by Edie Baylis
DEBBIE ARCHED HER BACK and lifted herself into position whilst Teddy lined himself up behind her. Grimacing as the soft folds of his fat belly rested against her arse cheeks when he pushed into her, she forced herself to concentrate on giving Ian deep throat.
As Ian thrust further into her mouth she gagged, then reached down to rub her clit. It didn’t look like either of those lazy bastards were going to bother to make her come, so she’d have to do it herself.
“Maggie, oh Maggie,” Ian groaned. “Suck me. Suck me!”
Debbie froze and pulled her head up sharply. “You what?”
“What the fuck are you doing, you useless cow?” Ian looked at Debbie incredulously, his erection throbbing. “I was just about to come!”
“You said ‘Maggie’”, Debbie whimpered. She hated Maggie almost as much as she hated Jane.
Slipping out, Teddy pulled his pants up and looked thoroughly pissed off. Muttering to himself, he took a packet of tobacco from his jeans pocket.
“What’s the fucking problem?” Ian hissed.
Debbie scowled. “I’m not Maggie!”
Ian slowly stroked his erection. He refused to lose it because the silly bitch was bleating on. “I wish you fucking were!” Grabbing Debbie’s head, he pulled her back down. “Now get on with it!”
“NO!” Debbie snapped, pushing herself off the sofa and pulling her skirt back in place. “Just get over her. She doesn’t want you!”
Lurching to his feet, Ian grabbed her by the hair and pulled her sharply towards him. “Shut the fuck up, you ugly cunt!”
As Ian began raining punches into Debbie’s face, Teddy rolled his eyes and flicked on the TV deciding he may as well watch ‘The Magic Roundabout.’
SETH COULD HAVE SWORN he’d seen Stuart smirking at the window when he’d stormed across the courtyard, but he’d more important things to concentrate on right now. Like making sure Jane stayed pregnant.
Even though she’d been uncooperative and had made him look a prick at the meeting, he was slightly more relaxed since putting away the best part of a new bottle of whisky. It didn’t however change the fact that he’d no choice but to let her do the job now and that had definitely not been part of the plan.
Watching Jane out of the corner of his eye as she poured herself a shot of vodka, Seth stared at the book he was attempting to read. He knew he wasn’t helping matters by driving her crazy and keeping her under lock and key, but he couldn’t help it. He was driving himself crazy as well.
Taking another slug out of the bottle, he reminded himself to slow down. He couldn’t be hungover for tomorrow’s job because at this rate, he’d lose his work if he didn’t kerb his drinking. He knew people were beginning to question his rationality and he didn’t like it one little bit.
He was Seth and did not fuck up. Ever.
Seth admitted he’d struggled with a lot of things lately, starting with that shit at the park and then the abortion stuff, but he needed to sort it all out. Running his fingers through his unruly hair, he glared at Jane and felt like whacking her. He refused to fuck this up but couldn’t get his emotions into gear and it was starting to bother him.
Eyeing her tight skirt straining over her growing belly, a rush of both love and desire suddenly washed over Seth. Flashing her a lopsided smile, he beckoned her over and began unbuttoning his jeans.
No matter how much Jane angered him, he couldn’t help his all-consuming love for her and groaned with need as she straddled him in the chair. If he had his way, he’d give her kid after kid after kid.
IAN STEPPED OVER DEBBIE on the floor and paced around the room. The fucking stupid, fat, fucking slag. How dare she moan about Maggie. Who the fuck did she think she was?
He didn’t give a fuck anymore what that overgrown twat Digger said about leaving Maggie alone either. He wasn’t scared of that threatening prick, or that gorilla Seth.
What was the worst they could do anyway?
He would get Maggie back. She loved him, he knew she did and that was all that mattered. Being dead was better than not being with her and no one was going to tell him otherwise.
THIRTY SEVEN
JANE STARED OUT OF the front window of the small white Escort van as Wazza sped down the road negotiating the headlights flashing towards them. Soon they’d be in position.
Flicking cigarette ash out of the slightly open window she was glad to have a break from Seth, who was safely caged in the back of the white transit tailing them.
