Rotten to the Core (18 page)

As Billy walked past Sonia
to re-join Kate
, he put his hand out and touched
Sonia’s
arm
.
“Thank you
,
” he said quietly.

That was a very rare moment
,
Sonia
thought;
she wondered how many people were lucky enough to see the softer side
of
Billy O’Connell.

Sonia heard
an
alarm in the room a few minutes later
.
J
umping to her feet
,
she
saw
Kate had come round, and that Billy was leaning over
her
,
holding
her and speaking softly to her
;
she couldn’t make out Kate
’
s expression, as Billy’s stocky shoulders were blocking her view, but as
a
nurse came running she heard Kate
’
s heart
-
breaking sobs.

Tanya looked at her reflection in the mirror
,
as she applied the last of her makeup
.
P
ure perfection
,
she thought to herself. She knew her looks got her plenty of male attention, and she could do with a bit of an ego boost tonight, as Billy acted like she was invisible.

She had gone all out and bought a fantastic dress for tonight, all shimmer and sparkle, with a very low
-
cut neckline that should guarantee some admiring glances
. S
he was almost ready.

Tanya
hadn’t really wanted to go at first, the thought of sitting opposite a teary
-
eyed Kate all night really didn’t appeal. But the more
Tanya
thought about it, the more she had decided that she could do with a night out. A nice meal and a few bottles of wine would go down nicely.

Billy had been acting funny these past few weeks, since Kate had lost the baby. He was worse than ever
about
his sister, trying to do everything and anything that he could to help her. Tanya played it cool, but she was seething
;
he had never made this much fuss over her
,
and these days to say she got little attention from him was a
n
understatement. It was like she didn’t exist. He was so busy helping Kate that he hadn’t noticed Tanya losing her pa
tience
with him, their sex life had dwindled into nothing, and she was drinking more than ever.

Well
,
tonight she
would
make him realise what he had been missing. Her hair had been highlighted and twirled
into a French pleat
by one of the best girls at the salon, her dress had cost a bomb and was so low cut at
the front
that
her ample cleavage was spilling out, and she had waxed, scrubbed and tanned every part of her toned body. If nothing else came of this circus of a meal, she would use it to get his attention tonight
,
she grinned
,
as she squirted her favourite perfume onto her cleavage and the nape of her neck.

Billy had arranged tonight and Tanya didn’t hold
out
much hope for how the evening would pan out. This was a big deal to Billy, and how he had the willpower to go through
with
it was beyond her, she was shocked that he had suggested it.

They were going to La Riviera, an exclusive restaurant
in Notting Hill.
I
t was a very swanky place,
with
a waiting list of a month or two for most people, but Billy was friends with the manager
.
H
e always
said
to her “it’s the people you know
,
” and she guessed he was
right,
he
had managed to
get
a reservation for the best table at a moment’s notice
.
Tanya was looking forward to the food, it was to die for. It was her favourite restaurant. Tonight
,
though, thanks to Billy losing the plot they were going to be joined by not only Kate, but Sonia and Jay.

Tanya had thought
,
when Billy had told her
who
he had booked a table
for
,
that it was Kate’s idea:
there was no way that Billy would have thought of this, let alone organise
d
it. He may have been jumping at every one of his sister
’s
pathetic whims at the moment, but this was too much.
The more Tanya had stewed on it all, the more ok
ay
she had been with the whole charade
;
of course it was all going to go tits up, there was no way after everything that had happened that the two men would ever
genuinely get on, and Tanya was now looking forward to the shit hitting the fan and blowing up straight in Kate
’
s face. Poor little Kate, she couldn’t have kids, big deal, loads of women c
ouldn’t
have kids
;
they cope
d…
book a holiday, buy new shoes
:
life goes on. What about the kids with no parents, the orphans? There were options. It was so annoying to watch everyone running round after Kate
, who was
playing the victim
;
it was wearing a bit thin with Tanya.

Billy had brought Kate to the house almost every day and the two had put their falling out behind them. They had spent so many hours talking things through, crying and laughing. Tanya had sometimes felt that she was in the way in her own bloody house.

Kate needed her brother more than anyone, but she had made
it
clear to him that he needed to make peace with Jay
,
for all their sakes.

