The Time Bubble Box Set 2, стр. 276

“Yes,” I replied. “They had been sending dirty messages toeach other on Messenger, including pictures, as well as making plans to meetup. When I confronted him with it a couple of days ago he confessedeverything.”

“Well, if you need somewhere to stay, I’ve got a spareroom,” he offered.

“I may just take you up on that,” I replied.

I had fabricated the vast majority of this story but thedetails didn’t matter. The basic fact that Rob was sleeping with Emma stillstood, no matter how I had found out. And so far it had all been so worth it.Gary had just satisfied me more than anyone had for as long as I couldremember, and now I wanted more.

When 6pm rolled around, we were at it hard for a third time.Three times in one afternoon! That was going some. I couldn’t remember thatlast time Rob had managed it three times in a calendar month, not with me anyway.I’m sure Emma next door was getting plenty, though.

Despite being in the rapturous throes of yet another climax,I was fully aware of the time and keeping half an ear open. When I heard thetelltale sound of Rob’s key in the lock, I seriously upped the decibels so thatGary wouldn’t hear him. I’m talking serious porn-star levels of moaning here.

I’d like to claim it as another string to my recentlyacquired acting bow but quite honestly, there wasn’t a huge amount of actingrequired, not with the effect Gary was having on me.

It worked anyway, because Gary didn’t hear Rob but Robcertainly heard us. Just as my moaning pushed Gary over the edge, the bedroomdoor was flung open.

“What the fuck!” exclaimed Rob.

Ironically, that is exactly what it was. It must have beenone of the very few occasions when that phrase was actually uttered in thecorrect context. It was also the exact same line I had used the first time Ihad caught him at it with Emma, but the boot was on the other foot this time.

“I don’t believe this!” shouted Rob. “My girlfriend and mybest mate.”

Gary leapt up, ready to defend himself in case Rob triedanything. “You can’t talk, mate – she’s told me all about you and that Emmanext door.”

“What’s sauce for the goose,” I chipped in, eager to fan theflames. I was interested to see where this was going to go.

“What are you talking about?” said Rob.

He was clearly going to try and deny it, but he wasn’t asgood at acting as I was. The brief flash of recognition that had crossed hisface when Gary had mentioned Emma had already betrayed him and he knew it. Robwas like an open book. It was a good job he didn’t play poker because he wouldbe giving off tells left, right and centre.

“She’s told me all about it, mate,” replied Gary, quicklypulling on his boxers, and reaching for his shorts.

Good move, I thought. Being naked in a confrontation isnever an advantage.

“Well even if I was, that’s not as bad as this,” Robclaimed.

“How do you figure that?” I asked, keen to hear how he wasgoing to try and justify himself.

“It’s completely different,” argued Rob. “You hardly knowEmma but he’s my best mate. That’s a much worse betrayal.”

“You arsehole,” said Gary, and thumped him square in the jawwith a clean right hook. Rob sprawled backwards in surprise onto the bed. Garyturned away and pulled on his shirt.

For the first time I started to worry that this couldpotentially start getting out of hand, “That’s enough,” I said. With Gary nowfully dressed, I shepherded him out of the room, just as Rob was getting to hisfeet, blood trickling from a cut on his lower lip.

“You haven’t heard the last of this!” shouted Rob furiously.

I hadn’t expected him to be this angry, bearing in mind whathe and Emma had been doing. Perhaps it was more down to being humiliated by hismate than my infidelity. Being thumped probably hadn’t helped either. I hadn’texpected Gary to do that. Things had gone far enough.

“You’d better go,” I said, ushering Gary quickly down thestairs and into the kitchen where he had taken off his shoes. But it wasn’tover yet. Rob was hot on our heels. This wasn’t funny and the situation wasabout to escalate rapidly.

“Oh no, you don’t get away that easily!” he screamedhysterically, bursting into the kitchen as Gary was putting on his shoes. Theblood was congealing in his beard now.

“For fuck’s sake, mate, do you want some more?” said Garyaggressively. “You know I could have you, anytime.”

He was right. Rob was puny in comparison – hisfive-foot-nine paunchy frame was a complete mismatch against six-footmuscle-man Gary, but Rob’s blood was up and he wasn’t thinking straight. Helunged forward, making an amateurish swing at Gary which the stronger maneasily avoided.

Gary could and should have walked out then, but he couldn’tresist punching Rob again. He caught him less squarely on the side of the facethis time, causing Rob to reel back against the counter where I had beenchopping onions earlier.

“You’re a wanker and she’s a slag,” hissed Rob.

Gary could be quite violent when riled. I knew he had beeninvolved in quite a few brawls in his younger days and had heard rumours of aGBH charge long before I met him. Now he advanced on his mate, anger in hiseyes.

“Gary, don’t!” I cried. “You’ve made your point, now justleave it.”

As Gary went to punch Rob again, his quarry leaned back ontothe counter, right hand alighting on the knife I had been using earlier. Idon’t think he even knew it was there until he touched it, but, desperate todefend himself, he instinctively thrust it forward and upwards, taking Gary bysurprise.

Whether Rob’s intention had been to make him back off, oractually stab him, I wasn’t sure. The puny vegetable knife wouldn’t have beenenough to do serious damage in most circumstances. It was only about threeinches long and not even that sharp, but on this occasion Rob got lucky – oryou could say unlucky, depending on how you looked at it.

The knife didn’t plunge into Gary, it caught him with moreof a glancing blow, but it