As they’d made their way to the Chapter House earlier he’d insisted on pulling over every five minutes to do coke and was wired to the eyeballs.
She was to get straight in the back of the van the second Wazza and Adrian jumped. No messing around. No ifs and no buts.
None.
Yes, she understood.
This was to be the last job she’d be involved in until after the baby was born.
Yes ok. Fine.
Once this job was done, they’d take a break from all of this shit.
Yes of course they would, like all the other stuff he’d promised...
It was different this time.
Staring at Seth’s serious face she’d found it difficult not to laugh out loud. Of course it was different this time. It always was...
Unable to see Digger’s face in the van behind, Jane could clearly imagine his expression. Seth would be counter-balancing each corner from within the cavernous hulk of the van, the muscle in his neck twitching and the vein in his temple throbbing furiously.
When the white transit suddenly veered off down a side road, Jane knew they must be close to the off, but Wazza continued for another mile and a half before dipping the headlights and pulling over. Her heart raced as adrenalin pumped through her veins in anticipation. All they had to do now was wait for the nod.
Jane was dolled up to the nines in sky-high stilettos, a skirt barely longer than a wide belt which grazed the tops of her fishnet stockings and a basque top with a long lace frill that concealed her pregnancy.
All in all, she felt pretty damn hot, which was nice as at fourteen weeks gone she’d been feeling decidedly unattractive even though Seth was unable to keep his hands off her.
She was still shit scared of bringing a kid into their madness, but was coming round to the idea. Smiling she placed her hand on her swollen belly, accepting they’d have to tell everyone the news after this.
“You ok girl?” Wazza asked, patting Jane’s hand.
“I’m fine,” she smiled and pulled her mind back to the job in hand.
Seeing the signal they’d been waiting for, Wazza grinned. “Game on!”
IAN HAD MADE HIS MIND up. It was worth one last stab surely? Stopping, he tried to make sense of the purple shapes following him, unable to decide whether they were actually there. The voice in his head had said anything purple represented negative entities which didn’t have the power to show their full bodies. He thought the voice may be his brother Nigel warning him about the forces of evil, but when he’d told Debbie, she’d laughed. Nigel was dead she’d said, so how could he be talking?
Ian scowled. Debbie had never liked Nigel even though he was her brother too. It was probably because he’d got on better with him that she had, the jealous cow. In fact, he was beginning to think she was a bit mental because she’d been acting weirder than usual lately and he’d just about had enough of it.
Glancing around at the familiar landmarks, Ian gauged there was about a mile left to walk.
Shrugging his shoulders, he decided he didn’t care if Debbie, Teddy or anyone disapproved of him and Maggie and he’d carve that fat fucker Digger up if he had to.
Smiling and exposing his blackened teeth, Ian quickened his pace, impatient to see the surprise on Maggie’s face when she realised he’d come back for her.
SETH KEPT AN EYE OUT of the peephole from the back and watched intently as Digger tailed the blue transit. They were hanging far back enough to not cause suspicion, but not far enough to lose the
target van. It was all about timing.
Clenching his teeth firmly together, he checked his sawn-off was loaded for the third time. Exhaling slowly, he was grateful that for once his head was as clear as a mountain stream. He knew Jane didn’t believe this would be the last job for a while, but he’d meant it. He wanted more than anything to turn this around and sort everything out.
Reaching for his gun, Seth realised he was going to have to check it again. Bloody hell, was he going fucking stupid or something?
MAGGIE WENT COLD AS the knock on the caravan door sounded for the second time. She’d only ventured out once earlier in the week and her heart had raced at such a pace it felt like it was going to erupt through her chest wall. She’d been sure she was going to die.
Since the panic attack, she’d relied on Zed and the other travellers to share food and dope with her, but the drugs were making her worse. She couldn’t even sleep she was so paranoid.
Rolling her glazed eyes towards the roof of the caravan, Maggie inhaled, her breathing ragged. She was so bloody lonely but what else could she do?
She had nowhere else to go and it was her own fault.
