Rotten to the Core (32 page)

Pouring them both another
drink
, Tanya looked at him impatiently
.
“Do you need to go to hospital, or what?”

Rolling his eyes, he started laughing, really laughing
;
his ribs were so sore it made tears spring to his eyes, which made him laugh more
.

             
“What? What’s so bloody funny
?
”
Tanya demanded.

Jay was laughing so hard he couldn’t speak
;
good old Tanya
;
right on cue
,
just about as caring and sympathetic as she was going to get.

             
“Nothing
,
babe, just glad you’re on my side,
be
cause you
’
r
e
fucking scary right now
.
”

She laughed, finally understanding his joke
,
and passed him his glass
.

             
“A couple of them and you’ll feel a whole lot better
,
Jay
,
trust me
.
”

They sat
in the bedroom
for the rest of the afternoon, draining the mini
-
bar
.
As they drank,
Jay
told
Tanya that he had the best part of fifty thousand
pounds
stashed away
.
S
he did her maths
,
and although she was very happy that she had been right all along and Jay did have a bit of cash stashed away somewhere, she also knew that it was peanuts in the grand scheme of things. They needed real money. If they were going to fuck off into the sunset
,
they needed a hell of a lot more than fifty grand.

Tanya sent down for a couple of bottles of champagne
;
she always managed to think
better
after a few drinks inside her, besides what she had on her mind was worth celebrating. Jay was gobsmacked at
her
little plan; he couldn’t believe Tanya could even think about something so
…
well
,
fucking brilliant.
S
he knew better than anyone else
how to
hit Billy O’Conner where it fucking hurt.

The music was thumping; once again the DJ was playing the top tunes and had nearly every person in the place going mental for
them
. The dance floor was packed, as it was most nights. Kate couldn’t believe the length of the guest list
:
it
was
almost as long as her arm. Looking
at
the main bar, she s
aw
Emma and was again astounded. In the three weeks that Emma had been out of hospital, Kate
had witnessed
such a
change in her. It was amazing; like she had her old friend back.
Emma
had her moments
,
of course, but Kate would have been more worried if she hadn’t
have
had them. Emma occasionally got tearful or would want to talk things through, but Kate was there for her. She
ha
d even
got
her a job behind the bar, so they worked together too.

Emma had
had
a real heart
-
to
-
heart with her parents and it had been very emotional for them all, she was stunned when her parents had admitted that they had always thought something wasn’t quite right, but they just
couldn’t
put their finger
on what
. Emma hadn’t blamed them
, as
she had done her upmost to keep her dirty lifestyle a secret. They had promised to keep more of an eye on her in the future and told her they didn’t judge or blame her, that they loved her.
They were such
old
-
fashioned parents
that
she had been surprised when they hadn’t judged her. They had given her all the support she needed. She had sobbed when she heard that,
imagining
that they would both have been completely disgraced by her.
Emma
had had to try really hard to stop
craving the drugs,
but
every time she needed something, to take the edge of
f
, she pictured Jay Shaw’s disgusting face and to spite him, to beat him and his hold over her, she took deep breaths and got through it. She
would
show him
,
alright.
However, n
o one had seen Jay for weeks,
and
Kate had told
Emma
that he had done a runner with Tanya
.
Emma didn’t care who he had buggered off with
,
as long as she didn’t have to set eyes on him again.

Catching Kate’s eye, Emma
smiled
.
She
loved working
at Goldie’s
, and now she had met Paul, she could see why Kate talked about
him
every five minutes
:
h
e was hot. Not that she would even be looking at a guy in that way for a very long time. But she was grateful to Kate for everything she was doing and she was determined to see if she could work her magic and get the
pair
together. Paul had it bad for Kate
:
that much was obvious. Kate wouldn’t admit it
,
but Emma was sure that even
she had
noticed how he always watched her; he was always laughing and joking with her. Kate, being Kate
,
swore he was just a friend and that they didn’t feel that way about each other. Smiling, Emma gave
Kate
a little wave before turning back to the ever
-
growing queue of thirsty clubbers.

