her baby, now her husband faces several years in prison. If Lewis dies, it’ll be a life sentence. A smirk spreads across my face. Poor Amber, what a shame …
The stupid bitch never realised I was stalking her in the park, even though sometimes we were only a few metres from each other. I wasn’t surprised. Amber only notices people if she thinks she might have something to gain from them, otherwise her brain filters them out. The first time we met, she looked straight through me, as if I were invisible.
It was so insulting it made me sizzle with indignation, but I didn’t say anything. I was new then, a fringe member of a well-established group. Amber didn’t think I should even have been there, although she never said as much. She didn’t have to – it was clear from the way she behaved: talking over me with an abrupt change of subject, standing between the two of us and then turning her back so that I was left out on a limb. I wasn’t the only plus one at the party. Several other guests had brought their partners, although everyone else seemed to know each other.
We made a mistake, thinking it was more of a social get-together rather than an official university reunion. But there was no need to blank me like that, to make me feel like I was an intruder trying to muscle in. The event was full of obscure in-jokes and photo-sharing and unfunny anecdotes about people I’d never heard of. Nobody had any desire to get to know me; they were too busy rummaging around in the past.
I stood quietly on the outside, looking in. Observing in my usual way. As the evening wore on, I could see the threads running between the men and women, broken in some places, tangled in others. Who was enjoying themselves and who was wishing they hadn’t come? Who had once been in love with whom? Who was still in love? Who were the truest friends and who were secret enemies?
Amber was at the centre of the action. The party was held upstairs in a pub, but as she’d organised it, she behaved as if she were entertaining at home. She was the queen and George her handsome consort. Everyone else was a mere attendant whose job it was to follow the golden couple around and laugh in all the right places. To make matters worse, I seemed to be attached to the Court Jester. I was the sidekick’s sidekick, and by that I mean Amber’s sidekick, not George’s. Oh no. He did not like my boyfriend. There was bad blood there, for sure. I found him smug and overconfident, although who wouldn’t be, with a nickname like Gorgeous George?
I have to admit he was incredibly attractive …
I spent the evening studying Amber over the rim of my wine glass. She wasn’t as stunning as her husband, but her looks were striking in their own way – healthy Pre-Raphaelite, I dubbed it privately. Wavy auburn hair, skin so pale it was almost transparent, and an aquiline nose artistically dotted with freckles. Her laugh was rich and deep and she had this habit of raising her eyebrows in mild disbelief when anyone spoke. She was so entitled, so sure-footed, like she knew exactly what she wanted and where she was going in life. I immediately wanted to trip her up.
Admittedly, I was jealous. I’d heard a lot about her in advance and resented being required to be impressed. The way she exchanged glances with my boyfriend across the crowded room that evening made me realise that the bond between them would be hard to break. I guessed they’d had sex in the past and now kept each other’s secrets. I’d probably already been discussed in great gossipy detail. No wonder she gave me that supercilious smile when we were introduced. We’d only just met and she already had power over me. I couldn’t stand it.
I wanted to destroy her. Don’t ask me why, because I can’t explain it. It was an instinctive dislike, a deep-seated knowledge that she was my enemy. Which, as it turned out, she was. Of course, my reaction was deemed unreasonable, even pathological. When I made negative comments about her, I was told that Amber was a beautiful person, soft and vulnerable beneath that hard, shiny exterior. Yeah, right. When I refused to invite her over, I was made to feel mean. So I changed