Rotten to the Core (31 page)

Paul
never mentioned his beautiful Sophia to anyone
;
she was his private business
.
H
e had kept her and everything about her close to his heart
,
but h
e had felt lately
that
he could tell Kate, they had become so close
;
there were times when he almost had
told her
. She had her own stuff going on
,
though, what with
her
losing the baby
, and
he had never felt it the right time
:
one day maybe
he would.

Deciding rather than moping in the office all alone, he
would
pick up the phone to give her a call to see how she was doing
,
he downed his whiskey and dialled.

             
“Ooh, someone has a little crush on you
,
” giggled Emma
.
Kate
blushed
as she
put down her mobile phone. She
had been on the phone to Paul for at least twenty minutes, catching up on the gossip from the club.
Although i
t had only been a few days, she felt
as though
she had been away forever.

             
“Don’t be so silly
;
he
’
s my boss, and he
’
s just checking to see how I am
.
” Kate could feel her cheeks burning and knew that her friend was nowhere near convinced.

             
“A concerned b
oss, eh….” Emma was laughing.
“
O
h Kate, you really are oblivious
,
aren’t you
,
love
?
”

             
“What
?
” Kate exclaimed
.
“
Y
ou have it all wrong
,
Ems
,
you really do
;
he
’
s just a nice guy, and he’s just making sure I’m ok
ay
. Not all men are after something
,
you know
.
”
Immediately regretting her words
,
she quickly added
,
“Oh
,
Emma
,
I didn’t mean anything by that, honest
….”

             
“Don’t be daft
,
Kate, I know you didn’t. I’m sure that he is a lovely guy. I mean, from all that you
’
ve told me
;
not that you talk about him every five minutes
,
or anything
.
” Laughing even louder
,
she ducked down as Kate threw a cushion across the lounge
;
just missing her it landed on the couch next to her.
Kate laughed too and realised that it was the first time she had seen Emma
apparently happy
since they had left the hospital
, including in
the last few nights
when they had stayed up late and
spoke
n
about everything. It had been hard for Kate to take it all in
:
s
he had no idea about what Emma had been through.
Kate
had been angry at first when Emma had first told her about sleeping with Jay behind
her
back, but Kate realised now that Jay
was
persuasive, and it
had
all
been
part of his plan
.
Emma had just been sucked into it all.
Kate
had found it hard to listen to some of Emma’s painful experiences,
such as
the time when Emma had been tied up and beaten by some psycho
,
and
was
even more freaked out when Emma told her that Jay had known about it, he
had been,
by all accounts
,
completely responsible for it. It sickened her to her stomach. Emma had also been beside herself with grief when Kate told her about losing the baby, but Kate had said as scary
and devastating as it was maybe it was one of
G
od’s small mercies
, as
she had been
spar
ed
from being tied to Jay forever. The fact that she could no longer have kids she kept to herself
;
Emma had too much of her own stuff to deal with right now without Kate adding her
own
problems to the list. Besides
,
Kate had been trying to block it out of her mind, saying it out loud would mean she would have to deal with it
,
and she wasn’t ready for that yet.
Kate could see that Emma was struggling without the drugs, but she
was
determined
to stay clean
. The doctor at the hospital
who had treated her
said he had rarely seen anyone who had become so dependent on drugs leave without medication to help them through the cold turkey process, but then he also added he had never seen anyone as adamant as Emma about staying clean.

             
“You know
,
” smiled Kate
,
“I think having someone
like Paul watching out for me is not such a bad thing
.
”

             
“Oh?” Emma raised her
eye
brow
s.

             
“Yeah, I know I have Billy looking out for me, but sometimes I have to be so careful about what I say around
him
, you know how over
-
protective he can be
.
”

Emma
n
odded
.
A
nyone who knew them knew that Billy guarded Kate with his life
;
she had to admit though from what Kate had told her that Billy seemed to be easing off on her lately. He had given them this place
,
for starters
,
and he had given them space, just a few text messages every now and again just to check that they were both alright.

