Amber by Heather Burnside (great novels of all time .TXT) 📗

the fragrant aroma and guessed that he’d quickly cooked it in the toaster.

‘Ooh, that smells nice,’ she said. ‘Can I have some?’

‘No, you fuckin’ can’t! I’ll teach you to go messing up the dinner. I noticed you burnt the curry as well. I hope you don’t think I’m cleaning that fuckin’ pan out after the mess you’ve made!’

‘No, I’ll do it,’ she said. ‘It’s no biggie. What’s wrong with you?’

Kev glared at her. ‘Don’t push your fuckin’ luck!’

Amber had never seen him this moody and she wondered if it was because of his use of cocaine. Having been used to his softer side, she miscalculated her response. Instead of keeping quiet she reached over to where he was sitting next to her on the sofa and her hand perched over the naan bread on the side of his plate.

‘Go on,’ she said. ‘There’s enough for both of us.’

As Amber made a grab for it, Kev pulled his plate away. The food shifted with some of the curry spilling over and landing on the fabric of the sofa. ‘Now look what you’ve done. You dozy cow! That’s gonna fuckin’ stain. Go and get a fuckin’ cloth and clean it up.’

‘In a minute,’ said Amber, shovelling a forkful of curry into her mouth.

‘You what?’

‘In a minute. I said I’ll go in a minute. I want to finish my food first.’

‘You need to do it now. The longer you leave it the worse the fuckin’ stain will be!’

By now Amber was realising just how angry he was. ‘Kev, calm down, will you? A few minutes won’t make a difference. I’ll put some stain remover on it or summat.’

Rather than replying, Kev slammed his plate down onto the coffee table and stormed out of the room again. He returned carrying the kitchen cloth and a bottle of stain remover. Amber glanced up then quickly averted her eyes when she saw the fierce expression on his face.

‘Don’t think I’m doing this my fuckin’ self!’ he said, slinging the cloth at her.

But Amber was enjoying her curry. ‘I’ve said I’ll do it,’ she said between munches. Then she patted the seat next to her. ‘Come and sit down and have your curry.’

‘I’ve lost my fuckin’ appetite now. I’m not eating that shit.’

Amber ignored him and carried on eating her food, but she could sense him hovering like an angry bull. Still he took her by surprise when he grabbed the plate out of her hands and slammed that down on the table too.

‘That can fuckin’ wait till you’ve cleaned the mess up,’ he raged. ‘You greedy cow!’

The irate look on his face told Amber she’d better do as he said and she got up from the sofa, grabbed the cloth and began scrubbing at the curry stain.

‘That’s more like it. And in future, don’t take the piss, Amber. You’re lucky you’re a woman or you’d have got a fuckin’ good hiding for what you’ve done tonight.’

‘Sorry,’ said Amber. ‘I didn’t mean to ruin the dinner. I just…’

But her words were lost on him. He had already left the living room and she listened as she heard him stomping about, presumably looking for something in the bedroom. A few seconds later she heard the heavy slamming of the front door and let out the breath she had been subconsciously holding. Thank God he was gone!

Despite her relief, Amber carried on trying to remove the curry from the sofa, prepared to let her dinner go cold. Having seen that other side to Kev she was wary of him coming back and finding a stain. She didn’t want a repeat of tonight’s performance or maybe even worse.

Something had obviously upset him tonight and it hadn’t taken much for him to go overboard. She pictured him, apoplectic with rage, his eyes bulging and the lines on his face strained, and she shuddered. Perhaps it would be wise for her to tread more carefully in future now she had seen how angry he could get with her.

His behaviour had shocked her but, if she was honest with herself, she had seen an indication of his mood switches, apart from the incident with Cliff, and she knew it was only a matter of time before she would be on the receiving end.

The previous week, they’d been getting along fine and were staying in one evening drinking wine and watching a music channel on the TV. They’d just had sex on the sofa, and she was snuggled up to him feeling mellow as they listened to Ed Sheeran’s ‘Thinking Out Loud’.

As they sat there, they became lost in conversation. He’d just been telling her tales about some of the mischief he’d got up to when he was a teen when he asked, ‘What about you? What were you like as a teenager?’

‘Me? Well, I had a couple of mates, but they stopped coming round the house. I think they felt a bit awkward ’cos of my mum and her boyfriends, especially the one called Cliff. He was the one you beat up the other week, the one who took my virginity. I can’t blame my friends for not coming round really; he was a creep and a perv.’

‘How old were you? You never told me the details.’

‘Twelve.’

‘Twelve? Fuck! You didn’t tell me that. Did your mum know?’

Without being able to help herself Amber told him the whole sorry tale. It felt strange to unburden herself in this way and it was something she had never done before. His questions were coming thick and fast and she carried on talking until she’d told him everything. The night-time visits. Her tiredness. The stomach pains. Her mother’s constant need for money.

Once she’d finished talking, he became silent too. And, although he didn’t say anything for some time, she could feel a change in the atmosphere. She felt his eyes on her and looked back at him.

‘So now you know.’

He smiled awkwardly. ‘Fuckin’ hell! Yeah, I’m shocked. I never knew you’d started so young.’

Amber tried to ignore