Rival

by Jacqui Rose

  ‘Then don’t, cos it ain’t funny.’

  As they walked into the restaurant, which was closed to the public until later that evening, Wan turned to Tia, his jet-black hair perfectly waxed in place. ‘Have you got it?’

  Taking her silver Alexander McQueen backpack off her back, Tia took out the three large bags of cocaine. Her hands were shaking as she placed them on the table. ‘This is what you wanted.’

  ‘I take it this is the quality stuff me and Harry were talking about the other day.’

  ‘I wouldn’t know.’

  Wan winked at her. ‘Well he wasn’t going to sell it, so he might as well give it away.’

  Hearing Wan talk about Harry again made Tia even more uncomfortable. The only thing she wanted to do was get out of there. ‘And now we’re even.’

  Wan chuckled as he stroked her face. He took her hand and pushed it down his trousers. ‘You know, I always liked you, Tia. My brother always said you were a good worker. Have you ever thought about coming to work for me?’

  Tia’s face twisted with disgust. ‘Not in a thousand lifetimes.’

  Hiding his irritation, Wan shrugged. ‘Shame, we could make a good team.’

  Tia pulled her hand away and stepped back. ‘I ain’t one of those girls you play with, not anymore anyway. Those days of pitting us and playing us against each other. Those days of making us think that your brother loved us, that he cared, when all he wanted to do was farm us out. Those days that your brother could get me to jump just by asking me are long gone … So if that’s all, I’ll see you around, Wan.’

  Again Wan laughed, but this time his laugh was meaner, nastier. ‘So you’ll bring the rest next week then?’

  A look of panic crossed Tia’s face. ‘You said that was it.’

  ‘I did and it can be, if you want Harry to know, that is. I mean, what would he say if he knew you were robbing from him right under his nose and not only that, what would he say if he knew what the reason was? How would he feel if I told him why you were bringing coke to me in the first place?’

  ‘You wouldn’t. You promised. Wan, you promised this was all it would take.’

  Wan burst into laughter. ‘I know, I know. I know I did. And I bet you’re thinking “what a bastard” now, hey?’ said Wan mockingly.

  Tia’s eyes filled with tears. ‘Don’t do this to me. I can’t get any more.’

  ‘Not my problem.’

  ‘You wouldn’t turn over one of your business acquaintances, not really, so don’t do this to me.’

  ‘You’re right, I wouldn’t, but you’re nothing but a little whore.’

  Panic rushed over Tia and she could feel her heart racing. ‘Wan … look … look …’ She trailed off, not really knowing what to say.

  ‘I want another bag of cocaine and then we’ll call it evens. I can’t say fairer than that, can I?’

  ‘I won’t be able to. I can’t!’

  Wan grinned, showing off his perfect teeth. ‘I was always taught that there’s no such thing as I can’t.’

  Tia shook her head, her tone full of scorn. ‘I know you and even if I could get it, how do I know that that would be it? How do I know if I got some more for you that you won’t just keep asking for another bag?’

  He leant in and kissed her passionately on the lips again, closing his eyes as she shuddered in disgust. ‘You don’t, but that’s part of the fun, Tia. I just hope it was all worth it … I’ll be in contact.’

  As Tia ran out of the small private courtyard into Brewer Street her mind was racing and whirling, her thoughts on what she was going to do distracted her so much she didn’t see her daughter Milly watching in horror from the other side of the street.

  And Milly had seen everything, everything including Ellie going inside the building earlier … though what was much more shocking, what had made her stomach turn, was seeing her own mother wrapped up in a passionate embrace with a man who was not Harry Jacobs.

  32

  Shaking, Milly stumbled along Brewer Street, back towards her bedsit. She couldn’t believe it. She couldn’t believe what was happening. Originally she was going to wait for Ellie to come back out again and confront her, talk to her, make her see sense. Tell her how much she needed to get away from Wan, no matter how much she thought she loved him. But once she’d seen her mother whispering and kissing, she didn’t want to hang around any longer. She felt sick and it was all her mum’s fault.

  She couldn’t get her head around it. Of all the things she’d thought her mother would do, it certainly wasn’t that.

