‘Yes. I’m feeling much better, thanks. Jason still stalking you, is he?’
‘He paid Steve the mechanic a visit and threatened him the other night. I was annoyed at first when he told me, but then he explained why. I truly believe he’s sorry for what he has done, and that he loves me. He’s told me as much.’
Lip curling, Tracey clapped her hands slowly. ‘Your very own knight in shining armour. Lucky you, mate.’
‘If the mountain won’t come to Muhammad, and all that cobblers,’ a familiar voice chuckled.
Serving a customer, Jason spun around in horror. Craig was standing by the door with his baby in his arms. ‘All right, mate. Be with you in a tick,’ Jason spluttered. Since their falling out, he’d avoided Craig like the plague and had even stopped going to the golf club. Not because he was scared of him or anything like that. Jason just felt he was a small part of Craig’s firm now, therefore if anything came on top, he didn’t want to be associated with Craig. That’s why he’d decided to keep his distance.
The customer was a messer and when he left the shop without buying anything, Jason turned the open sign around to closed and locked the door.
‘Meet Harry,’ Craig said, thrusting his baby into Jason’s arms.
‘A belter, ain’t he, mate. I was gonna visit you at some point. I’ve just been so busy with this gaff, you know how it is. Where you parked?’
‘Round the corner. Natchaya’s in the car. She’s gonna look after Harry while I take you for a drink.’
‘I haven’t got time to go for a drink today, mate. I’ve got shit-loads to do.’
‘That can wait. We need to wet the baby’s head. And you’re going to need a drink when you hear what I’ve got to say, trust me.’
Jason’s heart sank. Whatever now? he thought. ‘OK. Reckon I can spare you five minutes.’
Melissa sat on the edge of her son’s bed. ‘How you feeling, love?’ She wasn’t angry with Donte for what had happened, but was still furious with Shay, even though she’d apologized earlier. How dare that little madam write Donte a note to get him out of school? Jason had promised he’d punished her and nothing like this would ever happen again, but Melissa needed to ensure it didn’t.
‘I’m OK, thanks. What are we having for dinner?’
‘I thought we might go out for a pizza. What do you think?’
‘Jason’s not coming, is he?’
‘No. But we do need to talk about Jason, love.’
‘You getting back together?’
‘We’re not rushing into anything. But we had a long chat on the phone last night and decided for financial reasons it’s probably best if Jason moves back in. His lease runs out on his flat next week, so a decision has to be made soon. He won’t be sleeping in my bedroom. We will just see how we all get on and go from there.’
‘Will Shay be moving back in too?’
‘Yes, unfortunately. Look, I am still livid with Shay for leading you astray. Nothing like that must ever happen again, Donte, do you hear me? If she suggests anything of the sort in the future, I want you to come straight to me. She’s older than you, so are Elton and Kyle, and I don’t want you socializing with any of them outside this house. Elton and Kyle aren’t welcome here any more, so you won’t be seeing them again. You need to mix with Calvin and other lads and girls your own age.’
‘OK.’
Aware that her handsome son looked near to tears, Melissa wrapped her arms around him and held him close to her chest. ‘For all Jason’s faults, he loves you very much, you know.’
‘Don’t love him. I hate him.’
Jason Rampling forced a half smile as Craig Thurston returned from the bar.
‘How’s Melissa? I heard she cut all your clothes up,’ Craig chuckled.
‘We’re about to give it another go. Look, Craig, I will help you out on this next job, but then I’m afraid I’m going to have to bow out. It’s too much of a risk for me if I’m back with Mel. I can’t bring trouble home, gotta think of the kids. She also thinks it’s you who shot her father.’
Craig’s steely green eyes bore into Jason’s. He glanced around to check there were no earwiggers, before leaning forward. ‘You’re going nowhere, Jason. You’re indebted to me, unfortunately. And I need your help. Now tell me a bit more about this estate agent pal of yours. How well do you know him?’
