“Don’t come any closer,” Troy said, moving his finger over the trigger.
“Back off, then,” Wright said. “Run home, you stupid little pussy.”
Troy’s finger hovered over the trigger.
One more step. Two.
“Stop,” Troy said. “I’m warning you, I’ll put a bullet in your head.”
“You don’t have the fucking guts,” Wright argued, raising his voice.
Troy’s finger caressed the trigger.
Wright stepped closer.
Only two metres between them now.
“Turn around, and keep walking,” Wright said.
“Stop,” Sasha said, rushing forward.
“Get out of here Banks,” Wright said, taking a lunge forward.
“Please, stop this guys, it’s -”
Sasha’s voice was cut off by the sound of the bullet exploding from the gun. Troy watched in horror as Sasha intercepted it on its way to Wright’s chest. Sasha didn’t scream. Frozen in mid-air, her eyes wide with horror, a fountain of blood erupted from her throat and she dropped to the floor.
Troy and Wright were silent as their eyes followed her body’s fall to the ground, where she lay lifeless, her blonde hair spread around her face like a halo, a puddle of blood creeping slowly outwards from her figure.
She was dead.
Troy felt his heart crashing in his chest. She was dead and he’d killed her.
“What the fuck did you do?” Wright shouted, dropping to his knees beside her.
He put a hand on her forehead and lovingly brushed a few stray hairs from her face.
“She jumped in the way,” Troy stammered. “I was shooting you.”
Wright ignored him for a moment, then jumped to his feet, eyes narrowed.
“You killed her, you piece of shit,” he said, moving around Sasha’s body, eyes locked on Troy.
Troy waved the gun in his direction.
“Stay away,” he said. “I’ll shoot you.”
“Like you just did, you mean?”
“Just fucking try me,” Troy hissed.
Wright stepped closer and Troy fought the urge to take a step back. His face contorted with fury, Wright made a menacing figure.
“You won’t get away with this,” Wright said. “I’ll hunt you down.”
Troy made a split-second decision.
“No you won’t,” he said.
Before Wright could take another step, Troy took aim and fired two bullets. One hit Wright in the shoulder, sending him staggering backwards with a scream of agony. The second hit him in the head, blasting half his head away. The body flew backwards and landed a few feet from Sasha.
Troy looked down at the two lifeless bodies, before grabbing his rucksack and running as fast as he could away from the playground, aware of sirens blaring in the distance.
* * *
Aurora looked out of her bedroom window, wondering at what had happened to bring so many sirens to the Goldsworth estate this time.
She couldn’t see the blue flashing lights, but she closed the curtains anyway. Marlena was asleep, but Aurora couldn’t settle beneath the duvet.
The sirens, whatever commotion was taking place outside, all reminded her of Shaniqua’s murder. She remembered the aching longing she had felt the night the police had told them the news and felt guilty that the ache had faded. She’d been so happy with Clint and making new friends that Shaniqua’s death had been pushed to the back of her mind. Intentional or not, it was unforgivable.
Crawling out of bed, Aurora knelt on the floor and folded her arms in prayer. She prayed for Shaniqua and her killer, and then she prayed for whoever’s life the sirens signalled change for.
* * *
Zoe cradled Sienna in her arms, holding her tight against her chest, rocking her gently from side to side.
The sirens outside, so many of them, the blue flashing lights illuminating her kitchen window, had driven her into her daughter’s room. Whatever was happening out there, Zoe knew that Sienna was safe. That was all that mattered.
* * *
Brandy shut the window, relieved that the sirens distant wail could no longer be heard. They were making her edgy. Where was Troy?
After she’d skived school all day, she’d been expecting him back hours ago. She’d rang Clint, who’d given short shrift and seen unconcerned about Troy’s whereabouts. He’d mentioned that Troy was sorting out some payback, then hung up. Since then, Brandy had paced around Troy’s bedroom with increasing panic.
The door opened and Troy came in, closing the door firmly behind him.
