Rotten to the Core (17 page)

             
Jay was crouching behind a box on the floor
.
O
f all the people to walk in
,
it had to be bloody Ryan. He was a first
-
degree nut job, and Jay was betting that whoever he had spoken to on the phone was probably shitting themselves at the moment and rightly. He was a nasty bastard at the best of times, and tonight he looked worse for wear,
like
he had had a
skinful
.

Jay sat against the wall and reached into his pocket to switch his phone off
;
then
,
having second thoughts turned it onto silent mode and got the video settings up. There was no way he was chancing getting up and making a jump for the window, not while Ryan was about
.
I
f he caught
Jay
snooping around
he
would string him up by his balls. He would have to wait it out. He angled the camera towards the main door
.
I
t may
even
turn out to be good entertainment
;
some
poor sod
was
probably running here to Ryan’s beck and call as we speak. Let the show begin.
 

19

There was blood everywhere
;
she had never seen so much.
She thought she would
pass out. She
thought
that she had already
done so
, but everything was blurry.

This can’t be real,
she thought, and
maybe it wasn’t,
perhaps
she had not yet woken up from
a
sick nightmare, and this was just
a
bad dream. It felt real
,
though.
As
yet another searing pain ripped through her,
she
realis
ed
that she was kidding herself
;
it was real, it was happening.

T
ears were running down her face
. They were
hot tears
. She was
not sure how long she had been crying,
she had
not realis
ed
she had been.

She tried to get up, but she was too weak
.
T
he pain in her stomach was ripping through her body. Her
T
-shirt was soaked in
thick, dark
blood
.
T
he
duvet, which was also covered in blood,
would be ruined
.
W
hy
was she even
worrying about the bloody
duvet
at a time like this,
she thought,
sod
it.
W
rithing in agony once more,
she
call
ed
out just before darkness swept over her for a second time.

She wasn’t aware of Sonia’s finding
Kate
lying in a pool of blood
and screaming;
she wasn’t aware of the two paramedics that were at her side within minutes, or the panic in their voices as they rushed her to hospital, and she wasn’t aware that the tiny life she had been carrying inside her for the last four months was slowly slipping away from her.

20

Billy had been sitting at his sister’s
bed
side all night; she had a small room in intensive care. He had never felt
as
scared as he did right now
:
h
is poor baby sister.

The doctors
had
said that the miscarriage was more complicated than most, and they had had to operate on Kate.
I
n order to save
her
life
,
the doctors had no choice but to remove her uterus, to stem the bleeding. She had not only lost her baby but any hope of mothering a child
in the future
.

Billy
had
told the doctors that he wanted to be the one to tell her, he didn’t want her to find out from
a
stranger,
whether they were a
doctor or not
;
this was going to rip her heart out.

He looked down at his sister and willed for her to be okay.
H
e knew she was over the worst,
although
she had lost
six
units of blood and he was just realising now how close he had been to almost losing her.
Watching her l
ying there with tubes and monitors around her
,
Billy felt helpless.
His beautiful sister
.
S
he had been so happy about being pregnant
.
H
e shouldn’t have over
-
reacted
;
he should have been there for her. Next time he
would
be there for her, whether he liked what she did or not
.
H
e would make it up to her. He wasn’t sure how she
would
react when
she heard
the news, and he felt scared for her
.
T
he last time he had felt so vulnerable was when he had lost his mum
.
God,
he missed her. He
wished she was here to help him, more than anything. She would know what to say, he thought,
his mum
always
knew
the right words
to say
.

Billy could see Sonia in the corridor outside
.
S
he had bags under her eyes
,
as she
had also been there all night. Billy had been rude to her, made her feel unwelcome,
but he
had only done it because of who she was. He could see the worry and grief in the woman’s eyes, she genuinely cared for Kate
;
he was sure. He thought about warning her to keep Jay away from the hospital, but he knew if he did he would have no chance of Kate forgiving him. As it st
ood,
no-one had heard a dickey bird from him
,
anyway, causing Billy to have a conflict of feelings
. He was
glad that the prick was nowhere to be seen but fuming that the bastard didn’t care one fucking bit about Kate.

