The Hike(4)

‘I’m just nipping to the loo.’ Cat picked up her bag and followed him inside. He was at the bar, laughing with the barman, and she suspected that he would ignore Ginny’s request for wine, because he didn’t like wine. He was equally as self-centred as Ginny. How they’d lasted this long as a couple was a complete mystery. Cat watched him pointing to bottles on the shelf behind the bar. He’d be returning with more beers, plus something stronger. It was still early, but all the more reason to kick things off now. He knew as well as she did that they had an early start.

He turned as she went to walk past him. ‘You alright, babe? How about a gin and tonic? Might wake you up a bit.’ He took in her frown, then laughed and squeezed her arm. ‘Don’t worry, Cat. Everyone will be up in time for the hike in the morning. I’m hardly going to spend all that time helping you plan it then wimp out at the last minute. Let’s go hard, then go home . . . early.’ He turned back to the bar and started chatting to the barman again as he poured the drinks.

‘Just nipping to the loo,’ she said, pointedly, over his shoulder.

The toilets were in the basement. Dark and dingy. There was only one cubicle, with the rest of the space taken up by a single urinal and a sink. She pulled down her underwear and sat on the toilet, reading some of the graffiti etched into the back of the wooden door.

Lauren pour Antoine – toujours!

Monique est une pute.

La vie est douce.

She smiled at that last one. Life was indeed sweet. Or else it would be, after this weekend. If she had a pocketknife, she’d be tempted to scratch in some words of her own: Cat woz ’ere.

‘Cat?’

She grinned. Her head might be feeling fuzzy, but the rest of her was fully alert. ‘In here.’ She stood, quickly pulling up her jeans.

‘Mmm,’ he said, stepping in and kicking the door shut behind him with his heel. ‘Nice place you’ve got here.’ He spun her around and pushed her against the door, started nuzzling her neck. She felt his knee pressing against her crotch as his hands slid up her t-shirt, into her bra. She gasped.

‘Tristan . . .’

‘Come on, babe. The others are too busy guzzling their drinks. We’ve got a few minutes.’ She let him kiss her. He was hard to resist.

He nibbled her earlobe. ‘We can forget the plans, you know . . . we don’t have to do this. We can just keep having fun . . .’

She pulled away from him. Looked him in the eye. ‘Have you changed your mind?’ She started to fix her bra, tucked her t-shirt into her jeans.

He sighed. ‘Nah, you’re right. It’ll be good. Let’s do it.’ He kissed her nose then shoved her away gently so he could get out of the cramped cubicle. ‘You better go back up first. Don’t want to blow it.’ He winked, letting his eyes drop down then back up to her face. ‘Although . . .’

She slapped him lightly on the arm, then squeezed past him to wash her hands in the tiny sink. Luckily, no one else had come down to the basement. She hurried back up the stairs, a stupid grin making her cheeks ache as she remembered the graffiti.

Not just Monique who’s a slut.

Pre-empting the drinks that she knew would be on the table, she stopped at the bar and asked for four shot glasses, then filled them from the water jug. She carried them back outside, where the others were drinking from fresh beers. A slew of shots were lined up in the middle of the table.

‘Where the hell have you been?’ Ginny said. ‘We thought you’d run away.’

Not yet, Cat thought, placing her fake shots down next to the others. ‘I knew Tristan would buy something vile, so I got these for myself.’

Ginny wrinkled her nose. ‘Oh god, is it that horrible aniseed stuff? Trissy’s bought us all tequilas. Did you bump into him in the toilet?’

She shook her head. ‘Just vodka.’

‘Thought you were slowing down?’ Paul said.

Cat ignored him. ‘So what are we waiting for?’ She picked up the first of the water shots and knocked it back, grimacing in a way she hoped was convincing.

If anyone suspected, they didn’t show it.

A few seconds later, Tristan was back. He grabbed one of the drinks. ‘Whoohooo!’ he shouted, slamming the empty shot glass down on the table. He licked his lips and grinned at her.

Cat raised her second shot in the air, and grinned back.





Three

SATURDAY MORNING

The bed sagged slightly as Tristan rolled over and pushed himself into Ginny’s lower back, an arm snaking over and inside her vest top. She wriggled away towards the edge of the bed. Her head was banging, and she definitely wasn’t up for anything that her very insistent husband might have in mind. She closed her eyes tighter. Tristan huffed and rolled back, and a moment later the bed creaked as he swung his legs off the other side and disappeared into the bathroom, muttering something under his breath. Ginny heard the squeak of pipes as he wrestled with the taps. Then the shower started running, and the door slammed shut.

She could imagine what he was doing in there. There was a time when the pair of them would be at it like rabbits at all times of day or night, but, as time went on, she seemed to find herself more distracted, more tired. Less up for it. She couldn’t even say why, because it wasn’t like she had a high-powered job like his to tire her out.