Someone Else's Dream by Colin Griffiths Page A

sleep with him all those years ago, would have been just a one off. He had been vulnerable and she had taken advantage. She wondered what had suddenly changed. The truth was, nothing had changed with Matt, he had just returned to being the man he’d used to be. People would see him as charming until they saw what it really was about him; deep and confused.
     
    As she got out of the car to her flat, she smiled, thinking, as soon as she was more presentable she might text him ‘desert’. She needed that comfort, the closeness and attention he gave her, though by the look of her face she thought it might be a while before she became desirable again.
     
    Marcia opened the outer door of her ground-floor flat, by punching in a code. Matt stood and watched and they both walked into the foyer where she fumbled in her bag for her keys before opening her flat door. Matt was still behind her.
     
    “I’ll come in and make you a cuppa, make sure you got everything you want. I’ll pop down the shop, as well, if you need anything”. He wasn’t asking, he was telling her what he was going to do. It unnerved Marcia a little but she put it down to no more than he being helpful.
     
    “I just need a nice, hot, bath, Matt; though a decent cuppa wouldn’t go amiss. That stuff in the hospital is horrid. One sugar in a coffee, please. The milk still should be okay.”
     
    “I’ll bring some over later,” Matt told her. Marcia appreciated the offer and the kindness, but she wanted to be on her own; just have a nice bath and a good night’s sleep. It all felt a little too much.
     
    “No really, I don’t drink much, I just need an early night.” Matt didn’t answer. Marcia sat in the lounge whilst Matt was in the kitchen making coffee. She wished he would go, so she could take the coffee in the bath with her. She wanted to wash away that disinfectant smell of the hospital, along with the memories of the attack. It had been two days now, since she bathed.
     
    “Can’t find the sugar,” she heard Matt shout out. Sluggishly, she got up from the sofa and walked into the kitchen. She brushed past him and Matt raised his hand and felt her breast for just a second. Marcia stopped in shock and looked at Matt who was smiling.
     
    “Sorry, I didn’t mean that,” he smiled, very apologetically, but the look in his eye told Marcia different. She wanted to put it down as an accident and that’s what she did although she momentarily wondered when it was, she had given him a free licence to grope her. Maybe that’s exactly what I have done!
     
    They drank their coffee without further incident and Marcia thought nothing more of it. Matt knew it wasn’t an accident; what he had done, was instinctive. If it wasn’t for her injuries he would have done more. She was his now , after all, he told himself
     
    Marcia saw him to the door and as she did so, she noticed a young couple through the outer door just about to press her buzzer. Marcia recognised them as her friends and pressed her keypad on the wall to let them in. Before anyone could say anything Matt strolled swiftly towards the young couple in their early twenties.
     
    “She’s not having any visitors,” he said, with a tone of authority. He looked as if he was going to literally escort them out of the foyer, as he ushered them with his arms until Marcia stopped him. The young couple looked quite alarmed; they had no idea who he was. They had heard Marcia was out of the hospital and were just visiting to see if she needed anything.
     
    “It’s okay, they’re my best friends,” she told Matt. Matt who was just about to push them back out through the door, stopped and looked at Marcia. She felt uncomfortable with the witheringly stern look on his face. It was as if he was saying, ‘he did not approve’.
     
    Matt turned to the couple; “Okay, but don’t keep her long,” he told them and left.
     
    “Who’s that?” the girl asked, as they went back into Marcia’s