Rotten to the Core (4 page)

She could
n
o
t imagine what it would feel like to be needed. She herself had stopped needing people a long time ago, her parents had seen to that.
During h
er childhood she had been left with nanny after nanny. People who had been paid to spend time with her
,
as her parents had been far too busy. She had spent many a birthday and even a few Christmases
feeling
disappointed and unloved. It had become the norm for her, and she knew it was the reason why she often distanced herself
from people.
             
H
er thoughts
were interrupted by
a noise at the front door
,
and
she
worried for a second that somebody was trying to break in
;
she listened harder and she could definitely hear the sound of metal scraping against her front door,
was it
a screwdriver perhaps? She quickly reached for her mobile so that she could call someone if she needed to, when she heard the door slam and Billy’s familiar footsteps stomping through the hallway.
He must have been trying to use his keys
,
she thought
,
breathing a sigh of relief. She looked over at the clock, two thirty,
and
she smiled to herself.
As he was u
nexpect
ed
ly turning up at this hour of the morning,
h
e must have
been
miss
ing
her
.
             
Billy had bought th
e
house
for
Tanya
. It was small, but she had done it up well and it was now very classy
-
looking. She knew that he had bought it as another of
 
his investments; he owned properties
all across London
. He had invested well and even if
the purchase of the flat
was
primarily
to make a bit of money in the future
,
s
he wouldn’t be complaining anytime soon
, as
it felt like it was her
s
.

When she
had
first moved in
,
she had put flowers in every room. Billy had said that it was hers to do as she pleased with, so she had been able to decorate it herself
,
which she had thrown herself into. Every room was different, all neutral colours and gorgeous textures
.
I
t was of course filled with designer furniture and accessorised with
 
lots of funky lamps and vases. It was just like the pages of any good home interiors magazine, and
she adored it. Her very own place all bought and paid for, who’d have thought?

Tanya had tried on many occasions to get Billy to move in
to the house
, but he kept putting it off
, especially
since his mum
had
died
,
last year,
and
he said he needed to look out for his sister
,
Kate. Tanya didn’t have
much
time for Kate
;
she was a nice
-
enough girl
,
she supposed, but it pissed her off how Billy went on about her all the time. She knew it was silly
,
but sometimes she felt Kate was almost like ‘the other woman’ in her relationship. Kate was always Billy’s first thought
,
and Tanya knew that on that score that she could never compete. She had to put on a front when Kate was around or even talked about, she was well aware that if Billy even suspected her dislike of the girl he
woul
d choose Kate over her in a heartbeat.
R
esentment bubbled
inside her about it
. The way Tanya saw it
,
Kate was the only thing stopping Billy making a proper commitment to her. She just wanted them to be a proper couple,
to
cook nice dinners for him and snuggle up on the sofa watching tel
evision
in the evenings. He always said he liked to come and go as he pleased and didn’t want to have to answer to anyone. She loved him, and would bide her time
;
in the meantime she would take whatever he was willing to offer her.
             
She threw on her gown over her tanned
,
naked body and went towards the lounge to see him.

Billy was sitting slumped in the armchair and the room was in total darkness
.
H
e didn’t even bother to acknowledge her when she came into
the room
.
             
“Babe
,
” Tanya
said quietly,
“
a
re
you ok
ay?
”
             
Billy was staring straight ahead with a real glare
.
S
omething had really rattled his cage, she though
t,
although she had seen him in
worse state
s
in the past.
             
“Do I fucking look
okay,
Tan?”
h
e grunted.
             
Tanya could smell drink on him, knew that he had been out with the lads earlier because he had rung her from
T
he Dog. Something must have pissed him off
,
because he
had
sounded fine then, quite cheerful for a change.
             
“Kate is up the duff
,
” he said
,
turning to look at
Tanya,
trying to gauge her reaction.
             
Tanya was surprised to hear that Kate was pregnant
.
S
he knew immediately who the father was. Everyone knew about Kate and Jay, the pair of them behaving like love
’
s young dream. They had been an item for almost a year and even though they both thought no-one knew, they
ha
d been seen about here and there and Tanya had known about them for a while.

