The Hating Game (39 page)

‘
Well, now, she took off a few hours ago. I gave her directions to Cliff Top, and she said she’d be back in the afternoon to pick you up since you were still sleeping.’

‘
Oh,’ Jess puffed, slightly mollified. Well, it was nice of Deniz to let her sleep
, but she was hardly going to stick around here!

‘
Gordie, can I borrow your car or
truck or something? I know it’s a massive favour, but I really need to get to that caravan site. Mattie might be in danger.’ Jess hated to ask someone she barely knew, but there was no way of trusting Deniz to stop whatever might go down today.

But Gordie was shaking his head. ‘No can do, I’m afraid. It’s in the garage at the moment. New carburettor, you know.’

Jess didn’t know – or
care. She just needed to get to that site before it was too late. ‘Please, Gordie. Is there any way I can get there? Do you have . . . a bike, or anything?’ She hadn’t ridden a bike for years, but needs must, as her Gran used to say.

Gordie chewed his lip. ‘Tell you what. Follow me. Might take awhile, but we’ll get you there. ’

*

Mattie
opened her eyes and stared in groggy disbelief as Kyle padded out of the room. What on Earth was he doing – watching her sleep? He always used to tell her she seemed so peaceful in slumber. A whoosh of emotion warmed her chilly bones and she couldn’t help smiling. He
must
still have feelings for her.

S
he sat up, even more determined to tell Kyle how she really felt. Today she would fight for their future.

Back at the caravan after sea kayaking
, she’d tried to get him alone, but he’d continually managed to manoeuvre himself away and towards Adam, who in turn looked as if he’d happily strangle him. And then . . . Mattie squinted as she tried to recall the rest of the day. Dinner in the grungy cafeteria, some foul-tasting concoction the warthog cook tried to pass off as spaghetti. God, all that exercise had really knocked her out – she couldn’t even remember going to bed. Well, yesterday didn’t matter; nothing in the past did. Today, Mattie wasn’t going to give up. She would tell Kyle how she felt if it required pinning him down and shouting in his ear.

A few minutes later, t
he door rattled with an accompanying knock. ‘Morning, gang!’ Baz’s voice cut through the thin caravan walls.

Her heart sank. Now she’d have to wait unt
il later to talk with Kyle.

‘
Come on, guys
!’ Baz banged down the corridor. ‘Let’s go, Mattie! We’ve got a real treat in store today.’

‘
I’m sure.’ Mattie sighed and swung her heavy legs to the floor, trying to pat her hair into some kind of order. After attempting miracles in the loo, she headed out to the lounge. Millions of people watching her every move, and she couldn’t even have a hot shower.

‘
Morning,’ she said to Kyle, who was already dressed in jeans and a black T-shirt. He shot her a funny look, and her heart flipped. Would he believe her when she told him how she felt? Would he want to start again? She stared, trying to read his thoughts. He’d always been so open, but now . . .

Kyle nodded and glanced away.

‘
Morning, Mattie,’ Adam said
calmly. Sitting on the sofa he looked surprisingly cool and collected. Thank God for that – Mattie had been sure he was going to have a meltdown after the kayaking incident.

‘
So what’s the treat, then, Baz?’ she asked
.

Baz rubbed his hands together. ‘You’re going to love it.
Today’s Relationship Repair will focus on risk taking, because relationships are all about risks. So . . . you’re all going zip-wiring!’

Mattie looked over at Kyle. He’d always said he wanted to go zip-wiring in the Amazon; she’d rolled her eyes and answered that she’d rather undergo Chinese Water Torture care of fifty rabid chavs. The Isle of Wight wasn’t exactly the Amazon, but still, he’d love it. Kyle glanced at her and smiled. A glimmer of something resembling hope pinged Mattie’s heart.

Baz herded them out of the caravan and into the bright sun where Nate stood waiting, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, looking anxious and nervous. God, that man really had to learn to relax – he never actually appeared to be was enjoying anything.

