Текст книги "Rotten to the Core"

Автор книги: Casey Kelleher

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Текущая страница: 9 (всего у книги 14 страниц)

              “Make us a coffee, would you, Jadey?” Removing her hand, he patted her naked arse, as she got up to wrap her gown round herself before going to the kitchen to make him one. Seeing his phone flash, he noticed he had three missed calls.

              “Alright, Tanya,” he said, picking up the call before it rang out again,

Tanya was crying, and he found it hard to understand what she was saying.

              “What do you mean, he knows? Who knows what?” Jay asked.

              “Billy: he must know about us, Jay, he’s thrown me out; I’ve got nowhere to go.”

              “Alright, where are you now? I’ll come and get you.”

After calming her down and getting her to say where she was, Jay put his clothes on. Jade came in with a mug of coffee.

              “Where are you off to?” She couldn’t help but sound disappointed; she had thought she would have him to herself for a few more hours.

              “I’ve got to go, babe.” He pulled his jeans on and didn’t look her in the eye. He had got what he had come for, and she might be a pretty face but she had nothing interesting to say. He would definitely have a few friends who might be interested in her, though; she seemed to be easily persuaded so she should be easy to convince.

              “I’ll call you in the week, babe. Let you know about that little party I’m organising?”

Glad that he was arranging to see her again, Jade perked up.

              “Okay, babe, you do that; can’t wait.” Waving him off, as he walked down the front path towards his beamer, she felt pleased as punch with herself, already selecting party outfits in her head.

Jay got in his car and drove off to pick up Tanya; he had no idea how Billy had found out, but he knew that if Tanya was in the shit he would be more so. He decided that he would take her back to Emma’s flat and she could stay in the spare room; it wasn’t ideal, but as he had been given little notice, it was all he could sort out, and he was sure Tanya wouldn’t mind if it were just for a few days. Emma wouldn’t know what day of the week it was, let alone who Tanya was, the girl was off her head all the time. He would cancel her punters and keep it low key while Tanya was there. He needed to pop back there, anyway, he hadn’t been there for the best part of the week and Emma owed him her week’s earnings.

Driving faster, his head was spinning; he didn’t know what to do about his job, or Kate. None of it made sense: how could Billy know? Or maybe he didn’t; maybe he had had enough of Tanya? Surely Billy would have had it out with him, too. Jay knew how Billy had had a thing with one of the girls from the lounge at Goldie’s when he used to be there; a little blonde bird, Candy or something. Maybe he didn’t give two shits about Tanya and had just ended it, or maybe he’d just traded her in?

As he pulled up outside the newsagents where Tanya was standing with a Louis Vuitton suitcase, mascara running down her cheeks, he knew he would soon find out.

31

Billy was dreading this, but he knew it would be the only way, once and for all, that Kate would actually listen. He had to make Kate physically see the damage that Jay inflicted on people, and how that scumbag had no qualms about walking over anyone in his way.

Billy had already spoken to Sonia, and she had agreed with everything that he said; Jay had gone too far and needed to be taught a lesson. Billy had got to her house first thing that morning; luckily Sonia always got up at the crack of dawn, at least a few hours before Kate, so they had had the chance to talk things through, and the stuff that he had told her had shocked her to the core. She had been disgusted by what Billy had told her about the poor girl he had found trying to hang herself, how Jay had drugged her and used her to make money for him, and that he had other girls out there in the same state made Sonia ashamed to be his mother. Sonia had been even more disgusted when she had heard what Jay’s father had done all those years ago to Billy and Kate’s mother; it made her sick to her stomach. She had known Den had been capable of vile things, it was one of the reasons she had got out in the first place. She could understand now why Billy hated Jay so much. She wondered if when she had walked out on Den all those years ago, things would have been different if she had taken Jay with her. Maybe he wouldn’t have turned out as repulsive. She couldn’t help feeling guilty, that somehow she was partly to blame for her son’s ways. He was Den all over again, so maybe no matter what she had done differently he would have turned out this way, maybe it was in the genes. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree, they said, and in this case the apple was rotten to the core.

