Afraid (28 page)

‘Will they be able to get through them bars?’ Chloe gazed at her as if she held all the answers.

‘I don’t know,’ Skye admitted, her voice quivering with fear.

More knocking made them both jump, and Chloe clutched at Skye’s arm as Skye pressed her ear up against the curtain to listen out for voices or the crackle of a radio. Skye held her breath when she heard two male voices, but they were two low for her to hear what they were saying.

‘I think they’re going,’ she whispered when, a few seconds later, she heard the crunch of footsteps on the rough gravel.

‘Be careful,’ Chloe cautioned when Skye eased the curtain back with the tip of her finger. ‘Can you see anything?’

‘There’s a van by the gates,’ Skye told her. ‘But I can’t see anyone. They must have gone round the back.’

The muted sound of barking coming from the back garden just then confirmed her suspicions and, dragging Chloe along behind her, Skye rushed down the landing to Jade’s room at the back, where Chloe had been sleeping since she moved in.

It was an absolute tip in there; clothes strewn around the floor, the bed unmade, and a heap of dirty cups and plates on the dust-covered dressing table. Skye wrinkled her nose in disgust when the strong odour of sweat and unwashed sheets hit her in the face, and rushed over to the window.

‘Who is it?’ Chloe asked when Skye twitched the curtain aside.

‘Don’t know,’ Skye murmured, staring down at the two men who were standing below. ‘I don’t think it’s the police, though,’ she said, taking in the overalls and clumpy boots they were both wearing.

Bernie was still barking madly, and Skye was afraid that he would do himself an injury as he threw himself around, straining against the chain that was binding him to the post. When one of the men suddenly turned and stared up at the house, she let out a little cry and dropped to her haunches, pulling Chloe down with her.

‘Do you think he saw us?’ Chloe asked fearfully.

‘I don’t know!’ Skye whispered. ‘Sshhh, I need to listen.’

‘What do they want?’ Chloe persisted. ‘You don’t think they’ll try and break in, do you?’

Irritated that the girl was still talking, Skye shuffled closer to the wall. One of the men had a little coughing fit, and she pulled a face when she heard him hawk up in his throat and spit out the phlegm. This was followed by the sound of trickling water, and she guessed that one of them was taking a piss.

‘Dirty pigs,’ Chloe muttered.

Skye nodded her agreement and placed a finger on her lips to quieten the girl. The men stood and talked beneath the window for a couple of minutes. Skye strained to hear what they were saying, but again couldn’t make out a single word. When, at last, they began to move away, she jumped back up to her feet and ran back to her own room, with Chloe hot on her heels.

The girls watched as the men ambled back down the path and climbed into the van. But just as it started to reverse out onto the road, Tom’s car turned in and forced it to stop.

‘What’s he doing?’ Chloe asked when Tom climbed out from behind the wheel.

‘I don’t know,’ Skye murmured, chewing on her thumbnail as the men got out of the van and walked towards him.

‘Hope he’s not gonna try and start a fight. They’d kill him – size of them to him.’

Skye didn’t reply to this, but she was thinking much the same thing. From here, Tom looked a lot smaller and skinnier than the burly workmen, and she was terrified that they might beat him up and then take his keys off him and let themselves into the house to rob them.

Tom spoke with the men for several minutes, and then climbed back into his car and reversed out to give them space to get their van back on the road. When they had gone, he drove onto the path and jumped back out to close and secure the rusted gates before continuing on up to the house.

Skye and Chloe had run down to the kitchen by the time he pulled up, and they were standing side by side facing the door when he let himself in.

‘What did they say?’ Skye asked.

Tom lunged for her without answering and grabbed her by the throat.

‘Oi! Get off her!’ Chloe protested when Skye squealed with fear. ‘She hasn’t done nothing!’

‘Shut up or you’ll be next!’ Tom warned, flinging Skye down onto a chair.

‘You wouldn’t bleedin’ dare!’ Chloe retorted, darting round to the other side of the table. ‘My dad’ll beat the shit out of you if you ever touch me!’

Nostrils flaring, chest heaving, Tom ignored the threat and lowered his face to Skye’s, snarling, ‘Why were you showing yourself at the window like that?’

‘I wasn’t,’ Skye squawked. ‘They couldn’t see me.’

‘Well,
I
fucking did,’ he yelled, his eyes bulging with rage. ‘Were you deliberately trying to get their attention?’

‘
No
!’ she spluttered, tears running down her cheeks. ‘
Ow
!’ she cried when he grabbed her hair and yanked her head back. ‘You’re hurting me!’