             
“Well, Paul is just so easy to talk to
;
he doesn’t judge me or quiz me about stuff, he just says his piece and that’s that
;
he
’
s been a really good friend
.
”

Emma couldn’t help but think that if Kate actually filmed herself when she spoke about this guy she would realise how her eyes lit up,
that
she was smiling and
glowing
. There w
ere
definitely
some feelings there
,
but knowing Kate, it
was
far too soon to push it, especially after everything that had happened with Jay. As much
of
a shit that man was, Kate had loved him, although now
Kate
questioned how she ever
had
, now reali
sing
that she knew nothing about the real Jay Shaw. Kate
needed
time to get over that
relationship
.

Hearing the doorbell ring, Kate jumped off the sofa, placing her hand on her friend
’
s shoulder as she went to open the door
,
she whispered
,

             
“
Just be honest with them
:
remember they love you and they are here to help
.”

Kate open
ed
the door to Emma’s parents
.
S
he had rung them earlier and told them that Emma needed to see them urgently; she had warned them that what they would hear would not be easy to take in
and
t
hey
had
sounded worried, although thankfully
they
had not questioned her any further. Emma sat nervously in the lounge, bracing herself for a very long
,
painful evening
.

             
“What the fuck do you mean
:
you’re over?”

Tanya r
ubb
ed
her temples
; she
felt
her
headache
returning.
S
he had had the most heavenly massage and had finally started to feel more chilled
;
at least her shoulders were no longer up round her ears with the stress of everything
:
and now this
. If only
she
hadn’t been so quick to come back to her room, if she had gone for a nice drink at the bar, she could have given herself an extra half an hour of feeling like a normal person.
But here
she was
,
back in
the
room, looking at Jay’s swollen and bloodied face, as he sat slumped on the bed like a wounded soldier.

             
“Just like I said
,
Tan, I’m fucked, good and proper. Billy has seen to it that I can’t get back into my house, I can’t do business with most of my fucking contacts
,
and I no longer fucking work for him
:
but that goes without fucking saying, obviously.”
Throwing his keys onto the table
,
Jay
groaned at the sudden movement, feeling pain
shooting through his chest
, he’d probably had a couple of his ribs done in.

Tanya paced the room, her relaxing massage now fe
eling
like a distant memory, like she’d never had it. She knew how Billy worked, he would close down all
of the
options for them both, and no one would look at Jay
after
this, let alone do business with him. He
would
have to start at the bottom, like a fucking loser, dealing outside schools or in grotty little parks
for
p
ocket money. Tanya was too old for that shit, and she wanted
more than pennies in her purse.
Walking
over to the mini
-
bar, she poured them both drink
s:
she really needed one
, anyway
.

             
“We need to put our thinking caps on Jay, and fast. If we let Billy do this to us,
let him
treat us like fucking mugs, we
’
re not coming back up from it. People will think they can treat us like fucking cunts
,
Jay
,
and I’m not having it.
”

Taking
the
drink
she offered him
,
Jay
swallowed it down in one, enjoying the burn at the back of his
throat
and the warmness that
seeped
through him,
slightly
numbing his pain.
He looked over at Tanya, now deep in thought
;
he had noticed how she hadn’t once asked him if he was ok
ay
, hadn’t once shown any compassion at all. Alright
,
it was only a kick
ing
, he had been dealt worse in his time
,
h
e had a feeling that Ryan could and would
have
wiped the pavement with him had he wanted to, so he must
have
been under strict orders
from
Billy
b
oy. Tanya was merciless,
though,
she was like a bloke in that respect
;
she knew what she wanted and she
wouldn’t
stop until she had it. Even though a kind word wouldn’t have gone
a miss, he respected her for it;
she was shrewd
in that she was
already thinking of ways out
of this situation
for them both. He had never had that before
from someone
; he had had to fend for himself. Even his dad had used
him
, they had never worked as a team
;
his dad had made money out of him and used his innocence
for
his own gains, playing the father
-
and
-
son card whenever possible to get Jay to do whatever he asked. Tanya didn’t look like she had taken any shit from anyone.