Jay went very quiet at the news. He decided not to say anything, but he was not a happy man. Paul had it in for him: what the hell was he playing at offering his bird a job?
Billy was happy enough: he respected Paul, he was a decent guy, and Kate need never find out that Paul had organised Jay’s beating. Knowing that Paul felt almost the same as he did about the guy made him feel better about the whole thing. A personal assistant: the guy must be moving up in the world; he chuckled to himself and raised his glass to everyone at the table.
“To Kate. Well done, little sister; you’ll do a cracking job for him. Knowing you, you’ll be running that place alongside him before long.”
Everyone smiled and chinked glasses. Looking over at Jay, Billy smirked, although it was obvious enough for only Jay to see it, and he did.
After desserts and coffee had been had by all, except for Tanya who insisted she was watching her figure but kept the wine flowing, Billy said that he would call a couple of cabs. He was glad the night was over. It hadn’t been too bad, but he didn’t think he could stand being in Jay’s company for another second, how he had hidden his feelings this long he didn’t know. Sensing this, and trying to make Billy’s life harder, Jay piped up: “Oh, but the night is still so young… why don’t we come back to yours for a nightcap?”
Before Billy had a chance to make an excuse and get rid of this waster, Kate smiled at her brother, happy that this was all working out so nicely between them. “I don’t mind, Billy; it’s only early, what do you say?”
He couldn’t refuse his sister. Sonia made her excuses and got her own cab. She was going to have a nice cheese sandwich and a cup of tea when she got home, this posh food wasn’t enough to keep her full, no wonder all the celebrities that ate here were so skinny; poor buggers were living on child-sized portions.
Kate and Jay got in a cab with Tanya and Billy and headed to their house. Billy was going to have to let Jay into their home, and he would grin and bear it even though he was not happy about it. Tanya didn’t give a shit by now, she had had a rather good night herself, the blond guy in the corner had been giving her the eye all night, and the more she had drunk the hornier she felt. She gave him a look of regret as she brushed passed him through the restaurant and out to the waiting cab. She planned to have a few more glasses of wine at home and hopefully then pass out, as there would probably be no chance of any bedroom action with Billy, again! Kate was a bore, but Jay she found quite amusing. He was a cocky little shit and she could see through him, but she was finding it highly entertaining that he could so easily wind Billy up.
“Nice gaff,” Jay said, looking around the designer kitchen, this was exactly what he wanted, state of the art, really modern, a far cry from the shithole in which he lived with Sonia and Kate. This house was plush, if small.
“Tanya designed it, fancies herself as a bit of a Linda Barker. Spent a small fortune, didn’t you, Tan?”
Tanya smiled back at Billy, but her smile did not meet her eyes. She was close to losing it; why did things always come down to money with him? Okay, so it was his money, and she had indeed blown a small fortune on the flat, but he had told her to get what she liked so why was he being sarcastic?
Sensing the atmosphere, Kate went to use the bathroom, leaving the room quiet, with the three running out of things to say.
Going through to the lounge with some glasses and a bottle of chilled wine, Billy’s mobile buzzed on the table.
“I’ve just got to get this,” he said, as he picked up his phone and left the room; his calls came through at all times of the day and night because of his dealings abroad and the time differences, so his phone was never far from him, which was another thing that pissed Tanya off.
Kate came back to find Tanya and Jay laughing at some joke that Jay had made. Tanya had her feet up on the chair and you could practically see her knickers, she was definitely pissed. Tanya got up to fill her glass again, but stumbled and ended up in a heap on the floor, laughing and struggling to stand. Jay put his hand under her arm and pulled her to her feet.
“I think I need my bed,” Tanya slurred.
“It’s upstairs on the right, Jay, you’d better help her,’ Kate said. ‘I’ll go and get Billy, I’ll ring us a cab too, babe, maybe it’s time to call it a night.”
Kate looked at Tanya, slumped over drunk and shook her head before heading off to get her brother.
Jay almost had to carry Tanya up the stairs, as her legs didn’t seem to want to go in the same direction as her body. Laying her down on the bed in the darkness, Jay was stunned by the strength of her when she reached up and pulled him on top of her. Her mouth reached for his, and he could taste the wine she had been drinking. He felt himself getting hard. She reached inside his trousers, laughing quietly. He realised then that she had not been as drunk as she had made out; realising that maybe she had planned this, he felt the urgent need to take her. He could feel her warm hand gripping him tight and he wondered how she would feel and taste. She was obviously gagging for it. Looking down at her, he saw she had tits to die for. What is it with the women in Billy’s life: they just can’t resist me… He kissed her hard and his hands cupped her breast, feeling his way down her body, almost making it to her thigh, and then jumping from the bed as he heard Billy coming up the stairs; he went to leave the room, reaching the door just as Billy did.
“Fuck me, she is in a bad way, gone and passed out,” he whispered to Billy, who was poking his head into the room and could barely make out Tanya’s silhouette on the bed through the darkness.
“Yeah, she knocked them back a bit tonight, silly mare.” Billy was physically holding himself back; Jay was standing in his bedroom, in his fucking house. It was taking all his willpower not to throw the fucker out. Jay stepped out of the room, and just as Billy closed the door out, they both turned as they heard Kate calling up the stairs that their taxi had arrived.
23
Emma was a mess. Her hair was greasy, her breath stank, she had big sores all over her chin and her sunken eyes had large bags under them. She was rock bottom, and she knew it, and worse than that the punters knew it too.
When she had first started out doing this, apart from the nutter who had attacked her, she had been treated like a sex toy; she was desired; the men had taken her body but in a strange way she had felt that they had almost been grateful to her, impressed by her eagerness and willingness and, of course, her womanly curves.
Of course there had been a few weirdoes, and a few of them she wouldn’t have gone near for any amount of money, but her standards were slipping. Emma thought she could handle it at the beginning, thought she could stay in control, but the drugs had taken over. The lower she sank so too did the quality of men she entertained. They were as filthy as she looked, and they just used her like she was a piece of meat, like she was nothing in fact. She had lost so much weight that her ribs were sticking out, her womanly curves had gone. She looked pale and gaunt, like a skanky druggie, which in fact was exactly what she had become.
The only thing that was of any concern to her these days was where her next bag of gear was coming from; first thing in the morning, last thing at night, these were her only thoughts.
Emma knew where it had all gone wrong; the turning point had crept up on her slowly and then smacked her straight in the face. She thought that she had him right where she wanted him, but she felt stupid now that she had even considered blackmailing him and telling Kate what her precious Jay had been up to. Stupidly, she had said to Jay the night she had been attacked, when he had come to help her, that she could tell Kate at any minute what had been going on; her threat had been loaded, but Jay hadn’t risen to the bait, he had just ignored it, or so she had thought.