“Where the hell have you been?” Brandy demanded.
Troy remained silent. Brandy saw his hands were shaking and moved closer.
“Troy, are you all right?”
He nodded slowly. She took his hands in hers and led him to the bed, sitting him down on the end.
“You want to talk about it?”
“No,” Troy said. Brandy felt put out, until he continued, “But I’ve sorted it.”
Brandy felt her chest swell with pride and she ran a hand over the top of Troy’s head, through his hair.
“That’s why I love you so much,” Brandy whispered in his ear. “You take care of things. You get things done.”
Troy nodded, glancing at his rucksack by the door.
“Let me take care of you now,” Brandy said, as she began to undress him.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Two weeks after Sasha was found dead in the playground, Aurora prepared to attend her funeral. Having arranged to meet Zoe before making their way to the church, she showered and straightened her hair, determined to look her best.
In memory of Sasha, the unrivalled fashionista of the group, she and Zoe had both agreed to look as good as they could to make her proud.
Standing in front of the mirror to apply her make-up, Aurora caught Marlena’s reflection standing behind her own.
“Mum, you okay?”
“I’m fine, just seeing you dressed like that,” Marlena said, indicating the black skirt-suit that Aurora was wearing, decorated with a white lily in her hair. “It brings back memories.”
Aurora kicked herself. She should have made sure Marlena was still asleep before getting changed. Black outfits and white lilies had reminded her of Shaniqua’s funeral, so she should have expected her mother to have the same reaction.
“Sorry, mum, I didn’t mean to -”
“Never mind,” Marlena said, waving away her apologies. “Don’t worry about me. Not today of all days.”
Aurora returned to the mirror and finished applying her eyeliner. Behind her, Marlena watched her in the mirror.
“You were good friends then? You and this Sasha girl?”
“Yeah,” Aurora nodded.
“Is Zoe going?”
“She’d known her for years.”
“And the Jackson boy?”
Aurora’s breath caught in her chest, and she was relieved she’d just finished her eyes. She turned to face her mother, anger rising up her body.
“Mum, how can you even start on about this again?”
Marlena looked affronted.
“I only ask because I care,” she said. “I know you and that boy are sneaking around, thinking you’ve got me fooled, but you haven’t. I’ve told you, I don’t want you seeing him again.”
“Tough, because he’s coming with us to the funeral.”
“In that case, I don’t want you going.”
Aurora’s eyes widened in shock.
“You’re not going to let me go to my friend’s funeral?”
Marlena looked uncomfortable at the question, but nodded her head.
“I forbid you.”
“Forbid me? Screw that, I’m going to Sasha’s funeral. She was one of my best friends and I’m not going to stay here just because you’re so biased against Clint.”
Aurora grabbed her purse from her bedroom and headed for the front door.
“I’ve told you I don�
��t want you to go,” Marlena repeated indignantly. “Get back here now.”
“Just go down some vodka,” Aurora called over her shoulder as she unlocked the door and left the flat.
The day was cold but bright outside and Aurora found Zoe waiting for her at the bottom of the steps wearing a black mini-skirt and matching blouse.
“You look great,” Zoe said, hugging Aurora close to her chest.
“So do you.”
When Zoe released her arms, Aurora looked into her friend’s face. Over the last few weeks, Zoe had cried almost constantly and Aurora had been there to hold her and comfort her. Eyeing the thick mascara Zoe had applied to herself, Aurora was relieved that she had remembered to bring tissues with her.
“Ready to go?” Aurora asked.
Zoe nodded, and she linked her arm with Aurora’s, as Sasha had always done.
Halfway to the church, Clint caught up with them and after pulling Aurora into a strong, reassuring embrace, had informed them that Brandy wasn’t coming to the funeral.
“Are you sure?” Zoe asked, shocked and appalled.
Clint nodded, “Says she has a migraine.”
“How could she do this?” Zoe mused. “I know they’d just argued and everything, but they were friends for ages before that. That should still count for something.”
“Maybe she couldn’t face it,” Aurora suggested.
