Rotten to the Core (7 page)

             
“I think you were just about here
,
” Jay said
,
as he pulled her naked body down on top of him for the second
time that morning.
 

6

The
D
og was empty.
T
hat was a good thing
;
Billy needed time out to sort h
is head.
He
sat
in his usual seat and gulped his whiskey in one mouthful.

He looked around the pub
,
 
at the
patches
of mould
on the ceiling and the wallpaper hanging off in places. The whole thing could do with being knocked down and re-built. It had been
here
for years
,
this place. It was definitely the atmosphere that brought customers through the door.
If y
ou want
ed
a nice
quiet
pint
and a few familiar faces, you came
here.
 
The
re
was cold
beer
and
a friendly staff, and that was
all that mattered
in
a
local.

It was only
early afternoon, so Billy was grateful that the place was so
quiet;
he could sit and think.
Billy
was at a loss
about
what to do.
All h
e knew
was
that Jay would be enjoying every moment of this situation
. He felt that he
could quite happ
ily
go round
to his enemy’s house
and kneecap him
, and he would have done under
normal circumstances,
but
these
weren’t
normal circumstances
. T
his
circumstance
involved Kate, and Kate’s baby. Whatever his sister thought she might know about Jay, she didn’t know him as well as Billy did. He was a real dog. He shagged anything in a skirt
,
and his sister was naive to this, she believed in fairy tales for fuck
sake
.
Billy knew there was no such thing as
a happy ending where that man was
concerned.

             
“Can I get you another
,
love
?
” Norma had been working behind the bar for years and had been serving Billy alcohol since before
it
was legal
for him
to drink. He was always so tall and stocky, how was she to know he was still at school back then
? H
e
ha
d
 
fooled
the local shopkeepers, though,
be
ing
sold cigarettes
from
the age of twelve.
             
Billy
nodded
,
and she took his glass and went off to the bar to fetch him another.
Norma
was a gem,
despite having a
face like a pit-bull chewing a wasp and the dirtiest loudest laugh you’
d
ever heard. She ran the place on her own, which was unheard of in these parts
;
landladies normally had a landlord in tow, but not this one, and she did alright.
Norma
had dealt with all kinds in her time, but no-one in this pub intimidat
ed
her, she was thick
-
skinned and could hold her own
and
had earned respect
for
that.
             
“Here you go
,
darling
;
I put a large one in there for you
.
”
S
he placed the glass on the table.
N
orma had a lot of time for Billy. He and his mates used this place like an office. They had
had
pl
enty of lock-ins over the years
until
all hours of the mornings, and once the alcohol was flowing, their tongues loosened
.
S
he’d heard all sorts, but she was good at keeping her mouth shut, and it did her well.

Billy and the others always made sure she was looked after; there was never any trouble if they were in,
or
not unless it was among them
.
O
ften
Norma would
find a wad of notes under the till for herself, on nights when it did kick off. They looked after her
,
and in return she looked after
them. That’s how it was in these parts; it was who you knew
,
not what you knew
,
that got you by. Norma had never had kids, which was something she had sorely come to regret over the years.
             
“Thanks
,
Norma
;
you wan
t to
join me?”
Billy asked.
             
The place was
quiet,
and she could do with putting her feet up, last night had been a late one.
Norma
was feeling old; she didn’t have as much energy as she used to. Fifty was the new forty
,
or
so all the magazines would have you believ
e
, but lately she was having trouble convincing herself of that.
             
“Go on then
,
love
,
” she smiled
,
plonking her bum on the seat next to him
.
“I could do with a fag
break.
”

S
he could see
that
he was troubled, and her heart went out to him. She knew about his temper, she had witnessed it
directed
towards o
thers on many occasions, but she
could see more than that in him,
which most others
couldn’t. He had a vulnerability that he tried to hide.
             
“You wan
t to
talk about it
,
Billy
?
” she asked
,
blowing smoke out
,
aware that she could be overstepping the mark by prying into his business. But
,
for once
,
Billy did want to talk; he just couldn’t find the right words.
             
“It’s my Kate
,
” he said
,
looking up from his glass, “she’s pregnant
.”
             
“Oh, right
.”
Norma knew Kate well
;
lovely girl she was. She knew that Kate was seeing that one from the
nightclub, what’s his name, Jason
, no, Jay. She
ha
d heard his name thrown around this pub
a lot over the last few years. Norma
had never mentioned that she knew about Kate
seeing anyone to Billy though, as she knew Billy would not be happy about it. He was protective of h
is sister
and
 
as this Jay seemed to be
his
enemy.
             
“Well, is she happy about it?”
Norma asked.
             
“Yeah, stupid cow is over the moon, says she’s in love too
.
”
H
e took another sip of his drink
.
“Thing is
,
Norma, she do
es
n’t know the half of it. She can’t have this baby, she just can’t
.
”
             
“Look
,
love, I know you are just looking out for her, but she is going to have to make her own decisions. You can’t make her do anything she doesn’t want to do
,
” Norma advised
,
taking another long pull from her cigarette. “You may not be happy about it, but this is not your mess to sort out
.
”
             
Billy was
quiet for a long time.
Then, and h
e didn’t know what came over him,
but
maybe it was because Norma was like his mum, so easy to talk to, or maybe it was the years of bottling up all his torment
,
he found himself telling her the whole story.

It had all started with Den Shaw
, Jay’s dad.
Den was one of life’s freeloaders, a nasty scumbag. He would literally take from the poor in order to give
–
to himself. He called himself a
“
financer
”,
but he was actually just a thieving bastard
who
specialised in lending to those that couldn’t get credit from anyone else, desperate people on the dole mainly. He would offer them a loan at a good rate
:
too good to be true. Because it was such a good rate he would
persuade
them to borrow an extra bit more. Then a few months do
wn
the line
,
he paid them a little
visit
,
l
etting them kn
ow about the new interest rates
due to “inflation”.
He wouldn’t elaborate any
more than that, but by his snide tone and the
look of the
two apes he brought with him
as heavies
, people knew they had no choice but to pay whatever he asked.
             
Billy’s
 
mum had had dealings with
Den.
A
s a child
,
Billy used to see
 
the way Den would walk into their house and intimidate her. Knowing she had no
husband
to back her up, he had taken advantage of the fact that she was on her own, thinking she was an easy target
:
 
t
hings were tight back then and there were days when there was little if any food in the cupboards.

When
Billy
was twelve, he
had
 
been lying in bed one night when he heard
a
knock at the door. He had hea
rd voices, then people arguing heatedly.
He had heard his mum
pleading, begging for a bit more time, asking
Den
for a few more days.

After a few minutes
,
it had gone
quiet
, and Billy had got out of bed, curious now at what had been said
. He
tiptoed down stairs. He could hear his mum crying quietly in the kitchen and wondered when Den had gone, as he hadn’t heard the front door when he left. He wanted to make sure that his mum was ok
ay.
A
s he went towards the kitchen door he heard a funny noise,
and
his intuition told h
im something was wrong.

Billy had
peered through the crack in the door to see Den pinning his mum
’
s hands down on the table.
Den’s
jeans were around his ankles and he was laughing quietly whilst thrusting on top of her
.
Den
pulled
Billy’s mum
top up, exposing her breasts, and
bit
them, sinking his teeth in hard.
She was struggling for him to get off her but she was helpless.
She was c
rying quietly in pain, begging him to stop, pleading
with him that
her kids were upstairs. He ignored her cries as he bent down over her and put his mouth over hers
,
forcing his tongue inside, thrust
ing
harder and harder
.
T
hen
it all stopped, and
shuddering
,
he lay still on top of her.