Thank you to all who've subscribed and thanks for all of the lovely reviews.

"Sorry?" Syed was genuinely confused by Steve's question.

"Cal, he told you all about my wife?" He flicked some ash from the end of his cigarette, and then laughed lightly as he inhaled from it. Syed could tell from his stance and slight swagger that he was drunk. "Sorry, ex-wife" He leant his head back against the cool brick.

"Yeah he mentioned it. Sorry about the divorce."

"Sorry? You're not sorry!" Syed was transfixed by the angry orange glow as Steve took one final drag and then proceeded to chuck the stub down on the pavement. "You make me sick, do you know that?"

Scared now by Steve's growing aggression, Syed went to leave but the other man instantaneously grabbed his wrist, slowly blowing smoke in his face. "Flaunting what you are for everyone to see. How dare you make it seem so normal! You're disgusting." He spat the words out.

Syed yanked his wrist from Steve's firm grasp. "Oh really?" He could feel his voice shaking with rising indignation.

"Yeah. You make my skin crawl. All over every man in that club. That bloke behind the bar, Cal." Steve smirked "Hmm, I bet you two had some fun in the toilets!"

"How dare you!" Steve really was as vile a man as Syed remembered. "That 'bloke behind the bar' is my fiancé and Cal is nothing more than an old colleague. You've no right to even suggest that me and him would be anything more than friends!" Syed had tried to remain calm, but people stereotyping him as someone who picked up strangers infuriated him. "You don't know me; you don't know anything about my life."

"Yeah, and you knew nothing about my marriage but it didn't stop you from interfering did it?" Syed's initial confusion at Steve's question about him 'ruining more lives' evaporated as the pieces rapidly began to fall into place. But if Steve thought that Syed was going to accept any responsibility for his marriage breaking down then he was sorely mistaken. It was Steve's decision to do what he did, not Syed's.

"How exactly did I interfere in your marriage? I never spoke to your wife, I never even met her!"

"You're the reason my marriage ended." Steve took a step towards Syed, their faces now in incredibly close proximity, "You."

"You can't blame me for what you did," indignation was evident in Syed's voice. "Your wife would have found out what you'd been up to eventually, you couldn't have kept something like that a secret from her forever." Syed was right, he knew he was right.

"If it wasn't for you getting me arrested then it wouldn't have all come out! I'd still be married, I'd still have my life in Leeds, and my family would still trust me. But thanks to you my family feel like they know me anymore…!" Steve's voice was echoing off the walls of the bridge, his rage conspicuous.

"I never got you arrested! That was one big misunderstanding and you know it. The charges were dropped almost instantly, anyway."

"It wasn't an arrest for stealing from the stationary cupboard though was it? Didn't you think questions would be asked?" Steve's tone was accusatory but Syed wasn't going to back down.

"I never said anything to anyone. I never planned to." Syed spoke calmly, yet firmly.

"And that was the whole problem! You didn't say anything. When our boss asked you what had been going on you kept quiet. One word Syed, one word could have stopped me from being arrested. That arrest was the beginning of the end of my marriage. My life started to fall apart. They threatened to fire me? Did you know that? No. Because as soon as you could, you fled. You know why?" Syed knew he wasn't going to like the answer to that question. "Because you're a coward. A filthy, revolting, lying coward."

"Well if I'm a coward then what does that make you?" Syed looked directly into Steve's eyes, his voice to some extent menacing.

That tipped the other man over the edge, something snapped in him and he roughly pushed Syed. "I am not a coward!" Syed stumbled back slightly but didn't react. Realising that his threatening behaviour wasn't getting him anywhere Steve calmed slightly and took several deep breaths. "Why couldn't you just have said something?"

"I'm sorry." Syed could see the torment in Steve's face and deep down he knew that he had acted as something of a catalyst for his divorce. "But after everything I'd already been through with my parents, you know, stealing the money from them, I couldn't let them find out about that too. I just couldn't." He repeated his apology, hoping he was conveying compassion. "I am truly sorry."

"Too late for apologies now Syed. Far too late. It's funny you know, I never wanted to see you again, not after what you did. But now? I want you to suffer like I did. I want to destroy your life like you destroyed mine."

As he started to walk away Syed called out to him, they couldn't leave things like this. "Wait! Steve can't we talk about this? I can explain!"

He turned and laughed, Syed was sure he could see a glint of madness in his eyes, "See you around, Syed."

xxxx

Leaving the front door to slam behind him Syed took the stairs two at a time, his breath coming in shallow gasps. Why did Steve have to be here? Cal he could deal with. They'd cleared the air and as Cal had said, there were 'no hard feelings'. But Steve was more than a simple one night stand, so much more…

He needed to calm down. Steve's threats were empty, of course they were. What could he do anyway? This wouldn't change anything.

'Relax Syed' he told himself. So what if Steve was here? So what if he told Christian what had happened? What Syed had done? He couldn't destroy his life. He couldn't. Or could he? Syed felt nauseous. He rushed to the bathroom, splashing cold water on his face. Looking down at his hands he saw them quivering. He wanted to scream, shout his innocence. What had happened, it wasn't his fault. He couldn't have done anything to stop the arrest. Steve was right though, he was guilty too. Not in the eyes of the police maybe, but he was still guilty of something.

He should tell Christian about everything. Yep, as soon as Christian got home he'd tell him. He'd told him worse things than this about his past. But then this was different, so different. Whatever would Christian think of him? This was more than embezzling money, more than a few one night stands, this was serious. So serious. What if Christian left him because of it? No, he wouldn't, would he? Christian loved him, he'd understand. But what if he didn't? Syed wanted to hit something. He hated himself for what he'd done, or rather what he hadn't done. He had been a coward, he realised that now. He felt desperate. What did he do now?

What was Steve arrested for? How was Syed responsible? More to come in the next chapter!

Please let me know what you thought and leave a review. Thanks! :)