Jay hadn’t been that upset when he had finally rolled in and been told
,
by Sonia
,
about the baby. Sonia
had been
shocked by his reaction
:
or lack of one. He had played up his feelings when he had s
een
Kate in the hospital, and Sonia had watch
ed
as her son had stood at Kate
’s
bedside and made up lie after lie of where he had been that night, and how he was feeling about losing his child. Sonia could see straight through him
as
only a mother could
;
she knew that her son had no real feelings for Kate and she had seen the look of relief in his eyes when she had told him that Kate
had lost the baby. Billy had made himself scar
ce
by then
;
he knew that he had to give Kate time.

Billy
had sobbed when Kate rang him a few days after she had left hospital, to thank him for being there for her. She said that that was what was important and that she wanted to stop arguing with him. She told him that she loved him
,
and she had cried. Every day since
then
, he had been there for her.

Kate had suggested
that
Billy and Jay bury the hatchet, and even though there was only one place that Billy would have liked to bury it
,
he had smiled and nodded and agreed to do whatever it took, for her
sake
. This was a big deal for Billy, never in a million years would he
normally
consider giving Jay the time of day, let alone eating a meal with the guy,
but
he would do this for Kate. She didn’t need to know that it was going work in his favour
;
he was going keep Jay closer than ever, and watch the bloke
’
s every move, all the time knocking up brownie points for being brother of the year. Never again would he let anyone get between them
, and
n
ext time his sister needed him he would be there.

             
“Come on
,
Tan, we need to be making a move
,
” Billy shouted up the stairs
.

Tanya tottered down the stairs in her four
-
inch Jimmy
Choo
s
, waiting to see Billy’s face.

             
“
F
ucking hell, you women take ages getting
ready,
we
’
re going to be late
.
”
H
e reached for his keys and was out the door before he could see the rejection on Tanya’s face turn to pure hate.

Kate convincing Jay
to come to
the meal was another story.

Kate was also running late
.
She
and Sonia
both
looked lovely
. Sonia was wearing a hot pink dress that made her look radiant, while Kate had opted for an understated black shift dress.
They had practically had to force Jay up the stairs to have a shower and put on a
clean
shirt.

             
“
W
hat’s the fucking point
,
Kate
?
H
e hasn’t got the time of day for me, and I can’t fucking stand him
,
” he had protested
,
just to make a fuss really, to make Kate think that he was putting himself out for her
. Actually,
over the last few days, since
Kate
had first mentioned
the dinner
to him, Jay had come to the realisation that if Billy
boy was on a mission to keep Kate happy, then
Jay
had him where he wanted him. Maybe he too could
pretend that
it
was
all forgiven, le
ft
in the past. Maybe this could be his ‘in’
:
people would think twice about fucking with him if they thought h
e
and Billy were tight. As he ran the shower and waited for the water to heat up
,
he thought of the old saying
:
“
Keep your friends close and your enemies even closer
”
.

Sonia smiled
with
relief when she saw her son come back into the lounge twenty minutes later, dressed in his best suit and with
a
look on his face that
suggested
he may actually be able to enjoy the night. Maybe tonight, after all that had happened to poor Kate, the boys could put
their problems with each other
behind them and make a fresh start.

Guzzling down a cold glass of chardonnay, Tanya was feeling tipsy.
It was
her third glass and had already had two at home while getting ready. So far
,
things hadn’t been bad. The food was gorgeous
,
as always
; the fresh lobster Tanya had ordered had been cooked to perfection.
It was just a shame about the company.
There was no big drama, no daggers being thrown, it was all very civilized, or should she say very fake. Tanya could see by Billy’s body language every time he answered Jay that he was struggling
;
to everyone else around the table
,
Billy smiled and looked like he was enjoying himself
…
but Tanya knew.

Jay was off his head
.
Tanya could see his pupils were dilated, and the guy had a real nervous energy. Constantly babbling on about crap, he had given Tanya the once over a few times. She knew the effect she had on men, especially weak ones like Jay, and he was good
-
looking. She glanced around to see if anyone
else
had spotted his leering. No-one had reacted
to it
, so
she
doubted
that
anyone else on the table had even noticed, especially Billy
who
had shown her absolutely no attention whatsoever. Fuck him, she thought
,
as she looked around the restaurant at the male eye candy.