The knock sounded on the door again. Maybe she should open it? It might be Zed? Even though she’d been purposefully touchy-feely with him of late, he hadn’t appeared interested. Surely any red-blooded man would have taken the hint?
Wringing her hands together, Maggie shakily reached for a cigarette as the knocking continued. Getting off the seat, she walked towards the door. At the end of the day she didn’t have anything to lose anymore.
“ARE YOU SURE YOU WOULDN’T just rather come with us instead?” the tall man leered, encircling Jane’s waist whilst his shorter mate moved closer.
Even though Jane hadn’t expected the blue transit to stop, she had it all under control and eyed the two men in front of her, deducing quite fairly that they were grotesque specimens.
“Come on, love. Don’t play games.” The taller man’s tongue ran over his lips as he pulled Jane sharply towards him, crushing her up against his front. “Hop into the van, come on.”
The man’s accomplices’ eyes roamed up and down Jane’s body, dribble escaping from his mouth and her eyes narrowed. She wasn’t going to be treated like a piece of shit by these dickheads.
“Now wait a minute,” she hissed, hearing a van coming to a halt nearby. Thank God for that. About time. These two were seriously getting on her tits. Come on Wazza! Take these fuckers out so we can all disappear, Jane thought angrily as a hand crept its way up her leg.
The man’s fingers brushed the edge of Jane’s lacy thong and clenching her teeth, she geared to knee the freak in the groin.
“OH SHIT!” DIGGER MUTTERED.
“What?” Seth yelled, still checking his gun in the back. “What’s the problem?” Peering through the peephole again he saw two men with their hands on Jane. “Stop the fucking van!” he roared.
Digger fully intended to stop, but first he needed to get to the bloody layby and there was one car still left to overtake. Swerving around it, he saw Wazza’s van appear in view at the top of the road. “Wazza and Adrian jump first remember?” he called over his shoulder.
White with rage, Seth banged his fist loudly against the van’s metal divider. “FUCK THAT! If you expect me to wait, you’re fucking mad!” He knew something was going to go wrong, he just knew it. Now it had and needed to get out of this van.
“Calm down,” Digger yelled. “You’ll fuck it up if you jump first.”
“You don’t get it!” Seth raged, his face panicked. He knew he should have put his foot down and stopped her involvement. “Jane’s almost four months pregnant!”
Digger paled. Pregnant? Oh shit. Screeching the van into position, he blocked the blue van off. “We’re here now. Just don’t do anything stu...”
His words fell on deaf ears. Seth had already ripped open the side door of the transit and jumped out.
JANE LEAPT BACK IN shock as the shot rang out of nowhere and blood splattered across her face.
As the tall man crumpled heavily to the floor, Wazza and Adrian raced from the other direction. Spinning around, she saw Seth standing next to the white transit with smoke coming out of his sawn-off, his eyes wild with rage.
“GET IN THE VAN, JANE!” Digger shouted, scrambling out of the driver’s side.
The short man wasn’t sure which way to turn as men surrounded him from both directions. He pulled a pistol out of his waistband and quickly blasted Wazza in the face.
Wazza crashed to the floor and three more men piled out of the back of the blue transit. Hearing Adrian roaring at the top of his voice Jane willed him to shoot, unaware his gun had jammed.
Digger’s eyes switched from one man to the other, to the other, to the fucking other. This was a disaster. A total fucking disaster.
Raising his gun towards the three men scrabbling across the layby, he was grateful they were totally unorganised. His face contorted into a savage grimace as he fired two shots in quick succession into the back of one man.
“JANE! GET IN THE FUCKING VAN!” Seth yelled, taking aim once more.
The short man’s eyes bulged in panic seeing another one of his mates hit the deck and he raised his pistol again, but without any hesitation Jane kneed him in the groin. Bending over, winded and howling in pain the man was unable to stop her grabbing his pistol arm.
“FUCK YOU!” Jane screamed, trying to keep her balance as the man locked his hand around her wrist and pulled her sideways.
Twisting the man’s arm around, the barrel of the pistol pointed precariously close to Jane’s chest and hearing a shot, she blinked. It wasn’t her.
