The Ultimate Community Read online

  Table of Contents

  Prologue 7

  Chapter 1 8

  Chapter 2 11

  Chapter 3 13

  Chapter 4 17

  Chapter 5 20

  Chapter 6 22

  Chapter 7 26

  Chapter 8 28

  Chapter 9 30

  Chapter 10 32

  Chapter 11 35

  Chapter 12 37

  Chapter 13 39

  Chapter 14 41

  Chapter 15 43

  Chapter 16 45

  Chapter 17 48

  Chapter 18 50

  Chapter 19 52

  Chapter 20 54

  Chapter 21 55

  Chapter 22 56

  Chapter 23 58

  Chapter 24 60

  Chapter 25 62

  Chapter 26 64

  Chapter 27 67

  Chapter 28 70

  Chapter 29 72

  Chapter 30 75

  Chapter 31 77

  Chapter 32 81

  Chapter 33 83

  Chapter 34 86

  Chapter 35 88

  Chapter 36 90

  Chapter 37 92

  Chapter 38 95

  Chapter 39 97

  Chapter 40 100

  Chapter 41 102

  Chapter 42 105

  Chapter 43 107

  Epilogue 109

  The Letter 110

  Note From the Author 111

  The

  Ultimate

  Community

  J. Meverington

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Text copyright © 2019 by J. Meverington

  Cover design © 2019 by ActionSnappers.com

  ISBN: 9780473470777

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  The Community Series

  The Ultimate Community is the third book in the Community series. The first two books are:

  The Secret Community

  The Eternal Community

  For Jean

  Prologue

  Five Years Earlier

  Alice entered the cafe, the smell of coffee beans stirring the hairs in her nostrils. She walked up to the counter and the barista’s smile caught her attention. Their eyes met, sparking an immediate connection. He took her order and asked, ‘Do you want sugar with that?’

  ‘You don’t think I’m sweet enough?’

  He smiled. ‘It’s just better if we stir in the sugar while we’re making it.’

  ‘Ah, no one’s asked that before. No sugar for me thanks.’

  ‘I love your accent,’ he said, ‘American?’

  ‘Yep, but I live in London now.’

  ‘I’m planning my first trip to the States next year and looking forward to it.’

  ‘Where are you going?’

  ‘New York, on a research trip.’

  ‘I lived in New York for a few years, loved it.’

  ‘Hey cool, any chance I could talk to you about it?’

  ‘What do you wanna know?’

  ‘I’m about to take a break shortly, can I join you for a cuppa?’

  ‘Sure.’ Alice found a table in the corner and watched him from a distance, noting how handsome he was with his dark curls, thick eyebrows and dimpled chin.

  He brought their coffees over and placed them on the table, then offered his hand. ‘I’m Ethan.’

  She shook it and a tingle spread up her arm.

  ‘Allie,’ she said, and smiled at him, captivated by his intense gaze.

  ‘So, what brings you out all alone in Oxford on a Sunday morning?’

  ‘It’s my weekend off, so I caught the train up to visit my grandparents. I work in a bar in London. I love working in hospitality, how about you?’

  ‘It’s okay,’ he said. ‘It’s only a part-time job while I’m at uni. I’m in my final year, then I plan to start a business.’

  ‘Oh, what are you studying?’

  ‘I’m doing a double degree in computing and cognitive science.’

  ‘Wow, a double degree, that must be hard. That seems an odd combination though.’

  ‘I want to specialise in recording data from the brain. I believe that’s the key to the future of our planet.’

  ‘How so?’

  ‘Imagine, if we could download knowledge and remove the greed factor and other miscellaneous rubbish from the brain. We could move forward in designing new technologies and a clean lifestyle. It may take generations to fix the damage we’ve done, but I believe we can do it.’

  ‘Wow, that sounds so cool. How old are you? You seem a lot older than you look.’

  ‘I’m twenty-five, same age as you.’