“No, you know Brandy, she doesn’t think like that,” Zoe said. “She’s just being a bitch.”
“Her and Troy have hardly been out the flat. I guess there’s a deal going down or something,” Clint told them.
“She chose her boyfriend over her friends again,” Zoe said.
When they had reached the church, Aurora waited for Zoe and Clint to have last-minute cigarettes. Zoe inhaled deeply, as if the smoke were an oxygen machine to a drowning man. Still, whatever helped her get through the service, Aurora thought.
After a few minutes they stubbed out their cigarettes and Aurora led the way up the steps and inside. They found a large crowd had already arrived and managed to find space on the fifth pew from the front.
Sat between them both, Aurora clasped Zoe’s hand and pulled the pack of tissues out, and Zoe smiled in relief, having just realised she’d left hers on the kitchen counter with her mother, who was babysitting Sienna.
On her other side, Clint’s warm leg was pressed against her bare skin and the closeness reassured her. Clint took her free hand and wrapped his own hand around it gently.
After the last of the mourners had arrived, the priest stood up in front of the sea of black outfits and began the service.
Despite the differing circumstances and a completely different sermon, Aurora found it a painful reminder of Shaniqua’s funeral. She and Zoe wept into the tissues, decimating the packet. By the end of the service, as the guests began filing outside, Aurora wasn’t sure who she was crying for, Sasha or Shaniqua. Probably both, she decided.
Clint took her arm and helped her stand up and they followed the crowd out, Zoe still sniffling into a mascara-stained tissue.
“Such a nice service,” Zoe said, dabbing at her eyes. “And those flowers were so pretty.”
“Just like Sasha,” Aurora agreed.
“Come on, let’s get you two home,” Clint said, leading them down the road.
“What about the graveyard?” Zoe asked.
“Do you think you can handle it?”
Zoe considered it for a moment and shook her head.
“That’s what I thought,” Clint said. He took out a pack of cigarettes and passed one to Zoe, who lit it gratefully.
“That’s the second funeral I’ve been to lately,” Aurora said, shaking her head.
Zoe remained silent and continued smoking. Clint pulled Aurora closer to him and squeezed her hand.
“Let’s hope it’s the last one, then,” he said.
* * *
Having watched a long trail of mourners, amongst them Zoe, Clint and Aurora, leaving the Goldsworth estate and returning an hour later, Brandy left her perch by the window and sat on Troy’s bed.
Troy was out on the streets with Trent, earning his wage. Since he’d taken out Wright, Troy had risen higher in his brothers’ estimation and now he went everywhere with them, taking care of deals and making deliveries.
Brandy looked around her and wondered whether she should go home. Alone in Troy’s flat, she felt unusually isolated from his family. Even though Troy’s increasing respect meant that Brandy was treated better than ever by his brothers and their friends, she still felt lost.
Troy’s mother had never taken to her, thinking that her precious son could do so much better, so Brandy couldn’t stomach the thought of joining her in the kitchen where she was doing some housework. Jessie, whom Brandy had a slightly better relationship with, was out with Jazz. Tyrese was in the lounge on the phone to his girlfriend Mercy, with whom he was having problems with, and had made it clear he didn’t want to be disturbed.
Maybe she was better off alone at the moment anyway, Brandy thought.
She had wanted to go to Sasha’s funeral and had spent all night wrestling with her conscience. She had wanted to pay her final respects to her, after all, they had been the best of friends for years until Aurora had come into their lives. On the other hand, Troy, her beloved boyfriend, had been the one to end Sasha’s life.
He hadn’t gone into details when he’d told her everything that had happened, but Brandy had heard enough from the news and gossip around school, to know that she had died quickly, had probably felt no pain.
Even so, she was dead because of Troy. No, Brandy reminded herself. Troy and her. She had been weak, and Troy had gone out to get payback. Sasha had simply been in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and had died along with Wright.
