Kehryse Vanessa Johnson

Extract from Pretenders in The Horse and Saddle

“Ninety percent of all bar snacks have traces of urine in them,” Joshua said with a smirk.

Lucy dropped his handful of nuts back into the bowl. The barman noticed but did nothing and Lucy turned away in disgust. “Ugh!”

“The only thing you accept in pubs is beer mate, trust me,” Joshua added; punctuating that with a slap on Lucy’s back. They picked up their pints and headed towards a booth.

Lucy eyed the men who were propping up the bar as he and Joshua passed, marvelling at the way they blended into the dimly lit oak interior adequately; a blur of blotchy red faces and grey cardigans. He picked the booth next to the cleanest window. “If you know this place is so...unsanitary, then why you always in here? There’s that new wine bar in town.”

“Look, I told Tracie we’d be here. And,” Joshua said with a wink, “that she should bring a friend for you. So just relax will you?”

Lucy sighed. He pulled a dog-eared beer mat across the table and placed his pint on top. Two men in paint-splattered joggers were playing pool opposite him and the couple in the next booth were desperately trying to swallow each other. All pretending they weren’t watching him when they were of course. He squirmed, thinking about Jayne. Disappearing Jayne. Relax? What silly dreams for the night.

Joshua gulped down almost half of his pint and burped thunderously. “Good one, eh?”

*

Kendra made two mistakes immediately. The first was agreeing to go out with Tracie; she should have known she’d be dragged to a dingy locals’ pub with a stupid name like The Horse and Saddle. And the second was ordering a Mojito when they got there. The barman stared at her blankly and Tracie laughed.

“Two cider and blacks please Mike,” Tracie said.

“That’s more like it,” Mike the barman replied. “This ain’t Sexy City you know.”

It was a joke but Kendra only rolled her eyes. She felt over dressed in shimmery Vera Wang and to make matters worse, Mike the barman, whose life was clearly made up of lots of little failures because they were mapped out all over his face, was taking a pop at her.

“Come on,” Tracie said with a mischievous little smile, “they’re over there.”

“Who?” Kendra asked, picking up her dusty pitcher of foggy purple liquid. She tried to ignore the leering eyes of the fat lump draped across the bar beside her.

“The guys. Now play nice, Ken.”

Kendra, knowing now that she’d been led here under false pretences, grudgingly followed Tracie towards the booths by the windows, silently willing her to feel the angular daggers being shot into the back of her dyed blonde curls along the way.

*

Lucy had been watching the girls at the bar and he straightened up in his seat as they approached, never taking his eyes off the black one in the shiny...thing. She was so out of context. Introductions went smoothly, her name was Kendra and yeah she was here for him, judging by the lingering looks between Joshua and the blonde.

The sexiest thing about Kendra was her ankles. They were sleek and defined – a sort of sculptured mahogany that drove him wild. He tried not to stare but –

Too late she’d caught him.

“What?” she snapped.

Lucy shook his head, looked away.

This wasn’t going to be easy. But it would be exactly what he needed.

© Copyright of Kehryse Vanessa Johnson 2007

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