York City, the phrase best friends echoed in Corbin’s head. He knew that Henry was just using the words casually, but Corbin, although he’d always had friends, felt he’d never had a best one. He could picture Henry and himself haunting the same bars every night, meeting up without making plans in advance.
“It’ll be epic,” Henry said. “I mean, I love London, but we need a break, don’t you think? Drink in cocktail lounges instead of pubs, meet some tanned women.”
They laughed together, then each took a sip of his beer. Henry leaned in, dropped his voice a little.
“You know, Corbs, I think you and I have something in common.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Claire Brennan.” Henry smiled, lips spreading thinly over his teeth.
“Yeah, I know Claire.” Corbin felt like he’d just swallowed a tennis ball.
“Yeah, I know you do. Intimately, I believe.”
“Why?” Corbin asked.
“Yeah, I thought that was the case. It seems she’s been two-timing the both of us.”
“What do you mean?”
“Exactly what you think I mean. Jesus, look at you. Don’t have a heart attack, dude.”
Chapter 14
“Is that why you came over here to talk with me? Because of Claire?” Corbin asked, some time later.
Henry paused. “No, I just came over to talk. I did think I’d bring up the Claire situation, though. Seemed the right thing to do.”
Corbin had regained some composure since Henry had dropped his bombshell about Claire. The sickening gut-wrench of betrayal had been replaced by a mounting feeling of rage. Henry shared the feeling.
“Bitch lied to us both,” he said.
They’d gone back over events in their own personal timelines, trying to figure out how she’d gotten away with it exactly. It turned out that Henry and Claire had first hooked up over a month earlier when Corbin had gone for a long weekend to Amsterdam to meet up with two of his Mather friends. Henry, like Corbin, had met Claire at the Three Lambs. He’d asked her out for dinner, and she’d agreed. The dinner had gone well, and Henry had been seeing her off and on for the past few weeks.
“How often do you see her?” Corbin asked.
“We have a standing date on Tuesday nights.”
“I have my seminar on Tuesday nights.”
“And Sunday afternoons we sometimes go to a pub on the river.”
“She told me she always spends Sunday catching up on her studies.”
“We got duped, buddy,” Henry said, shaking his head. “Did she tell you to not act like her boyfriend in the Three Lambs? That she didn’t want people there to know she was dating a customer?”
“Yep. She told me that. Jesus.”
Henry finished his current pint in one long sip, then wiped his lips with the back of a hand. His lips curled slightly on one side, as though he were enjoying himself.
“You don’t seem as upset as I am,” Corbin said.
“I am, trust me. I’ve just had a lot longer to think about it, and now I’m more pissed than upset.”
“How did you find out?”
Henry explained how he’d accidentally spotted Claire the previous Saturday night, coming out of the Camden tube station. He’d waved at her but she hadn’t spotted him. She was in a rush, and on a whim, Henry had followed her, along the market stalls and to an Indian restaurant. Corbin was waiting outside, and they had kissed on the street.
“And you didn’t tell her?” Corbin asked.
“I gave her a chance to tell me. I saw her the next day and asked if we were exclusive, and she said, yes, that she hoped so. That’s when I got angry instead of just disappointed. And I decided I’d just stop seeing her, not give her a reason, and make her stew over it. And then I saw you here tonight. I almost didn’t tell you, you know. I mean, you never would have found out, and maybe it wouldn’t have made any difference in the big scheme of things. But you seem like a nice guy, and I figured you should know.”
“I’m glad you told me. I feel like a fucking idiot.”
“You’re not an idiot. You just trusted a woman. I’m serious. Don’t ever do it again.”
“I won’t.”
“So what are we going to do?” Henry asked.
“What do you mean?”
Henry was playing with his empty pint glass, turning it upside down and making damp rings on the wooden table. “What are we doing to do to get back at her? Ball’s in our court. She has no idea that we know.”
“That’s true.”
Henry jumped up. “One more pint, okay, then we’ll figure out the