The Front (13 page)

       
‘Jake . . .?’ Linda interrupted his thoughts in her best seductive voice. When he still didn’t look at her, she played a talon slowly down her cleavage. ‘Why don’t you like me, Jake?’

       
He glanced at her then, the infrequent street lights casting a demonic glint on the strange green of his eyes as a teasing smile curved his lips. ‘Whassamatter?’ he drawled, his voice low and deceptively soft. ‘You wanna play?’

       
Excitement and fear flooded her eyes, sending a thrill of anticipation through his groin. Shifting in his seat, he eased down harder on the accelerator and smoothly changed course, heading the sleek car towards Styal. If the slut wanted action, he was more than happy to oblige.

       
Linda’s heart fluttered wildly in her chest. Excited? Scared? She couldn’t decide. Maybe both. But it didn’t matter. He’d opened the door – shown that he liked her. Something was going to happen. Stretching her legs deeper into the footwell, she slowly crossed them, sending her skirt even higher as she twirled a lock of hair slowly around her finger.

       
Her eyes strayed to the clock face glowing red in the dash, and she got a momentary shock when she saw it was three-thirty. Her mum would go berserk! As soon as she thought it, she shrugged it off. So what? Let the old bag have a shit-fit. She couldn’t spoil her fun for ever. In a few weeks she’d be old enough to do whatever she wanted – even leave home. Simeon had already hinted at getting her a flat of her own. If she played her cards right she’d be set for life. Simeon could set her up, and Jake could be her secret lover.

       
Smiling, she closed her eyes to concentrate on her fantasy. Jake would fall madly in love with her. And he’d be so gentle. The animosity he’d displayed so far, the aggression – that was just a cover. He was just wary of stepping on Simeon’s toes, which was understandable, but she’d soon put his mind at rest. She’d assure him that she’d be discreet, then she’d cook for him, clean his clothes, and satisfy his every need. And in return, he’d worship her.

       
Jake noticed Linda’s head nodding forward as she fell asleep. Only then did he look at her fully. He refused to give them the satisfaction of seeing him looking. Give them the impression he liked them or something? No way! He liked them frightened – like she’d been in the hall back there. That was good.

       
Nosing the car onto a short stretch of unlit motorway, he lit a spliff and changed the tape. Brimstone and Fire. Heavy dub to make the blood pulse through his veins. Then minutes later, he pulled onto a dirt track and rolled quietly to a stop.

       
Linda opened her eyes slowly. ‘Whazzup?’ she slurred, her mouth dry from sleep.

       
‘Sshh,’ Jake crooned.

       
‘Where are we?’ Hardly able to see in the pitch darkness, she tried to sit up to look out, but found she couldn’t move her head.

       
Jake grinned and twisted her hair another turn around his hand as he stared into her soul with his unblinking green eyes. ‘Wakey, wakey, darlin’,’ he purred. ‘Time for some fun.’

       
‘Oh, Jake,’ she murmured, parting her lips in anticipation of his kiss as she reached out to touch his beautiful face.

       
Jake tightened his grip, amused by her obvious confusion. ‘What should we play, then?’ he asked in a voice like melted syrup.

       
‘W-whatever you want,’ she whispered, her voice tiny as she struggled not to cry out against the pain.

       
His eyes sparkled mockingly as he watched her pupils dilate – jet spreading out to overtake the blue. An absolute turn-on. Still holding her hair in a vicelike grip, he unzipped his jeans and pressed her head firmly down. She gagged as he forced himself into her mouth, but he held her fast, furiously bucking his hips against her until she thought she would faint.

       
Pulling her head back minutes later, he viewed his handiwork dispassionately. Her lips were puffy and red, her eyes dark and watery – and huge with fear. He felt satisfied, despite not having released one drop of seed. He’d never waste that on a white girl. That wasn’t the point at all. The point was the mute terror he could see, feel, smell. That was what did it for him.

       
Pushing her back on the seat, he laughed as she raised her hands to her throat. ‘What’s up, darlin’? Too much man for you? Don’t you like me no more?’

