Rotten to the Core (23 page)

The sex had been amazing
:
hard
and
rough and most of all vengeful for both of them. She had half
-
hoped that Billy would come home early and catch them at it, and that thought had turned her on even more. They hadn’t
even
made it
up
the stairs
;
Tanya had made him take her in the lounge
.
I
t had been as quick as it was intense and Tanya had been left wanting more. She knew that she would be seeing Jay again and that pleased her. She was sick of waiting for Billy to notice her
;
she wanted some fun, and Jay
could
give it to her.

Jay knew that he sometimes got infatuated with his conquests; he lived for the chase
:
the games and
,
of course
,
the sex. The hardest case that he
had
ever cracked was Kate, but he could admit to himself now that she bored him.
She was j
ust
L
ittle
M
iss
A
verage in the grand scheme of
things, she was always blabbering on about useless gossip that he couldn’t give a shit about
,
and lately she didn’t stop talking about her
poxy
job at the club
.
Jay had less and less time for her and no interest in her in bed. It was only the fact that he was still using Billy’s name as a tool to help him move up the ladder
,
so to speak, that he hadn’t told her he wanted out
of the relationship
. For now, he would keep
the feeling to
himself,
he was playing a waiting game
.

Following the smell of bacon into the kitchen, he found Kate cooking a mountain of food for him, and she had a nice hot cup
of tea
waiting.

             
“Cheers
,
babe
.
”
H
e smiled at her, sitting at the table and noting that she
did
have some uses
:
he loved a fry up and loved being waited on hand and foot even more.
Jay
had always prided himself
o
n his acting skills
;
he had had to blag his
way
out of so many situations in the past that he was sure he could handle keeping Kate sweet for a bit longer
,
j
ust to give him more time to get a real in with Billy
.
I
t pained him to
even think
it, but Billy had it sorted, he was running a very smooth and very profitable operation and had a great front,
with
the backup he needed and the right contacts.

Jay knew it would only be a matter of time until he got something out of it
:
whether it was given to him
,
or he had to take it, he was going to get something out of Billy
,
no matter what. He was kept in the dark about the ins and outs of
the business
, but he would bide his time.

Placing
a
plate in front of
Jay,
Kate smiled
.

             
“This is nice, isn’t it, babes? We hardly ever get to sit and have breakfast together.”
She was curious
as to why Jay was up early, and why he seemed to be so happy, but
she
knew better than to quiz him
:
a bit of gentle prodding should do the trick
.

             
“Yeah, well
,
I’ve got lots to do today, you know, thought I’d make an early start.”
He saw the smile
fade
on her face, as she realise
d
that he would be off out shortly, and yet again they would
n’t
be spending time together
.
C
hanging the subject
,
before Kate could start whining on about living separate lives
,
he quickly asked
,
“So, how was last night, was the club busy?”

He
only
half
-
listened to her answer, whilst chomping on his food,
then
his ears pricked up at the sound of Paul Goldie’s name
.
W
hen he was mentioned
,
Jay notice
d
that Kate spoke fondly of him
;
knowing that Kate was not the type to do the dirty on him should
have
made him feel a bit better but it niggled at Jay that maybe Paul would try to muscle in on her just to piss him off. Kate babbled on and on, loving that Jay was asking about her job, oblivious to
his
staring.

             
“Paul this, Paul that, anyone would think you’d been screwing the fucking bloke
,
” Jay said
,
his joking tone not hiding the spite behind it
.

             
“Don’t be silly
,
Jay, Paul’s a lovely man, but it’s nothing like that
.
I’m with
you,
I wouldn’t even look at another man
,
babes
.
”
S
he was hurt that he would even think
like
that
:
what did he take her for
?

             
“
Y
eah, but that doesn’t stop them from looking at you
,
though
,
does it
?
”
H
e looked at her accusingly
.
“
A
club is no place for someone like
you
,
Kate
;
I should know
,
I worked there too
,
you know
.
All
those leering drunks trying it on
,
seeing if the
y’re
in with a chance
….
”
H
e did know
;
he had been one of them.