  ‘How do you know my age?’

  ‘Just a lucky guess,’ he said, then flashed her a smile which made her heart melt.

  Chapter 1

  Current Time (Five Years Later)

  Alice woke up with the hangover from hell. How much did she drink last night? Snippets of the previous evening floated into her mind and she cringed. The last thing she remembered was doing tequila slammers. Ouch!

  Her phone vibrated beside her. She looked at it, and a photo of her smiling boyfriend lit up the screen. It was Jason calling. Unwilling to deal with him, she popped two painkillers, buried her head under the pillow and went back to sleep.

  Hours later, a persistent buzzing woke her. She crawled out of bed, donned a bathrobe, and staggered to the front door. The buzzing continued. The entrance camera showed Jason downstairs looking agitated, pressing the intercom repeatedly. Alice pressed the button to let him in, left her door ajar, and crawled back into bed.

  The front door closed, and Jason stomped into her bedroom.

  ‘Why haven’t you been answering your phone? I’ve been worried sick about you?’

  ‘Don’t feel good,’ she mumbled from under the bedding.

  ‘When will you learn? I suppose you want some brekky?’

  ‘Just leave me alone, I don’t need your nagging.’

  Alice stayed in bed but couldn’t sleep as Jason banged about in the kitchen. He brought her a cup of coffee and placed it on her bedside dresser, then opened the blinds. Sun streamed in causing her to dive under the covers again.

  ‘Don’t forget we have a barbie around at Tash and Kevin’s place this afternoon.’

  Alice groaned. It was something she’d been dreading. Tash was one of those la-de-dah types who always greeted you by emphasising the ‘are’ in ‘how ARE you’ and Alice hated her fake charm. But she was Jason’s friend, so she should go.

  She sat up in bed and sipped her coffee. The painkillers had done their work and malaise now spread through her. The smell of bacon wafted in from the kitchen causing her stomach to turn. Jason meant well; she should be thankful.

  She finished her coffee and joined him in the kitchen as he was plating up. He’d cooked up a feast; bacon, eggs, baked beans, hash browns, and toast. He placed the meal on the dining table and they both sat down to eat. Alice pushed her food around the plate, having no appetite. She dipped her toast in the sauce and nibbled on a crust.

  ‘I assume it was a good night,’ Jason said, not looking amused.

  ‘I think it was,’ she replied.

  ‘You need to learn moderation, Allie. I worry about you drinking so much and not remembering the next day.’

  As much as she hated his nagging, Alice didn’t like waking with terrible hangovers. She
was thirty now and too old to be carrying on like a teenager.

  ‘What did you do last night?’ he asked.

  ‘We started at the pub and ended up at a club, doing tequila slammers. After that it’s all a blur.’

  ‘I saw you tagged in a few posts on Facebook. Bryan posted a YouTube video of a cow dancing on a bar and singing, I drunk too much, I drunk too much, I drunk too much today. It was kinda funny.’

  Alice cringed. She’d danced on bars before and a vague memory from the previous night crept its way into her brain.

  ‘Gawd, I’m such a loser.’

  ‘No, you’re not, but if you need help, I’m here.’

  That was typical of Jason, always trying to get her to join him in his quest for eternal life. He was a health and fitness fanatic, and she’d met him at the local gym where he’d been her personal trainer. She’d gone along for a few sessions but had decided exercising wasn’t for her.

  A few weeks later at the supermarket, she’d been trying to choose a pizza from the frozen section when Jason had come up behind her and said, ‘I see the health and fitness is going well.’

  Alice had jumped out of her skin and had made excuses why she was choosing a pizza, and not a salad, and he’d laughed at her.

  ‘Hey, I’m not judging,’ he’d said, then asked her out for dinner. She’d said yes, and that’s when their relationship began, around six months earlier.

  Alice ate as much of her breakfast as she could, gulped down another coffee then stepped into the shower and let it wash away the events from the previous evening. By the time she’d dried herself off and dressed in clean clothes, she emerged feeling like a new person.