  She’d watched Ellie throw her arms around him, kissing her so-called boyfriend and looking totally loved up then only a short while later she’d seen her mum kissing him too. It was crazy, disgusting, especially after everything they’d gone through, and it just didn’t make sense. Why? Why would she do it?

  How long had she been seeing him? Was that why her mum seemed so distracted at the moment? Was her mind on him? Maybe that’s why she hadn’t come around as often as she said she would, and it wasn’t actually anything to do with Milly’s dad at all. Even today her mum had said she was going to come around but at the last minute had changed her mind. And this was why. So maybe right from the start she’d been using Milly’s dad as an excuse not to be able to come around and visit her because all along she was going out to be with him.

  She shook as anger and betrayal rushed through her. She turned into St Anne’s Court, and like her mother had done a few days earlier, she curled up her nose at the smell of urine, jumping over the pool of vomit at the entrance to her block of flats.

  She touched her bump, protecting it from the large group of sightseers pushing past her, and she sighed. Not for the first time she wondered if she’d done the right thing by going ahead with the pregnancy especially the way she was feeling now. Everything was a complete mess.

  Though it was too late now for regrets, the more her baby grew in her stomach, the more reality hit her. The truth was, she was scared and now after seeing her mum like that, she was also confused and felt more alone than ever.

  She wished things could go back to how they were, well maybe not how they were with her dad, definitely not that – she hated him – but back before … She stopped, refusing to let her mind go there. She didn’t want to think too much about things because when she did that, that was when the regrets really hit her hard.

  Not wanting to focus on herself, with her hands still shaking, Milly reached for the bar of chocolate in her pocket as she let herself into the block of flats. She took a big bite out of the Galaxy bar as she thought about Ellie again, about the bruises.

  She needed Ellie to see that she didn’t need to put up with any crap. She could see exactly how someone like Ellie would fall for him, but to put up with what he’d asked her to do, to have to sleep with other men – no, that was so wrong. She had to make Ellie somehow see sense.

  Suddenly Milly stopped and leant against the broken railings of the stairs as the baby gave her a hard kick. She gasped and closed her eyes, squeezing them shut at the memory that had just shot into her mind. Memories she’d never shared with anyone.

  She stood for another moment, wiping her tears on the back of her Love Moschino denim jacket before continuing up the rubbish-strewn stairs, hating as she always did how much of an absolute dump the place was.

  Not that she had anywhere else to go. This was it because there was no way she could go home with him still there. And now her mum was back at the house with her mind clearly on other things, she didn’t know when or if she’d ever have a real place she could call home again. Which meant only one thing: this pigsty of a place with the junkies’ discarded bloody needles in the stairwell and empty beer cans and rubbish everywhere was where her baby would be calling home.

  Getting to the top floor and feeling not only out of breath and slightly dizzy but also unhappier than she had done for a long while, Milly put her key in the door with a heavy heart, wiggling the faulty lock before wear
ily stepping into her bedsit.

  She froze and gasped. ‘Who the hell are you?’

  A woman stood in the middle of the room. ‘I’m looking for Ellie.’

  ‘And what, you thought you’d just break in to some random place and see if she was here?’

  The woman smiled and shook her head. ‘Not exactly, the door wasn’t locked properly and when I knocked it swung open.’

  Milly glanced at the door then turned back to the woman. ‘Yeah, it doesn’t really work properly. I got to get it fixed, but that still don’t mean you should just come into someone’s flat.’

  ‘Sorry.’

  Milly stared in bemusement. ‘Sorry? Are you having a laugh? You barge into my place like it’s nothing and that’s all you’ve got to say?’

  Franny regarded the heavily pregnant girl. She was a pretty thing, beautiful even, and the funny thing was she reminded her of someone. Her features looked so familiar. ‘Like I say, I thought I might find Ellie here … When are you due?’

  Automatically, the girl’s hands went to her bump. She shrugged. ‘April … anyway, can you just leave please?’

  But instead of leaving, Franny sat down on the bed. She looked around the small bedsit again.

  She could tell the girl was trying to make an effort with this place, trying to literally paper over the cracks with silver and pink wrapping paper and hanging belts and beads but there was no disguising what a dump it was.

