"I was married" Dec stated bluntly.

"Really?" Ant asked.

"Yeah" Dec nodded "I guess it was kind of doomed from the start,but I was too blinded by love to see it,what an idiot eh?"

"Of course you're not an idiot" Ant replied kindly "what happened"

"My family hated her from the beginning" Dec sighed.

"How come?" Ant asked.

"All sorts of reasons" Dec frowned "she wasn't right for me,she was too cold,she was taking advantage of me,she was selfish,she was a bitch,she was taking me away from my family...all of the above"

"She sounds like a real catch" Ant mused "was she actually like that though?"

"Yeah" Dec laughed sarcastically "she was,but unfortunately I couldn't see it at the time,I was so crazy about her that nothing else mattered,I moved in with her pretty quickly,it was a rented house,but in her name,I contributed to things obviously,but if anything went wrong,which it obviously did,I would be left with nothing,but of course,none of that crossed my mind at the time,things going pear shaped wasn't even a possibility"

"You still had your family though" Ant pointed out "are you close to them?"

"I was" Dec replied sadly "very close in fact,especially to my Mam,I'm a real Mammys boy...well I was"

"So why didn't you go back to them when you split up with your wife?" Ant enquired.

"We're estranged" Dec frowned,trying not to show the tear that was forming in his eye.

He let out a deep sigh,before continuing his story.

"There were so many arguments...awful arguments,everyone got so angry,my brother's and sister's included,they all saw something horrible in her that I just didn't see,so of course I defended her"

"That must have been hard?" Ant asked sympathetically.

"Yeah,it was" Dec nodded "I was so angry at how they were treating her,not letting her in their houses,refusing to go to any events where she would be there too,you know,that kind of thing,so I eventually snapped,said some horrible things and told them they were all dead to me and to never contact me again"

"Oh dear" Ant nodded sympathetically.

"Told you I'm an idiot" Dec shrugged.

"Of course you're not an idiot" Ant assured him "we all say things we regret in the heat of the moment"

"Yeah" Dec nodded "but I cut off my entire family,not seen or spoke to any of them since,but I was still convinced I was doing the right thing at the time"

"So by then,you'd moved in with your wife?" Ant encouraged Dec to keep on talking.

"Well,girlfriend as she was at the time" Dec pointed out "but yeah,I moved in with her and it was great...for a while"

"What happened?" Ant asked.

"She got pregnant pretty quickly,so we got married" Dec sighed "just a quick registry office wedding with a couple of friends as witnesses"

"And then?" Ant urged.

"And then..." Dec sighed "she started changing,I put it down to pregnancy hormones to start with,but she just got so nasty,that wasn't the woman I fell in love with"

"Sounds tough" Ant nodded sympathetically "what did she do?"

"Put me down all the time" Dec replied sadly "told me how useless I was,what a waste of space I was,how lucky I was that she put up with me,how no one else would ever love me and..."

Dec suddenly cut himself off sharply.

"And what?" Ant asked gently.

"And she'd hit me a lot" Dec frowned "nothing terrible,slaps round the face,that kind of thing"

"That is terrible actually Dec" Ant pointed out "you shouldn't have had to put up with that,did you ever..."

"Hit her back?" Dec offered helpfully "no,of course not,I'd never lay a finger on a woman,or even a man for that matter,I hate violence in any form"

"So what did you do when she hit you?" Ant asked curiously.

"Took myself out of the situation" Dec shrugged "that's all I could do,I'd just go to our bedroom and cry,but she started to follow me up there and basically just taunted me,telling me what a cry baby I was and all that and how she needed a real man,not a little boy"

"I'm so sorry Dec" Ant said "that all sounds incredibly hard"

"Yeah" Dec nodded "but she was pregnant with my child,I had to stay around for my daughter,but things only went from bad to worse when the baby came along"

"How so?" Ant asked concerned.

"I did practically everything for the baby" Dec sighed "feeding,changing,night feeds and all that,she showed no interest in Isla"

"She didn't even feed her herself?" Ant asked surprised.

"Nah" Dec shook his head "said she wanted her body back and that's fine,it's her body after all and no one can tell her what to do with it,so the baby was bottle fed from the beginning,but Ali rarely even did that,I did it"

"Ali?that's your wife?" Ant enquired.

"Yeah" Dec nodded "or soon to be ex wife I guess,I tell you what though?"

"What?"

"I loved every minute of doing all that stuff for Isla" Dec beamed "she was a daddy's girl right from the beginning"

"You must miss her?" Ant asked.