‘
The zip-wire site’s just a few minutes’ walk from here,’ Baz announced, leading them away from the holiday camp and deep into the woods.

Mattie breathed in the clean scent of the trees. It wasn’t so bad now that the monsoon-like rains had stopped and the weak February sun had made a halting appearance. The smell of damp leaves reminded her of the last time she’d been in a forest, when Kyle had asked if she could trust him.

Nate sidled over.
‘Listen, can I talk to you for a second?’ His voice was low.

‘
No. No you can’t! Y
ou’ve said and done enough to last me a lifetime!’

Mattie tried to walk away but Nate grabbed her arm and
tugged the cord of her mic out of the battery pack clipped to her back.

‘
What the
–?’ His forcefulness surprised her.

‘
Just
listen
,’ Nate said, owlish eyes serious behind his specs. ‘They’re trying to get you all off the show. Today. They’ve tampered with the zip-wire harnesses.’

Mattie rolled her eyes.
‘I’m not an idiot, Nate. Get real. After everything you’ve pulled, do you think I’m going to believe a production company has “tampered with my harness”?’ She mimicked his tentative voice. ‘It’s not
CSI
.’

Unusually,
Nate didn’t scurry off with his tail between his legs. ‘It’s not the production company. It’s Baz! Mattie, you have to–‘

‘
What’s going on over here?’ Baz interrupted. ‘What are you two whispering about?’ He gave Nate a suspicious look.

Nate fiddled with the
mic cord. ‘Oh, nothing. Mattie had a problem with her mic. Just helping her fix it.’

‘
Come on, Nate.’ Baz motioned him forwa
rd and Nate looked back at her over his shoulder, puppy-dog eyes pleading for understanding and belief.

Tossers, Mattie thought as she followed them up the path. Surely the pair of them could have come up with something better than ‘we’ve tampered with the harnesses’? Not exactly unexpected, though, given that their combined
IQ barely equalled that of the average dinner plate.

They came up into the clearing where a skinny man was standing, a tangle of metal hooks hanging off him, seemingly about to fall over under the weight of it all.

‘
Welcome to Cliff To
p Zip-Wire!’ he said, handing them each a harness. ‘Now, I want you to listen to me very carefully. Health and safety is of the utmost importance . . .’

Mattie tuned out and turned the harness over in her hands, pulling on the hooks and tabs. Looked fine to her. Bloody Nate and Baz, trying to wind her up.

Just to be sure, she carefully observed
the demonstration on fitting the harness. ‘Pick up your right leg; place it carefully through the loops . . .’ Mattie rolled her eyes. If Baz and Nate wanted to make the whole scenario believable, they could have at least got an instructor who wasn’t Mr Safety personified!

Mattie slipped on the harness as best she could over all the layers of clothes and looked up to where the zip-wire was hanging between the trees. God. It
was
kind of high up there.

‘
Come on.’ The instructor waved them all over to
a ladder attached to a tree. Mattie watched as Kyle and Adam scampered up ahead of her and onto an open wooden platform, half-way up the tree.

‘
Come on, Mattie!’

‘
What does it look like I’m doing?’ Mattie grunted, swinging onto the ladder. Don’t look down, she told herself, climbing one careful step at a time.

She reached th
e platform, panting hard, and finally looked down. Ram was crouched, camera pointing up at them. Nate was mouthing something at her but she couldn’t make it out.

What if Nate wasn’t lying? What if something
was
wrong with the harnesses? She leaned over the edge of the platform and the ground loomed up at her. But no, Mr Safety definitely would have spotted it. Nate and Baz couldn’t get the better of her.

‘
So who wants to go first?’ the instructor asked the three of them as they stood lined up on the edge of the platform.

Mattie threw a defiant loo
k at TweedleDuo on the ground.

‘
I’ll go!’ She’d show them she wasn’t afraid.

‘
Okay
.’ The instructor attached the cord hanging from the zip-wire to the front of Mattie’s harness. ‘Ready?’