  ‘Is that what you’re wearing?’ Jason asked.

  She looked down at herself and thought she was dressed appropriately for an afternoon barbecue.

  ‘What’s wrong with it?’

  ‘Well, your jeans are ripped for starters, and your runners are scruffy.’

  ‘Gawd, you’re so superficial. And these sneakers are my comfy ones. Why is it such a crime in being comfortable?’

  ‘Can you just try and look a little nice for me, please? You know Tash and her friends are always immaculate.’

  Alice stormed into her bedroom and dug out a pair of jeans that weren’t ripped. They were tight as she wiggled them over her hips, silently cursing Jason for making her change. She squeezed her belly in and buttoned her fly. I must go on a diet, she thought, not realising she’d put on weight.

  Alice rummaged around in her closet and pulled out a newer pair of ‘runners’ as Jason called them. They were a little small for her, and her big toe touched the front of them. She hoped they wouldn’t have to walk too far.

  As they caught the Tube to Tash and Kevin’s house in Hampstead, Alice wondered how she could get through the afternoon without drinking. Her stomach turned at the thought of alcohol and she decided now would be a good time to give up.

  They arrived at the barbecue and Tash greeted them.

  ‘Welcome you two, how ARE you?’ Tash air kissed them both on each cheek with an exaggerated muah, muah, then thrust a glass of prosecco into Alice’s hand. Well it would have been rude to refuse, wouldn’t it?

  Alice took a sip, and the dry bubbles tingled her tongue, the taste far superior to the sweet bubbly she normally drank. Before she knew it, her glass was empty. Tash noticed and topped her up. Jason leaned into her and whispered, ‘Hey darl, slow it down.’

  Alice cringed at his Australian accent. She used to find it endearing, but now she found it annoying. He was right though, she didn’t want a repeat of yesterday, but the bubbly was curing her current hangover quite nicely. ‘Hair of the Dog,’ they call it. But isn’t that a sign of alcoholism? Isn’t that why alcoholics drink first thing in the morning, to cure their hangovers?

  Alice felt out of place. Jason stood by the barbecue chatting to the boys and had left her sitting with the girls. They talked about things she wasn’t interested in: clothes, shoes, hairdressers.

  Alice had never been into fashion. She’d always seen it as a form of brainwashing, everyone encouraged to conform, to dress a certain way, to pay extra for a particular label even if it had come from the same factory as the cheaper ones. She looked at Tash and her friends, and there wasn’t much to differentiate them. They all had the same shoulder length hairstyle, almost identical dresses, and faces hidden behind make-up.

  Even though Alice was now dressed tidily, she still felt out of place. The other girls ignored her, so she got up and poured herself another glass of bubbly and wandered over to where her boyfriend was having an animated conversation with the men.

  Jason was another one in the game of clones, conforming, wearing expensive designer clothing, hair gelled to perfection. His face dropped when he saw the full glass of prosecco in her hands as he sipped on his first beer. He’d admitted to her he didn’t even like drinking, he only did it to keep the other guys happy. Nobody liked that person who didn’t drink.

  She took a large sip, worried he might try and take it off her.

  ‘Hey Allie, what’s up?’

  ‘Nothing, just wondering if the conversation’s any better here. The girls are boring me stupid.’

  ‘Hah! Well you’ll be bored over here too, we’re talking about the cricket.’

  ‘Ughhh, sports, even worse.’ She gulped back some more wine.

  When any of Alice’s friends had a party, they got drunk, danced, played games, had fun. These people were too concerned with their image to let their hair down.

  The drinks table beckoned, so she topped her glass up again. She rummaged in her bag for her phone and texted her friend, Katie. ‘I’m so bored, what are you up to?’

  A text pinged back immediately.

  ‘Poor you and the couples party. Come over, we’re playing board games.’