Sonia had agreed to change the locks, and decided that as of that moment she would disown Jay. Billy had said that he would send one of his guys round for a few days, just in case Jay returned home and thought he would try his luck, and that way he would know that Sonia meant it: he was no longer welcome here; he wasn’t her son any longer.

Sonia had suggested that Billy should break the news to Kate and hopefully they would be able to comfort the poor girl. Pouring Billy a mug of hot tea, she placed it down on the table, and sat down to join him as he drank it.

“I honestly don’t know where I’m going to start, Sonia, this is going to break Kate’s heart. I don’t know how much more she can take.” Billy had known all along that Jay was no good, but his sister would never hear a bad word said about him. Well, that morning when she finally came downstairs, bad words were all that would be worthy of the bloke.

As Billy and Sonia were starting their second cup of tea, Kate did finally come downstairs, wrapped in her dressing gown and yawning.

              “Billy?” She looked from her brother’s frowning face to Sonia’s worried look. “What’s going on? Has something happened?”

She had been working at the club all evening, and hadn’t got home until after three; she would have still been in bed but she had heard her brother’s voice and had come down to see what this unexpected visit was all about. He had bags under his eyes and a frown so deep across his forehead it looked like a scar. Worried, she looked at Sonia, who was looking into her tea as she stirred it. Billy should be the one to tell the poor girl, she wasn’t getting involved; not until she was needed, that was.

Pulling a chair out for Kate, Billy told her to sit down. At first, he didn’t really know where to start, there was so much filth and dirt and lies. Then it all just came out, everything he knew. He told her about Jay’s dad and what he had seen all those years ago, when he was just a boy. He told Kate how he had caught Jay coming out of his and Tanya’s house and that he had followed him. He had done this for a few days and one flat in particular that he kept being led back to was Emma’s. He told Kate how he gone to Emma’s flat on his own, to find out what was going on, and what he had seen there.

He gave Kate the letter that was addressed to her, which he had taken the night he had found Emma trying to hang herself. He tried to hold himself together, as he watched the tears roll down Kate’s cheeks as she read it.

              “Where is she?” she sobbed, as she put the letter back into the envelope.

              “She’s in hospital, Kate; she’s going to be okay, but she’s in a state right now. She’s been there for ten days now. I would have told you sooner, but she wasn’t strong enough. The doctors wouldn’t have let you in anyway, not until she was over the worst.” He touched her hand across the table.

              “She is asking for you now, though, and she really needs you, Kate.”

              “I just can’t believe that Jay would do this, I don’t get it; I feel like I’m missing something here.” It was all too much to take in, she had had an inkling that Jay was up to no good and she had decided to ignore it rather than question it, but this… this was unforgivable. Getting her priorities straight, Kate added: “Can you take me to see her?”

              “Yeah, of course I can, go and get dressed, love, and we’ll go now.”

As she left the room, Kate looked like she had had the wind knocked right out of her.

              “What do you think will happen to Jay now, Billy?” Sonia asked.

              “My bet is he will try and come back here, Sonia, and knowing him, if you don’t let him in, he will try and force his way in.”

Sonia knew Billy was right. Jay would always do whatever he was told not to, a trait he had had from when he was a boy. Seeing the anguished look on Sonia’s face and as if reading her mind, Billy reassured her:

              “Ryan’s on his way over, he’s going to be staying here with you for a few days, just until Jay gets the message, okay?”

              “Okay.” Right now, Jay wasn’t on her mind; her only thoughts were of Kate: that poor, poor girl, how did she ever go falling for someone like Jay? Right now, more than anything in the world, Sonia would have swapped a million Jays for one Kate. She had grown to love the girl like her own, and hoped that after all this was over Kate and she would remain close friends. Sonia would be there for Kate, no matter what.

32

As he put Tanya’s heavy suitcase down in the hallway of Emma’s flat, he wished he had been given more notice before he had brought her here. She had been crying her eyes out when she first got in the car, but Jay soon realised they were tears of pure anger. Tanya was angry about the fact she had had to leave her home. In fact, she was seething.

