Lost Innocence by Susan Lewis Page A

starting to dance. To her dismay there was a queue, so after setting yet another waiter on his way with a tray ofbrimming glasses, she quickly dashed upstairs to use the guest en suite, since it was the closest.
    As she pushed open the door to the guest room she was already starting to hike up her dress, until, seeing someone was there, she came to an abrupt and embarrassed stop and let it fall again. She was making a discreet departure when she realised it was Sabrina lying on her back on the bed, her legs wrapped around someone who was pumping her so hard that neither of them had noticed they were no longer alone. The man’s trousers were around his knees, his shirt was open, and Alicia’s first thought was, Why is that man wearing Craig’s shirt? Then as the truth struck its terrible blow she took a step back.
    For interminable, dead seconds she continued to stand where she was, unable to move, or to believe what she was seeing. They were thrusting and panting, grunting, urging each other on, oblivious to everything beyond the storm of an approaching eruption. Something wasn’t connecting in Alicia’s head. Her mind was distorting what she was seeing, playing her tricks, pushing her to wrong conclusions, making her see things that weren’t there. Craig wouldn’t do this, he just wouldn’t.
    Then she realised Sabrina was watching her, and to her horror, instead of behaving like any other guilty woman, throwing Craig aside and scrambling for her clothes, Sabrina only smiled. There was a chilling gleam of triumph in her eyes and as she clung more tightly to Craig she urged him to go faster and harder.
    The instant Craig began to ejaculate Alicia turned and left the room. She felt sick in ways she’d never known it was possible to feel sick. Every part of her needed to expel the treachery she’d left behind, her mind, her stomach, her heart, her very soul, wanted rid of it.
    She walked to the top of the stairs and stood there shaking. She wasn’t sure how much time passed before Craig came out of the room, it could have been seconds, or minutes, she only knew that as his arms went round her the urge to push him down the stairs overwhelmed her. He grabbed the banister in time, righting himself before he plunged to the bottom.
    ‘Alicia, listen,’ he whispered urgently. ‘I’ve had too much to drink. I wasn’t thinking …’
    ‘Don’t speak to me,’ she hissed. She tried to break free, but he held her firm.
    ‘You can’t go back down there like this,’ he said.
    ‘How long has it been going on?’ she asked shakily.
    ‘It just happened … I …’
    ‘Tell her the truth, Craig,’ Sabrina said from the door.
    He spun round. ‘Sabrina, just go …’
    ‘It started,’ Sabrina said to Alicia, ‘when we were all in Italy last summer.’
    Alicia reeled. They’d been screwing like that for over a year? All the times she’d thought Craig was working late, or away, or taking phone calls from colleagues and clients … Why hadn’t she realised it was a sham? How could she not have suspected? She looked at him and it terrified her to see how pale and unsure of himself he seemed. This affair was serious, she thought. It really meant something to him.
    ‘Does Robert know?’ she heard herself ask, in a voice that came from the bottom of a void.
    ‘He’s too busy, and hardly ever here,’ Sabrina drawled.
    Alicia turned to look at her. This wasn’t mattering to her. She didn’t care that she’d just been caught screwing her sister-in-law’s husband, or that she’d betrayed a good man who loved her. If anything, she seemed almost pleased with herself.
    ‘Get her out of here,’ Alicia said.
    Craig baulked. ‘Alicia, Robert and your mother are downstairs …’
    ‘I’m aware of that, so you can go and explain why she has to go, and then the party’s over,’ and wrenching herself away from his grip she started up the second flight of stairs to her own room.
    ‘Alicia,’ Craig called after her.