15
Kate smoothed her crisp white shirt down over her tiny bump, smiling as she felt the flutter of movement. She had had a good pregnancy so far, her skin was glowing, her energy was high; she was quite enjoying it. She was over four months gone, and she loved that she now had the tiny start of a little baby bump. No one else had mentioned it but Kate could clearly notice it, especially as her trousers were becoming so tight she was worried that if she sat down, she might split them. She needed some new clothes.
Mentally adding trousers to the long list of everything else she was going to need to buy, she looked into the mirror again, giving herself the once over, and began to worry that perhaps she was a little over-dressed. She looked as if she was going for a job in a law firm or something, very formal and well turned out, maybe she was overdoing it a little. The job advertisement had been for a cleaner, it was part-time hours and cash-in-hand, and most importantly it was local. Kate knew that in her present condition she would be lucky if she could get the job. A lot of employers wouldn’t employ a pregnant woman if they could help it, especially someone halfway through their pregnancy; it wasn’t worth all the hassle. So she figured that for her interview this morning she needed to make an extra good impression.
Kate had been at Jay’s house now for a month, and to say that it hadn’t been going that well would be an understatement. He claimed that he didn’t know who had attacked him that night. Kate had even started to think that maybe she had been wrong, maybe her brother hadn’t been behind it after all, that perhaps she had over-reacted.
Kate missed Billy so much, and sometimes really needed him around. But on speaking to Jay one night after a very rare early night together, he had all but implied that it had been Billy who had attacked him. He wouldn’t discuss it with her, and he didn’t actually say the words, but he had implied it clearly enough to her. Maybe that was half of Jay’s problem with her at the moment, she thought, he had been really funny with her when he had first come home from hospital, he had gone nuts at Sonia for letting Kate move in without consulting him, and Kate had felt very unwelcome. Then he had spent the next few days constantly telling her not to go through his stuff, and that she wasn’t to be poking around, he was acting very odd.
At first Kate had put it down to her being a little over-sensitive, with her hormones and everything, but it had just gone from bad to worse. Then she had thought that maybe some of it was resentment for what her brother had done to him, that they were just experiencing what most couples did from time to time, a rough patch. It was all new to both of them, this baby stuff; Kate was more than aware of just how scary it all was. Perhaps Jay was scared of becoming a dad, settling down, and supporting them all. Kate just wanted to see him smile at her like he used to, and to want her like he used to. Jay seemed not to be that bothered at all by her, and he didn’t seem to be interested in the baby either, but after long talks with Sonia, Kate felt a bit more reassured about that one.
Sonia and Kate had become good friends over the past few weeks and often spent the mornings gossiping over mugs of tea and buttered toast. Sonia was obviously excited about being a grandmother; she was forever coming up with cute baby names, hoping to inspire Kate, and making suggestions about places they could take the baby once it was born. She was a tonic and Kate would have felt lost without her. When Kate had been close to tears one morning because of Jay’s total lack of interest in the baby‘s first kick, Sonia reassured her that while women feel an instant connection with the life that was growing inside them, men sometimes didn’t have any feelings towards the baby until it was actually there. That was when the baby became ‘real’ to them. It made sense in Kate’s mind, and she hoped that when they did have the baby, Jay would be a good dad.
There were times when loneliness washed over Kate. She hadn’t heard from Emma now for five weeks, the last two times she had been round there Emma had been acting really oddly, and now Kate knew for sure that she was taking something, she decided to keep away, she didn’t want anything happening to her baby and hopefully Emma would realise that if she wanted to see her then she could, but only if she wasn’t off her head on drugs.
The biggest hole had come from cutting Billy out of her life, and now Jay was becoming even more distant, Sonia seemed like Kate’s only friend, and as nice as that was, Kate needed more. She didn’t want to burden Jay even more than she already had, so she had decided that she needed to make her own money. Kate was bored of sitting around all the time, she was pregnant not ill, so when she saw this little part-time job advertised, she decided that she would apply for it, earn some cash to buy her baby some nice things, and get out of the house for a bit too.
Kate had decided not to tell Jay about the interview yet, as she wasn’t holding out much hope of getting it, but she was sure that he would be made up for her if she did get it. He would be pleased that she could pay her own way. Sonia had insisted that she needn’t worry about paying rent while she lived there, and Kate had decided to earn her keep and help out around the house, washing dishes, doing the laundry, whatever needed doing, it was the least that she could do.
Kate had never realised how lazy Jay was; most days he laid in bed until midday, then he would slob about for a couple of hours, drinking strong coffee and chain smoking, despite her asking him to stop because of the baby. Then from about three o’clock most afternoons he was gone, “doing business,” he would vaguely add when asked, and Kate rarely saw him again until the early hours when he crawled into bed next to her.
Things needed to change; this wasn’t how Kate had seen her and her baby’s future, and fingers crossed if she did get this little job, things would be better for them all. Maybe she would treat Jay to something with her first pay to show him that she really loved him. Once they were back on track things would be fine.
Feeling better, Kate picked up her bag and made her way to the interview; she was going to arrive a few minutes early, to show willing, she had loads of time to get there; besides, Goldie’s nightclub was only a few streets away.
16
Opening her eyes, Emma looked around the room. Had he gone? The bedroom door was open, and she couldn’t hear anything in the house. Relief washed over her; he had gone, thank God. Emma was aching all over, her head was pounding and she felt as if she had been run over by a truck. Emma rolled over on her bed and tried to sit up but pain seared through her. Reaching over to her side table, she saw the fifty pound note on the side; biting her lip to stop the tremble, she couldn’t help but feel the insult. She reached down to the drawer in the table and took out her little bag of gear and struggled to keep from crying, it was almost empty. Snorting the contents and laying back against the stale, grey sheets, she felt the drug run through her body, helping to block out the last few hours of torture she had to endure.
Last night had been a bad one, a fucking bad one. The guy Jay had sent had been a nutcase, a proper loon. He had tied her up to start with, using black masking tape, and at first she had made a few light-hearted jokes about him being kinky, but he had breathed really heavily and stared at her, hate gleaming from his eyes. She’d started to get scared then, asked him to untie her, told him that this was not how she did things. But he had bound her even tighter. She had begged him, but he had just covered her mouth with the tape too. He had whispered in her ear, while he gagged her that she was a dirty slag and he was going to teach her a lesson. After dozens of punches, he grabbed her so tightly around the throat that Emma passed out, and then he brutally took her while she was out cold. She was sore beyond belief, looking down at her top she saw that it was torn almost in half and winced at the sight of one exposed breast, covered in bite marks and bruises.