Forward Slash by Mark Edwards, Louise Voss Read Free Book Online

I won’t tell Clive, if you promise not to tell my sister.’
    Kath pauses, the glass halfway to her mouth. ‘Why not?’
    I don’t answer immediately because I’m distracted by a picture of a guy on CupidsWeb who looks so ridiculously sexy and handsome that I can’t believe he doesn’t have women camping outside his front door. ‘Ooh, look at HIM! He’s gorgeous.’ I click on his profile. ‘SolsticeLover – thirty-five, divorced, a two-year-old who’s the love of his life, five foot nine. A film editor … and he only lives in Streatham!’
    Kath tuts. ‘A two-year-old who’s the apple of her dad’s eye? Don’t go there, Becks, just think of the baggage he’ll have. Do you really want to be spending every other weekend with a needy, whining small person?’ She pauses for comic effect. ‘And that’s just the dad!’
    We laugh, although I sometimes wonder why on earth Katherine became a teacher when she seems so anti-kids. ‘But he is lovely, though, isn’t he?’ I stroke his stubbly cheek on the monitor and make a mock lovey-dovey face at it.
    ‘I wouldn’t kick him out of bed for eating crisps,’ Kath said. ‘You haven’t told me why you don’t want Amy to know?’
    I was hoping she’d forgotten. I take a minute to choose my words, although I know they will be severely edited when I do – I swore to Amy I’d never tell anybody what happened with her and that arsehole, and it feels disloyal to even hint at it.
    ‘Oh. She’s just a bit old-fashioned. Wants me to get married and have hordes of kids, so that she doesn’t have to.’
    Kath frowns. ‘Why would she object to you finding someone online?’
    ‘She assumes they’re all weirdos and nutters. A … er … friend of hers had a really bad time with a guy she was living with …’ I trail off, being deliberately vague.
    ‘Fair enough. Well, it can be our secret then.’ She taps the side of her nose and pulls a cigarette out of the pack in her handbag. ‘Just going for a fag and a wee, back in a mo.’
    When she squeezes out onto my tiny balcony, I click back to SolsticeLover and read his personal statement. He sounds amazing – until the part where he says,
I think I should probably state upfront that I’m a Druid, and my spirituality means everything to me. I want someone to share my beliefs with.
    I wonder where a Druid living in Streatham goes to practise his rituals? However gorgeous he is, I can’t quite see myself donning white robes and joining him and his cronies to perform blood rites on a squirrel on Wandsworth Common …
    Kath comes back into the room, the smell of cigarettes following her like an acrid cloud, and she has this familiar look on her face, the kind of look that gives me a little tingle of excitement in the same way I used to feel excited at school when my best friend suggested we do something naughty.
    ‘I’ve decided,’ she proclaims.
    ‘On what?’
    ‘That I’m going to do it. Join you in the wonderful world of Internet dating.’
    I look at her, sitting there on the arm of my armchair, her nipples clearly visible through her thin T-shirt, her tongue stained black with wine. Her eyes are shining with mischief and the flesh of her throat is flushed pink.
    ‘But, really – what about Clive?’ I ask.
    ‘Oh, he doesn’t have to know. You won’t tell him, will you? I just need a bit of fun, Becks. While I’m young and hot.’ She winks and pads over to the computer.
    ‘You’re a nightmare,’ I say, but I have to admit, it’s exciting. And God knows, after some of the dreary dates I’ve been on recently, and with my seeming inability to find the kind of man I fantasize about, I could do with some help.
    Kath grabs the keyboard and pulls it towards her, biting her lower lip, waves of sexual energy pouring off her.
    ‘Come on,’ she says. ‘Let’s find ourselves a couple of real men.’
    I have a flicker of hesitation – what am I letting myself in for? I had it all under control; sedate