It had been Melissa’s idea that she and Donte visit her mum’s grave before eating. Today would’ve been her mum and dad’s anniversary, and Melissa could not help despising her father even more than usual.
‘Are we going to eat at my favourite pizza restaurant in Woodford, Mum?’ Donte enquired.
‘No, love. We don’t want to bump into anybody from school, do we?’ Melissa said sensibly. She’d told the school Donte had tonsillitis. Her mum was laid to rest in Upminster Cemetery and Melissa knew there were pizza restaurants in Upminster or nearby Hornchurch.
‘I’ll get the flowers out the boot,’ Donte said. He didn’t remember his nan at all, had been too young. She looked a nice lady in all her photos though, had a kind face.
‘Bloody hell! You’re going to be taller than me soon,’ Melissa joked as Donte linked arms with her. He had really shot up this past year and was already up to her shoulder.
‘Was my real dad tall?’
‘He was taller than me, but nowhere near as tall as Jason. Shush now, love, as people are visiting their loved ones.’ Melissa hated talking about Donte’s real father. He had treated her despicably on learning she was pregnant and not once had he ever tried to make contact with his son.
‘Nan’s already got flowers,’ Donte said as they approached the grave.
Melissa’s pace quickened. The two permanent vases were filled with fresh red roses and there was a huge card tied to her mother’s headstone with the words ‘Happy Anniversary’ plastered across the front.
Heart beating wildly, Melissa snatched at the card.
To my darling, Carol
Gone but never forgotten
Until we meet again
Your Johnny xxx
‘Mum, stop it! What are you doing?’ Donte asked, as his mother started cursing out loud. There was an elderly couple walking towards them and they looked startled.
Melissa ripped the card into tiny pieces. ‘How dare he? How fucking dare he! Roses, I’ll give him poxy roses,’ Melissa spat, ripping them out of the vases.
‘Charming!’ the elderly man exclaimed.
‘Don’t dither, Harold. Come on,’ his wife ordered.
Melissa sank to her knees, ripping the petals off each rose. ‘Cheating, lying bastard. I hate him.’
Jason Rampling downed the last of his drink and stood up. ‘I need to be getting back now. I’ll touch base with Deano when I’ve viewed the slaughters. But can you tell him not to come to the shop any more. I’ll meet him elsewhere if need be.’
Craig grabbed Jason’s arm. ‘Not so fast. I need to talk to you about Darlene.’
‘Why?’
‘You know she’s got breast cancer, right? The chemo’s knocked her for six, could do with some cheering up, she could. I think a visit from you might be just the tonic she needs.’
Stunned, Jason sank back in the chair. He hadn’t known Darlene was ill. ‘Where’s she living now?’
‘Basildon. I’ll give you the address.’
‘I dunno, Craig. I’m not sure she’d want to see me after all these years.’
Craig scribbled on a piece of paper and handed it to Jason. ‘Darlene’s address and my new work number. In future you report to me, not Deano.’
Not knowing what else to say or do, Jason nodded. ‘I really do have to go now.’
As Craig followed Jason out of the pub, neither spotted the two men watching them across the road in a green Fiat Uno.
‘You’re late,’ Jason snapped as his brothers sauntered into the lounge as if they didn’t have a care in the world. He’d been long overdue a chat with the pair of them, so had driven straight to
the Mardyke from his shop.
‘We lost track of time, was busy in the studio,’ Elton replied.
‘Sit down next to your sister,’ Jason demanded.
He could tell the pair of them were stoned, could even smell the crap they smoked on their clothes.
‘Best yous two liven yourselves up a bit,’ he said. ‘This silly gang bollocks and your behaviour lately isn’t acceptable. I don’t like the way you treat your sister, neither do I like the direction your lives are heading. You’re going down a slippery slope and no way are you stopping here and leading Babs a dog’s life. Up your game, stop smoking skunk, else I’ll put you into care.’
‘What da fuck!’ Elton exclaimed.