  ‘Sounds good, See you soon.’

  Alice wandered back to Jason. ‘Hey, I’m gonna head over to Katie’s, I can’t take much more of this.’

  ‘What? You’re leaving?’ Jason guided her away from the others.

  ‘Jase, I’m soooo bored, Tash and her friends aren’t my type of people. And I hate sports, so there’s nothing I can contribute to here.’

  ‘It’s embarrassing for me, you leaving, what will I say to everyone?’

  ‘Tell them I’m sick or something.’

  ‘But you can’t just...’ Jason started to protest, then changed his mind not wanting to make a scene. He shook his head. ‘Just go, I’ll see you later.’

  ‘Okay, text first though, in case I’m still at Katie’s, you can meet me there,’ she said, knowing he wouldn’t. He wasn’t a fan of her friends. They’re ‘too cool for school’ he’d once said. It was true, most of her friends were all down to earth, they didn’t judge, and they dressed how they wanted, ignoring fashions, preferring to shop in vintage stores.

  The hurt look on his face caused a deep pang of guilt, but she brushed the feeling aside and left without saying goodbye to anyone else.

  Chapter 2

  Alice caught the tube to Katie’s, a large Victorian house in Putney. She lived there with five others, and they regularly had impromptu parties. Alice could hear the music pumping from down the street as she walked from East Putney tube station. She opened the front door and was shocked to see a casket in the hallway and a couple of people making out in it. She assumed the coffin belonged to Katie’s flatmate, Paul, who was a mortician.

  Alice headed into the lounge where a party was in full swing. So much for just sitting around playing board games, but that was typical of parties at Katie’s house.

  ‘Allie,’ screeched Katie carrying a tray of shots.

  Alice still felt a bit tiddly from the prosecco she’d drunk earlier, and Jason’s warnings rang around in her head. She ignored the shots and sought out a beer instead. In the kitchen was a cool box full of ice, with some beer necks poking out. She grabbed one, planning to sit on it for an hour. She didn’t want another hang
over.

  Bryan, one of her work colleagues from The Community Bar came over to her. ‘Babe, you were a laugh last night. Did you see the video I posted to your page?’

  Alice had been too scared to check and a shiver of dread ran down her spine.

  ‘Oh gawd, what did I do?’

  ‘You were twerking on the bar, putting out some freaky moves.’

  ‘No way? You posted that?’

  ‘Nah, but I posted a funny clip of a drunken cow dancing on the bar. It’s hilarious, you should check it out.’

  ‘Ah, Jason said something about that. I’ve been too hungover today to even look. Then I went to this god-awful barbecue with Jason’s friends. It was so boring, I left him there.’

  ‘Aw, poor Jason. Such a hottie and way too good for you. Send him my way, I’ll convert him to the other side!’

  ‘He might drop in later, I’ll tell him you’re looking forward to seeing him.’

  Bryan clapped his hands with glee, grabbed a couple of shots off a tray that was heading past them, and handed her one.

  ‘To Jason!’ he said, and they both knocked them back. ‘Mmmm, nothing like a quick fuck.’

  Bryan wasn’t being rude, it was the name of the cocktail they were drinking. At work they referred to them as QF’s, but Bryan didn’t do political correctness.

  Katie came around carrying another tray of shots. ‘Quick Fuck anyone?’

  Bryan and Alice grabbed another one and again shot them back. Alice began to loosen up, letting the music seep into her bones as she danced to the beat. She lost all track of time as she swayed and writhed to the rhythm, happy to be alive and living. Bryan had given her something to dissolve on her tongue and the lights now swirled around her, a kaleidoscope of colour. She was so immersed in her world that she jumped when someone tapped her on the shoulder. It was Jason.

  Alice smiled when she saw him and she drew him into her arms. He felt tense, and she guessed it was because it was his turn to be out of his comfort zone.

  She shouted in his ear, ‘I’m surprised you came. I thought you were going to text first.’