‘I think that’s exactly what you were doing,’ he spat. ‘I think you were hoping they’d come and rescue you –
weren’t you
?’

Tom shouted this last bit, and Skye grimaced when his spittle sprayed her face.

‘How far would you have gone if I hadn’t got here when I did?’ he demanded. ‘Would you have flashed your breasts at them, like the dirty little slut you are? I bet you’d have
loved
it if they’d got their ladders out of the van and climbed up to you, wouldn’t you?’

‘You’re off your fuckin’ head,’ Chloe piped up. ‘She didn’t do nothing. I’d tell you if she did, but she didn’t. And you’re bang out of order having a go at her over it, ’cos she was terrified.’

Tom’s eyes were still blazing, and his breath was fiery on Skye’s face as he carried on staring at her for several moments. But, gradually, his breathing began to slow, and after a while he released her.

‘You want locking up,’ Chloe muttered, going over to stand behind Skye. ‘Look at the state of her neck, and she didn’t even do nothing.’

‘I’m sorry,’ Tom muttered, casting a shamefaced glance at the marks on Skye’s throat. ‘I shouldn’t have done that, but I was scared they might have seen you. You know we’ll all go to prison if we get caught.’

‘
I
won’t,’ Chloe reminded him tartly, placing her hand on Skye’s shoulder in a show of support. ‘But I’ll make sure
you
do if you ever do anything like that again.’

Teeth tightly clenched, cheek muscles twisting, Tom eyed her for several long moments. Then, breathing in deeply, he said, ‘It won’t happen again. We’re a family, and we’ve got to stick together no matter what.’

‘It was my fault,’ Skye murmured guiltily. ‘I shouldn’t have gone to the window.’

Chloe gazed at her in disbelief, then shook her head and sat down. Some people were just too stupid for their own good.

‘Forget it,’ Tom said quietly. ‘Just make sure it doesn’t happen again.’ He held out his arms now and summoned Skye to him with a jerk of his chin.

Still sniffling, she got up and fell against his chest.

‘I’m sorry,’ he crooned, stroking her hair. ‘I’m just so scared of losing you.’

‘I know,’ Skye murmured. ‘But I’d never do anything to put us in danger on purpose, you know I wouldn’t.’

Chloe struggled to conceal her contempt as she watched the pair cuddle up to each other. Tom was what her dad called a ‘snapper’: calm one minute, a raving maniac the next, then back to calm again in a heartbeat. As for Skye … well, if Tom ever dared to treat Chloe the way he’d just treated
her
, she’d stab him right in the balls.

Tom glanced up just then, and tilted his head when he saw Chloe staring at them. ‘Come here,’ he said, still holding Skye with one arm while extending the other to Chloe.

‘Nah, I’m all right.’ She stayed put.

‘Don’t be like that,’ Skye said, holding out her own hand to urge the girl to join them for a comforting hug. ‘You were just as scared as I was, so you don’t have to put on a brave face. And Tom’s here now, so we’re safe.’

Chloe couldn’t think of anything worse than a group hug. But she didn’t want either of them to guess what she was thinking right now, so she reluctantly went over and allowed them to include her in their embrace.

She pulled away again quickly when she felt Tom’s erection pressing against her thigh. It was one thing shagging him behind Skye’s back, but if he thought they were on for a threesome he had another think coming. She’d never done it with another girl, and she wasn’t about to start now.

‘I need a fag,’ she said when she’d extracted herself. ‘You forgot to leave me some when you went out this morning, and I’ve been gasping all day.’

‘Maybe it’s time you thought about quitting.’ Tom flashed a look of disapproval at her as he took his arms from around Skye and fished his cigarettes out of his pocket. ‘My dad used to say: if you can’t afford to buy them, you can’t afford to smoke them.’

Chloe held out her hand, daring him to refuse, and a tiny light of victory flared in her eyes when he handed one over without another word.

‘Right,’ Tom said, shelving his annoyance at having been blackmailed. ‘Have you made dinner yet, Skye?’

‘No, not yet,’ she admitted. ‘I had a really bad headache and went for a lie-down, and then those men turned up, so I—’

‘It’s okay,’ Tom cut her off. ‘I was going to say I’ll get a takeaway. I think we all need a treat after that shock, don’t we?’

Skye smiled and nodded, relieved that she wasn’t in trouble again. She tried to be sensible and mature, but she just kept on doing stupid things and she hated herself for it, because one wrong move on her part would be all it took to blow their world apart.