‘
Wait!
Mattie!’ Nate’s voice boomed out and Mattie made a face. How long was he going to keep the ruse going? She was just about to launch off the platform when she saw Adam reach out and give Kyle a hard shove forward.

She
watched in horror as Kyle struggled to keep his balance on the edge of the platform. Mattie tried to grab onto his harness but her hand grasped empty space. As if in slow motion, Kyle toppled off the platform and fell through the air, landing with a thump on the ground below.

‘
Kyle!’ Mattie screamed, unclipping her harness and pushing past Adam on the narrow platform so she could get down the tree. Please don’t let him be dead, she muttered with every rung.
Please don’t let him be dead!
It felt like it took forever to reach the ground. She ran over to where he was lying, motionless. Ram and Nate were already at his side.

‘
Is he okay
?’ she asked. She touched his arm. ‘Kyle, can you hear me?’ Then, she noticed the faint movement of his chest rising and falling. Thank God! He was still alive.

‘
Keep filming!’ Baz was yelling at Ram. ‘You bloody big idiot, just keep filming!’

Ram ignored him
and crouched over Kyle. ‘Doesn’t look like anything’s broken,’ he said to Mattie and Nate. Ram let out a low whistle. ‘He’s lucky. Must have fallen thirty feet.’

‘
Don’t mov
e him,’ the instructor yelled from the platform above, where he was struggling to keep hold of Adam. ‘Have you called 999?’

‘
Just now
,’ Baz yelled, holding up his BlackBerry. ‘Should be here soon.’

Mattie knelt over Kyle. ‘Kyle,’ she said softly into his ear. She touched his face, feeling the stubble scratch against her hand. ‘Please be all right. Please. I want another chance with you. We need another chance.’

There was a noise nearby and she
turned to see Baz shoving Ram’s camera in her face.

‘
Get away from me!’
she hissed. She couldn’t believe the slimy fool was still filming.

Nate spra
ng up, grabbed Baz’s arms and the camera crashed to the ground. ‘That’s
enough
!’ Nate bellowed. Mattie stared at him, surprised. Nate had never sounded so angry.

Suddenly ther
e was a shout from the platform above them and Mattie looked up to see the instructor and Adam rolling around, perilously close to the edge.

‘
Mattie!’ Adam was screaming. ‘Mattie! I love you!’ He clawed at the instructor.

‘
Jesus Christ,’ Mattie breathed, praying the instructor could hang onto Adam. He looked possessed.

Ram
lumbered up onto the platform. He grabbed Adam’s arms and hauled him upright, pinioning him against the tree trunk. Adam struggled, fists flying, but Ram held him tight. Seeing he couldn’t escape, Adam sagged and rolled into the foetal position, whimpering and shaking.

Mattie shivered. There had never been any doubt in her mind, but now she was certain: Adam was one hundred per cent crazy. She couldn’t believe he had pushed Kyle! Thank God Kyle was still alive but . . . who knew how injured he really was?

Kyle groaned and
stirred on the ground beside her. ‘You’re going to be okay. The ambulance will be here any second.’ She looked around frantically. Where the hell
was
it?

To her left the glint of a thick lens caught her eye. ‘Baz!’ Mattie was astonished he had the nerve to grab the camera and start filming again, even with a determined Nate still struggling to contain him. ‘Check how far away those paramedics are, will you?’

‘
I told you, they’re on the way,’ Baz puffed, holding fast to the camera and kicking Nate away. ‘Get lost, you useless moron!’

Kyle
‘s eyes flickered open. Mattie tuned out Baz and Nate as she met his gaze. ‘Kyle? You’ll be fine. Everything will be fine.’ She wiped a trace of dirt off his cheek as his eyes sunk closed again.

Had he heard her? Did he know she wanted a second chance? It didn’t matter.
She’d tell him again and again, until the words finally got through. This time, she wouldn’t give up.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE