Ant was relieved when he received a text from Nick to say that Dec was safely home.

If only that were true!

A few hours later,Ant was getting up,ready for the day ahead,totally oblivious to what Dec was going through.

Meanwhile,Dec slowly opened his eyes and immediately squinted against the bright winter sun.

His head hurt like hell,his mouth was dry,he felt sick,he was cold and more worryingly...he was outside.

Where the hell he was or how he'd got there,he had absolutely no clue,the only thing he could be sure of was that it had something to do with Nick.

He had no idea how long he'd been there,but it was obviously quite a while,but he barely remembered a thing.

His last memory had him placed in the pub with everyone else,feeling a little bit ill,but after that?...nothing!

He slowly rose to his feet,trying to ignore how truly awful he felt.

"Ow" he exclaimed as he stood on a sharp stone,staring down and noticing that he was missing a shoe.

He frowned as he felt the dampness that had been soaking into his clothes for God knows how long,no wonder he was cold.

He rubbed his hands together,blowing onto them in a futile attempt to warm himself up,he was freezing,but alive,thankful that he hadn't froze to death during the night,this was decidedly worse than being homeless,at least then he had been able to find shelter when necessary,but now?now,he'd obviously been exposed to the elements all night.

That bastard Nick could have killed him!

As nasty,vile and spiteful as Nick was,Dec never imagined he would be capable of something as dangerous as this,but as Dec had only known him for a few days,how could he even have known exactly what he was capable of?

Dec thought about the parts of the evening that he did remember,how the alcohol had affected him so seriously,Dec still found that hard to understand,he'd started feeling strange pretty early on in the evening after all,then it suddenly came to him.

"That fucking bastard spiked my drinks and dumped me here" he fumed out loud.

He looked around at his surroundings,he had no idea where he was or how far from home he was.

He was in a field!

And judging by the huge cowpats spread around him,some animal company wasn't too far away.

Now what was he to do?

He wished he had a mobile phone,then he could at least contact Ant,who would no doubt come rushing to his aid.

Not that Dec would be able to tell him his location.

Dec vowed to get a phone as soon as he could once this nightmare was sorted.

He tried to locate his missing shoe,but it was nowhere to be seen,then suddenly thought to check his pocket to see if he still had his wage packet.

He let out a sigh of relief that Nick had at least left him with that.

So somehow he now had to try and find his way home,which would be extremely difficult considering he had absolutely no clue as to where he was.

He listened intently to any sounds that might help him,other than the birds singing their morning chorus,he could just about make out a faint rumbling in the distance.

"That's got to be a road" he said loudly and hobbled off towards where the sound was coming from,luckily not coming across any cattle on his way.

As he got closer,the sound got louder and he was pretty sure it was either a motorway or a dual carriageway.

He knew very well that walking along a motorway was totally illegal,but at that precise moment,he didn't give a damn,reasoning that if someone reported it,at least the police would come and hopefully take him home,that was if he didn't get splattered by an articulated lorry first.

When he finally reached the road,he was relieved to see it was a busy dual carriageway,not a motorway and his only chance to get home was to hitchhike.

Of course it was a long time before anyone showed any sign of picking him up,any drivers no doubt judging the scruffy man shuffling along,with his thumb stuck out and not wanting him to mess up their nice cars.

Dec wasn't even sure if he was going in the right direction,he just hoped he would come across a road sign soon which would hopefully give him a rough idea of where he was.

It seemed like he'd been walking for miles when that did eventually happen,although in reality,he'd gone less than a mile,but every step was an effort in his current state and his shoeless foot was already sore.

He stopped and stared up at the sign.

'London 11' it read.

Dec sighed to himself at those words,he could walk eleven miles,but it would take hours,but at least he now knew he was going in the right direction,he would have been devastated if he'd been traipsing the wrong way all this time.

He sat down on a barrier at the side of the road for a moment.

