‘Christ, leave me something, would you?’ Finn pleaded softly.
‘Is this intended to shock me in some way, O’Halloran? I asked. ‘Am I meant to blush, or step back in horror, or maybe look at Finn in a new light following your distasteful little revelations?’
At last the smug grin began to slip. ‘I’m sure I didn’t -’ he began, but I hadn’t finished.
‘And do you think for one moment that anything you say to me, any unpleasant, tawdry detail, isn’t a tired variation on something I heard from my own mother over fifteen years ago?’
‘As I was saying, I’m sure I didn’t mean to cause any offence. Just having a bit of a crack on, that’s all. I’ll leave you to it, shall I?’ Coyle stood and threw the packet across the table at Finn. ‘Enjoy,’ he called as he left.
Finn lit up his next cigarette. ‘Don’t.’
‘Don’t what?’
‘Say a word.’
‘I wasn’t going to say anything.’
‘Didn’t – fucking – need to.’ Finn popped three white tablets into the palm of his hand in time to the words. He swallowed them with what was left of his coffee. ‘Your face says everything, anyway.’
‘What is this, the bloody Thought Police?’ I retorted. ‘I’m being reprimanded for something I’ve never even said?’
He shot three more pills into his mouth and winced as he swallowed them dry. ‘Yeah. The thought that went, ‘Why the hell does he sit there and let him do that?’ That one.’
‘And do I get a chance to defend myself?’
‘Nah.’
I gave a hiss of frustration. ‘God, you can be an arsey little bastard. Okay, not that it’s going to make a blind bit of difference, but that isn’t actually what I thought.’
‘Sure it wasn’t.’
I was sorely tempted to scream. ‘For fuck’s sake.’ I refilled the kettle and slammed it down on top of the stove. ‘He’s hurt you, all right? Some of it’s historical and some of it’s to do with whatever power Blaine’s bestowed upon him but at no point in that scenario did I think I was watching an even fight. More than once you’ll have wiped the floor with that man and that’s what makes it a million times worse that he can do this now.’
‘Stop doing that weird shit on me!’ Finn hollered.
‘And don’t you shout at me like that!’ I yelled back.
‘Fine.’ His voice dropped to a growl that was no improvement whatsoever. ‘I don’t want to know any more about what you think. I want to keep hold of just one or two poxy secrets in the car crash otherwise known as my life in the vain hope that once or twice a year I can pretend to have some bloody dignity.’
‘Are you quite finished?’
‘Yeah.’ Finn continued to glower at me as I threw a teabag into the nearest available mug.
‘Is there a problem?’ Blaine asked as she walked into the kitchen in a cloud of perfumed malevolence. ‘Only I could hear the pair of you from my room.’
‘No. No problem at all,’ Finn replied nonchalantly.
‘Good. Anyway, I’m glad I caught you both together. Lilith – I know we had a sitting booked for this morning, but there’s some business I need to attend to. I wondered if Finn might take my place?’
‘You want him in the piece?’ I asked.
‘I haven’t decided. But isn’t that part of your method? To make hordes of sketches then decide on the final arrangement at a later date?’
‘Yes…’
‘Well there we are. Even if I don’t choose them for the completed work, it would still be wonderful to have one or two nudes of my favourite boy for my own collection.’
‘Nudes?’ This was the first I’d heard of her plans, and judging by Finn’s thunderous expression, the first he’d heard as well. ‘This isn’t how I work, Blaine. You know this isn’t how I work – I wouldn’t do this to a client who’d requested a portrait, never mind - ’
Blaine simply raised a hand to silence me as though I were some intrusive child. ‘Is that all right with you, darling?’ she asked Finn.
He didn’t even look at her. ‘Sure.’
‘There you go. I don’t see a problem, do you?’ She reached out and lifted his chin with a smooth, unlined hand and kissed him full on the mouth. Finn responded with instant, mechanical passion and it was the kind of clinch that in other circumstances would have had me asking if the two of them were hungry. Blaine finally broke away. ‘My beautiful boy.’ She smiled at me. ‘I hope you both have an enjoyable morning. I’ll look forward to seeing the results of the sitting when I return.’