Read Online No Questions Asked by David Menon - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: David Menon
Tags: UK
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anyone?’
‘I’m seeing ... well I’m seeing a woman now called Kate. She’s a teacher at my kids’ school’.
Ollie couldn’t help but smirk. ‘Now why doesn’t that surprise me’
‘Look, Ollie, don’t be like that. You know I wouldn’t have missed what happened between us for the world but I just can’t see myself settling down with another man. It just wouldn’t work for me. Having sex with men is one thing and I love that ...’
‘ ... yes, I remember’.
‘But Ollie, settling down with another man and living as a couple is something else entirely and something I just couldn’t handle’.
‘Adrian, I understand and it’s not as if I was ever offering you the chance to settle down with me. My body may not be spoken for but my heart very much is and I’ll be with my partner for life. But I got to know you well enough over those few weeks we were seeing each other to know that you can’t hide that part of you away forever. I hope it works out for you and this Kate, I really do. But sooner or later you’ll feel that need again. I know it and so do you, and then you’ll be living a secret life behind her back. If that’s what you want then fine go for it. But I can’t help thinking that one day it’s all going to explode in your face’.
‘Not if I’m careful’.
‘Oh get real, Adrian. Think hard about your life and where it’s going and get real’.
.
FIVE
On the way to the Paradise club Joe and Adrian hit the early rush hour traffic that became particularly bad in the approach to Stockport where they came off the M60 next to the Co-op Bank call centre pyramid. Joe was driving.
‘Well this is like it always is’ said Joe. ‘You and me off to nail down the clues in some seedy club. It’s like a seamless transfer from one squad to the next’.
Adrian wasn’t listening. He was still thinking about what Ollie Wright said before they’d left the station. Ollie’s words had gone deeper than he’d wanted them to. In fact they’d quite knocked him off balance inside.
‘Adrian?’
‘What?’
‘Where the hell have you gone? Since we left the station I feel like I’ve been on my own’.
Adrian snapped out of it. ‘Sorry, mate’ he said.
‘What’s the matter? Didn’t you feel comfortable with DSI Barton?’
‘No it’s not that’ said Adrian. ‘I was just … well you know I said I’d started seeing Kate?’
‘Yeah?’
‘Well it’s our Jessica’ Adrian explained. He had to tell Joe something to explain why he’d been sitting there like an ignorant bastard for the last half an hour. And it wasn’t like he was going to be telling Joe a lie. He just wasn’t going to tell him the whole truth about how highly sexed he was and how he liked to get it from both women and men.
‘What about her?’
‘Well Kate is one of Jessica’s teachers. And she clearly can’t stand Kate’.
‘I never liked any of my teachers at Jessica’s age’.
‘Yes but your father presumably wasn’t a widower trying to build a relationship with one of them’.
‘No, that’s true’ said Joe. He thought about his parents who were as blissfully happy now as they always had been. They were the constant in his life and yet they weren’t getting any younger. One day he’d have to do without them and he wasn’t relishing the prospect. His brother and sister both had partners and children who would form the backbone of their family once the parents had passed on. The way things were working out for Joe, or not depending on the way he looked at it, he’d have nobody but himself to get him through. It was different for Adrian. He’d got three kids who’d get married and have kids of their own. He’d do alright whether he did settle down with Kate or someone else or nobody at all. He’d have folks there to see him through his old age.
‘I’m
‘I’m seeing ... well I’m seeing a woman now called Kate. She’s a teacher at my kids’ school’.
Ollie couldn’t help but smirk. ‘Now why doesn’t that surprise me’
‘Look, Ollie, don’t be like that. You know I wouldn’t have missed what happened between us for the world but I just can’t see myself settling down with another man. It just wouldn’t work for me. Having sex with men is one thing and I love that ...’
‘ ... yes, I remember’.
‘But Ollie, settling down with another man and living as a couple is something else entirely and something I just couldn’t handle’.
‘Adrian, I understand and it’s not as if I was ever offering you the chance to settle down with me. My body may not be spoken for but my heart very much is and I’ll be with my partner for life. But I got to know you well enough over those few weeks we were seeing each other to know that you can’t hide that part of you away forever. I hope it works out for you and this Kate, I really do. But sooner or later you’ll feel that need again. I know it and so do you, and then you’ll be living a secret life behind her back. If that’s what you want then fine go for it. But I can’t help thinking that one day it’s all going to explode in your face’.
‘Not if I’m careful’.
‘Oh get real, Adrian. Think hard about your life and where it’s going and get real’.
.
FIVE
On the way to the Paradise club Joe and Adrian hit the early rush hour traffic that became particularly bad in the approach to Stockport where they came off the M60 next to the Co-op Bank call centre pyramid. Joe was driving.
‘Well this is like it always is’ said Joe. ‘You and me off to nail down the clues in some seedy club. It’s like a seamless transfer from one squad to the next’.
Adrian wasn’t listening. He was still thinking about what Ollie Wright said before they’d left the station. Ollie’s words had gone deeper than he’d wanted them to. In fact they’d quite knocked him off balance inside.
‘Adrian?’
‘What?’
‘Where the hell have you gone? Since we left the station I feel like I’ve been on my own’.
Adrian snapped out of it. ‘Sorry, mate’ he said.
‘What’s the matter? Didn’t you feel comfortable with DSI Barton?’
‘No it’s not that’ said Adrian. ‘I was just … well you know I said I’d started seeing Kate?’
‘Yeah?’
‘Well it’s our Jessica’ Adrian explained. He had to tell Joe something to explain why he’d been sitting there like an ignorant bastard for the last half an hour. And it wasn’t like he was going to be telling Joe a lie. He just wasn’t going to tell him the whole truth about how highly sexed he was and how he liked to get it from both women and men.
‘What about her?’
‘Well Kate is one of Jessica’s teachers. And she clearly can’t stand Kate’.
‘I never liked any of my teachers at Jessica’s age’.
‘Yes but your father presumably wasn’t a widower trying to build a relationship with one of them’.
‘No, that’s true’ said Joe. He thought about his parents who were as blissfully happy now as they always had been. They were the constant in his life and yet they weren’t getting any younger. One day he’d have to do without them and he wasn’t relishing the prospect. His brother and sister both had partners and children who would form the backbone of their family once the parents had passed on. The way things were working out for Joe, or not depending on the way he looked at it, he’d have nobody but himself to get him through. It was different for Adrian. He’d got three kids who’d get married and have kids of their own. He’d do alright whether he did settle down with Kate or someone else or nobody at all. He’d have folks there to see him through his old age.
‘I’m
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