Rotten to the Core (28 page)

Seeing Tanya’s
disappointed
face and knowing that she deserved better, and that she clearly thought she did too, he decided that he would take her out for something to eat, and get that trampy cow to clean while they were gone.

             
“
H
ang on here a minute
,
babe
,”
he said
,
leaving Tanya in the grubby hallway,
obviously
unaware that
under no circumstances
did
she ha
ve
any
intention of stepping another foot forward in this stinking pigsty. She was desperately trying to hold her breath, and only took short breaths through her mouth when she had to.
Tanya convinced herself that she
was only here because she had nowhere else to go,
and
she was desperate. Looking at the dirty
,
stained carpet and
the
mould growing up the wall, she tried not to start crying again at the realisation of how bloody desperate things were for her now.

Billy would n
ot
take her back; she knew that for a fact. He had always said that if she ever cheated she was gone and picking his arch
-
rival would have just about put the final
,
rusty nail in the coffin. She had lost it all. Her beautiful
house
, her designer clothes
:
everything. She knew she hadn’t been happy with Billy for a long time, but her things meant more to her than anything, and she
had
plodded on in the comfort that at least she would always have a roof over her head. Now
her
roof was over some little slag’s head
.
Tanya fought to hold back her tears
as she thought
of that scrubber in her bed, under her Egyptian cotton sheets, using her Jo Malone toiletries
;
it made her blood boil.

Jay must be rolling in cash, she thought,
al
though looking about
it didn’t seem like it
. Tanya was far from stupid
;
even though he had never discussed his business dealings with her she
had an idea
what he was involved in. He would be making a fortune with the drugs side alone, and then there were the debt collecting and the girls
.
Tanya had made it her business to know what she was getting into. It hadn’t made her judge him
;
at the end of the day, Billy was dodgy, but she had realised early on that Jay must be making some serious wedge,
al
though judging by this dive the question was
:
where was he hiding it? He lived at home with his bleeding mother
,
for
G
od
’s
sake
;
from what she could work out
,
he had plenty of incomings and
fuck
all outgoings.
Tanya
was a cold
-
hearted bitch
:
she knew that more than anyone. Money made the world go round
;
if
someone
had no money,
they
were nothing
:
simple as.
Tanya
was surprised at the feelings she had beg
u
n to
have for
Jay. She normally
went for
men with a
hard reputation
,
s
omeone who had all the pieces on the board and who knew how to play the game. At first she had loved having Jay at her beck and call, loved having him come over and fuck her as soon as Billy was out of the house, on the floor that Billy had paid for. He was her bit of rough. She had had her most intense orgasms with Jay grinding on top of her, thinking about Billy catching her.

Something had changed
,
though, and it had shocked her when she realised it wasn’t all about getting back at Billy for not being the man she had wanted him to be and for not giving her the attention she needed
;
she realised that she liked Jay, and that they could go far together. Jay didn’t have the clout but she reckoned with a bit of guidance from her they could be good together, make real money. Tanya had seen enough of Billy’s business dealings to
recognise
that it wasn’t what you knew, it was who.

Opening Emma’s bedroom door, Jay was surprised to
realise
that she wasn’t
at
home
.
T
he last few
times
that
he had been back to collect his money the place had been empty
too, although
it didn’t look
as though
anything had been touched and he didn’t think she would have the balls to do a runner, so she couldn’t have gone far. He was starting to get a bit pissed off now though, and if it wasn’t for Tan
ya
standing
in the hallway, he would probably have gone looking for her.
Thinking
that
Emma
had probably nipped out for some gear, and was probably doing
G
od knows what to pay for it; he tried to put her out of his mind. She didn’t have any friends anymore
;
he had seen to that
;
her confidence was at an all
-
time
low
, too,
so she wouldn’t speak to anyone even if she did bump into
them
. He would have to
take
Tanya
to
the cafe in the high street and
then
come back and clean th
e
mess up
:
he would fucking kill Emma when she finally turned up. Tanya would not be happy about staying
t
here
,
full stop, but it was all he could do for now. He would have to stop Emma’s visitors for the time being for
the
few days
that
Tanya was
t
here. His mind was in a whirl,
there were
so many things all at once to think about. He wondered what was going on
:
did
Billy kn
o
w that Tanya had been with
him?
Did Kate know
, too
? What
would
happen to hi
s
work for Billy? There were too many questions
in
around his head.
H
e decided to
call
Kate. Her phone
was
diverted to her
answerphone
;
he figured she was probably still in bed.

