CHAPTER 65

William gulps half of his wine and sets the glass carefully on the table. “Three years ago Blue Phoenix made it big and we thought we were fucking gods. We came back from Europe after we’d toured the world non-stop for a year and lived the rock lifestyle to its fullest.

Still high on life, alcohol, and drugs, we retreated to my place in Berkshire.

“For a few days, a stream of girls came in and out of the house and the craziness continued. Eventually, Bryn and Liam left.

I wanted to chill out; Jem wanted to keep going. When I wouldn’t play his game, Jem looked for other opportunities. The village near the house is pretty quiet; most people ignore or put up with us, and we’d occasionally go into the village.

When I backed off drinking for a couple of days, Jem started visiting the local pub.” William laughs. “The villagers hated the scrutiny our living nearby brought to their village, and they had no time for the media either.

So, only the people who frequented the pub knew about their famous customers, no one was tipped off.

“Jem befriended a group of girls—or rather they came across him and fell for his star status which of course he lapped up. For a few nights, he’d head to the pub and talk to them.

I didn’t understand why he was risking publicity. Jem was bored of groupies, said everything was too easy with them, and had a bright idea about inviting some local girls over. One night, he returned home high and told me he was throwing a party.

“About half a dozen of them showed up early in the evening. A couple of them are heavily made up in revealing clothes, hoping to catch themselves a rock star.

They knew our reputation and I doubt any of their parents knew they were there. One girl stood out, partly because she looked uncomfortable and as though she didn’t want to be there, and because she was dressed down in jeans and a T-shirt. The fact the T-shirt had a different band name on it amused me as if she was telling us to back off. This was Berky.

“Jem wanted Berky; I discovered later that she was the reason for the party. Berky also attracted me because she was the opposite of any girl I’d met recently.

“Sounds familiar,” I mumble.

He eyes me warily. “Jem and I had this ‘thing’ where whoever saw the groupie first at a party got her. I argued I’d seen Berky first when she arrived; he argued he’d spoken to her first in the village. In the end, we agreed to play our game and see who she went for.”

As William’s story unfolds, unease morphs into a heavy sickness in my stomach. Game? “Go on…”

“We did this a lot with girls, to see which one of us they’d choose.

Sometimes we’d…” He catches the look of disgust on my face. “Yeah, well. I watched as Jem turned on every seductive trick in his book to get her interested in him. I took a different approach: misunderstood rock star looking for love.”

I inhale sharply and he meets my eyes, knowing exactly what I’m thinking. She’s me. He’s described how he was in Broadbeach. An extra barrier against William goes up.

William stands and walks toward the front door, then turns toward me. “Everything that happened was my fault,” he whispers.

“How?”

“I could’ve stopped the game; I didn’t realize how far he would go.”

“Who? Jem? I thought she accused you?”

William’s eyes are vacant, lost in the memory and I’m not sure he hears me. “I saw how uncomfortable she was becoming around Jem’s behavior—you’ve met him when he’s high and that night he was intense.

Jem told me he wanted her, needed to get to know her, how she was different. I saw what he meant because Berky was one of those people who inadvertently attracted people. She was natural.”

He rubs a palm across his face. “After a few hours, Berky looked at me more and more, trying to keep away from Jem. Jem lost his shit with me—fucking weird. I’d never seen him like this over a girl and I couldn’t be bothered fighting, so I backed off. But then I noticed Berky leaving and stopped her.

She trusted me because I’d been nicer to her and pulled Jem into line a few times when he got too intense. I guess being considerate to Mr. Nice Guy was my strategy, so when I took her back to the party she was okay.

Then I left her with Jem, half-hoping she’d tell him to piss off and come back to me.”

“You handed a girl back to your high friend like she was some kind of plaything?” My voice is barely audible. “What happened?”

William crashes his head backward against the wall and stares at the dirty lamp shade above. Is this as much of the story as I’m getting?

“They disappeared and I had a bad feeling about what he would do.”

The room contracts as I remember the creepy Jem, who approached me. “Was it him? Did he…?”

“I found him with her.” He heaves in a breath. “He wasn’t touching her but had Berky cornered. He also wasn’t listening and trying to kiss her when she didn’t want him to. I don’t know if he would’ve done anything, but I walked in and hauled his ass out of the room.”

For the first time in his explanation, he looks directly at me, waiting for my reaction. I’m numb, his words washing over me as if I’m listening to a court case. “I don’t understand. Why did she say you were the one who raped her?”

“It wasn’t that night she accused me of raping her, but a couple of weeks later. To cut a long story short, because I felt guilty, I visited her a couple of times to make sure she was okay because she was a mess that night.

Huge fucking mistake. Berky saw me as her knight in shining armor and wanted me. Even bigger fucking mistake? Having sex with her. Jem found out and went ballistic, accused me of planning this all along, and told her about our ‘game’ and my part in the whole episode.

She hated me more than Jem. She blamed me for handing her over to him and keeping her there. She accused us both of rape and lost her shit threatening to go to the papers and police.”

The lack of information about this on the internet tells me something. “Let me guess, Steve got involved and made everything go away?”

“Pretty much.”