Caught In The Act

When is a lap dance more than just a lap dance? Sophia McCarthy, 28, from Birmingham, found out to her cost...

- Carly Read

Leading me into the bedroom with his hands over my eyes, my boyfriend Josh Barnes, 26, suddenly brought me to a halt.

‘Now you can look!’ he said. I opened my eyes to see the most stunning bouquet of flowers on my pillow.

‘They’re gorgeous!’ I squealed, scooping them up. ‘But what’s the occasion?’

Josh shrugged. ‘I just wanted to see you smile,’ he grinned.

It was last November and, in the three years we’d been together, he’d been the most attentive boyfriend I’d ever had.

We’d met after a mutual pal introduced us on a boozy night out.

Since then, he was always buying me gifts, taking me to dinner or on romantic weekends away.

We were inseparable, even had the Find My Friends app on our phones, so we could always locate each other.

‘I’m so lucky,’ I said.

Only, a month or so later,  Josh seemed to change.

He grew moody and distant.

The flowers and dinners out came to a halt and, instead, he went on nights out with the lads.

‘Aren’t I invited?’ I asked one night as he was about to leave the flat that we rented together.

‘We’re watching the footy,’ he said. ‘Not really your kind of thing.’

A knot formed in my tummy.

Was he growing bored with me?

I told myself that it was just a phase. But, over the next few weeks, Josh barely spoke to me.

Glued to his phone, he was always texting.

But, whenever I got close enough to see the screen, he’d move away.

One night this January, we were sitting watching telly when his phone buzzed with a text.

‘Just popping to the loo,’ he said, fishing his mobile out of his pocket.

‘With your phone?’ I asked. Only, he was too absorbed in the screen to hear me.

Suddenly, I was suspicious.