             
“Hurry up
,
for fuck
’s
sake
,
Jay
,
” Tanya called
,
getting seriously impatient.

             
“I’m here
,
babe
,
” he said
;
returning to her side and then picking up his keys
,
he put his arm around her shoulder
.

             
“You can’t stay here
,
Tan, it
ain
’
t
right. I’m going to book you into a hotel
.
”
H
e decided that
her
staying here with Emma would be
more
hassle than it was worth.

             
“Thank fucking
God
for that
,
” Tanya almost smiled
,
“
f
or a moment
there,
I thought you were going to make me stay
here
with the vomit stains and the cockroaches.”

Picking up her bag from the hallway
,
he trudged behind her out to the car
.

             
“There
’s
a little hotel on the edge of town
;
a right little posh place it is
;
I’ll stay there
,’ she said.
“
Think they have a spa
,
too, and I could do with a nice massage, my neck
’
s friggin
g
killing me
.
”

Jay
wasn’t really listening; he was too worried about what to do next. Best thing to do
was
act normal
, he thought;
Billy might not know that it was him screwing around with Tanya. For all he knew he was worrying about nothing. He decided that as soon as he had dropped Tanya off
at the hotel
he would go home, and see what the situation was
:
surely if Billy was onto him,
Jay
would have been the first to know. Tanya had said that Billy had brought that bird from the club home, so that had to be it, as simple as that
:
Billy had traded Tanya in for a younger model. Chucking
Tanya’s
case
in the boot he felt calmer
:
yeah
,
things would be fine, he was sure.
Opening the passenger door of his beamer for Tanya he grinned and winked
.

             
“
Your chariot await
s,
madam
.
”

Emma was a ghost of the girl she
had been
,
seriously
underweight, her once full chest
now
shrunk
en
to nothing and her ribs visible through her nightshirt
.
S
he had
endured
so much
for the
past ten days and felt exhausted. The
hospital
had kept her in and helped to wean her off her drug addiction, she had been hallucinating badly for the first few days, and at times she had felt so disorientated she had imagined she was back in the flat with Jay. Thankfully the side effects were dying down, but she felt drained and tired all the time. The doctors had recommended medication to ease the symptoms of going ‘cold turkey’
,
but she had refused
; she was
determined to beat this herself.

The last six months of her life had become a blur and the bits she
c
ould remember were so horrible and dirty she didn’t even want to remember them. She felt so
ashamed by
what she had become.
Emma
understood that Jay had done a lot of it, but she also understood how she had
caused
it to
happen
too. She had let him worm his way in, behind her friend
’
s back,
and
she had put him above Kate, her best friend
,
and
she
had got what she deserved
and more in the process.

Emma
had never felt
as
happy as she had when she
had
s
een
Kate come into her
hospital
room that morning. She knew that she didn’t deserve her friend’s kindness after betraying
her
. She had been stupid. They had spent the last hour talking, crying and apologising. Kate had hugged
Emma
and promised her that from now on she would be looking after
her.
Emma had been worried about what Jay would say when he found out that she was
in hospital
and that Billy had helped her, but Billy was adamant that she
shouldn’t
worry and that he was sorting him out, and even though she was frightened she hoped he was right.

Kate had had no idea of what had been going on
;
even Billy’s word
s
before he had brought her here
were hard to take in
. It was like
he
had been talking about a complete stranger,
as if
he had made an awful mistake. Seeing Emma was the only thing that
had
helped the reality
to
sink in.