A Lesser Evil by Lesley Pearse Read Free Book Online

aren’t worth a farthing,’ she said glumly.
    ‘That bad, eh?’ he said. ‘Can’t we try doing magic eyes and see what that does?’
    ‘I’ve tried that on Mum, but even if I could remove her snobbishness, tweak her suspicious nature and paint her dark soul sparkling white, I’d still be left with a carping dragon,’ she said, trying hard to smile.
    ‘I didn’t mean doing magic eyes on her,’ Dan said. ‘I meant the other possibilities, like you getting a flat with some other girls. Or you just thinking about getting a bedsitter again. Just think how good it would be if we had somewhere nice to be alone together.’
    ‘Umm,’ Fifi murmured, burying her head in his chest. There was hardly an hour in the day when she didn’t wish she was brave enough to throw all caution to the wind and get a room somewhere. She told Dan that her reasons for not doing so were because of the cost, because she was afraid of burning all her bridges with her family, and even that she was nervous of living alone. But while they were all considerations, they were also excuses, for her real reason for not leaving home was because she knew that the moment she was alone with Dan they would become lovers.
    She dreamed of little else, she wanted him more than life itself, but she was afraid of what that might bring. Two girls from her school had had to get married because they were pregnant. She’d seen the hardships they’d had to go through, and their parents’ disappointment, and she’d always vowed it would never happen to her. While she no longer cared about disappointing her parents, or even infuriating them, she certainly wasn’t inclined to give her mother any further ammunition to shoot Dan down with. Nor did she want to start married life under a cloud.
    It was intolerable at home now. There was no let-up in her mother’s digs about Dan and her comments that Fifi was making the biggest mistake of her life. Mostly she managed to ignore her, but every now and then Fifi would retaliate, and it turned into a full-scale row. Each time it happened she was shocked by her mother’s venom; anyone overhearing her would assume that Dan was a serial criminal, or had done something unspeakable to Clara. The only way to avoid these scenes was to stay out as much as possible.
    All through this summer she had lived for the time spent with Dan, yet happy as they were together, the strain of knowing she’d have to go back home at night often spoiled the good times. Fifi had used all her ingenuity to find things to do together at the weekends that didn’t cost much – picnics, long walks, a day trip to Weston-super-Mare or Bath. But when the weather was bad they were still stuck with pubs or the cinema.
    Now it was raining again, here they were in a sopping-wet wood, and once more she was hiding what was really going on to spare Dan’s feelings. She had cut herself off from her friends and her family because she loved him. But she didn’t think she could live this way much longer.
    ‘Give me a kiss then, I’ll cheer you up,’ he said, tilting her face up to his.
    As always when Dan kissed her, Fifi was immediately aroused, and as his hands slid up beneath her blouse, groping for her bra fastening, she found herself arching against him, wanting the thrill of his touch. But she also knew what came with it; they became more and more excited, and when she was forced to back away, they were both left with a feeling of let-down.
    ‘Don’t, Dan,’ she murmured, pushing his hands away from her breasts, but remaining glued to him.
    ‘I’m only human, Fifi,’ he said with a sigh. ‘I can’t think about anything else but touching you.’
    Fifi wriggled away from him and got up from the ground, shaking off the damp leaves stuck to her skirt.
    ‘What are we going to do?’ she asked angrily. ‘We spend all our time wandering around with nowhere to go. It’s going to get even worse when winter comes. Couldn’t we just get married and