Page 60 of Plot Twist

I was exhausted trying to keep up with her. It was the fourth night of our holiday and all I’d wanted was to recover from the previous nights, order some pizza and curl up in bed. But Rae insisted. We were here for a good time, not a long time.

Drew and I were messaging but not calling each other, apparently. He’d texted when I’d arrived in Tenerife saying to enjoy the holiday, not to worry about anything and that he hoped I had a great time with Rae. He said he loved me.

‘The bastard,’ Rae said, rolling her eyes.

I knew she was kidding. She said Drew was a freaking saint compared to Mickey.

‘You’re so lucky with him, Becca. You need to stop thinking about Leila and all the things that could go wrong and just enjoy being with him. Mr Whippy loves you,’ she slurred on the first night at the edge of the dance floor. ‘Now, let’s find me a man.’

She went to get a drink from the bar and twenty minutes later, I was still sitting on my own scrolling through social media.

I hesitated before typing her name into the top of my feed.

Leila Jackson.

Did I really want to do this to myself? Rae wasn’t here to talk me out of it. I looked around the room and located her having a deep conversation with two guys at the corner of the bar. She’d found people to do shots with her, at least.

Bingo. I spotted her profile, and ginormous accompanying boobs in her profile picture, alongside the words ‘Single. Very single’. Classy. Plus, her page was public, which meant I was free to scroll through every picture she’d ever posted. I sat up straighter in my seat and tugged at my dress, wriggling around to get comfortable. Buckle up, Becca. You could be in for a long night.

My eyes were drawn to the first picture– ‘Me and My New Team’– followed by a series of kisses. Yuck. She was clearly one ofthosepeople. I scrolled through the pictures. Leila with Kevin at the Ferris wheel. Leila in a tight top standing behind the bar pretending to pull a pint, with a big toothy grin. Leila and Drew at the ice cream van.

Wait. I scrolled back and studied the picture. Drew was inside the van, smiling– no, actually beaming– at his customer. Leila was posing outside the front of the van with an ice cream at her ruby red lips and a sly, sexy smile. She’d captioned the picture ‘Drew AKA Mr Whippy is going soft on me’ with a winky face.

My heart thudded in my chest. I zoomed in on Drew’s face. He was practically drooling. The bastard.

‘What are you doing there, pretty lady?’ Rae’s voice interrupted my social stalking.

She appeared back with the two guys from the bar, one at each shoulder, and plonked herself across from me.

‘I need a shot,’ I replied, putting my phone in my bag.

‘Glad to be of service.’ One of the guys stretched his arm out to me, with a small frothy shot glass.

I downed it in one and slammed it on the table.

‘Let’s have another then,’ I said, wiping my lips.

Because, after all, if you can’t beat them, you may as well join them.

27

I woke up with a start and looked around. The light bounced around the room, and I realised time had crept into the afternoon. I wondered how long I’d been asleep for. I was in a bedroom, too. How had I managed to get in here? The door lay wide open and there, sitting in the same spot I’d left him, was Riley. The side of his face was lit by a small table light. He paused every so often to think and then kept going, tapping away on his keyboard. It was no wonder the Rathcliffe ladies were falling at his feet. I could have watched him work for hours.

‘Hey.’ My voice cracked as I attempted to catch Riley’s attention.

He looked up.

‘Sleeping Beauty,’ he smiled.

He stood up and walked towards the bedroom. My stomach flipped.

‘Definitely sleeping, I don’t know about the beauty part,’ I said. ‘What time is it?’

‘It’s nearly three o’clock. You’ve been asleep for a good couple of hours.’

‘I can’t freaking believe it. I feel like I’ve won the lottery.’ I smiled up at him as he sat down on the bed beside me. ‘I don’t sleep. I mean, obviously I do for a while. Sometimes, at night. But two hours in the middle of the day is totally unheard of. Did you carry me into the bedroom by the way?’

‘Yup,’ Riley said. ‘You were snoring so loudly it was putting me off my writing.’