Jay was pleased that when the shit hit the fan, Tanya didn’t have any love for Billy, he had never been really sure of her feelings for him until now. Some birds would say anything to get one over on their old man, especially if they were after money or a bunk up. He had heard every line possible in the past from every bird he had known. But Tanya was different. She was high maintenance, that was true, but most women were these days, they wanted everything they were entitled to and then some more. He loved the way that Tanya wouldn’t take any shit; he could see how angry she was, and he had no doubt that she would get her own back on Billy for the way he had treated her.

There was something else he felt too; something he couldn’t put his finger on. He had never been in love, so he was sure that it wasn’t that. But he did feel something: some sort of need for her. He thought about her all the time that he was away from her; he couldn’t get enough of her smell, her taste, or the way she was in bed with him. He could tell that she was a bit damaged, though, like himself, she had her issues. He could see that she had that strength inside her, like he had, no one fucked with her; that’s why he felt he knew her so well: she was the same as him.

Emma’s place was a shithole, and the stench that had hit him as he opened the door nearly made him gag. The curtains were shut, and there obviously hadn’t been a window opened for months as the air was stale. Emma was a filthy bitch, and getting her to tidy up every now and again was too much for her by the looks of it. The smell and mess didn’t bothered him normally, it was only now as he looked around and saw the flies buzzing around the sink, which was overflowing with dishes covered with dried-on food, and the fag ash all over the carpet, that he realised how filthy the place actually was.

Seeing Tanya’s disappointed face and knowing that she deserved better, and that she clearly thought she did too, he decided that he would take her out for something to eat, and get that trampy cow to clean while they were gone.

              “Hang on here a minute, babe,” he said, leaving Tanya in the grubby hallway, obviously unaware that under no circumstances did she have any intention of stepping another foot forward in this stinking pigsty. She was desperately trying to hold her breath, and only took short breaths through her mouth when she had to. Tanya convinced herself that she was only here because she had nowhere else to go, and she was desperate. Looking at the dirty, stained carpet and the mould growing up the wall, she tried not to start crying again at the realisation of how bloody desperate things were for her now.

Billy would not take her back; she knew that for a fact. He had always said that if she ever cheated she was gone and picking his arch-rival would have just about put the final, rusty nail in the coffin. She had lost it all. Her beautiful house, her designer clothes: everything. She knew she hadn’t been happy with Billy for a long time, but her things meant more to her than anything, and she had plodded on in the comfort that at least she would always have a roof over her head. Now her roof was over some little slag’s head. Tanya fought to hold back her tears as she thought of that scrubber in her bed, under her Egyptian cotton sheets, using her Jo Malone toiletries; it made her blood boil.

Jay must be rolling in cash, she thought, although looking about it didn’t seem like it. Tanya was far from stupid; even though he had never discussed his business dealings with her she had an idea what he was involved in. He would be making a fortune with the drugs side alone, and then there were the debt collecting and the girls. Tanya had made it her business to know what she was getting into. It hadn’t made her judge him; at the end of the day, Billy was dodgy, but she had realised early on that Jay must be making some serious wedge, although judging by this dive the question was: where was he hiding it? He lived at home with his bleeding mother, for God’s sake; from what she could work out, he had plenty of incomings and fuck all outgoings. Tanya was a cold-hearted bitch: she knew that more than anyone. Money made the world go round; if someone had no money, they were nothing: simple as. Tanya was surprised at the feelings she had begun to have for Jay. She normally went for men with a hard reputation, someone who had all the pieces on the board and who knew how to play the game. At first she had loved having Jay at her beck and call, loved having him come over and fuck her as soon as Billy was out of the house, on the floor that Billy had paid for. He was her bit of rough. She had had her most intense orgasms with Jay grinding on top of her, thinking about Billy catching her.

Something had changed, though, and it had shocked her when she realised it wasn’t all about getting back at Billy for not being the man she had wanted him to be and for not giving her the attention she needed; she realised that she liked Jay, and that they could go far together. Jay didn’t have the clout but she reckoned with a bit of guidance from her they could be good together, make real money. Tanya had seen enough of Billy’s business dealings to recognise that it wasn’t what you knew, it was who.