  ‘So where’s Ellie?’ Franny said firmly.

  ‘Are you a copper?’

  At this point, Franny burst into laughter. ‘Do I look like one?’

  ‘Kind of.’

  ‘Trust me when I say, I couldn’t be further from being one if I tried,’ said Franny, still smiling at the thought.

  ‘Well if you ain’t, who are you?’

  ‘I’m a friend of Ellie’s and I wanted to make sure she was okay; you know, catch up with her and have a chat. I saw her coming into the block and I asked the woman on the landing below if she’d seen anyone matching her description and she said she often saw her here,’ Franny replied, telling only half the truth.

  In fact, after speaking to Detective Carter she’d looked for Ellie and seen her going into the block of flats, but rather than follow her straight in, she’d actually waited for her to come out again before knocking on the various doors, wanting to garner any information she could. Unsurprisingly, most of the residents had told her to piss off in one form or another, but then a woman on the sixth floor, who clearly enjoyed a gossip, had directed her to the bedsit, where she had found the door slightly ajar and, taking the opportunity to see what she could find, she’d had a quick snoop around.

  The girl, eating the last of the Galaxy bar, stared at Franny. ‘You might not look like a copper but you certainly sound like one.’

  Again Franny laughed. ‘This is my polite voice, and look, I know it’s out of order me coming in like this but I really did want to see Ellie.’

  ‘What’s your name?’

  ‘Franny. What’s yours?’

  ‘Milly, and she ain’t ever mentioned you.’

  ‘No, but then she’s never mentioned you either,’ Franny said warmly. ‘Listen, will you get her to call me? I’ll leave you my number.’ Milly took the piece of paper that Franny quickly scribbled her number down on. ‘Nice meeting you, Milly. Maybe I’ll see you again. If I don’t, good luck for April.’

  ‘Wait!’

  Franny turned back and looked at Milly who was chewing on her lip nervously. ‘What is it?’

  ‘Are you really Ellie’s friend?’

  ‘I like to think I am – that’s why I’m here.’

  Milly nodded, her forehead scrunched up in deep thought. Then her eyes filled with tears again and her words began to tumble out. ‘I don’t know you, and I ain’t even sure if I should trust you, but I don’t know what else I should do, and I can’t tell my mum, not now anyway, and you know if I didn’t think it was serious, I wouldn’t normally do this but I wouldn’t be able to live with meself if anything happened, you see, and Ellie well, I think she’s …’

  ‘Think she’s what, sweetheart?’ Franny encouraged.

  ‘I think … I think … I think Ellie’s in big trouble …’

  An hour later, Franny solemnly walked out of the block of flats after hearing all that Milly had to say about Ellie and the bruises and what had happened the other night. But like Tia earlier, what she didn’t see was Detective Carter following her and what he didn’t see was Alfie Jennings trailing him.

  33

  Vaughn could wait. He could frigging well wait. Tia didn’t care, not anymore; not about Harry, not about Vaughn and certainly not about Wan. She hated them all and she wasn’t going to play their game. Not anymore.

  Right from the beginning all she was trying to do was make things right, make things better, not for herself though, for others, but where did it get her? Bob, that’s where.

  She sighed as she gave a sideward glance to Bob, the large, hairy-backed punter who’d been grunting and groaning on top of her for the past five minutes. Her skin felt like it was crawling, and as for the noise he was making, well she wanted to shove his shoes down his throat, just so he would shut the hell up.

  Trying to take her mind off Bob, Tia stared at the ceiling hoping that the anger she felt for Vaughn would make this more bearable. She had to keep on thinking she was doing this for Milly. To keep her safe and near until she was able to leave Harry.

  ‘Tell me I’m the best. Go on, tell me I’m the best, Brenda.’ Bob grunted breathlessly as he stared down at Tia.

  Replying with no interest at all, and wondering how long he was going to last, Tia muttered, ‘Yeah, you’re the best, Bob, you’re the best.’

  ‘Ask me to fuck you harder. Say it … go on, Brenda, say it!’

  ‘Fuck me harder, Bob,’ Tia repeated with a tone mixed with complete indifference and disdain.

