BETWEEN THE SHEETS

Nikitta Byrne, 26, from Cardiff, went to a party to let her hair down - but what happened that night was sickening.

Shipping on my Magnum cider, I felt my phone buzz in my pocket.

Looking at the screen, I saw it was my friend Clare*.

'Hey Nik, what you up to?' she asked.

'Not much,' I replied.

With my daughter Poppy, then three, at her dad's for the weekend back in August 2020, I was just making the most of chilling out in the summer sun with my mate Sophie*.

'Fancy coming to a party?" Clare asked.

'Yeah, why not?!' I smiled.

We'd not long come out of lockdown, so it would be nice to let my hair down.

So an hour later, Clare came to pick me and Sophie up, and drove us to her mate's house in Penarth, just outside of Cardiff.

The party was being thrown by two lads, Tom and Simon*, who were friends of Clare.

As we pulled up in the driveway I gasped.

This house is huge!' I exclaimed in awe.

And it only got more impressive as we went inside.

It was like a proper mansion with gorgeous views over the sea, and decked out like a Love Island party, with a BBQ, DJ and everything.

Pouring a pink gin and lemonade for me and Sophie, I joined the rest of the group in the garden-some mutual friends, and some new faces.

It was still early, so there weren't many people there, and it was just a lovely chilled vibe as we all drank and chatted to each other.

'Want another drink?" Sophie asked, as she drained her glass.

I'll just have a water, please,' j I replied.

I wasn't a big drinker, plus I had Poppy back the next afternoon, and I didn't want to be hungover.

I got chatting to one of the lads there, Ben*, and I was having a great time.

As the night wore on and more people arrived, the party started ramping up.

So, are you single?' Ben asked me.

Our chat started getting more and more flirtatious, and I definitely felt a little spark between the two of us.