The Broken Read Online Free PDF Page B

about his relationship. That wasn’t the kind of friendship they had. It wasn’t the kind of friendship he’d ever had.
    There was always the chance, he supposed, that they’d patched things up, Dan and Sasha. Maybe the crisis had passed and they were holed up dealing with the aftermath. Certainly Sasha had seemed fairly positive by the time she finally left their house last Monday morning. She’d convinced herself it was some kind of phase Dan was going through. By the time Josh had got up, she’d been sitting on the sofa waiting for Hannah to bring her pancakes, only her swollen eyes signalling that anything had ever been wrong. Josh had been amazed after she’d left when Hannah told him about the scene he’d missed.
    ‘Thank God it was you who answered the door,’ he’d said fervently, without thinking.
    ‘Charming!’
    He hadn’t meant it to sound unsympathetic. He liked Sasha. When she was on form, there was no one more entertaining. It was just that she could be so high maintenance. So inclined to histrionics. Too much Sasha always left him feeling tired.
    Still, she didn’t deserve to be treated how Dan was treating her. Josh liked to think he was a fairly unjudgemental type. He knew the world wasn’t black and white and that good people sometimes did bad things. But Dan was acting in a pretty shabby way.
    ‘Dan?’
    The phone had been answered on the third ring, which was unusual for Dan, who was normally dashing about, answering belatedly with a slight edge to his voice so that you always felt you were interrupting.
    ‘Josh. Mate. Thank fuck for that!’
    If Josh had been expecting to find Dan sounding subdued or chastened, he was very mistaken. The younger man sounded almost ebullient, as if he was bursting to announce some good news that he was supposed to be keeping to himself.
    ‘Listen, I’ve got a favour to ask you. Can I stay at yours for a few days?’
    Immediately Josh felt wrong-footed. This wasn’t what he’d been expecting.
    ‘Er, but we haven’t got a spare—’
    ‘Don’t worry about that. I’ll sleep on the sofa. It wouldn’t be the first time.’
    ‘But Sasha—’
    ‘Sasha was the one who suggested it. She’s been absolutely brilliant. Since Sunday we’ve been talking and talking, more than we’ve ever done before, and she totally gets it. About me needing some space and everything. I was talking about moving out and renting a studio flat, and she just said, “Why don’t you stay with Josh and Hannah for a little bit? Just as a first step?”’
    Alone on his park bench, Josh frowned. From the corner of his eye, he could see Jake Eldridge from Year Ten loitering behind a tree, smoking a cigarette.
    ‘So what do you say?’
    There was a hint of impatience in Dan’s voice that grated a bit. Dan was so used to getting his way and charming everyone he met that he tended to get quite childish if things didn’t immediately go to plan. Josh had noticed it before. But this wasn’t an argument over whether to go to the Railway or the King’s Head.
    ‘Look, Dan, I want to help you. But you obviously haven’t told Sasha that you’re seeing someone else, and I just don’t want to be party to it. You understand, don’t you?’
    A pause.
    ‘I haven’t told her because it’s not an issue. I told you, the thing with Sienna is a result of the situation with Sasha, not a cause of it. Anyway, I’ve put it on hold for now. I want to put all my focus on Sasha and September during this critical time.’
    Dan sounded as if he was reading a prepared statement.
    ‘So you promise you’re not going to be running off to see your girlfriend as soon as Sasha’s back is turned, using me and Hannah as a smokescreen?’
    ‘What? Thanks a lot for the vote of confidence.’
    Typical. Dan was the one getting outraged, and Josh was left feeling guilty.
    ‘Listen. Breaking up a family is never easy, it’s not something you do on a whim. I’ve really thought about this. I don’t want