  Delighted, Bob screamed with pleasure as he climaxed, the thick, curly hairs on his shoulder full of sweat that dripped down onto Tia’s face. She shivered in disgust as Bob broke wind on top of her, then without warning, he suddenly plunged his teeth into her neck, sucking it as she screamed and tried to fight him off, but he was too heavy and strong.

  ‘Get off me! Get off me! What the fuck are you doing? What are you doing?’

  At that moment, Lydia, hearing the commotion, ran into the room and hit the naked Bob hard with a large baseball bat. He screamed out as she slammed it down on his spine.

  ‘What the hell are you doing? Get off her!’

  ‘You cunt! Fucking bitch!’ Bob screamed out as pain shot through his body. ‘I only wanted to leave something special for her.’

  As Tia got up from the bed, wrapping her dressing gown around her, Lydia stared in horror at her.

  ‘What’s the matter, Lyds? Why you looking like that at me?’

  Without saying anything, Lydia shook her head, causing Tia to run to the mirror. And she gaped aghast at the large love bite that Bob had sucked onto her neck.

  Panic rushed through her followed by anger. She screamed at the top of her voice. ‘What the fuck have you done? What the fuck have you done to me?’

  With his penis now partially limp, Bob stared at Tia, a look of puzzlement on his face. ‘I thought you’d like it, I thought it would remind you of me.’

  Tia exploded, her voice loud and verging on the hysterical. ‘I don’t want to be reminded of you! I never want to be reminded of you, Bob. I want to forget all about you, and let me tell you something shall I, Bob? Every time you touch me, I feel sick. Every grunt and groan makes me feel ill. And do you know what I do when you’ve gone? I wash myself. Yeah, that’s right, Bob. I wash myself with bleach. Scrub you off me cos you make me sick. You make me sick to my stomach. Oh come on, Bob, don’t look like that, don’t look shocked. What, don’t you believe me? Shall I show you?’ With tears rushing down her face, Tia rushed to the small white cupboards in the bedroom, pulling out
bottles of bleach. She threw them at Bob as she continued to scream at the top of her voice. ‘See? See? Bottles and bottles of the stuff, just so I can get your smell off me. Just so I can try to feel clean.’

  ‘That’s enough,’ Lydia said.

  Distraught, Tia shook her head as she hissed through her teeth. ‘It ain’t though, is it? Because it’s not enough for Bob to pay me to do anything he wants, he thinks it’s all right to leave a mark on me as well … I tell you what, how about I leave a mark on you, Bob?’ Tia grabbed the baseball bat from Lydia and ran towards Bob swinging it wildly at him.

  Trying to protect himself with his arms, he cowered, shouting, as Tia steamed towards him. ‘You’re fucking crazy, you know that! Fucking crazy bitch!’

  ‘That’s right, Bob! And I’ll show you how fucking crazy I am, shall I?’

  She went to slam the bat down on Bob’s head, but as she did so, Lydia pushed her to one side and spoke firmly to Tia. ‘Enough! Enough, darlin’.’ Then she turned to look at Bob. ‘And as for you, go on, piss off and don’t bother coming back. Get out, now!’ Lydia yelled angrily.

  A few minutes later, with Bob having hurriedly picked up his stuff and left, Lydia gave Tia a sad smile. ‘Sweetheart, I’m so sorry.’

  Sitting on the floor with her legs tucked up, Tia wept quietly. Her eyes full of pain. ‘What am I going to do, Lydia? If Harry sees it, and he will, he’ll kill me.’

  Knowing what Harry was like, Lydia nodded. ‘I can’t even pretend otherwise. Look, the best thing you can do is go and get some of that make-up – you know the stuff that disguises blemishes and birthmarks. It’s the only thing I can think of.’

  ‘And if that doesn’t work?’

  With her face full of worry, Lydia shrugged. ‘I ain’t a religious woman, darlin’, but I reckon the only other thing you can do is pray.’

  34

  Tammy, dressed in a short, black leather Versace skirt and white top, lolled on the end of her bed. She smiled to herself at what she’d seen. Then she laughed out loud, feeling very pleased with herself. Because she’d seen enough for her to know she’d been absolutely right about her sister; sly and devious and not so innocent after all.