Page 45 of The Wedding Pact

‘I’m trying, but it’s a bit hard when you’re attacking my muscles like that.’

‘I’m getting the knots out,’ I protest. ‘I promise you, you’ll feel better after this. I know it hurts right now, but just you wait till I’m done. You’ll be thanking me later.’

‘Hmm,’ is all he says to that, and from his tone it’s clear he’s not convinced.

There’s a heavy silence as I continue to press and rub at his shoulders and neck, intensely aware of the masculine scent of him and the power of his body. He’s a muscular guy, but not overly so. Exactly right, in my humble opinion.

‘Tell me what you usually do to relax,’ I say. ‘When you’re not working.’

I feel him shrug under my hands.

‘I game and I talk shit to you online.’

I can’t help but smile at that. ‘Surely that can’t be your only means of distraction?’

‘I travel for work a lot, mostly on my own, so I don’t have the capacity to turn up regularly to a hobby. Not that I’ve really got any of those. I try and get into the gym wherever I go, to work out though.’

‘Yeah, I can tell,’ I murmur.

There’s another tense pause.

Raffa clears his throat. ‘How about you? Any hobbies outside of gaming?’

‘Up until recently, I’ve tried to make it a mission to go somewhere new each weekend, even if it’s just for a couple of hours a day. To meet new people and have an experience outside of my day-to-day working life. It keeps me fresh and connected to what’s going on outside of my echo chamber. Otherwise I find myself not having an interesting answer when someone asks “what did you do at the weekend” and I hate that. I want to live outside of working.’

‘What sort of things do you do during your weekend adventures?’

‘All sorts. Sometimes I’ll jump on a train and go to a city or town or village I’ve never been to before – depending on how flush I’m feeling at the time. Sometimes it’ll just be a case of saying “yes please” to an offer of going to a show or concert or sporting event a friend invites me to that I never would have picked out myself. And the great thing is, when you turn up for things, you meet other people who turn up for things and your network grows. And often with people you’d never normally meet otherwise. I try to make a point of talking to as many people as I can when I go out and ask them to tell me about themselves. Then give them something back about me. It’s an exchange then. A swapping of stories, and stories are so important. It’s how we empathise with people we don’t know or think we don’t understand. If they can tell us a story that we can emotionally invest in, that makes it so much easier to get them.’

‘Surely not everyone has a good story in them though?’

‘Most people do. You’ve just got to winkle it out.’

‘Winkle it out?’ I feel his laugh vibrating through his body.

‘Yeah, it’s a friendly way of being incredibly nosey.’

‘I guess people like being asked about themselves.’

‘Of course they do. No one wants to feel ignored or that they’re boring.’

‘True. Very true.’

‘Are you thinking about how side-lined you felt when you were growing up, by any chance?’

His shoulders stiffen again under my hands. ‘Ha. You have an uncanny ability to read my thoughts, don’t you?’

‘Nah. I just listen and pay attention to what you’re saying to build the story of You in my head.’

‘Is that what makes you such a good interviewer?’

‘I think I do it well because I’m genuinely interested in people. And I try to do things that challenge and scare me, so I push myself and my boundaries to find out more about myself. Not in a dangerous way, in a being open to new things way. If people can sense I have adventure in me, I think they’re happier to open up about the adventure in themselves. We bounce off each other then. A sort of trust forms, where they don’t feel vulnerable because I’m giving away just as much of myself as they are themselves. It makes the conversation more fun for them and definitely for anyone else listening, because they also get the dynamic between us, along with our own personal stories and takes on things.’

‘Makes sense,’ he says on another moan of pain, as I press hard between his shoulder blades.

‘The way I see it, you’ve got to build and foster a community. The most important thing is to not become lonely. Especially as you get older. Or depression will set in. Keep busy, keep sociable and have a purpose.’

‘And that’s what you’re doing with your show? Building a community?’