Page 3 of Be More Octopus

'Can you imagine? She'd be piling in with 'I told you so' and making out it's all my fault that he cheated on me.'

That thought finally broke the floodgates. Tears started streaming down Em's face. 'Perhaps, it is my fault. I'm sorry. I'll get a grip in a minute.'

She hated breaking down in front of other people, even Lucy, who'd been her best friend ever since they'd combined forces at nursery to evict the boys from the sandpit. At home, she'd learnt from an early age that crying was something you did in private, where her mother couldn't criticise her for it.

Lucy put her arm around Em. 'It's not your fault the bastard can't keep his cock under control.'

CHAPTER THREE

Em checked the time on her phone again. Connor was usually home early on Fridays. Where was he?

She looked around the flat for something to distract her, but she'd packed up everything that was hers. The boxes and bags were at their next-door neighbour's flat, waiting for Lucy's arrival.

The neighbour, Mrs Lewis, had been very understanding. 'I knew he was a wrong un. My mother always told me to avoid men who wear brown shoes with a blue suit.'

During the two years that Em had lived with Connor, Mrs Lewis had shared many of her mother's words of wisdom, so Em wasn't surprised to hear that she'd had an opinion on how to select a man. But why this particular clothing combination meant a man wasn't deemed to have long term relationship potential was a bit bewildering. Connor did have two blue suits and several pairs of brown shoes so perhaps Mrs Lewis's mother had a point.

Em got up from the sofa and stared out of the window at the cemetery across the road. The evening sun illuminated the large, angry-looking angel in the middle, its arm raised as if it were conducting an orchestra of uneven headstones. Lucy always said it was a depressing view, but Em found it comforting - the perfect reminder that few things in life were important unless they were genuinely a case of life or death. And this wasn't a life or death situation, more an opportunity to start afresh without a lying, cheating bastard at her side, albeit one that she'd thought she'd loved.

She heard Connor's key in the lock.

'What a shit day,' he said as he walked into the living room and threw himself on the sofa. 'You'll never guess what happened.'

Em turned to face him, pulling his phone out of her back pocket with a flourish as if she were a magician revealing the correct playing card to her audience.

'You lost this?' Em had exhausted all her tears talking to Lucy. She'd lost track of how many times she'd rehearsed this conversation over the last few hours. It would be a relief to get the performance over and done with. Remain calm, she coached herself, pleased that she'd delivered the first line of her script without showing her anger.

There was a brief look of relief on his face, which immediately turned to horror when she unlocked the phone and read his WhatsApp conversation out loud.

'It would seem A - I assume that's Astra who we used to talk to in the bar when we went to the cinema - has been missing you. Or, more precisely, your dick. Though she shouldn't be having trouble remembering what it looks like, as you've sent her a gallery of photos of it from every angle. Some of them are quite professional. The lighting on this one is superb.' She turned the screen towards him. 'It emphasises that peculiar little kink it has at the end.'

Connor looked down at his crotch.

'Don't check it now!' she said. He stared back at her like a rabbit caught in headlights.

'Let's see how long this has been going on.' Em scrolled up and up theatrically, pretending to work it out. 'One, two, three, four months, Connor - FOUR MONTHS!' She was in danger of losing control. Deep breath. 'You've been pretending to be a loving fiancé, yet all the time, you've been shagging Astra in this flat.'

'I'm … I'm sorry. She … she tricked me.' It wasn't like cool, confident Connor to stutter. She'd rattled him, at least.

'Tricked you? How precisely did she do that? Mesmerise you with her nipple piercings?'

He was looking panic-stricken now. 'Perhaps tricked is the wrong word. Look, it means nothing.' His voice had taken on a pleading tone.

'It means something to her - she's had your initial tattooed above her vag!' Em scrolled through more images and waved one in front of him, showing a naked Astra with a big C in the appropriate place.

'No, that … that was there before it's short for ….' His voice petered out as she saw it dawn on him that Em knew exactly what the C stood for, and it was probably what she was mentally calling him now.

'I don't care what it means. I wasn't expecting to see it on your phone.'

'I'm really sorry, Em. It won't happen again.'

'I don't care if it happens again because I'm not sticking around. Do you honestly think our relationship can survive this?'

Connor was now running his hands through his hair, staring at the floor.

Em carried on. 'I've called the hotel and cancelled our wedding booking. And I spent the rest of the afternoon calling our other wedding suppliers. We've lost our deposits on everything except the makeup artist. She took pity on me because, quote, “I've been cheated on by a lying scumbag too”. And you owe the hotel 50% of the balance. Good job I found out today. Another fortnight and you would have had to pay for the whole thing.'

'I owe the hotel?' He looked worried now.