for goodness sake. Or had he? He had a nasty feeling he’d been rather the worse for wear when trying to put the wretched thing on. That he’d not quite managed to do it. Yes, it was coming back to him now. She’d slapped his hand away and said…
‘You told me you were on the pill!’ he accused.
‘No, I never.’
‘Yes, you did,’ he spluttered. ‘That’s why I didn’t use a condom just now.’
‘Rubbish,’ Sophie protested. ‘You told me that you’d take care of protection. And when you didn’t, I assumed…’ she trailed off.
‘Assumed what?’ said Charlie, looking horrified.
‘Assumed that I meant something to you.’ Sophie glared at him. ‘You kissed me all over and whispered that I was the most beautiful woman you’d ever been to bed with.’
He quavered at her words. Standard Charlie patter.
‘You told me I was the sort of woman you’d like to settle down with.’
More Charlie patter. He’d heard enough. He knew the script and didn’t need reminding of it.
‘I’m not ready to settle down,’ he said, stuffing his feet into his shoes.
Grabbing his overnight bag, he began chucking stuff inside.
‘Too bad,’ she hissed, getting off the bed and coming towards him. ‘You’re going to be a daddy. So what are you going to do about it, eh?’
‘Do?’ Charlie repeated.
He’d failed to lace up his shoes and nearly tripped over in his haste to get away from her. Right now, he only had one advantage over Sophie. He was dressed and she wasn’t.
‘I’m going home. That’s what I’m doing.’
Backing away from her, he darted towards the door. Seconds later Charlie was fleeing down the hotel corridor, then down the stairs two at a time, before crashing through the fire exit into the car park. He had no idea if he was still over the limit to drive, but at least Sophie didn’t know which car was his. If nothing else, he’d hunker down out of sight until he was able to drive. And then he’d be off. Straight down the M40.
Charlie was aware that he’d be leaving Ben in the lurch. Ben would have to hitch a lift home with one of the other guys.
As Charlie rushed towards his vehicle, he thanked the universe, the moon, the stars, and God in his heaven that home was almost two hundred miles away, and that he’d never have to see Sophie again.
Forty-Five
Charlie ducked down in the driver’s seat of his vehicle, heart pounding. He felt sick. Sick from the shock of Sophie’s bombshell news, and sick from sobering up so rapidly.
Inside the car’s temporary sanctuary, everything was dark and silent. There were no lamps in the hotel’s car park. Subsequently the area looked somewhat eerie and uninviting. There wasn’t even a courtesy light, like the sort that bobbed on for fifteen seconds when someone passed by.
Charlie didn’t think Sophie would venture out in the night to peer into every vehicle. And anyway, she didn’t know he’d travelled to Birmingham by car. It was far more likely that any search for him was taking place within the hotel. He imagined her hastily dressed and charging up and down the corridor calling out his name, or rushing into the foyer, heels clicking on the shiny polished floor, eyes stricken as she begged the night staff if they’d seen a blond man dash past. Perhaps she’d even ask if they would check the men’s toilets on her behalf, to see if Charlie was hiding. Thank goodness he’d spotted that fire door and escaped.
Even so, Charlie couldn’t relax. He hardly dared breathe in case the slightest movement gave him away. A part of him half-expected Sophie’s face to appear at the windscreen, her nose squashed up against the glass, features distorted like a nightmare character from a horror movie.
Charlie began to tremble, partly from nerves, and partly from the cold. He longed to start the engine and get the heating on, but he didn’t dare do that just yet. Fear was paralysing him. He squeezed his eyes tightly shut and focussed on listening. The fire door had been heavy. After he’d stumbled through it, the door had slammed after him with a crash loud enough to light up reception’s switchboard with complaints. Therefore, if Sophie did dare to venture into the car park, surely he’d hear her coming?
His ears strained to catch any alien sounds. An empty can bounced across the tarmac causing Charlie’s heart to shoot into his oesophagus. Had someone kicked it? Had that someone been Sophie? Had she exited