             
“It’s not like that
,
though
,
Jay, really
;
I go in
,
do my job
,
and then come home.”

             
“Yeah
,
well, that Paul better not try his luck with you, or he’ll have me to deal with, and he better not be taking
th
e piss out of you either, making you work all hours
.”

             
“Paul
’
s not like that
;
he
’
s very professional, and he thinks I’m a great worker
.
Not
all men
perv
,
you know!”

A
ngrily
,
Kate began
clearing the table, her appetite gone
.
W
hy couldn’t he
r boyfriend
just be happy for her
:
she was doing a job she enjoyed
and
he wasn’t interested in the slightest
,
all he seemed to care about was his bloody ego
:
typical
.
Turning her back on him
,
she began to wash up the plates, splashing water all over the place and clanging the cups
;
she knew her stropping about the place was petty
,
but she was so angry. Jay noticed her mood change, and rolled his eyes, he was glad he was going out
as
he couldn’t be arsed with Kate’s tantrums. He had better things to do.

Sitting in his car,
Billy
tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. He felt sick, not in a gut
-
churning jealous way, which had
initially
surprised him. He had assumed that would be how he would feel
;
he
had
always thought if
Tanya
ever thought about cheating on him, he would kill her and whoever the bloke with a death wish
that was cheating with her
was
.
Billy
hadn’t expected to feel like this,
it
was a different kind
of
feeling, more of a reali
s
ation. He had now come to the conclusion that he didn’t give a toss about her
anymore, they had just been ‘going through the motions’,
he realised.

Billy had been outside Tanya’s flat for over forty minutes
;
he
was
supposed to be sorting out some business at the warehouse, but
had
nipped back to get some paperwork he needed just in time to see Jay going into the flat. No need
to be Albert Einstein to work out what was going on
.
H
e waited and tried to get his head together.

He could have gone in and caused merry hell, but something made him wait. God knows how he had managed to sit so calmly for so long, all the while guessing what was going on behind the curtains in the bedroom. Tanya must be crazy if she thought she could do this to him, he had paid for the roof over her head, given her everything she wanted and this was her repayment
,
a
nd with that
skank
of all people.

Thinking
back to the night he had walked in on Jay in their bedroom, his intuition
had
told him something was up, Jay had looked shifty
–
but then, thought Billy, when didn’t he
?
He wondered if it had started then or if it had been going on
for
longer
.
How
had
he not notice
d
before?

Tanya was easily sorted
.
Billy frowned
:
Jay was another matter. First his sister, now his missus
;
J
ay was proving to be a fucking piss
-
taker. If this got out
,
Billy would look like a mug, and his poor sister
’
s heart would be broken,
God
knows why
,
but she loved Jay, and after everything that happened with her losing the baby
, she didn’t need any more problems.

Jay didn’t give a shit about
Kate.
R
ealising this, Billy could feel his blood boiling, he was fucking raging, but he knew that he would deal with it once and for all
.
H
e was no-one’s mug
.
H
e was done with Tanya, and it was the excuse he had been looking for
,
if he was honest.

Jay
,
on the other hand
,
deserved something a bit special, he needed to be shown the error of his ways.
Billy
had kept the peace for his sister
,
but now he would do what he should have done in the first place
.
Kate might not thank
him
for it, but
he would
be doing her a bigger favour than sh
e would
ever know
,
he thought. Picking up his mobile, he couldn’t believe
it
when he heard Tanya’s voice
.

             
“Alright
,
Tan, you sound out of breath? Didn’t make you run for the phone
,
did I?”

             
“Oh hi
,
Billy
;
yeah
,
you did
,
actually, I was
…
downstairs, sorting out the kitchen,
I
must
have
left the phone upstairs
…
had to leg it up here
.
”