Chloe sucked on her cigarette to keep herself from gagging when she saw the grateful look on Skye’s face. Tom had throttled her and practically accused her of being a whore, and yet she was looking at him now like he was some kind of superhero. What was
wrong
with this girl?

‘Did those men say what they wanted?’ Skye asked.

‘They reckon they’re looking for places to buy round here, but I told them this house isn’t for sale,’ said Tom. ‘How long were they here before I got back?’ he asked then. ‘Did they try any of the doors or windows?’

‘No, they just knocked, then went round the back,’ Skye told him. ‘They were only here about ten minutes. I think Bernie scared them off, ’cos he was going mad.’ She paused now, and looped her fingers together before saying tentatively, ‘I was thinking, it might be safer to let him back in now – to protect us while you’re out. Only, now they’ve seen him, I bet they wouldn’t dare try to break in if they came back and heard him barking inside.’

Tom nodded thoughtfully, and said, ‘I’ll think about it.’

Delighted to think that she might have bought Bernie a passage back into the house, Skye smiled. But when she saw the look of horror on Chloe’s face, she said, ‘Don’t worry, I won’t let him go anywhere near you.’

‘He’d better not, or I’ll stab him,’ Chloe warned.

A couple of hours later, after they had eaten and Skye had washed the plates, the three settled in their usual places in the living room: the girls on the couch, flicking through the wedding magazines for the millionth time; Tom on his armchair with his laptop on his knee.

After a while, he closed the lid and placed the laptop on the table beside his chair before heading into the kitchen. Chloe waited a couple of minutes and then stood up casually, telling Skye that she needed a drink of water. It was the first chance she’d had to talk to Tom on her own since he got home, and she was intending to ask for her gear and ramp up the pressure about the TV he’d promised but still hadn’t got. But she forgot all about that when she walked into the kitchen and saw him shaking something from a little bag into one of the cups that were standing on the ledge.

‘What are you doing?’ she asked, instantly suspicious.

Tom’s shoulders stiffened, and he looked like a child who’d been caught with his hand in the cookie jar when he turned to face her. But he quickly composed himself and hissed, ‘Close the door.’

Chloe did as he’d asked and gave him a questioning look.

‘You can’t tell Skye about this,’ Tom whispered, his eyes darting every which way as he tried to think up a feasible-sounding explanation. ‘It’s for those headaches she keeps getting. I called in to see my doctor on my way home this evening, and he reckons it might be high blood pressure.’

‘You told your doctor Skye was here?’ Chloe frowned. ‘What if he tells the police?’

‘No, of course I didn’t tell him,’ Tom said irritably. ‘I just described the symptoms and said it was me who was having them, and that’s what he said it was. And he said it can kill you,’ he went on gravely. ‘It’s caused by stress, and if it gets too bad it makes your blood vessels explode. That’s why Skye can’t know about this – because she’ll get scared, and that’ll be really dangerous for her.’

‘So what’s that?’ Chloe glanced down at the little bag he was holding.

‘Medicine to bring the pressure down,’ he told her. ‘Don’t worry, it won’t hurt her. She’ll just feel a lot more relaxed after she’s had it.’

‘Why don’t you just tell her?’

‘Because it’ll work better if she’s not sitting there waiting for something to happen,’ Tom replied with authority. ‘It’s a psychological thing. If you expect something and it doesn’t happen, you end up feeling worse.’

Chloe still looked doubtful, and Tom smiled. ‘There’s absolutely nothing to worry about; you know I’d never do anything to hurt her. I just want to make her feel better.’

‘She’d have felt a lot better if you hadn’t tried to strangle her,’ Chloe reminded him accusingly.

‘I know,’ he said quietly. ‘But I’ve apologised, so what more can I do?’ He sighed now, and said, ‘Anyway, you’d best go back in there and let me get on with this before she starts wondering what we’re up to.’

Skye glanced round when Chloe came back into the room, and held up the magazine she was reading. ‘Here, look at this – isn’t it gorgeous? I thought I’d decided on that other one, but I think I prefer this one now. What do you think?’

Chloe sat down and glanced at the frothy dress that Skye was gushing over. ‘Yeah, lovely,’ she said distractedly, her mind still on Tom and the powder she’d just seen him tipping into the cup. If it had come from the doctor, why was it in a bag and not a prescription box or bottle? And how had he managed to see his doctor
and
stop off at a pharmacy, but still get home at the usual time?