How Billy hadn’t g
o
t wind of it sooner was a miracle
,
as far as Tanya was concerned
:
h
e knew everybody and everything. She had been waiting for Billy to find out about Kate’s little romance, hoping it would cause merry hell. It certainly wouldn’t hurt the soft cow to know how it fe
lt
to have
somebody
interfering in
her relationship, Tanya thought
.

“Guess who the fucking daddy is?” he
asked,
still clearly fired up.

I
f he found out
that
Tanya ha
d known about his precious sister
’
s little relationship and not told him
,
he would go ballistic. She leant down to light the half
-
smoked joint she had left sitting in the ashtray from earlier that evening, hiding her face with her hair to mask her expression.
             
“Jay Shaw
:
the snide little fucker!” Billy’s fist clench
ed
as he spat Jay’s name.
             
“Oh my God, Billy
.
”
S
he knew she was going to have to blag it now
; s
he hoped that she sounded more convincing than she felt. “I didn’t even know that they were seeing each other
.
How’s Kate? What’s she going to do?”
             
“Funnily enough
,
Tan, I didn’t stick around long enough
 
to sort out a fucking birthing plan with her
,
” he said
.
“Shaw has really got it coming to him now
.
”
He took the joint and took a long drag,
then
blew a stream of smoke through his nose.
             
He couldn’t believe
the news that his sister was having a baby
. He was going to have to think long and hard about how he
would
deal with Jay.

H
e looked up at Tanya
,
as if he
had
only just remembered that she was there
.
Although h
er hair was a mess and
she had
no
makeup
on, she was
still stunning-looking
. They’d been together
for two
years,
and
even though Billy tried to keep it as casual as he could Tanya had stuck it out
for
longer than any other bird he
ha
d been with. O
kay,
so Tanya was a bit high-maintenance, always demanding only the best for herself and the house, and
could be demanding
, but weren’t most women? On the plus
side
,
Tanya never questioned his whereabouts. She wasn’t the clingy, possessive type
,
and she knew exactly how to please him in the bedroom. Tanya was naturally pretty
,
with long brown hair, green eyes, a toned body and immaculate nails. Most girls could only wish to look that good
,
thought Billy
;
s
he was the perfect woman in that respect. He loved having her on his arm for all to see
:
his bit of arm candy.

Billy grinned, his mood softening slightly
;
yeah, he was a lucky bloke.
 
He could see her nipples pressing on the slinky material of her dressing gown and felt himself getting hard. He stood up and groped her breasts as he kissed her hard
.

             
“
C
ome on
,
Tan, let’s go to bed
.
I’ll deal with this shit tomorrow
.
”

Smiling
,
as Billy led her upstairs by the hand, Tanya couldn’t wait to get into bed and snuggle up with her fella.
She had fallen for Billy the second she had met him. He was as cocky as they came,
and this,
mixed with
his
confident boyish grin and the air of danger
that surrounded
him had been a heady combination for Tanya. The fact that he seemed to be doing well for himself and had an endless flow of cash had also played a part. Billy was hers
,
but it narked her the way he always kept her at arm’s length
and
wouldn’t let her get too close.

She knew half his anger was because he bottled everything up inside. Tanya knew there was history between Jay and Billy
:
it had been going on for years. She had started digging for information once, intrigued by how Jay rattled Billy’s cage so much. She had more than learnt her lesson
:
h
e had gone mental at her. She
had
never mentioned Jay to him again.

Only
Billy knew the real reason why he hated Jay with such a passion, Billy had never told a soul. There was no way on this earth Billy would be letting that piece of scum anywhere near his sister
:
that was for certain. Kate
must
never find out the truth.

4

It had just gone three in the morning and Jay had finished his shift at the club,
which
had once again been mani
a
cally busy. His mobile had been ringing for almost an hour and he
had been
trying his hardest to ignore it,
as
it was Kate
:
a
gain.