Kate could see that Emma being here was doing her the world of good, she would have her confidence back in no time.
Kate
hadn’t heard a thing from Jay, but to be honest she didn’t really have much
of a
feeling
about
that. She felt numb
about
the whole Jay situation. You can’t really love someone when everything they do
is
behind your back
and
everything they stand for
hurts
you. He was a stranger,
he felt like
a figment of her
imagination, because
their relationship
had never been real
:
e
verything about him had been fake
.
H
e was a coward of the worst kind
;
he couldn’t even stand by his actions, everything he did was in secret behind her back
;
as far as she was concerned
,
he was a poor excuse
for
a man. The Jay she thought she had loved was all in her head.
He wasn’t the
animal
that she had found him out to be
. She had changed her number, and Billy and Paul
were
watching out for her. She had called in to Sonia a few times, and promised that she would stay in touch
.

             
“Of course I will
,
silly; you’re like a mum to me
,
Sonia
,
”
she had said.

Sonia had let tears slide down her cheeks at the kind words;
Kate knew she loved the bones of her.
She was a decent honest girl, way too good for Jay. S
onia
had cut Jay from her life like dead wood. He was nothing to her now.
Sonia
had felt
stupid: she had
constantly
tried to
gain his approval and love. He was bad through and through, just like his father
;
rotten to the core.

Kate just wanted life to get back to normal; surely it wasn’t too
naïve to think
that now that everything was out in the open they could all start again
.

Turning back to her bar, Kate smiled at the local hot
-
shot
sitting
in front of her, lining up
drinks
like there was no tomorrow. She loved her job with a passion
,
and as she poured the next round of shots, she thought how intrigued she was to
know
what Paul wanted to talk to her about tomorrow. He had said earlier that he wanted to have a chat and asked if
she could come in an hour or so before her shift. She wondered what it was about
.
T
hings
at the club
were going well
;
they were a fantastic team.
Kate
knew that he appreciated and used most of her ideas, and she had seen first-hand how busy the place had become. Goldie’s had made a real name for itself
;
this was the place everyone wanted to be and Kate was thrilled to be part of it. It helped keep her mind off everything that was going on, and that was a godsend.

             
“There you go darling, have one for yourself
.
”
T
he man winked as he placed a fifty pound note in her hand, and then
,
just for good measure
,
look
ed
her straight in the eye
and
licked his lips. Smiling out of politeness,
while
thinking what a transparent
prat
the bloke was
,
Kate thanked the guy for the very generous tip
and
popped it into her overflowing tip jar under the counter.
She smiled
even more at the thought of the gorgeous designer handbag s
he had spotted in a boutique on
Oxford
R
oad, the perfect present to help cheer
up
Emma, and the rate her tips were coming in lately she would be treating
herself
to one too.

Upstairs in the gentlem
e
n’s club, Billy was also smiling,
while
enjoying a few drinks with the lads. Ditching Tanya had been one of the best things he had done. He
hadn’t
realise
d
how much of a drain she had been, and after her trying to make a mug out
of
him with Jay he was well out of it. Cand
i
ce had done her best to help him take his mind of
f
the whole thing
;
it was just business to her
,
but that
was cool with him. He had his needs
,
and she filled them nicely. He was quite liking being single.
The house was quiet
without Kate, but he was pleased that she had accepted the flat
and
thought that
living with Emma would be great for them both.
Kate
was safe and that was the main thing
,
at the end of the day.
He had
also
made a conscious decision to stop being so overbearing when it came to her, he had been so close to losing her because of that and he wouldn’t be putting himself in that situation again. Thanks to his mate Ryan, Jay was officially off the radar and had taken Tanya with him
,
no doubt, so
Billy
could finally relax. Laughing at Jonny taking the piss out of his brother Lee and telling all the
ir
funny stories of the latest little business trip, Billy picked up his pint. He was glad
to have
these guys around him; they had his back. Life was good.