"Every minute of every day" Dec replied "this is the first time I've talked about her since I left,it's just been too painful"

"I'm sorry Dec" Ant smiled gently "you don't have to tell me anything else if you don't want to"

"It's ok" Dec replied "I'm finding it kind of therapeutic and you're quite easy to talk to"

"Good" Ant nodded "what happened next?"

"I just stuck it out for Isla's sake" Dec smiled "she made it all worthwhile,but everything else was getting worse and worse,it was truly an awful existence,Ali even started bringing other men home while I was there"

"God Dec,that's horrendous" Ant frowned.

"It was" Dec sighed "and eventually she chucked me out and moved another guy in...with my daughter...playing daddy to her when it should have been me"

"You have rights you know" Ant pointed out "you were married,she can't just throw you out"

"She can and she did" Dec replied sadly "I didn't want to stay anyway,Isla was the only reason I was still there...and the fact I had nowhere to go obviously"

"So you came straight here?" Ant enquired.

"Not straight away" Dec replied "I had friends I stayed with here and there,but I kind of out stayed my welcome with all of them eventually,which I totally understand,it can't be easy having someone sleeping on your sofa for weeks,especially as they all had kids of their own,they just wanted their space back and I don't blame them"

"Still not very nice to turf a friend out onto the streets though" Ant said.

"Well,I had a van at the time" Dec smiled "I had a delivery job and slept in the van for a while,my bosses found out though,it was a company van so I lost my job and they took the van back and the rest,as they say,is history"

"Jesus Christ Dec" Ant shook his head despairingly "that's bloody awful,no wonder you ended up begging here,you've had to deal with some pretty shitty people in your life"

"Yeah" Dec sighed "to this day,I don't understand how Ali switched from what I thought was a loving person to a complete bitch in such a short period of time,guess I should have listened to my family eh?"

"Hindsight is a wonderful thing" Ant nodded "I guess she never was that loving person you thought she was,it was all an act,you weren't to know how things would turn out"

Dec didn't reply,he was just looking at the floor,attempting to hide the tears in his eyes.

Ant gave him a reassuring pat on the back,he didn't know if it would be appropriate to hug Dec,he didn't know him very well after all,so decided not to push it.

"So there's definitely no chance you'd try to make things right with your family?" Ant asked.

"I doubt they'd be interested after everything that happened" Dec sighed.

"Oh I don't know about that" Ant smiled "if you were once as close as you say you were,there's always hope"

Dec just shrugged his shoulders casually.

"Thank you for telling me all that" Ant smiled "I know it couldn't have been easy"

"It's ok" Dec smiled "thanks for listening"

"Dec,will you please let me do something for you?" Ant asked.

"What?" Dec replied curiously.

"Let me pay for you to stay in a hotel for tonight" Ant offered.

"Flashing the cash eh?" Dec frowned.

"No,not at all" Ant replied,feeling slightly offended "I'm sorry if that's how it came across,I like you Dec,I think you're a damn decent guy who's having a shit time and I'd just like to do something nice for you"

"Then what?" Dec snapped "back to the streets tomorrow?back to begging for a few measly pennies,not really much of a solution is it?"

"I'm sorry" Ant sighed "forget I said anything,I didn't mean to offend you"

"It's fine" Dec replied unconvincingly.

"I'd best be getting home then" Ant smiled,while mentally kicking himself for putting his foot firmly in his mouth "nice chatting to you"

"Yeah,see ya Ant" Dec smiled.

As Dec watched Ant walk away,he suddenly felt a pang of guilt,why had he been so rude to Ant?he didn't deserve that,so Dec suddenly sprung to his feet and ran down the street.

"ANT,ANT" he shouted,as he spied Ant straight ahead.

"Dec?" Ant stopped and waited for Dec to catch up "what's wrong?"

"Nothing" Dec panted as he reached Ant's side "I...er...I just wanted to say i acted a bit hastily back there and sorry for being snappy with you"

"Hey,it's fine" Ant smiled "nothing at all to worry about"

"Also" Dec grinned "I think a night in a hotel may be...you know...really lovely,thank you"

"Really?" Ant asked delighted.

"Yeah,really" Dec smiled,blushing slightly at Ant's kindness "a chance to freshen up and sleep in a proper bed for the first time in months would be amazing,but are you sure about this?"

"Of course I'm sure" Ant beamed "come on,get your stuff and follow me,I know just the place"

Dec obediently followed Ant,trying to not let his excitement show too much and just a short while later,Dec was standing in a hotel room,eyes wide at what was displayed in front of him.

He was finally going to sleep in a proper bed in a warm room once again!