Libby burst out laughing. ‘Live it up, Mils, honey. There’s more where that came from.’
‘This place isfullof men,’ Millie whispered. ‘And they’re all … I mean …’
‘We’re all bloody perfect, darling,’ a male voice drawled next to them. Pav instinctively pulled Millie to his other side and narrowed his eyes at the newcomer. ‘Oh,’ the man said, putting his hand on his well-defined chest over his heart, and throwing his blonde head back dramatically. ‘Ilovethe caveman possessive thing, Gorgeous. Very Bruce Willis circa 1985. If only I were a five-foot-five beautiful submissive brunette. You’d have my ovaries rivalling Cirque du Soleil. Alas, apart from making me sport a slightly uncomfortable semi, your antics are all for nothing. My crumpet’s buttered the other side.’
Pav blinked, then relaxed his stance and a slow grin spread across his face. ‘Right,’ he said through a chuckle. ‘Of course.’
‘We don’t get many real live vagina lovers in here, apart from the lesbians,’ the man said, cocking his head to the side. ‘You’re obvs not gay. Bi-curious?’ He gave Pav a cheeky wink. Pav held his hand up and shook his head.
‘Nope,’ he said firmly. ‘Definitely in the vagina-loving camp here.’
The new man sighed and fixed his gaze on Pav’s chest for a moment. ‘Shame,’ he said. ‘Your grooming isalmostup to our standards. You’d have to get rid of that lot though.’ He tapped Pav just above his shirt collar where some of his chest hair was showing.
‘Mark!’ Kira flounced into the middle of the group and threw her arms around the new man. He swung her from side to side and gave her a kiss on the cheek. ‘Ki-Ki, darling, you didn’t tell me you were bringing real life hetero men with you. I thought it was girls’ night?’
‘Yes, well. He decided to tag along,’ she said, then added: ‘Bi-curious,’ in a stage whisper that was louder than most people’s speaking voices. Pav felt a few eyes near their group turn towards him and he sighed. He’d already had his arse pinched at least twice. Kira’s little announcement would be like a red rag to a bull with some of these blokes. ‘Right, everyone. This is Mark. I met him in the sexual health clinic.’
‘Ki-Ki,’ sighed Libby. ‘Youworkedtogether in the sexual health clinic.’
‘Shut up, Lib!’ Kira hissed. ‘We like peeps to think we have to go get checked regularly. Makes us more edgy – right, Marky Mark?’
‘Definitely, darling,’ Mark drawled. ‘If people don’t think I’m getting my end away enough to have to have monthly swabs taken my reputation will be in tatters.’ Mark peered round Pav to smile at Millie. Pav shifted to the side and ushered her into the group. Her face was pale and she had a death-grip on her handbag. He took his arm from her shoulder and prised one set of her fingers off the bag, transferring the death-grip to him.
‘You must be this girl-genius I’ve heard so much about,’ Mark said, softening his tone from Obnoxious Gay to Warm-Hearted Auntie for her benefit. Pav glanced at Kira and she gave him a small nod. Mark had been briefed about Millie. ‘You look like a sexy Audrey Hepburn. I can’t wait to show you around.’
Millie’s lips were pressed firmly together. She closed her eyes for just a moment, then managed to prise them apart and force out a ‘thanks’. Mark smiled even wider.
‘Okay, Screaming Orgasms all round, ladies!’ he shouted. Tara and Claire screamed in agreement. Millie shot Pav a panicked look as Mark took her arm.
‘I don’t think I –’ she started to say as she resisted being pulled forward toward the bar and away from Pav.
‘Don’t worry, darling,’ Mark said, tugging her firmly along. ‘You don’t need your bodyguard in here. He, on the other hand …’ He trailed off as she glanced back at Pav. A couple of bystanders had sidled up to him in the space of the last thirty seconds, and by the feel of the large hand on his arse they were wanting to test just how bi-curious he was prepared to get. ‘Well, let’s worry about that later.’
Chapter 15
Fuckall the men
The world felt as if it was ever so slightly tilted to the side. Millie hiccupped. She was drunk. For the first time in her twenty-six years she was actually inebriated. When she’d arrived at the bar with Mark and discovered that Screaming Orgasms were in fact alcoholic beverages in shot glasses, she’d informed him that she didn’t drink.
He frowned. ‘Ex-alcoholic?’ he’d asked.
She told him no but had explained about the interaction of alcohol with primary and secondary targets within the brain causing alterations in gene expression and synaptic plasticity, leading to long-lasting alteration in neuronal network activity.
After that speech he burst out laughing and slammed a shot down in front of her. ‘I think it’s time to shake up your neuronal network, baby,’ he told her. ‘I’m sure there’ll be enough brain cells up there to take the hit.’
Millie had looked from him to the shot and frowned. Mark’s reasoning was totally devoid of logic. Nobody could afford to ‘shake up’ their neuronal network.
‘Leave her alone, mate,’ Pav said, sliding the shot glass down the bar away from her. He’d managed to extract himself from his male fan club in a surprisingly short space of time. ‘She doesn’t drink. There’s nowayshe could handle spirits.’
Millie narrowed her eyes at Pav. His arms were crossed over his chest and his mouth was set in a stubborn line. As far as he was concerned that was the end of it: Millie was not going to be drinking. For some reason his arrogant assumption caused an unfamiliar surge of defiance to sweep its way through her.
Screw logic.
Where had logic gotten her anyway? Locked away in her house night after night. Living within her narrow limits. Almost universally disliked by the entire hospital. Slowly she reached forward, leaned across Pav and closed her fingers around the small glass.
‘Millie?’ Pav asked, but before he could react she slid the glass over to her, lifted it to her lips and drank it down in one gulp. Surprisingly it was creamy and sweet, with just the hint of a burn. The last alcohol she’d drunk had been at a wine tasting with her parents when she was sixteen. That had made her wince and turn a little green much to her parents’ disgust (they told her it was a three-hundred-pound bottle and that it was justtypicalthat she couldn’t appreciate the quality).
‘Woah, babe!’ Tara said from Millie’s side. ‘You could have waited for us.’ Millie watched as the rest of the group downed their own shots together, all except Pav who had ordered a beer and was rolling his eyes.
