Kate had blown both those theories out of the water; at first, anyway. When Jay first spotted Kate, he just couldn’t resist, he had known that she was Billy O’Connell’s sister, and because of that the thought of having sex with Kate had a lot more than the obvious appeal.
He hated Billy with a passion, especially after everything that had happened with Jay’s dad. The police may have come up with nothing when they investigated his father’s murder, but Jay knew it had been Billy who killed him. He missed his old man every day. Saying that his dad hadn’t been a popular bloke was an understatement, and Jay had been witness to why on many occasions. His old man would literally rob old grannies if he had to and Jay had often been made to play decoy for him.
Driving along he remembered when his dad had actually made him fleece some old bird one night in town. He had only been a boy. His dad had made him sit down on the pavement and pretend to cry; it was getting dark so the chances of a passer-by not stopping were slim. The woman had bent down to comfort him and sounded quite concerned as she asked him if he was okay. Jay had stood up quickly, pushing her backwards with all his might onto the pavement, just like his dad had told him – “Catch her unawares, boy” – then grabbing her handbag from her wrinkly, frail grasp. He had then fled to where his dad had been lurking somewhere nearby. “Chip off the old block,” he got called that time, and he was given a fiver for his “help”. Jay had been ten, and even then he knew that he had done wrong, but he also knew that his old man would give him a hiding if he refused to help out and eventually the guilt wore off.
Jay had been pushed into more and more muggings and then burglaries, and as he got older and stronger he started acting as one of his dad’s heavies, pulling in any outstanding debts that were owed. Jay got used to it as the norm. He accepted his dad for what he was and started to become like him.
He remembered sitting in the pub one night with his dad, he must have been twelve or so, both of them sitting there thick as thieves putting together their latest scam, when some guy stumbled over to them a little the worse for wear. He didn’t say anything but glared at Den, Jay’s dad, and then to Jay’s horror the man had brought a glass bottle down on Den’s head with a loud thump. Blood had poured out of a gaping cut, and Jay’s dad had fallen to the floor. The pub went silent as the man spat in Den’s face and said simply “scum” before calmly walking out.
Not one person in the pub that night had helped, in fact many of them looked in disgust at Den, and they had probably thought that he had deserved that and then some. Jay had seen everyone get back to their chatting and drinking and carrying on as if nothing had happened. That had been more shocking to Jay than the attack on his dad, the fact that no-one came to his aid. His dad had been treated like he was nothing. He remembered watching his dad trying to pick himself up off the dirty floor, with blood trickling down his forehead. That night, Jay had felt for the first time an overwhelming urge to protect Den, realising that he was all his father had.
Jay thought back to when the police had turned up at his house the morning that his dad had been found murdered. Jay knew, straight away, who was to blame. Although it could have been dozens of men who had done it, his dad had pissed many people off and had an awful lot of enemies, Jay knew exactly who it was. Billy may have had a lot of faces as back-up, but not all of them were as loyal as he would have liked to have thought. People talked. Of course the police couldn’t prove it, but Jay knew. Oh yeah, he hated Billy with a passion alright, but he would bide his time. Billy’s time would come.
In the beginning, Jay made Kate promise to keep their ’relationship’ a secret from everyone, and Kate had been more than happy to do so, as it was in her favour too, she knew her brother would have put a stop to it otherwise. Jay was a looker, he knew that; he had a toned body and money in his pocket, so he wasn’t used to having to chase women. Most girls would be gagging to have a bit of him, so Kate had proved a bit of a challenge, which was new to him. Being really shy, she had made him wait longer than any other bird he had ever been with to get inside her knickers. The four long months had driven him wild. She had told him that she was a virgin and by the time he finally got her into bed he was aching for her.
Jay had enjoyed the challenge, and for months knowing that he was her first had given him the horn each time he fucked her. But the novelty had soon worn off, and it wasn’t long until he was back to his old self, wanting a less innocent and needy girl and craving easier, dirtier ones. He was bored with Kate, and he had been secretly disappointed too that Billy hadn’t found out about their relationship. He had been waiting for the fireworks to start for months. The relationship had now run its course, and he had been happy to let it fizzle out before she had dropped the bombshell.
A baby… his baby: what a shock.
He had always fancied being a dad; he thought he would make a good one. He could see himself with a son; a little boy of his own. It was not an ideal situation, and he certainly didn’t believe in settling down, but the more he thought about it the more the whole thing was growing on him. Kate would be a good mum to the kid, even he could see that. She was nothing like most of the lazy slappers around here, and she was completely oblivious to his goings on, really naive. Maybe he would stand by her after all; have his cake and eat it. He smiled to himself as he parked the car. Maybe it would all work out. Oh, and he couldn’t wait until Uncle Billy found out, he chuckled to himself.
He walked to the next street, making sure his car wasn’t anywhere near the flat that he was going to. He didn’t want to be seen. He was on a promise: this girl had been throwing herself at him, and had made it blatantly clear the last time he had seen her that she was up for it. Not really his type, a bit podgy and not as great looking as he was used to, but he knew that her shortcomings would work in his favour. She would get a good seeing to and be grateful to him for giving it to her.
5
It was late morning, and Kate had been ringing Jay’s phone all night. She paced the house, worried sick that her brother had caught up with him. There was no point thinking about going to bed as until she knew Jay was okay she wouldn’t be able to sleep. She picked up the phone to call Emma and started dialling her number, before chucking the phone back down on the table. She decided to go around there; she would go mad if she stayed in this house for much longer anyway.
Grabbing her jacket and keys, she started walking. Emma only lived a couple of streets away, that’s how they had met when they were young. She and Emma had spent countless summers hanging around the estate with the other kids. Emma was always getting them into mischief; it had been part of her charm, at first. Kate had always been a shy girl and Emma had seemed to be everything she was not. Kate was not afraid to speak up for herself, even against some of the older rougher boys on the estate, but many times Emma had gone too far and caused trouble for them both and Kate had always been the one who tried to get them out of it. Mind you, that probably had a lot to do with the fact that Kate’s brother was the toughest boy around, and no-one wanted to mess with him. Emma didn’t really care if she caused trouble, she knew that Kate would always be her back-up and even if things did ever get out of hand, she had no reason to be bothered, she knew her parents wouldn’t say anything to her.