Taming the Beast by Emily Maguire Read Free Book Online Page A

but with piles of books everywhere and an esky full of beer.’
    Jamie laughed. ‘That’s about fifty percent true.’
    ‘Fine,’ Jess said. ‘So maybe she’s got a bed and, like, one chair. I was right about the dirt and the books though.’
    ‘So I’m guessing the stuff about her working full-time in a restaurant during high school and still topping the state in English is only about half-true also?’
    Ridiculously, Jamie felt a rush of pride. ‘Actually, that’s one hundred percent true. She came third in French, too.’
    ‘Someone owes us an apology, I think,’ Jess said, touching Shelley’s arm. Shelley looked at Jamie and gave him a small, guilty smile.
    ‘Ah, but I haven’t even got to the interesting stuff yet.’ Mike leant in close to Jamie and dropped his voice. ‘Tell me it’s true that this girl seduces men by reciting poetry?’
    Jamie tried to minimise his cringe. ‘She has been known to.’
    ‘Although usually she just comes right out and tells the bloke she’s taking him home with her,’ Jess added.
    That was also true, but Jamie chose not to confirm it.
    ‘And the French rugby team?’
    Jamie glared at Shelley; she had
sworn
not to tell. ‘It wasn’t the whole–’
    Mike clapped his hands. ‘I
have
to meet this girl.’
    ‘I don’t think you’re getting a proper image of Sarah from these stories.’
    ‘But they are true?’
    Jamie shrugged. There was not much point defending Sarah’s honour when she herself would be telling these stories – and worse– if she had bothered to show up. It was just if she was here – if Mike could see her little bones and hear her rounded vowels and her deep, low laugh – he would understand that you could hear any number of scandalous stories about Sarah, could spend a day and a half listening to them, but you wouldn’t come close to knowing her. Sarah Clark was not translatable.
    ‘See? Told you so! I expect a full apology, mister.’ Jess tickled Mike’s stomach and he swatted at her hands then grabbed her around the waist and kissed her. Jess giggled and pressed into Mike, and then it was like they’d forgotten they were in the middle of a conversation.
    ‘Ah, new love,’ Shelley said. ‘I remember when we were like that, back in the olden days.’
    Jamie forced a laugh. He and Shelley had been together six months; Jess and Mike almost three.
    ‘Oh, I
want
to be punctuating every sentence by pushing my tongue down your throat, it’s just I know if I start kissing you here, I may not be able to stop.’
    Shelley took his hand. ‘I may not want you to.’
    Jamie could not help noticing that Mike had pushed Jess up against the pool fence and that both her hands were on his backside. God, Sarah would love this. She would be kicking herself when he told her she’d missed seeing Jess finally abandon her primness.
    Jamie kissed Shelley, because he knew she expected him to, and then he kept kissing her because – as always – he found that kissing Shelley was much nicer than he had remembered. She really was a great girl, and they did make an excellent couple. Shelley liked it that he was studious and softly spoken; she said she couldn’t wait to see him finish uni and set up in his own accountancy business, that she dreamed about being his office manager and also his lunchlady and personal masseuse. She cut his hair for him because she said she couldn’t bear the thought of another stylist getting her scissors on his precious sandy locks, and he didn’t want anyone else doing it because Shelley pressed her breasts into the back of his neck while she was cutting and told him funny stories about all the filthy haired, lecherous men she usually had to cut for.
    ‘Okay, stop.’ Shelley smiled up at him. ‘No, not stop, pause. To be continued in the near future in a more suitable location.’
    He nuzzled her neck. Over her shoulder he saw that Mike and Jess had disappeared. ‘We could go inside. Find a nice, private