The Hike(30)

But did she know there was a wolf in her midst?

He hoped so.

He looked forward to seeing her again.





Twenty-Four

SATURDAY EVENING

Cat felt sick again, but not the squirming nausea from earlier. This was a different feeling altogether. Like a snake had wound its way around her insides and started to squeeze the life out of her. She was staring at Paul, who was rubbing his eyes with his fists. She caught Tristan’s eye where he stood behind Paul. He looked mortified. Ginny, of course, was gleeful at this new development.

Putain, as the French would say: a word covering all the swearing bases.

She swallowed back bile. It might only take one, but there most definitely hadn’t been a chance in recent months for even that. Paul was the last person she wanted to have sex with at the moment.

He was staring at her, and she knew he was thinking the same thing. But he could hardly say anything about it now, could he? He didn’t want Tristan and Ginny to know what he’d been accused of at work. He didn’t want them to know that he and Cat had been sleeping in separate rooms for months. Last night in the hotel was the first time they’d been close for a very long time, and Cat had made sure to keep to her own side of the bed.

She couldn’t bear the thought of having sex with him. So it was definitely not his baby. This was a spanner in the works that she really had not anticipated.

Paul had stopped rubbing his eyes. He sounded contrite. Maybe there was a little bit of hope left in him that they could save their relationship, somehow. ‘You told me early on that you weren’t interested in kids—’

‘I was twenty-four years old. I probably wasn’t interested at that point. But that didn’t mean I wouldn’t think about it later. We’ve never talked about it since, but I just thought—’

His anger came back hard. ‘So you just thought you’d get yourself knocked up by someone else? Just in case you fancied it after all?’

‘Woah, hang on.’ Tristan stepped closer to Paul, laying a hand on his shoulder. He flicked a worried glance at Cat. ‘What are you talking about—’

‘Gosh!’ Ginny said. ‘I didn’t peg you as the affair type, Kitty-Cat.’ She smirked, then frowned – her mouth hanging open as her mind whirred. ‘Oh, hang on . . . is this what the real scandal was about French Frank? Was he married, Cat? Well, well . . .’

Paul ignored her. His expression had changed. ‘You know, Cat, you were acting really strangely after you came back from that event you did last month.’

Cat took a breath. She tried to laugh but it came out as a pained sniff. ‘What event? What are you talking about?’ She glanced across at Tristan, hoping for a reprieve. One of his wise cracks. Anything. But he was looking at her with a low-level expression of horror that made her stomach swirl. She turned to Ginny, whose amused face had turned as hard as the smooth, silvery rock they were standing on.

‘Surrey,’ he said. ‘Some event planning conference, you said. Networking.’ He shook his head. ‘You stayed an extra night.’

Ginny stepped closer to Cat. Cat could smell the sweat seeping through her t-shirt. ‘Was it in Ascot, by any chance?’ She stayed where she was but turned her head towards Paul. ‘The Berystede Hotel?’ She turned back to Cat. Her eyes were shining with hatred.

Paul looked confused. ‘I, um. I’m not sure. Maybe.’

‘Give it a rest, Ginny.’ Tristan moved around, reaching out for Ginny’s arm.

She shrugged him off. ‘Get the fuck off me.’

Paul looked from Cat to Ginny. ‘What’s going on here? What have I missed?’

‘It’s nothing, Paul. Ginny’s getting confused with something, I think.’ She looked her sister in the eye. Prodded her chest, as Ginny had done to her hours before. ‘This. Is. Not. All. About. You.’ She punctuated each word with a prod. Ginny moved back slightly with every single one, but she kept her hard eyes trained on Cat’s.

‘You stupid bitch!’ Ginny spat in her face.

Cat wiped the spittle off her cheek. ‘You’re disgusting, Ginny. A disgusting, stupid little girl who values money over love, possessions over friendship. You’d rather spend your life being praised by fellow vapid losers on Instagram than have a meaningful relationship with anyone. You might’ve had our parents fooled, but you don’t fool me.’ She started prodding again. ‘You. Are. Pathetic.’ She was so close to Ginny now. And Ginny was dangerously close to the edge.

‘Woah, come on.’ Tristan took Cat’s arm and tried to pull her back, but Cat wasn’t having it.

Ginny stood her ground, but Cat could see she was fighting back tears. ‘I feel sorry for you, Paul,’ she said. ‘Are you hearing all this? My perfect sister isn’t quite so perfect after all. Who knew?’ She turned to Tristan, her face distorted into a sneer. ‘As for you . . .’

Cat swallowed. This was not meant to happen. Everything had spiralled out of control so quickly, there was no time to consider the next move, but all Cat knew was she couldn’t let Ginny continue with what she was about to say. She couldn’t let her sister ruin everything.

Not this time.

‘Shut up, Ginny.’ She took a step forward again, their faces almost touching. She could smell her sister’s stale breath. Ginny took a step back and Cat stepped in again, staying with her.