       
Linda nodded quickly, still uncertain, but still willing to believe he liked her. He must do to have had such a hard-on.

       
‘I do l-like you,’ she stuttered. ‘Please don’t be mean. Just let me . . .’ She trailed off with a gasp as the moon suddenly emerged to illuminate his mocking eyes – liquid gold streaking through the green. A hell-cat.

       
Jake smiled and moved in for the kill. Running a finger gently along the exposed skin of her stomach, he slowly eased it under the Lycra hem of her skimpy top and traced it along the soft underside of her breasts. He listened to her ragged breathing as his eyes bored into hers – daring her to stop him . . . willing her to try.

       
She didn’t.

       
Easing his hand in, he cupped her breast. Then, as she quivered with desire, he began to dig his nails in, raking them down in long, even stripes. Softly at first, then harder and harder, watching intently as her expression changed from pleasure to uncertainty to pain. Then, just as he knew she would cry, he pushed the top all the way up to her chin and gently traced his tongue along the rising welts. She began to moan softly.

       
‘You like that?’ he husked.

       
‘Mmmmm . . .’ she murmured.

       
And then she screamed as his teeth clamped down on her tender flesh.

6

Slouched in his seat in the hospital waiting room, Ged winced in sympathy as Wendy’s screaming reached him all the way down the corridor. She’d been so far gone when they’d arrived, the midwife said he’d probably have had to deliver it himself if he’d hit a red light.

       
Rubbing a hand across his tired eyes, he had a sudden vision of Sam’s ghostly white face in the back of the car. The poor sod would have been as much use as a chocolate fireguard if she’d had it in the car. As for Lee . . . well, he was no use, full stop. All he’d done was twist himself around so he could peer over into the back, no doubt praying she’d have to take her knickers off. Perverted little bastard. Giving birth was sacred in Ged’s book, but Lee had tried to turn it into a peep-show.

       
As he thought about Lee, the man himself let forth a bellow from the other end of the corridor. Hearing a nurse yelling back, Ged tutted loudly. What was the little prat up to now? Was he determined to make them call the police? Sighing heavily, he pushed himself to his feet.

       
The receptionist glared at him reproachfully as he passed by her desk.
You brought him in, you sort him out
! her eyes seemed to be saying. Embarrassed and ashamed, Ged averted his eyes and hurried towards Lee’s cubicle.

       
Pulling the curtain aside, he almost laughed out loud at the sight that greeted him: Lee, flat on his back on the blood-smeared examination couch, being artfully manhandled by a chunky nurse, whose round, flat face was a picture of determination – and she was definitely winning. Outweighing Lee by a good few stones, she was using every ounce to squash him flat as they argued furiously.

       
‘You are staying until the doctor has seen you, Mr Naylor! Do I make myself clear?’

       
‘Fuck off, Godzilla! You can’t make me stay, so fuck . . . you!’

       
‘It’s for your own good. And if I have to get the security guards in here, believe me, you’ll be sorry!’

       
‘Get the fuckin’ ARMY if it makes you feel good, it won’t make no difference. I’m NOT . . . STAYING!’

       
‘YES . . . YOU . . . ARE!’

       
Ged leaned against the wall and folded his arms. ‘You might as well give up, Lee,’ he laughed. ‘She’s well and truly got you.’

       
Glancing around in surprise, the nurse gave Ged a tense smile. ‘At least someone’s got sense. Now stop struggling, Mr Naylor. Doctor Laycock will be here any minute, and if he sees you like this he’ll give you a tranquillizer!’

       
‘Watch what you’re saying,’ Ged chuckled. ‘He’ll get worse if he thinks he’ll get a reward.’

       
As the nurse turned again to look at Ged questioningly, Lee saw his opportunity and went for it. Sticking his hand up her skirt with lightning speed, he grabbed a handful of soft fat flesh, squeezing for all he was worth.

       
Shocked, she reflexively slapped his face, yelping, ‘Get your filthy hands off me!’

       
Lee clung on tight as she struggled to get away, almost falling off the bed in his attempt to reach Nirvana. And he almost made it. Reaching the soft flesh at the top of her thighs, he pushed forward, only to find his progress blocked by the resistance of her panties.

