Read Online The Doll's House by Tania Carver - Free Book Online Page A

here.’
    â€˜Good. Thought for a minute you’d nodded off. No chance of that last night, though, was there?’
    She had to say something. ‘What… what d’you mean?’
    â€˜Last night,’ he said, an irritable edge to his voice, as if it was beneath him to explain. ‘I mean about what happened last night.’
    â€˜What did happen last night?’
    Another laugh, more like an explosion this time. ‘Well that’s an insult, I must say.’
    Marina’s head was spinning from more than just the alcohol residue. ‘Just… tell me what happened.’
    â€˜You know what happened. You were there.’
    â€˜Humour me. Pretend I wasn’t.’
    Another noise – an intake of breath, a snort, she couldn’t be sure – then a sentence started and quickly halted before she could make out what he was saying. ‘We… had fun.’
    Her stomach flipped over. She thought she was going to be sick. ‘What kind of fun?’
    â€˜What kind d’you think?’
    Suddenly Marina’s skin was too hot for her body and she felt like she wanted to claw it off. Her head spun again, her breathing fast and irregular. It was how what she imagined one of Phil’s old panic attacks felt like.
    â€˜I… I…’
    Another chuckle. ‘Two I’s. Very egotistical. But I like that in a woman.’
    â€˜I… don’t know what you’re talking about…’
    â€˜Oh come on, don’t be bashful. Don’t try and pretend it never happened. We’re all grown-ups here. Deal with it and move on.’
    Marina said nothing.
    â€˜Until the next time.’
    â€˜What? What are you… I can’t even remember the last time. There’s not… there’s not going to be a next time.’
    â€˜Would you like to meet for lunch? I’ll pay.’
    â€˜Aren’t you listening to what I’m saying?’
    â€˜I am. And I’m asking you to lunch today. And you’re going to say yes.’
    â€˜Oh, am I?’
    â€˜You are.’
    â€˜Why?’
    Another chuckle. ‘Because I’m a much better psychologist, and a better reader of people for that matter, than you give me credit for. And because you won’t let this go without seeing me. For whatever reasons you think you may have.’
    Marina said nothing. She could hear her breathing, the blood pumping round her body, hot and fast.
    â€˜All right. When and where?’
    He told her. ‘And don’t be late. I can’t abide that.’ The words carried an undertow of threat. He hung up.
    Marina flung the phone on the bed. Looked around the room, taking in the walls like a zoo animal trapped in its cage.
    She took a mouthful of coffee. It was still hot. It tasted cold.
    Then she ran to the bathroom and threw up.

13
    M addy could feel it. Knew it was there without even looking. Still. It hadn’t stopped coming, wouldn’t stop. No matter what she put there to stem it, absorb it. Every time she moved her body she could feel that it hadn’t stopped, that it was only waiting. A reminder of what she had done. An admonishment.
    In blood.
    The tears had stopped long ago. She had cried so much, let so much hurt and pain come screaming out of her body that it left her feeling physically tired. Once the tears and snot had dried on her face she could have just curled up and slept. And she would have done, if she hadn’t been feeling so depressed, so bereft. So empty inside.
    That was almost a joke. The kind
he
would find amusing.
    Acid curdled in her stomach at the thought. Of the joke. Of him. Of what she had done to herself. Of what she had let him do to her.
    She sat in her bedroom, afraid to leave, afraid to talk to the rest of the house. They would want to know what was wrong with her and she wouldn’t be able to tell them. She had sworn not to, one of the first things they had agreed. That he made her agree to.