Kate
had moved around in the night but had yet to come round
.
T
he doctors had warned him that she was probably exhausted and when she did come round
,
she would
feel
very weak.

Getting up to
buy
a coffee, Billy passed Sonia.
S
he was surprised when his eyes softened and he offered her a cup
of tea
. Smiling gratefully
,
Sonia accepted
. She
guessed
that the gesture was a lot more than a hot drink, it was a peace offering, and she was not going to be stubborn and refuse.

Billy had been damn
-
right rude when
he
had first arrived. He had almost barged past her and looked at her like she was to blame for the situation, but she knew deep down
that
he just cared about Kate, it was all probably a fright for him.

             
“
W
hat’s your cunt of a son done to her?” he had snarled, and not believing her reply that Jay had been nowhere to be seen that night had given her daggers for the rest of the night
.
S
he had known to stay well clear. She knew that Billy would have been worried sick seeing Kate in the state that she was
in
. She felt
upset
for the poor thing
too
. Billy was the first person
that
Sonia had called, they may have not been on speaking terms
,
but Sonia knew from many a conversation with Kate how close the two of them had been
.
I
f Kate needed anyone now it was her brother.

Sonia had
also rung
Jay as soon as she had arrived at the hospital
.
S
he had come with Kate in the ambulance, and was more concerned about looking out for Kate than ringing
J
ay, as it was her call went straight to his voicemail. He was probably up to no good as usual
,
she sighed. That was seven hours ago now
,
and he still hadn’t got in touch. She didn’t need to feel guilty about him not being the first person she
had
contacted
;
she
knew she
was right to think he would have let Kate down. Billy was who
Kate
needed.

Billy was standing by Sonia’s side
now
,
he
pass
ed
her a cup of tea and
then
sat in the seat opposite her. The ward was busier now
;
nurses were changing shifts.

Billy put his coffee on the floor and rested his head in his hands
.
After
a few minutes
,
he looked up, his eyes showing his pain
.

             
“What the hell am I going to say to her
,
Sonia?”

             
“You
’
re just going to have to tell her the truth
,
Billy, there
can
be no skirting around it
;
the girl need
s
to be told.”

Billy shook his head, wondering if he would be able to find the words that he knew would break his
sister’s heart.

             
“She loves you
,
Billy
;
you know that
;
despite it all, you have to be strong for her.”

             
“Have you got hold of Jay yet
?
” he asked, trying not to spit the man’s name as he spoke it
.

             
“His phone is off
.
”
S
he looked down, not meeting Billy’s eyes.

Typical, Billy thought
.
W
here the fuck was he then, fucking waster.
Kate was lying in hospital
;
her whole life
had
just been ripped from her and no sign of lover boy. Well
,
hopefully Kate would realise she would never be able to count on a man like Jay.
Billy
would keep out of it for now, he promised himself, but he would be there to pick up the pieces
;
he just hoped that
Kate
would come to her senses sooner rather than later.

             
“You should go home
,
Sonia, you look knackered
.
” Sonia noted that Billy’s tone was softer towards her
;
what he said
wasn’t a dig or a command
,
more of a suggestion. She was exhausted
,
but she really wanted to be
t
here when Kate woke up.

             
“Do you mind if
I
stay
,
Billy?”
S
he looked at him
.
“I just want to see that she
’
s ok
ay;
just let her know that I’m here for her. Me and Kate have got real
ly
close these past few months, and you know, as her mum isn’t around I thought maybe she might need someone
…
woman to woman like
.
”

S
onia
was right
.
H
e hadn’t thought about it
,
really, what would he know about losing a baby and never
being able to
hav
e
another one
?
Kate
was
going to be a mess
;
he was going to be the one to tell her, but his sister would need this woman sitting opposite him even more over the next while.