She walked behind the stocks again and, without giving him chance to anticipate what she might do, she inserted the knife once more, beneath his shirt, and yanked hard, gratified when she heard him let out a terrified screech. The material gave away easily, dropping limply to each side of his bare back.
Ruby raced round to the front of the stocks again, but Kyle had lowered his gaze to the floor; denying her the pleasure of his misery. She bent down and grabbed his hair then wrenched his head back till his eyes stared up at her. ‘Pay attention!’ she mocked. ‘You don’t wanna miss the show, especially when you’re the star turn.’
Kyle spat at her venomously. ‘You’ll fuckin’ pay for this, you cunt!’
She let his head drop while she wiped the saliva from her face. ‘Oh no!’ she said, annoyed. ‘You’re the one who’ll pay.’
Ruby swapped the knife for the bullwhip, glad to see him staring up at her now with terror in his eyes. She had deliberately selected one of the most dangerous whips available and she made a show of running her hand along the sturdy handle down to the tail, which came to a menacing twin point like the tongue of a hissing snake.
Then she was behind him once more with her whip ready. Ruby brought it down swiftly across his back. She could hear him painfully sucking in his breath as the tough leather marked his back and the tail ends curled viciously around the delicate flesh on the sides of his body.
Without giving him chance to recover Ruby brought the whip down repeatedly, harder each time till the flesh pierced and Kyle’s tainted blood trailed down his back. At first all she heard was a whimper, but as the strokes became harder, he cried out, then screamed in agony. Ruby kept going till he begged her to stop.
‘Had enough?’ she asked, walking to the front of him once more. This time he didn’t curse, the fear of reprisals too painful to bear. ‘Not your scene?’ she added. ‘What a pity! Some of my clients really enjoy it.’
His face contorted with a mix of fear and anger, but still he didn’t speak.
‘OK,’ said Ruby, revelling in this level of control, despite her grief. ‘I’ll let you have a break, shall I?’ She saw the relief wash over him as his limbs became less taut and the intensity of his gaze softened. ‘I need to talk to you anyway.’
She now swapped the whip for the knife and was rewarded by a renewed look of panic in his eyes. ‘What the fuck do you want?’ he asked, desperately. ‘You’ve had your fun so why don’t you just fuckin’ let me go?’
‘Not half as much fuckin’ fun as you’ve had tonight though!’ she raged. She could see the shock in his face now. ‘Oh yeah, you didn’t think I knew, did you?’ she shouted, feeling her distress re-emerge, but channelling it into anger. ‘Did it give you a sick kind of kick knowing you were going to see me just after you’d fuckin’ annihilated my family?’ she demanded, her fury now very real.
Even though she was the one in control, Kyle couldn’t resist a smirk at the thought of what he had planned, which only intensified her anger. She jabbed the knife hard into his shoulder till the smirk turned into a grimace.
‘What were you planning to do, tell me after you’d fucked me, you sick bastard?’ she shouted.
He laughed but it was edged with desperation. It was the only way he could get at her now, and he knew it. But she would beat him with words as well as actions.
Then she dealt him a devastating verbal blow. ‘You might like to know that they’re not the only ones being annihilated tonight.’ His expression told her she had won. ‘Yes, that’s right.’ She made a show of looking at her watch. ‘It won’t be long now till all of your gang are wiped out.’
‘You fuckin’ bitch!’ he yelled, twisting and pulling at the stocks, despite his pain, in a futile attempt to escape. ‘I’ll fuckin’ kill you for this and your bastard cousins!’
‘No, you won’t. I call the shots now, and I haven’t even started with you yet!’
Ruby moved nearer to him, kneeling on the ground with the knife raised. Then she held it close to his face. She let a few seconds pass, revelling in Kyle’s terrorised expression. She was just about to take her next step when she smelt the pungent odour of urine at the same time as it crept along the ground and seeped through the material of her jeans. Kyle had pissed himself.
Ruby felt repulsed, but there was no point in dashing away; her jeans were already sodden. Besides, she was determined to finish this. ‘Dirty bastard!’ she cursed before pushing the knife further forward till it made contact with his face.
‘No!’ he yelled, pulling back. ‘No, no, please no!’
It was gratifying hearing him plead and seeing his anger and torment at not being able to do anything to save his gang or alter his own fate. But, at the same time, it brought back to her how she had felt all those years ago. Ten years of age, and petrified. She fought back those feelings. It was time to pass them onto him.
