Page 108 of Kicks

“Look at the sacrifice he’s made,” Harry continued, clearly warming to his theme. “He’s thrown that job away to allow us to get rid of Brian. That’s not the behaviour of a cold-hearted liar, is it?”

“When did you get so insightful?”

Harry swigged his beer. “Kim always has those true crime documentaries on. We’re getting really good at spotting psychopaths.”

Billy shook his head. “You fucking nutter.”

“Seriously. Think again about it. You and Eddie were pretty good together. Crystal never stops banging on about him.”

“I’ll think about it,” Billy said. “This weekend is about getting Crystal off to Manchester.”

They clinked bottles.

Then he would have to face the future head-on. No matter what shape it took.

TWENTY-FIVE

EDDIE

Eddie had spent the weekend in front of the television on aSopranosmarathon. Both Scott and Tyler had attempted to lure him off the sofa with various offers of going for runs, walks, drinks or meals. To no avail. When Eddie got into his head like this, the best way was to zone out and wait for it to pass.

Sure enough, Monday morning rolled around and the weight of dread lifted. Even by a little. Whatever decision James had come to, they would all find out and he wouldn’t have to worry about it. Come what may.

He’d given up trying to contact Billy. Ten unread messages told him all he needed to know.

With a knot inside him that could have been a boulder, Eddie walked through reception.

“Hey,” Charlotte said.

He stopped. “Morning.”

“Morning, hot stuff,” she said, giving him the once-over.

Eddie had made the call that if he was going down, he would be doing it in style. Today he had on a tight black shirt and equally as form-fitting white trousers.

“Thanks. Don’t know why I give a shit. I’ve properly fucked it.”

“I’m sorry, babe. Brad will be a total prick after this.”

Eddie held up his bag. “Resignation letter is already in here.”

“No!”

“I can’t do anything else. I’m gutted.”

Charlotte made her way around the reception desk and threw her arms around him.

“Something might happen yet,” she said into his neck. “I don’t want you to go.”

He extracted himself and smiled sadly. “Thanks. It means a lot.”

“What about Scott and Tyler?”

“I would only be working somewhere else,” he said with a laugh he didn’t really mean. “I’m not going to throw myself off the pier.”

The pier.

With a heavy heart, he walked through the doors into the office. In his line of business, the minute a person resigned, they were marched off site and put on gardening leave. The company’s data always took priority over getting a month’s work out of leaving sales staff.