it again. I’m sorry, Calvin.’

Calvin shook her again, the back of her head slammed into the wall.

‘Ow, Calvin, please stop, you’re hurting me.’

Calvin let her go and paced the kitchen, back and forth.

‘You did it twice, you pulled me up about that bloody know it all, Jamie.’

‘Oh, Calvin, I was only pointing out that she was his date,’ Jess said through her tears.

‘I know he was her fucking date,’ spat Calvin. He approached her again. Jess held her arm in front of her face and cowered.

Calvin stopped ranting. He stood still for a moment and began to stroke her hair. It was like someone had pulled a switch.

‘I’m sorry it’s come to this, Jess,