Opening Emma’s bedroom door, Jay was surprised to realise that she wasn’t at home. The last few times that he had been back to collect his money the place had been empty too, although it didn’t look as though anything had been touched and he didn’t think she would have the balls to do a runner, so she couldn’t have gone far. He was starting to get a bit pissed off now though, and if it wasn’t for Tanya standing in the hallway, he would probably have gone looking for her. Thinking that Emma had probably nipped out for some gear, and was probably doing God knows what to pay for it; he tried to put her out of his mind. She didn’t have any friends anymore; he had seen to that; her confidence was at an all-time low, too, so she wouldn’t speak to anyone even if she did bump into them. He would have to take Tanya to the cafe in the high street and then come back and clean the mess up: he would fucking kill Emma when she finally turned up. Tanya would not be happy about staying there, full stop, but it was all he could do for now. He would have to stop Emma’s visitors for the time being for the few days that Tanya was there. His mind was in a whirl, there were so many things all at once to think about. He wondered what was going on: did Billy know that Tanya had been with him? Did Kate know, too? What would happen to his work for Billy? There were too many questions in around his head. He decided to call Kate. Her phone was diverted to her answerphone; he figured she was probably still in bed.

              “Hurry up, for fuck’s sake, Jay,” Tanya called, getting seriously impatient.

              “I’m here, babe,” he said; returning to her side and then picking up his keys, he put his arm around her shoulder.

              “You can’t stay here, Tan, it ain’t right. I’m going to book you into a hotel.” He decided that her staying here with Emma would be more hassle than it was worth.

              “Thank fucking God for that,” Tanya almost smiled, “for a moment there, I thought you were going to make me stay here with the vomit stains and the cockroaches.”

Picking up her bag from the hallway, he trudged behind her out to the car.

              “There’s a little hotel on the edge of town; a right little posh place it is; I’ll stay there,’ she said. “Think they have a spa, too, and I could do with a nice massage, my neck’s frigging killing me.”

Jay wasn’t really listening; he was too worried about what to do next. Best thing to do was act normal, he thought; Billy might not know that it was him screwing around with Tanya. For all he knew he was worrying about nothing. He decided that as soon as he had dropped Tanya off at the hotel he would go home, and see what the situation was: surely if Billy was onto him, Jay would have been the first to know. Tanya had said that Billy had brought that bird from the club home, so that had to be it, as simple as that: Billy had traded Tanya in for a younger model. Chucking Tanya’s case in the boot he felt calmer: yeah, things would be fine, he was sure. Opening the passenger door of his beamer for Tanya he grinned and winked.

              “Your chariot awaits, madam.”

33

Emma was a ghost of the girl she had been, seriously underweight, her once full chest now shrunken to nothing and her ribs visible through her nightshirt. She had endured so much for the past ten days and felt exhausted. The hospital had kept her in and helped to wean her off her drug addiction, she had been hallucinating badly for the first few days, and at times she had felt so disorientated she had imagined she was back in the flat with Jay. Thankfully the side effects were dying down, but she felt drained and tired all the time. The doctors had recommended medication to ease the symptoms of going ‘cold turkey’, but she had refused; she was determined to beat this herself.

The last six months of her life had become a blur and the bits she could remember were so horrible and dirty she didn’t even want to remember them. She felt so ashamed by what she had become. Emma understood that Jay had done a lot of it, but she also understood how she had caused it to happen too. She had let him worm his way in, behind her friend’s back, and she had put him above Kate, her best friend, and she had got what she deserved and more in the process.

Emma had never felt as happy as she had when she had seen Kate come into her hospital room that morning. She knew that she didn’t deserve her friend’s kindness after betraying her. She had been stupid. They had spent the last hour talking, crying and apologising. Kate had hugged Emma and promised her that from now on she would be looking after her. Emma had been worried about what Jay would say when he found out that she was in hospital and that Billy had helped her, but Billy was adamant that she shouldn’t worry and that he was sorting him out, and even though she was frightened she hoped he was right.

Kate had had no idea of what had been going on; even Billy’s words before he had brought her here were hard to take in. It was like he had been talking about a complete stranger, as if he had made an awful mistake. Seeing Emma was the only thing that had helped the reality to sink in.

