Rotten to the Core (29 page)

Jay had done this
:
to
Emma?
H
e 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 w
ere
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
c
ould. She would be strong
,
for Emma
;
s
he 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 ok
ay,
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
.
M
oving 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 strong
ly
she was fight
ing
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.
F
ancy 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 cheer
ed
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
:
s
he had been persuasive last night.
He had to get back now though, he hadn’t seen Kate in three days, and
al
though 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 pu
t
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
: n
ot 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 th
e
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
s
omeone 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, t
hey
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.
T
hey 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 c
a
me 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 wou
ld 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
.
H
e 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.