Ok. Keep going.
Trying to regain possession, the man yanked again, but Jane’s high stilettos were no match for the surface of the gravelly layby and she fell heavily to the floor, dragging the man and the gun with her.
As his knee dug hard into her belly, a jolt of pain ripped through her. “Get the fuck off me!” she screamed, pushing her thumb into the corner of the man’s eye.
Roaring, he raised his hands to his face giving Jane full control of the pistol and with her heart thudding painfully, she pulled the trigger.
The bullet blasted straight into the man’s chest at the same time as another shot from behind blew away the back of his head like an eggshell, exploding blood, skin and fragments of bone everywhere.
MAGGIE CLOSED HER EYES, tears of relief coursing down her face as she clung onto Ian. She’d got him wrong hadn’t she? All this time she’d been trying to run away from him when he’d changed. She was so stupid.
She’d nearly collapsed when she’d opened the door to him, but his contrite expression and the way he’d softly kissed her hand had overruled her fear. She’d let him in. She’d wanted the company. In fact, she’d needed it.
Smothering her neck with kisses, Ian had told her how much he loved her and how he’d never stopped. That she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen and that he wanted her to marry him.
She’d fallen back into his arms. She’d been so lonely. So, SO lonely.
Maggie smiled. Now he was making love to her like she’d always wanted, rather than fucking her like a beast. As the rush from the joint flowed through her brain, the change in Ian’s eyes as he looked down upon her went unnoticed.
AS BULLETS FLEW EVERYWHERE, Seth threw the dead man off Jane and dragged her across the layby. She pushed herself to her feet and staggered towards Wazza who lay motionless on the floor. Seeing most of his face was missing, she reached for his neck. There was no pulse. There was no fucking pulse.
“GET IN THE FUCKING VAN!” Seth roared, pushing Jane towards the transit.
Jane drew in a sharp intake of breath as another jolt of pain ripped through her belly and she tried to concentrate on the wide, beatific smile across Adrian’s face. Like a man possessed, he fired consistently into the bodies of the men scattered on the layby with his now unjammed pump-action.
&nbs
p; “He’s dead,” Jane murmured, automatically moving back towards Wazza.
“I can see that,” Seth hissed, pulling her away sharply. “How many more times do I have to tell you to get in the van?” He yanked her arm. “Now, Jane!”
As he dragged her towards the transit she noticed blood seeping through Seth’s jeans. “Your leg! What the fuck’s wrong with your leg?”
Seth glanced uninterestedly at his thigh. “Took a bullet.” His eyes were cold and hard. “It’s only a graze. Now get the fuck in.”
Scrambling into the van, Jane surveyed the bodies lying in twisted piles everywhere. Wazza. Poor fucking Wazza. Shit. SHIT.
Shakily lighting a cigarette, she watched as Digger passed cases from the blue transit to Seth, who launched them in the back of their van. They needed to get out of here before the cops turned up.
“ADRIAN!” Seth roared, a case in either hand. “Get Wazza in the van.” He gritted his teeth, desperately trying to ignore that he’d fucked up. He’d royally fucked up, but he couldn’t have stood there whilst those wankers groped Jane could he? It was her bloody fault this was. He’d told her. He’d fucking told her.
Sweat poured down Seth’s face as he grabbed the last case. His head disappeared inside to check they’d all been lifted. “Digger, take the small van with Adrian. I’ll take this one.”
Jumping into the driver’s seat he threw his sawn-off down by Jane’s feet and glared at her. “Happy now?”
THIRTY EIGHT
“WHERE THE HELL’S WAZZA?” Phil shouted, clocking Jane’s expression. Seth looked positively manic and leant against the side of the van, swigging from a bottle of whisky. Adrian wandered off in the direction of the Chapter House with a big grin on his face.
“So what the fuck happened?” Phil asked, unsure whether he really wanted to know. He knew Digger hadn’t any choice but to level with him. It was quite obvious something was horribly wrong and he’d done his best to explain how the blue van stopping in the layby and the extra blokes had affected the plans somewhat.