Misspent Youth

“Bloody hell.” He took a deep breath and clambered off her. She started giggling profusely as he tried to tie the belt on his dressing gown. His erection refused to ease. He gave it an exasperated stare, and wound up holding one hand across his front, pressing his cock against his abdomen.

Annabelle squeaked in alarm as he stomped over to the door, just managing to pull the duvet over herself as he opened it. Lieutenant Krober was standing outside. Jeff had never seen the Europol officer so agitated.

“What’s the matter? Are we in the middle of some kind of terrorist attack?”

“Sorry, sir.” Krober was in no way looking through the bedroom doorway. “You should come downstairs.”

“Why?”

“Please. There is a situation there.”

“Oh, for God’s sake.” Jeff stomped off down the landing, with his hand still firmly covering his groin. His anger chilled rapidly as he started down the stairs. Voices were arguing heatedly in the hallway below. Tim was there, halfway across the black and white marble tiles. Tim! Jeff’s heart jumped in shock. His legs refused to move, imprisoning him on the middle of the stairs.

The boy’s shirt and trousers were soaking wet; rat-tail strands of hair fringed his forehead. He was attempting to carry a huge cylindrical canvas bag with a strap that kept slipping from his wet shoulder. His other hand was pulling at the extended handle of a big gray suitcase with tiny wheels. Natalie Cherbun was standing in front of him, halfheartedly blocking his progress.

“—no I won’t!” Tim yelled as he tried to barge past her. His luggage kept overbalancing, hampering his progress far more than the Europol officer.

At which point Lucy Duke came through the front door. She was out of breath from having run all the way through the village from the White Horse. Water dripped steadily off her black classic-cut raincoat. She started shaking out her umbrella, an act that suddenly halted when she took in the scene before her.

Tim shut up and glared at her. Then Lucy’s gaze lifted to Jeff. Tim’s body became very still. He slowly turned around. Jeff waited for his son to see him, knowing how a condemned man felt as the gallows loomed through the dawn mist.

The expression of anger and betrayal on his son’s face drained away the last of Jeff’s strength. “Look, son —”

Tim sneered at him. He’d never, ever done that before. Raged and sulked, yes. But this was so adult, so contemptuous that Jeff wanted to kneel down and beg forgiveness. Right there and then he would have handed Annabelle back if it was at all possible. An evil thought sprang up: Why not? She does everything else I tell her to. He pushed that away rapidly.

“Now, why don’t we all take a moment to think what we’re all doing,” Lucy Duke said with brittle calm.

“Fuck off, you stupid bitch!” Tim bellowed at her.

“I don’t think that’s very helpful, now is it?”

Jeff finally managed to get his legs moving again. He hurried down the last few stairs. “Tim, just wait up.”

Tim dropped the shoulder bag, and folded his arms across his chest. “Oh, this should be good. Go on, Dad, tell me why it doesn’t matter. Explain how we can all live happily ever after.”

“We were going to tell you.” Even before it came out, Jeff knew that was completely the wrong thing to say.

“Really?” Tim said with acid sweetness. “How were you going to tell me? Would I have to access it on your life site? ‘Hello folks, I am now pleased to announce that I am screwing my son’s girlfriend’?”

Jeff wanted to close his eyes, to cast the whole nightmare back into darkness. The way Tim was standing, his whole body quivering and moisture glinting in his eyes, Jeff couldn’t tell if he was going to burst into tears or simply go berserk and charge at him with a chainsaw. Natalie Cherbun was giving him a look of pure contempt, while Lucy Duke had tilted her head back in despair, no doubt calculating what kind of damage-limitation exercise was going to rescue this one. It was the only time Jeff had ever wanted to consult with her on anything.

Still, he thought, at least I know the worst of it now, that he saw everything. So that’s good. A desperate laugh threatened to rise up his throat, one which would tail off into a crazed burble if he ever let it out. “What Annabelle and I do together is between us,” he said with false dignity. “We didn’t tell you about us because we didn’t want to hurt you. Tim, I know this is hard, but she’s not your girlfriend. She hasn’t been for a while now. We were going to let you get over the breakup, but we were going to tell you.”

“How long?”

“How long, what?”

“How long have you been screwing her, Dad?”

“Don’t, Tim, you’re only hurting yourself.”

“Night of the Summer Ball, wasn’t it?”

Jeff found Tim’s keen gaze slicing clean into him. He hadn’t thought it possible, but he was actually feeling even more wretched. His shoulders slumped in confession.

“Yeah,” Tim breathed, bitter with triumph. “You really waited, didn’t you, Dad. Does Annabelle know what a bastard you are?” He gave his head a brief shake, as if suddenly puzzled. “What am I saying? She’s as bad as you; I saw that clearly enough.” He picked up his shoulder bag, and gave Natalie Cherbun a very determined look. She sighed and stood to one side.

Tim walked across the hall, his big suitcase juddering and squeaking along behind him. Lucy Duke gave him an uncertain look.

“Please,” Tim snarled at her. “Try getting in my way.”

“Where are you going?” Jeff called.

“What the fuck do you care, Dad?”

“You haven’t even got a coat on. It’s pouring down outside.”

“So? I don’t catch cold.”

The dull certainty of his voice made Jeff draw in a gasp of surprise. He can’t know that… “Tim, you can’t just walk out. This is your home. Don’t be so melodramatic.”

Tim opened the front door. Raindrops swirled in, splattering on the marble around his feet. “That would be melodramatic as opposed to having an illicit affair? Did that make it more exciting for you both, Dad? Sneaking round behind my back.” A last contemptuous snort, and he closed the door.

Jeff put his head in his hands. “Oh, shit.” All he could think of was that he now had to go upstairs and explain to Annabelle. Then there would be a call to Sue. And—oh God—Alison.

Natalie Cherbun coughed discreetly.

“What?” he snapped at her.

She gave his waist a very pointed look. Jeff groaned in frustration, and pulled his robe over to cover his continuing erection.

Natalie Cherbun and Lucy Duke looked at each other. And what must they be thinking?

“We should consider how to minimize the media interpretation of this,” Lucy Duke said.

“You can’t minimize a total fucking disaster, you—All right. Okay. Not now, all right? We’ll do press releases and site revisions later.” He got to the top of the stairs, then turned round. “Natalie, he probably respects you more than anyone else here right now. Could you go after him and give him a lift, please? Don’t stay with him afterward, just help him get there.”

“Very well.” She nodded shortly, then paused. “Where?”

“He’ll be going to his aunt Alison. And I know Tim, he’ll walk the whole bloody way there even in this rain.”

“I’ll get him.”

The bedroom door was closed. Jeff squared his shoulders, and opened it.