Page 66 of Marley

“Oh no. No, no, no,” George begged out loud, shaking her head as if it would stop my mum’s words from being true.

Jimmie was shaking her head in much the same way as George was. She stared at Maca, but realisation hadn’t hit him yet.

Len’s eyes landed on mine as he whispered, “No fucking way.”

My dad and Bailey just looked confused.

Jimmie and George locked eyes. “Whorely?” Jimmie half questioned, half stated.

“It was the girl from the rape charge,” my mum said quietly.

Maca was up and on his feet before anyone could grab him. I lurched forward, fearing that he was gonna slap or shake my mum, but it was my sister he turned to.

“No, no fucking way. I have not clapped eyes on that girl since that day. There isnotandnever was,anything between me and her, G,never. I swear on my life.”

Fuck.

Maca was in meltdown mode. I was ready to jump in and back him up one hundred and ten percent when my sister shocked the shit out of me by saying, “I know, I know. I believe you.”

The entire room was silent. Even Bailey looked stunned.

Maca sat back down next to George and took her hand. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his side as she wrapped her free arm across her front, like she was trying to hold herself together.

“Fuck,” she said on an exhale, sounding like she still couldn’t quite believe all of the shit.

“That girl really does hate me. She’s gone all out to ruin my life and keep us apart for all this time.”

“Either that, or she’s just a fucking nutter.” Bailey finally spoke.

“I need a drink.” Georgia said.

Drink? I needed that, and possibly every drug in town.

Haley White ... Haley fucking White.

What a conniving little bitch she was. I was stunned, I was angry, and so fucking relieved that nobody seemed to be blaming me for what she’d done.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

1989

The following night we went to one of our favourite Indian restaurants. We were regulars back in the day and had even held meetings there when things first started to take off for us.

Maca and George had stayed at Jimmie and Len’s the night before. After my parents had left and things had calmed down a little bit, Bailey had mentioned in front of Maca that George had been seeing someone. We’d shut him down as quickly as we could, and then the lot of us had proceeded to get pleasantly stoned.

George had come over to our place that afternoon, and her and Maca were all over each other, so I assumed Cameron King was no longer in the equation, and they had sorted their shit out and were back together.

Like the night before, after my parents had left that is, I felt this weird sense of ... I don’t know what, exactly. I felt calm and content, happier than I had in a long time. I was sitting eating dinner with four of the people I loved most in the world and it warmed the cockles, as my dad would say.

Despite Len booking a table towards the back and in the corner of the restaurant, we were still recognised and asked to sign autographs, but even those interruptions couldn’t dampen my happy mood. In that moment, I didn’t feel like a rock star. I didn’t think about the places I’d been, the people I’d met, or the things I’d seen over the past few years. For the next few hours, I just kicked back and enjoyed my favourite food with my brother, sister, and two of my best friends.

Then we tried to leave the place and all hell broke loose.

Some fucker had tipped off the press and they were everywhere.

I’d just told George she needed to eat a few more curries and fatten herself up as we walked outside. She’d turned to me and said “Fuck you, Marls. That’s as insulting as telling a fat person they should eat less and lose weight.”

“Ignore him, babe, you’re fucking perfect.” Maca had called out from behind me.