'You're a funny little one, ain't you, Maggie. I knew you'd be a good fuck, you had the makings of a fuck bird even when you were a kid. I used to fuck Jackie and think of you. Well, now I don't have to fantasise, do I?'

She caught sight of herself in the wardrobe opposite her bed and then realised that Freddie had watched himself as he had raped her.

She was covered in sick, her breasts were bruised as were the tops of her legs. He had bitten her shoulder, and as she stared at herself she felt the humiliation wash over her once more.

Freddie was sitting on the bedroom chair, the chair she had sat on with Jimmy, where they had made love and watched TV together.

'You look like shit, Maggie. Jackie had a good shag today and she didn't throw up, in fact she loved it. I was thinking of you, I often think of you when I am fucking Jackie, because you are a fucking flash little whore, a flash cunt. You thought you were better than me, didn't you? Well, now you know you ain't.'

'Get out.' It was so hard trying to talk to him, she was shaking inside. 'Jimmy would kill you for this.'

He was laughing again, fondling himself leisurely, shaking his head as if she was a comedian.

The phone rang once more and the sound was loud in the room.

'Shall I get that, then, tell Jimmy you and me had a bit of a drink and it all got out of hand?'

She was shaking her head in terror, and he knew he had her then.

'Please go. Just go.'

She could smell herself, the vomit and the unmistakable smell of Freddie Jackson, a stench she knew would never leave her nostrils.

The answerphone kicked in this time and they could hear Jimmy's voice as it came up the stairs from the hallway.

'Sleep well, my darling, I'll ring tomorrow. Love you, babe.'

Chapter Fourteen

Jackie was fuming. She felt betrayed and the feelings of hatred were overpowering.

'You stupid cow, I never said a fucking word.' Freddie was sitting up in the bed smoking a cigarette, and his smirk was sending her off her head. He always thought things like this were funny.

'You called me Maggie. How would you like it if I called you Jimmy?'

He shook his head and stifled a yawn. 'You know what's wrong with that logic, don't you, Jackie? You wouldn't have a cat's chance with Jimmy, but I reckon your little sister would be up for it with me. Ain't you noticed the way she is always nice to me? Always polite and friendly. I married the wrong sister, I should have waited for Maggie to grow up, eh?'

Jackie was temporarily speechless with rage and shock. In her heart she knew he was talking rubbish, but her jealousy was all-consuming and she felt the rot set inside her for ever.

'She wouldn't touch you with a barge pole.'

It was said with all the confidence she could muster.

He stubbed the cigarette out and said loudly, 'If you say so, Jackie, but I have me moments, as you know very well. Women like me, always have. Still, while we are being so honest, I often go round there for Jimmy and think, how lovely to be married to someone with firm tits, no stretch-marks, and a good little business head, because her salons make fortunes.'

Jackie was as quiet as he knew she would be. Once he pointed out her failings she always shut up, because experience had taught her that he would get really personal and vindictive if she didn't.

'You bastard,' was all she said.

He grinned.

After five minutes of painful silence he said conversationally, as if they were just two friends chatting together, 'Jimmy said they are trying for a baby. Do you think they will get one after all this time?' It was an olive branch, he was giving her the opportunity to let the conversation go. Even though he had deliberately called her by her sister's name during sex, he knew the chances were she would shut up to keep the peace and try to talk normally with him. As always, she was more frightened of him walking out on her than of him staying and fighting.

Jackie knew the middle ground and she grasped at it like a drowning man. 'Maggie came off the pill ages ago, eighteen months now. Jimmy doesn't know that, but she said the quack told her it can take a year to get it out of your system. I mean, she ain't getting any younger, is she?'

He smiled once more. Only Jackie would come out with a gem like that.

'Where does that fucking leave you then, Jack? She is gorgeous, old Maggie, and from what Jimmy says she likes the old one-eyed snake.'

'Stop it, Freddie, she is my sister.'

He laughed. 'I know that, mate, but I wish you had a bit of her nous, and a pair of Bristols that had not gone fucking south, and a tight little fanny that wasn't like a fucking gaping wound.'

She went for him then as he expected. He was too tired to wind her up any more, but he knew that now he had put the thought into her head, she would let it take root, and when it finally began to grow the jealousy would do his job for him.

He would pop round to Maggie's and then mention it in front of Jackie, make out like they were close, watch the two of them squirm. He was looking forward to it.

He held Jackie at arm's length until she calmed down and then he did what he always did, he cuddled her until she fell asleep.

Maggie was going to learn the harsh facts of life and Jimmy was going to find out that his little wife was not as happy as he had thought. She wouldn't tell, he knew she wouldn't, she was too scared of the consequences.

Unlike him of course, who would relish them.

Jimmy had taken his crown, and he had taken the only thing Jimmy really cared about.

Maggie looked at the clock. It was six thirty in the morning. She could hear the birds singing and see the light creeping across her bedroom floor. She was still in the bath, the water was stone cold but she could feel nothing. She was numb.

She had changed the bed, disposed of all the bedding, cleaned up and remade it. Washed the carpet, cleaned the room, and scrubbed herself raw.

She was in shock at what had happened.

Freddie had forced one final act on her, and she knew that would haunt her dreams even more than the rape. She could still smell him on her. It was a cloying stench of hate and when the tears finally came, she couldn't stop them.

She knew in her heart she should report him, stop him from ever doing it again, should not collude in this secret. But she also knew that if she did that, her marriage would be over in no time.

Anyone else, a stranger, an acquaintance, and Jimmy would have swallowed. But not Freddie. Jimmy would never be able to get over that. Forced or otherwise, it would cause a death and she was aware that that death could even be hers. Jackie would lose her mind, would never believe this of Freddie. She couldn't, if she did her own life would also be over and there would be no going back for the sisters.

Maggie felt beaten, demoralised and totally defeated, and she was shrewd enough to know that this was what Freddie wanted, and that she was in effect playing into his hands. He had won, and he had beaten her in more ways than one. She would have to play a clever game from now on, make sure she was never alone with him, and make sure he never got the opportunity even to talk to her without other people present.

Her life had gone from pleasure and enjoyment to a fearful journey in a few hours, and she just did not know what she should do for the better. She could only try to save whatever dignity she could, and salvage her life in the aftermath of all this hate. And it was hate that had caused it all. Hate. She had felt it coming off him in waves.

But it was her feeling of utter helplessness that was the worst thing, of knowing she had no way out of her problems, knowing she was in effect owned by someone she hated.