Jay had done this: to Emma? He was an animal. Kate couldn’t understand how he could do this to somebody; obviously his motive was money but surely there were other ways to earn it? She was in shock and felt as if she were going to pass out all the time, but looking at her brave friend in front of her, she knew that if Emma could come out of this the other end then she could. She would be strong, for Emma; she owed her that.

Emma had been kept in for ten days, apparently that period was the worst for coming off drugs and she had been given round-the-clock care and regular counselling. After speaking to Billy and Kate, and advising them on the tough few weeks ahead of them, the doctors agreed that Emma could be discharged as an outpatient, but that she was to keep up with her counselling on a regular basis.

Leaving Emma to finish sorting out the paperwork with her case worker, Kate went out into the corridor, where Billy was waiting.

              “You okay, babe?” Billy’s concern was clear in his voice.

              “Yeah, thanks, I guess I’m just in a bit of shock, that’s all.” Kate didn’t know what to make of the whole thing. Jay was a monster. How could she have thought she loved him? How could she have let herself get pregnant by him? Her poor friend had been subjected to the sickest acts imaginable and would probably never get over them; Emma had been brought so low by Jay that she had tried to kill herself. Kate’s guilt of not being there for her was overwhelming; a whole six months of being angry with Emma and cutting her off because of her weird behaviour, and her friend had needed her. Kate was determined not to cry, though: not here, not yet. “I don’t know what to do, Billy, I can’t go back to Jay’s, I know Sonia said she wouldn’t be letting him back in, but it just doesn’t feel right going back there.”

              “Don’t go worrying about Sonia. Ryan’s going to be staying there for a bit, so she’ll be looked after. Why don’t you stay at my house; Tanya’s gone, so why don’t you and Emma have it?”

Kate knew that Sonia would be safe from Jay’s torment with Ryan there; he was not a nice piece of work, and she knew that if he was on your side then you were safe as houses. As much as Kate loved Sonia, she knew she couldn’t go back there, it had been her and Jay’s place too and with the memories and all his stuff everywhere, it would just be too hard. Besides from now on she was going to be taking care of Emma, being the friend that she should have been all along. Moving into a place where Jay could turn up at any minute wouldn’t be wise. Billy’s flat would be perfect; she and Emma could move in and start again. Emma would need as much support as possible; everyone, including the doctors, couldn’t believe how strongly she was fighting her addiction, they had never seen such determination; yet they had warned Kate that she could relapse, so she was going to keep a close eye on her. The flat would be perfect.

Thanking Billy and giving him a hug she looked up at him tenderly.               “You’re a great brother, Billy. I’m sorry I let him get in between us, between all of us, I truly am.”

Billy shushed her, not wanting to hear another word; he was just glad she had finally seen what Jay was capable of and hoped that she would now move on and be free of him once and for all.

              “Let’s go back in and let Emma know the good news, bet she’ll be over the moon at having you as a flatmate,” he smiled.

Back in the room Emma was delighted, she had been so worried at the thought of having to go back and live with her parents, but this would be perfect. She knew that she would have to tell her parents the truth at some point but she decided that she wanted to be a little stronger in her head when she did. Billy had lied to the staff at the hospital when he had bought her in, he had told them that he was her brother, her next of kin. She was thankful for that, as she couldn’t bear the thought of her parents seeing her here like this. She was so glad that Kate was here, she really needed her friend more than anything or anyone else at the moment. She just wanted to get her life back again: be normal and do normal things. Right now the thought of a hot bath and dinner in front of the telly with her mate seemed like absolute heaven.

34

The little hotel was swanky by name and swanky by nature. Fancy chocolates on the pillows, mini-bar full to the brim, the toilet roll was folded into neat triangles. Mind you, none of it was complimentary, as they would have you believe, not at two hundred and fifty pounds a night. They had checked in yesterday and had a little meal in the bar; that had cost a small fortune, considering it had barely been big enough to feed a poxy budgie, but Tanya had cheered up a bit, so Jay thought that it had been worth every penny.

