The Story of Me (Carnage #2)(115)

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were gay after that suggestion.” He pouts, rolls his eyes and points at me with his pen.

“And wear the blue lace thong and bra, that set totally sets off your eyes, darling.” He flutters his lashes and continues, “Now f*ck off out of here. I’ll see you at mine Monday morning for the piss-on-a-stick party.” I smile at him, then move my eyes to Ben, who’s now leaning on my desk. He shakes his head.

“I don’t even wanna think about what that might mean. You Layton’s are f*cking weird. I tell ya.” A rolled up piece of paper hits Benny up the back of the head and I cringe as I look at him. He looks back at me with raised eyebrows. “Marley, when I catch you, I will break your f*cking face.”

“Benny, Benny, Benny. When you lose ten stone that might happen. Till then, dream on, sunshine.” Ben shakes his head some more.

“Let’s go, George. We’ll leave the children to play.”

I grab my bag from under my desk and head for the door. Just as we step outside to the lobby, Benny pops his head back in.

“Oi, Marley, tell Ash that I love that new red thong with the beaded crotch.” I laugh and keep walking towards the lift as Marley calls out.

“What the f*ck, Ben? What’s that mean? When’d you see her new thong?”

The doors slide back and I’m joined by a chuckling Benny.

“You know he’ll be on the phone to Ash now, wanting to know how you know about her new thong.”

He shrugs. “Serves the f*cker right, throwing paper at my head. Sorry, George, shouldn’t swear.”

“I’ll let you off, Ben. Just don’t let Cam catch ya, especially around the baby.” He raises his eyebrows and makes a small upward motion with his head.

“How you doing with all that, George? Can’t be easy for ya?”

I fold my arms across my chest, instinctively becoming defensive. “I’m okay, Ben. It hurts, but it is what it is. There’s nothing I can do to change things, so all I can do is try and make the best of a bad situation.”

He nods his head and I follow behind him out the lift and into the underground car park of the block where Len has his offices. “I admire ya, George. Tamara’s f*ckin’ mental. Even when she weren’t on the sniff, she was always a bit odd, and on it, she’s just a f*ckin’ psycho.”

I shrug as he opens the door to the Land Rover. I climb in and watch as Ben walks around to the driver’s side and climbs in next to me.

“I love Cam, and unfortunately, Tamara is part of the package that comes with loving Cam. He puts up with all the shit I come with, the press attention, the fans and whatever. One crazy junkie is nothing compared to all of that. It’s what you do when you love someone, Ben. You accept everything about them unconditionally.” Benny chuckles as we pull out into the Friday afternoon London traffic and start heading back to the Essex countryside and home.

“You’ve become quite the philosopher ain’t ya, George? Grown up a lot from that mouthy little Essex bird who used to come in the wine bar.”

I smile as I think back to those days. “Age does that to ya. I’m still me, underneath it all. I’m still that same mouthy Essex bird, but life happened, Ben. I’ve lived and loved and lost and experienced a lot, and I hope I’ve learnt from all of that.” He takes his eyes from the road and gives me a wink.

“You do all right, George, you do all right.” I’m not sure what that means exactly, but I’ll take it as a compliment and I close my eyes as I listen to Ashanti’s “Foolish” on the radio. I must drift off to sleep, as the next thing I hear is Benny saying, “What the f*ck’s goin’ on?” I open my eyes to about twenty paparazzi surrounding the gates to my house. Benny pulls over and tries to do a U-turn but we are on a narrow country lane and what starts out as a possible three point turn, ends up being about an eight point turn.

“Any idea what this is about, Georgia?” Ben asks as he finally gets the car facing back the way we came. The paps have noticed the car and a few of them are now running towards us. I shake my head.

“No idea.” I watch as they surround the car. “D’ya know what, Ben? I’m not running. Fuck ‘em. Let’s see what they want.” I undo my window slightly as flashes start going off and questions start being fired at me. They’re going on about Cam and a woman by the name of Lynsey Hayward and oral sex.

“Georgia, do you have anything to say about Lynsey Hayward claims that she performed oral sex on Cameron King in a disabled toilet at Sydney airport?”

I get a buzzing sound in my head and I’m not sure if it’s real or if it’s my brain’s way of blocking out what they’re saying.

“Do your window up, George,” Benny orders, but instead I continue to stare out of the two-inch gap, into the real world, the world outside of my perfect little bubble of love I’ve been living in for these past six months. I stare out at the world and listen to the words that cause my heart, the one that Cam has so lovingly, so patiently, brick by brick, helped me rebuild, to slowly start to crumble once more into a broken pile of rubble.

Ben must use the button on his side and the gap in the window closes.

“Take no notice of them, George. I know him. He wouldn’t do that. He doesn’t see other women as women. They’re all just people to him. You’re the only woman on the planet as far as he’s concerned, believe me, George.” I turn and look at him. It’s a good thing I didn’t have time to stop for lunch today because Benny would be about to wear it. I cover my mouth with my hand as I dry heave.