‘This is how painful it felt, Kyle,’ she said, pushing the knife slowly into his cheek till the blood spurted out and Kyle screamed. Then she carved the flesh, slowly, painstakingly, reminding him all the while of what he did to her when she was just a kid.
‘It fuckin’ hurts, doesn’t it?’ she said. ‘And the hurt doesn’t stop when the wound heals. Because then you’ve got the fuckin’ scar and all the pitying looks, and the comments, and the whispers that come with it. Then there’s all the time spent trying to cover it with makeup, hoping people will stop noticing it. But they never do,’ she said, a scowl forming on her face as she allowed the memories to resurface.
When she had finished, she pulled the knife out and stood back, watching him bleeding and howling in pain and self-pity.
‘And now you’re probably wondering what it will feel like to go through your life with a scar like that, aren’t you?’ she asked.
Kyle shook his head, all attempts at macho now abandoned as the tears flooded his cheeks. Then his head tilted to one side. He was growing weak as the blood from his various wounds streamed from him; the pool of urine now reddening as it oozed along the ground.
Ruby grabbed his hair and yanked his head back once more. ‘Now you know how it fuckin’ feels!’
Despite his fragile state, Kyle began yelling abuse at her once more, then screaming for help. Ruby felt his shrill and strident screams pierce through her ears. A final assault. And Ruby couldn’t allow that. She sought the exposed part of his gut, plunging the knife deep into his side and slicing through his vital organs till he was silent. Then she withdrew the knife and watched his body slump against the stocks.
Sudden realisation of what she had done shot through her and Ruby broke down. Her mind was a frantic maelstrom of emotions: grief over her family and devastation at the scene in front of her. Earth-shattering cries escaped from her lips. She was trembling, her heart pulsating and her eyes and nose streaming.
When she’d been in that state for several minutes, Ruby heard her phone ping. The sound cut through her sorrow and brought her to her senses. She lifted the phone and pulled up a message on her screen. Then she stared at the text through tear-filled eyes. It was from her cousin Josh, just four words, but it told her all she needed to know.
The job’s been done
It was over.
Acknowledgements
It is so amazing to think that the second book in The Working Girls series, Ruby, is already out there. The time has passed so quickly since I thought of the idea for this series of books.
Ruby was a tricky one to write due to the dual timelines and I did get myself into a bit of a muddle at one point. Fortunately, feedback from Hannah Smith, my excellent developmental editor, was extremely helpful and she enabled me to get back on track with the novel and make substantial improvements.
Big thanks go to all the staff at Aria. I’d particularly like to mention Hannah Smith, Victoria Joss, Nikky Ward and Laura Palmer who do a lot of work behind the scenes both in terms of publication, and marketing and promotion. Thanks also to my copy editor Claire Rushbrook, and Geo Willi
s for doing a great job with the proofreading.
I couldn’t let the publication of Ruby go by without mentioning the wonderful Sarah Ritherdon. She was my original editor who welcomed my ideas for The Working Girls with boundless enthusiasm and was a great source of support and encouragement. I wish her well with her future career.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Writers Bureau again for their excellent creative writing course and for featuring me in this years’ advertising campaign as one of their success stories.
Thank you to all my dedicated readers for continuing to buy and review my books and to the many of you who have purchased copies of The Working Girls series ahead of publication day. Thanks also to the book blogging and book reviewing community who take the time to review books and bring them to the attention of readers.
Last but not least I would like to thank all my family, friends, and friends of friends many of whom both buy my books and recommend them to others. Your continued support has been touching.
About Heather Burnside
Heather Burnside previously worked in credit control and accounts until she took a career break to raise two children. After ten years as a stay-at-home mum, she decided to move away from credit control and enrolled on a creative writing course.
She started her writing career twenty years ago when she began to work as a freelance writer while studying for a writing diploma. As part of her studies, Heather wrote the first chapters of her debut novel, Slur. During that time she also had many articles published in well-known UK magazines.
Heather later ran a writing services business, but eventually returned to her first novel, Slur, which became the first book in The Riverhill Trilogy. Heather followed The Riverhill Trilogy with The Manchester Trilogy then her current series, The Working Girls.
You can find out more about the author by signing up to the Heather Burnside mailing list for the latest updates, including details of new releases and book bargains, or by following any of the links below.
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Ruby Page 28