       
Ged had been laughing so hard, he hadn’t seen what Lee was actually doing, but when the frantic nurse began to scream in earnest, he suddenly realized and pushed himself away from the wall to go to her aid. Before he’d taken two steps, however, the curtain flew back and a white-coated, red-faced doctor stood glaring at them.

       
‘What the HELL is going on in here?’ he demanded. Then, quickly sizing up the situation, he barked at Lee, ‘YOU! Unhand that nurse!’

       
Lee immediately withdrew his hand and stopped struggling, cowed by the total authority in the doctor’s voice.

       
Turning to the furious nurse, the doctor said, ‘Send security in. And bring me the shots.’

       
‘Yes, Doctor. My pleasure!’ Throwing a look of pure hatred at Lee, she turned on her heel and flounced out through the curtain.

       
Almost instantly, two uniformed thugs appeared. Swatting back the curtain they strode in and flanked the doctor, arms folded, no-nonsense faces hard as flint.

       
Shrinking into himself with fear, Lee scrabbled backward on the couch, but his heels quickly lost their grip on a slippery pool of blood and he slipped down prone.

       
The doctor picked up the chart and studied it. ‘Naylor, is it?’

       
Lee nodded up at him. ‘Yes, sir.’

       
‘Well, Mr Naylor, we’re going to administer a tranquillizer, so if you wouldn’t mind rolling your trousers down  . . .?’

       
The nurse reappeared with an evil-looking syringe and a couple of sealed phials of clear fluid. Ged grimaced as she prepared the injection, then passed it to the doctor, who proceeded to savagely stab it into one of Lee’s buttocks. It was like watching a horror film.

       
Within seconds, the tranquillizer took effect, stealing all the fight from Lee, replacing his hostile scowl with a stupid grin. Satisfied that he’d be no more trouble, the doctor and security guards left, leaving the nurse to repair the wounds.

       
With great delight, she shaved off a wide strip of Lee’s dirty hair, then set about stitching the gash with fierce, even strokes. That finished, she started on his arm – pouring an undiluted solution of noxious-smelling antiseptic straight into the torn flesh before scouring at it like a demon for a good deal longer than was absolutely necessary.

       
Lee couldn’t have cared less.

       
Fuck me
! he thought as a blissful rush vibrated through his body.
I gotta get hold of some of them tranqs
!

Meanwhile, down the corridor in the delivery suite, the midwife was busy shouting encouragement. Drifting up from between Wendy’s splayed thighs, her voice was distant and muffled.

       
‘Don’t push until the contraction stops. Good girl . . . You’re doing very well!’

       
Wendy bore down and screamed – a low, animal grunt that rose in intensity until she was bellowing: ‘GET . . . IT . . . OOOUUT!’

       
The midwife calmly carried on with her manipulations as if she were deaf. After a while, she turned to Sam and gestured him over. ‘Want to feel baby’s head, daddy?’

       
Sam’s hand fluttered around his mouth. He felt sick.

       
‘I don’t want him touching any-fucking-thing!’ Wendy roared. ‘Get him out of here! AAAAGGGHHH!’

       
Sam’s eyes swam as the bloody head slid out. He could still hear Wendy screaming, and the midwife talking, but they sounded odd. Buzzing. In the distance. Not here and now.

Back at the flat, Suzie’s eyes were burning. It was almost quarter to five in the morning, and she was so tired she was having a hard time keeping them open and focused. But she couldn’t go to sleep. Mal wouldn’t let her.

       
She watched nervously as he paced the floor, puffing on his millionth cigarette. She was dying for one herself, but he wouldn’t let her have one so she had to make do with breathing in his smoke as he blasted furious streams of it her way.

       
He was really angry again, and she didn’t know why. He’d started soon after the others had left to go to the hospital, but he’d ranted on about so many different things in the meantime she couldn’t pinpoint the cause. And he was drunk, which didn’t help, his breath venomous with brandy fumes – having finished almost two of the bottles by himself.