‘I don’t know about that.’
There was a silence.
‘He’s called Ava’s people. I imagine her lawyers will come down on you like a ton of bricks. This is so much more serious than simple theft.’
‘The newspaper promised not to name me.’
‘You think heavyweight international lawyers can’t get past a worthless promise from a tabloid rag?’
‘Shut up, Sarah. OK then. Let me fuck you the way he does and I’ll see what I can do.’
I hesitated. I really didn’t want this, and I didn’t think it would make any difference anyway. If the tape was in the hands of the press, the game was over. Even if the lawyers got their injunction, it would leak out on to the internet at some point. It was inevitable. I’d been trying to appeal to Will’s conscience. I’d failed.
‘The way he does?’ I said.
‘Yeah. Why does he get to dominate you? You never let me treat you like that.’
‘I didn’t think it was your scene.’ I didn’t want you that way. I didn’t trust you. Turns out my instincts were right as well.
‘Bend over then, and I’ll show you whether it’s my scene or not, sweetheart.’
‘I’m already a little …’
‘Yeah, I saw what he did to you, remember? But it’s just a little pain, darling, and you like that.’
He’d grabbed hold of my wrist and pulled me up from the sofa.
I screamed and tried to wrench myself away, knocking an iPod speaker off the coffee table. We fell into a wrestling match that ended on the floor, me crying and gasping for breath, him swearing and pinning me to the ground.
‘Do you like rape play?’ he snarled, looming over me. ‘I bet you do. You like it rough. No means yes and all that.’
‘Get off me!’
‘That’s it, baby, that’s the way to play the scene.’
‘I mean it.’
‘I bet you let him rape you.’
I kicked the coffee table again and something else fell off. From the corner of my eye I caught sight of Jasper’s handwriting on the label. ‘June 2000.’
‘It’s the tape!’ I exclaimed, struggling even harder to release myself from Will’s grip. ‘How come you’ve still got it?’
His fingers loosened and he looked over at the tape, distracted for just long enough for me to bring my knee up hard into his groin.
‘Fuck!’ he bellowed, toppling backwards, releasing me.
I snatched up the videotape and leaped up into the doorway, ready to slam it in his face if he tried to pursue me.
‘Did you make a copy?’ I asked.
He panted angrily for a few moments then muttered, ‘No.’
‘So what’s it doing here?’
‘I haven’t sent it to anyone. I was bluffing. I wouldn’t do that to Queen Ava.’
Words. Where were the words? Why wouldn’t they come?