Reaching up for the window pane above him, Jay was startled as the warehouse lights flickered on, blindingly bright.

Shit!

He was too scared to move, physically frozen to the spot.

              “You think you’re so fucking smart, don’t you?” a voice bellowed.

Startled, and feeling his heart beat ten to the dozen in his chest, Jay turned to see who had caught him. Not believing his bad luck, Jay saw Ryan: he was one of Billy’s boys, and the worst one of the lot.

Then, he realised Ryan had his back to him and was shouting down his phone rather than at Jay.

Slowly dropping down, Jay cowered behind a box and listened to Ryan bellowing down the phone:

              “Well, let me tell you now, you cunt, if you don’t deliver it to me in the next half an hour, I’m going to pay your wife a little visit, mate, you got that? Bet she likes a bit of cock, huh, your missus? If you’re not here in thirty minutes I’ll go round to yours and find out for myself.” Laughing then, he hung up the phone and he stumbled towards the office.

              Jay was crouching behind a box on the floor. Of all the people to walk in, it had to be bloody Ryan. He was a first-degree nut job, and Jay was betting that whoever he had spoken to on the phone was probably shitting themselves at the moment and rightly. He was a nasty bastard at the best of times, and tonight he looked worse for wear, like he had had a skinful.

Jay sat against the wall and reached into his pocket to switch his phone off; then, having second thoughts turned it onto silent mode and got the video settings up. There was no way he was chancing getting up and making a jump for the window, not while Ryan was about. If he caught Jay snooping around he would string him up by his balls. He would have to wait it out. He angled the camera towards the main door. It may even turn out to be good entertainment; some poor sod was probably running here to Ryan’s beck and call as we speak. Let the show begin.

19

There was blood everywhere; she had never seen so much. She thought she would pass out. She thought that she had already done so, but everything was blurry.

This can’t be real, she thought, and maybe it wasn’t, perhaps she had not yet woken up from a sick nightmare, and this was just a bad dream. It felt real, though. As yet another searing pain ripped through her, she realised that she was kidding herself; it was real, it was happening.

Tears were running down her face. They were hot tears. She was not sure how long she had been crying, she had not realised she had been.

She tried to get up, but she was too weak. The pain in her stomach was ripping through her body. Her T-shirt was soaked in thick, dark blood. The duvet, which was also covered in blood, would be ruined. Why was she even worrying about the bloody duvet at a time like this, she thought, sod it. Writhing in agony once more, she called out just before darkness swept over her for a second time.

She wasn’t aware of Sonia’s finding Kate lying in a pool of blood and screaming; she wasn’t aware of the two paramedics that were at her side within minutes, or the panic in their voices as they rushed her to hospital, and she wasn’t aware that the tiny life she had been carrying inside her for the last four months was slowly slipping away from her.

20

Billy had been sitting at his sister’s bedside all night; she had a small room in intensive care. He had never felt as scared as he did right now: his poor baby sister.

The doctors had said that the miscarriage was more complicated than most, and they had had to operate on Kate. In order to save her life, the doctors had no choice but to remove her uterus, to stem the bleeding. She had not only lost her baby but any hope of mothering a child in the future.

Billy had told the doctors that he wanted to be the one to tell her, he didn’t want her to find out from a stranger, whether they were a doctor or not; this was going to rip her heart out.

He looked down at his sister and willed for her to be okay. He knew she was over the worst, although she had lost six units of blood and he was just realising now how close he had been to almost losing her. Watching her lying there with tubes and monitors around her, Billy felt helpless. His beautiful sister. She had been so happy about being pregnant. He shouldn’t have over-reacted; he should have been there for her. Next time he would be there for her, whether he liked what she did or not. He would make it up to her. He wasn’t sure how she would react when she heard the news, and he felt scared for her. The last time he had felt so vulnerable was when he had lost his mum. God, he missed her. He wished she was here to help him, more than anything. She would know what to say, he thought, his mum always knew the right words to say.

Billy could see Sonia in the corridor outside. She had bags under her eyes, as she had also been there all night. Billy had been rude to her, made her feel unwelcome, but he had only done it because of who she was. He could see the worry and grief in the woman’s eyes, she genuinely cared for Kate; he was sure. He thought about warning her to keep Jay away from the hospital, but he knew if he did he would have no chance of Kate forgiving him. As it stood, no-one had heard a dickey bird from him, anyway, causing Billy to have a conflict of feelings. He was glad that the prick was nowhere to be seen but fuming that the bastard didn’t care one fucking bit about Kate.

Kate had moved around in the night but had yet to come round. The doctors had warned him that she was probably exhausted and when she did come round, she would feel very weak.

Getting up to buy a coffee, Billy passed Sonia. She was surprised when his eyes softened and he offered her a cup of tea. Smiling gratefully, Sonia accepted. She guessed that the gesture was a lot more than a hot drink, it was a peace offering, and she was not going to be stubborn and refuse.

Billy had been damn-right rude when he had first arrived. He had almost barged past her and looked at her like she was to blame for the situation, but she knew deep down that he just cared about Kate, it was all probably a fright for him.

              “What’s your cunt of a son done to her?” he had snarled, and not believing her reply that Jay had been nowhere to be seen that night had given her daggers for the rest of the night. She had known to stay well clear. She knew that Billy would have been worried sick seeing Kate in the state that she was in. She felt upset for the poor thing too. Billy was the first person that Sonia had called, they may have not been on speaking terms, but Sonia knew from many a conversation with Kate how close the two of them had been. If Kate needed anyone now it was her brother.

Sonia had also rung Jay as soon as she had arrived at the hospital. She had come with Kate in the ambulance, and was more concerned about looking out for Kate than ringing Jay, as it was her call went straight to his voicemail. He was probably up to no good as usual, she sighed. That was seven hours ago now, and he still hadn’t got in touch. She didn’t need to feel guilty about him not being the first person she had contacted; she knew she was right to think he would have let Kate down. Billy was who Kate needed.

Billy was standing by Sonia’s side now, he passed her a cup of tea and then sat in the seat opposite her. The ward was busier now; nurses were changing shifts.

Billy put his coffee on the floor and rested his head in his hands. After a few minutes, he looked up, his eyes showing his pain.

              “What the hell am I going to say to her, Sonia?”

              “You’re just going to have to tell her the truth, Billy, there can be no skirting around it; the girl needs to be told.”