The thought of Aurora attending the funeral, whilst she sat in Troy’s bedroom, alone, like a pariah, grated on Brandy’s nerves. She should have been centre stage. Zoe should have been sobbing by her side, not Aurora’s.
It seemed that everything had gone wrong because of Aurora. She’d stolen Zoe and Sasha. She’d seduced Clint, threatening Brandy and Troy’s freedom, and the chance at the glamorous life that Troy was slowly getting closer to providing. Now Aurora had usurped her place as Queen Bee, as Brandy saw it.
Brandy shook her head and was torn from her thoughts by Tyrese’s raised voice in the lounge. Maybe his problems with Mercy were worse than she’d thought, Brandy mused.
Thinking about all the glory that awaited her and Troy, the respect and the money that would soon be theirs, she smiled.
Sasha’s death was a terrible tragedy, Brandy knew. She wiped a tear from her eye. Still, some good had come from it. Troy was rising rapidly through the ranks and Brandy would be right there beside him.
Nothing, Brandy knew, could stop them now.
* * *
At another churchyard, Jayden and Corey watched as Wright’s coffin was lowered into the ground. Only a handful of people had turned up. Wright’s mother had disappeared years ago, following her boyfriend into a life of drug-addiction, and his father hadn’t shown his face since Wright was born, so Jayden and Corey represented his family.
Whilst the other mourners had drifted away to their waiting cars and the vicar had returned to the warmth of the chapel, Jayden and Corey remained by the graveside.
“Damn, that’s sad,” Corey said, keeping his voice quiet.
Jayden murmured an agreement, eyes on the floor.
“You know who’s behind it, don’t you?” Corey asked.
“Yeah.”
“We’ve got to do something,” Corey said. “First Kurt, then Sam. Now Wright’s dead. Fucking dead, Jayden. We’ve got to do something, teach them some respect.”
Jayden was unusually quiet, eyes still fixed on the half-filled grave that housed Wright.
“Say something,” Corey said, nudging his arm.
Jayden looked up.
“We’re going to do someth
ing, all right,” he said. His voice was soft but Corey felt a shiver at the menace hidden beneath the surface. “We’ll teach them some respect. The Banks brothers are history.”
* * *
The music was loud and the room, full of people, was soon heating up. Clint looked around the room and noted that he hardly knew anybody here.
They were Troy’s new friends, members of the Banks crew that Clint didn’t know nor want to know. With Amal still in custody, Tamar was the only friendly face he could make out in the throng. Tyrese had skulked away to try and patch things up with Mercy, and Trent had gone out after a call from Jessie.
With Tamar busy trying to get laid, Clint was left to sit on the couch beside Brandy and a girl he’d not met before. She had flirted with him, but he’d quickly told her that he had a girlfriend and didn’t intend to cheat on her.
“Not even a blowjob?” the girl had asked, before falling silent and sulky when Clint had shaken his head.
On his other side, Brandy leant against the arm of the sofa, tipsy and uncharacteristically quiet. Clint had put it down to grief over Sasha’s funeral, even though she hadn’t turned up, and tried not to rock the boat by talking to her. As a result, he drank the can of beer Troy had passed him in silence, watching and listening rather than participating in the party.
He longed to be with Aurora instead of here, but she was preoccupied with Zoe and he accepted that the girls needed some space and had left them to it.
Troy pushed his way through the crowd and waved to Clint. Clint nodded back and Troy came over.
“Damn, talk about sucking out the party atmosphere,” Troy said, sloshing his beer on the carpet, looking from Clint to Brandy, to the sulky brunette.
“I ain’t really in the party mood,” Clint told him.
“Come on, have another beer,” Troy said, thrusting another can into his hand. Clint downed the one he’d already opened and started on the new one. “That should cheer you up.”
Clint nodded and took a long gulp of beer.
Troy didn’t look convinced, and dragged him to his feet.
“Why didn’t you have a go on that bird next to you?” he hissed in Clint’s ear as he led him to his bedroom. “She was all right looking.”
The Goldsworth Series Box Set Page 29