He was desperate for a drink of water,but there was nothing he could do about that,so after a couple of minutes,started off on his long journey,thumb stuck out once again.

He was soon startled out of his thoughts by a long beep from a lorry coming up behind him.

He quickly turned around to see its smiling driver waving at him as he slowed to a halt.

Dec ran to the lorry as fast as he could manage and opened the door of the high cab.

"Howdy there" the trucker beamed,before Dec even had a chance to speak.

"Er...yeah,howdy" Dec replied,above the country music that was blaring out from the radio,thinking for a moment that he had been transported to Nashville "thanks for stopping"

Not being particularly tall,Dec struggled a bit to climb up into the cab,but once he did,he had a good look at it.

"You're American?" Dec asked as he got comfortable,noting the driver's stetson,cowboy boots and the stars and stripes flag that was pinned up behind him.

"Nah" the man grinned "I just love everything country and western...Eddie is the name"

"Nice to meet you Eddie" Dec smiled "I'm Dec,so where are you really from?"

"I'm a liverpool boy,born and bred" Eddie grinned.

"Ah yeah" Dec nodded "I can hear it in your accent now...umm,you don't happen to have any water you could spare do you?"

"Back there" Ed indicated to a box behind him "I always carry plenty of bottles,help yourself to an unopened one"

"Thanks" Dec replied gratefully and reached into the box.

"Wow,you were thirsty" Eddie stated as Dec drank down half of the bottle in one go.

"So Dec" Eddie said as he drove on "tell me what you are doing out here this early in the morning with one shoe missing?"

"Long story" Dec sighed.

"We're still a few miles from London" Eddie pointed out "go on entertain me,bit of a heavy session last night was it?"

"You could say that" Dec frowned and proceeded to relay the whole sorry tale to Eddie,who listened intently.

"So that's it" Dec stated bluntly afterwards "that bastard must have spiked my drinks"

"And he needs to pay" Eddie pointed out.

"How?" Dec asked "What can I do?he's Ant's close friend and business partner"

"Yeah" Eddie nodded "and if this Ant is the good guy that you say he is,then he'll be on your side won't he?"

"I don't know" Dec shook his head despairingly "what if he doesn't believe me?"

"That's just a risk you're going to have to take" Eddie advised,while bringing the lorry to a halt.

"Here we are Dec" he announced "nearest tube station is about ten minutes walk in that direction.

He pointed down one of the roads as Dec unbuckled his seat belt.

"Thanks for the lift Eddie" Dec smiled "and for the advice"

"No problem" Eddie smiled "I hope it all works out for you"

"Yeah,me too" Dec nodded as he climbed down from the cab,shutting the door and waving as Eddie drove off.

Dec was relieved when he reached the tube station and was able to purchase an oyster card and make his way home.

He got some disapproving looks from other passengers who noticed his missing shoe and filthy sock,but he didn't care,he had got used to being judged by complete strangers long ago and had learned just to ignore it,telling himself that he was a much better person than any of them.

He was deep in thought for most of the journey anyway,thinking about what Eddie had said.

Was he right?should he tell Ant?what if he didn't believe him?what if he chose Nick over him?

Dec didn't think he would be able to bear it if that happened,it would mean losing Ant's friendship and probably his home and job as well.

But what Nick had done was horrendous,Dec couldn't just pretend it hadn't happened...could he?

He decided he had to tell Ant and he'd just have to deal with whatever fallout that came from it,Ant had the right to know what his so called friend was really like.

Once Dec finally reached his flat,cold,tired,fed up and incredibly sore all over his body,he couldn't wait to just get in,have a shower and flop down on his bed for a proper sleep.

But one thing he hadn't checked for when he awoke in the field was his door keys.

He rummaged desperately through every pocket trying to find them,but there was no sign.

Just when he thought things couldn't have gotten any worse,he shook his head despairingly.

All he could do now was sit down on the doorstep.

And sob his heart out!