His plan had been just to drop Tanya off, but now as the sunlight beamed through the edge of the curtains he realised that she had had other plans: she had been persuasive last night. He had to get back now though, he hadn’t seen Kate in three days, and although there had been times he had been away from home for longer he wanted to know what was going on, if anything. Looking at Tanya lying next to him, her tanned naked body all snug under the sheets, it was hard to drag himself away. Being careful not to disturb her, he quietly put his clothes on and took his car keys from the side table. Leaving a note on the coffee table saying that he would call her later, he left her some cash for pampering at the spa, closed the door gently behind him and made his way home.

Ryan couldn’t physically function in the morning without a cup of tea with four sugars, he was like a bear with a sore head most of the time anyway, but catch him before he’d woken himself up with his mug of “cha” in the morning and you’d be in trouble. He glanced once more out of the window, watching the beamer pull up outside.

Billy had filled Ryan in on what had been happening with Jay: not only the drugs and debt collecting that had been done in Billy’s name, but the girls, including his sister’s best mate, Emma. He had been only too happy to stay at Sonia’s and keep the scummy fucker out. The couch had been nice and comfy and Sonia was just knocking up a nice fry up for him, she had been keeping the teas coming since he had arrived yesterday. She was a lovely woman; he could see that. His mum had been a waste of space. She had had no time for him or his brother and they had been left alone frequently when they had been growing up, often nearly starving and having to fend for themselves. How the fuck someone like Jay could have such a lovely mother like this one, God only knew.

To be fair, none of the lads had taken to Jay when he had first come on board. However, they had all been told by Billy that that was the way it was going to be and they were to like it or lump it. Jay had only been given errands, really: nothing major. They certainly hadn’t given him any “in” on the real money that there was to be earned.

All of the lads knew that Billy thought the world of his sister, and that was the only reason he had put them in the position of having to work alongside with such a loser, but it had at first made everyone question Billy’s priorities. They had worked alongside him for years, and he always came up trumps with deals and connections. He had a real way of talking people into things and getting exactly what he wanted: he was a perfect businessman. Billy had wanted to keep an eye on Jay, and that he had: he knew everything about the crooked little shit now. Billy was currently making sure that Jay Shaw didn’t fuck up his sister’s life any more than he had already: cue Ryan. After what he had been told about Jay and his scummy ways, it was the least he could do to help Billy out; knowing that none of them had to put up any pretence anymore and be civil to the sly little fucker was the icing on the proverbial cake.

Hearing Jay scraping his key at the front door, Ryan put his cup in the sink, and gave a now pale-looking Sonia a reassuring look; he knew he had the look of a man that could sort anything, and he was in control of this situation.

Trying another key, Jay couldn’t work out why he couldn’t get in; he only had a couple of keys on the fob, and one of them had to work. Realising he was getting nowhere, he realised that the dozy bitch Sonia must have changed the locks: well, that answered one question then, didn’t it? The shit had obviously hit the fan. What Sonia thought she was doing getting involved he just couldn’t fathom, he had as much right to be here as her: if it wasn’t for him, she would have fuck all to her name. It might be her house, but he had done the place up; he had bought some massive fuck-off telly for her to watch her poxy soaps on: what was she fucking playing at? Jay was about to start booting the door in, when it opened. He was confronted by a large, beefy-looking Ryan. Jay didn’t have a chance to ask Ryan what the fuck he was doing in his house, before he registered what was going on, he was slammed onto the floor, with Ryan’s fists raining down on him, blow after blow.

              “Next time you show your face around here, boy, I’m going to cut your fucking throat, do you hear me? You’re not fucking welcome. If I hear of you even looking at Sonia or Kate the wrong way, I’m going to personally cut you up into tiny little pieces and feed you to my fucking dogs. Do I make myself clear?”

Jay could just about see Ryan’s face; it was screwed up and red with hate and anger. Just when he thought the punches had stopped, Ryan leant down and whispered:

              “And this one’s for Emma, you slimy fucking cunt.”

Getting up and launching his size-eleven boot into Jay’s stomach, he then spat at him before turning and walking back into the house and double-locking the door, more for Sonia’s benefit than anything: he had a strong feeling that Jay wouldn’t be so stupid as to come back again.