Page 104 of All Right No

“And what if he’s so inebriated that he doesn’t know what he’s doing and isn’t in a position to stop those five women doing whatever they like? Did any of you think of that?”

Boy did Dani sound pissed. Ginny was bristled right along with her. She’d seen with her own eyes what the band’s groupies were like. For too many of them, Ash’s wants would be irrelevant. All that mattered was that they got to claim they’d slept with him. How enjoyable that experience was for either party, or whether it was even consensual were by the by.

“He’ll chuck over them,” Xane reiterated.

Dani made a disgusted noise. Then there was a scuffle of feet, and sharp words, as Dani told both her lovers where to go take themselves. She had a few choice words for Spook too. “You’re shit friends for even considering letting this happen. Real friends would step in and stop him from doing this to himself. Real friends don’t let their mates get raped. What?” She made another disgusted growl. “You think that’s not an actual thing that happens? Ash is out of it. He’s too drunk to put one foot in front of the other properly. What’s happening in that room is not consensual.”

Please listen to her, and stop them.

Dani was on the move. The phone must be in her pocket, because things were rustling against it. It occurred to Ginny that maybe she shouldn’t be listening in, but then how could she possibly hang up?

A door creaked open and slammed closed.

“Hey, it’s occupied,” an unknown woman yelled.

“Find your own playmate,” brayed another.

“Take a hike, ladies. The party’s over.”

It was hard to believe that was Dani speaking. She’d always possessed a protective streak, but months of living with the band had toughened her. She sounded like she wasn’t going to take any shit, and the ladies with Ash clearly knew it.

“I said it’s time to go, princess.”

There was always one snowflake in every group who thought they were the exception.

“Who the fuck are you to be telling us what to do anyway?”

“She’s Xane’s bitch,” another voice muttered.

“Then Ash ain’t any of your business.”

“He’s my friend, numbskull. I mind when my friends are being assaulted.”

“I think the party is over, ladies,” Xane’s voice boomed over the chatter of other voices.

“Hey, Xane.”

“Oh, hi, Xane.”

“She thinks there’s a problem, but see there isn’t. Ash invited us. Isn’t that right, tiger?”

A lot of garbled shouting erupted, that ended with Dani screaming, “Do you even imagine he’s with it enough to recall what you look like tomorrow?”

Sheesh! He sounded so bad. Ginny was stepping into her shoes and frantically looking around for her keys to bomb to the rescue before she realised that not only did she not know exactly where Ash was, and that his location was in a different country, but she wouldn’t be welcome even if they were right across the street. Her turd of an ex had made sure of that. Well, him and her own bad judgement. As if it wasn’t bad enough that he’d destroyed her life, she suspected he was the one behind the rumours being published by the daily mudslingers.

“If there are no issues, then you’ll all be fine with me taking a few photographs.” Spook had evidently decided it was time to provide some back-up, and while he clearly wasn’t stopping anything that was going on, his remark seemed to convince most of the women to run for cover. Squeals and protests accompanied the shutter snap of his photo application.

“I didn’t consent to you taking that. Delete it, now!”

“Did Ash consent to you stripping him?”

There followed the scuffle of multiple people moving, and of bedsprings creaking.

“I haven’t done anything wrong. You delete that, you hear. You delete that…”

The shrieks faded into the background, and the line went quiet save for some laboured breathing.

“Now will you admit I was right,” Dani said. She received several murmured apologies.