In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware Page B

His voice was slurred. He had certainly done a lot of weird shit in his time, and he was paying the price in this game. ‘We’re playing I Have Never. And I have joined the mile-high club.’
    ‘Oh, sorry.’ Melanie downed her shot absently and wiped her mouth. ‘There. Listen, Flo, could I use the landline again?’
    ‘No, no, no, no!’ Clare said, wagging her finger. ‘You don’t get off as easily as that.’
    ‘Certainly not!’ Flo said indignantly. ‘How and where, please, Mrs?’
    ‘On honeymoon with Bill. It was a night flight. I gave him a blowie in the loos. Does that count? I’ve drunk now anyway.’
    ‘Well technically he’s joined the mile-high club, not you, in that case,’ Tom said. He gave a slightly slow, leering wink. ‘But since you drank, we’ll count it. Onwards! Right. My turn. I have never … fuck, what have I never done? Oh I know, I’ve never tried water sports.’
    There was a burst of laughter, and no one drank and Tom groaned.
    ‘What seriously?’
    ‘Water sports?’ Flo said uncertainly. Her glass was halfway in the air, but she looked around the circle, trying to work out what was funny. ‘What, like scuba diving and stuff? I’ve done sailing, does that count?’
    ‘No, sweetie,’ Clare said, and she bent over and whispered in Flo’s ear. As she did, Flo’s expression changed to one of shock and then disgusted amusement.
    ‘No way! How revolting!’
    ‘Come on,’ Tom said pleadingly. ‘Fess up for Uncle Tom, we’re all girls here, there’s nothing to be ashamed of.’ There was another silence, and Clare laughed.
    ‘Sorry, that’s what you get for coming away with squares like us. Come on, take it like a man.’
    Tom downed his shot, refilled and then lay back on the sofa, his hand over his eyes. ‘Bloody hell, I’m paying for a mis-spent youth now. The room’s spinning.’
    ‘Your turn, Lee,’ Clare said from the sofa. Her face was flushed, and her golden hair straggled across her shoulders. ‘Spill.’
    My stomach turned. This was the moment I’d been dreading. I’d spent the last round trying to grope my way past the fog of tequila and Champagne and rum and think what to say, but every memory seemed to bring me back to James. I thought of all the things I’d never done, never said. I shut my eyes and the room seemed to lurch and shift.
    It was one thing to play this game with a roomful of friends, who already knew pretty much everything there was to say, but not this uneasy mix of strangers and old acquaintances. I have never … oh God, what could I say?
    I never found out why he did it.
    I never forgave him.
    I never got over him.
    ‘Lee …’ Clare said in a sing-song voice. ‘Come on now, don’t make me embarrass you in the next round.’
    There was a vile taste of tequila and coke at the back of my mouth. I couldn’t afford to drink again. If I did I’d be sick.
    I never really knew him at all.
    How could he be marrying Clare?
    ‘I have never had a tattoo,’ I blurted out. I knew I was on safe ground with that, Tom had already admitted to having one.
    ‘Crap …’ he groaned and downed his shot.
    Flo laughed, ‘Come on! You don’t get off that easily. Show and tell, please.’
    Tom sighed and unbuttoned his shirt, revealing an expanse of tanned, toned chest. He slid the sleeve down one shoulder and turned to show us. It was a heart, pierced with an arrow and crossed with the flowing letters ‘ Not so Dumb ’ in italic script. ‘There.’ He began buttoning up his shirt. ‘Now come on you others, I can’t be the only one.’
    Nina said nothing, but simply pulled up the ankle of her jeans, showing a small bird of some kind on the tendon running up from her ankle.
    ‘What is it?’ Flo peered closer. ‘Blackbird?’
    ‘It’s a falcon,’ Nina said. She did not elaborate but simply pulled her jeans back and downed her shot. ‘How about you then?’
    Flo shook her head. ‘Too much of a scaredy-cat! Clare does though!’
    Clare