‘No way. Dat ain’t happening,’ Kyle added.
Seeing red, Jason leapt off the armchair and clumped both boys around the head. ‘The word is pronounced that, not fucking dat. I mean it, boys. No more bunking off school or speaking to your sister like shit. You’re lucky you’ve got her, else you’d be in care anyway. You stay away from Donte too, and Shay. I ain’t bluffing. Pull your socks up or I’ll physically remove you from this flat myself. Got that?’
Elton and Kyle glanced at one another.
‘OK. Sorry,’ Elton mumbled.
Kyle stared at his feet. ‘Me too.’
Jason stared at the text message. It gave sod-all away, just read:
I need to speak to you ASAP, in person. Please pop round. It’s urgent.
Sighing, Jason tried to call her. What the hell did that bitch want now?
Debating whether to text her back, Jason quickly decided against it and instead drove towards her house. She wasn’t to be trusted, therefore no way was he leaving any incriminating evidence for her to blackmail him with.
By the time he reached her gaff, Jason was in a foul mood. Just lately his life seemed more complicated than a five-thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle. He rapped on her door.
‘Thanks for coming straight round. You’d better come inside.’
Barging inside the house, Jason stood in the middle of the lounge and glared at her. ‘What do you want now? I said all I had to say to you the other day and you agreed to leave me the hell alone.’
Eyes brimming with tears, Tracey Thompson lowered her eyes like Lady Diana used to. Her mother had once told her she had that Lady Di look off to a T.
‘I really don’t know how to say this to you, Jason, so I’m just going to be blunt: I am pregnant, and the baby is yours.’
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Jason fell back on to one of the armchairs as though he’d been poleaxed. He couldn’t speak, could only sit there in stunned silence.
The night in question was blurry in parts, but he could also remember it as though it were yesterday. It was a Friday and he’d been on a golf day, a celebrity turnout with ex-footballers. The booze was flowing freely and when Simon left early to go on a date with his new girlfriend, he had ended up at a boozer in Brentwood with a crowd of lads. Worse for wear, he’d then gone to Palms, a nightclub along the A127, with a couple of blokes he barely knew.
‘You OK, Jase?’ Tracey asked.
‘Not really, no. Get me a drink, will ya?’ Jason put his head in his hands. He’d never been a fan of Tracey’s, but that particular evening he’d needed a friendly ear to spew all his woes into. The day before he’d rung Melissa and she’d called him everything, before telling him she was going to speak to her solicitor about a divorce. He’d been hurt, upset, which was why he’d agreed to leave the club early and go back to Tracey’s for a nightcap. He’d wanted to talk about Melissa, nothing more.
Tracey was a conniving cow, always had been, and Jason should’ve known better than to trust her. She hadn’t long split up with Simon and had pretended she was upset too. The inevitable had happened an hour or so after they’d arrived home. For all Tracey’s faults, she was a good-looking girl and that night she was wearing a low-cut black mini-dress that left little to the imagination. Jason hadn’t had sex for months and when she’d leaned in for a kiss, he hadn’t thought twice about Melissa. They’d literally fucked one another’s brains out.
Tracey handed Jason a brandy. ‘Not an ideal situation, is it?’
Jason glared at the bitch. He wasn’t daft, knew she had always fancied him and was jealous of his marriage to Melissa. How could he have been so stupid? She’d entrapped him and he’d allowed that to happen. ‘Does Mel know you’re pregnant?’
‘No. I only found out yesterday. Nobody else knows. I’ve been in shock myself.’
‘You sure it’s my kid?’
‘I’m not a slag, Jason. I’m positive it’s yours.’
Jason stood up and paced the room. ‘Well, that’s fucking great, isn’t it? You’re gonna have to get rid of it. I’ll pay. I’ll find you a private clinic so you don’t have to see your own doctor. They just give you a pill these days, don’t they? I mean, you’re not that far gone, are you?’
‘I’m not sure I want to “get rid of it”, as you so eloquently put it. I’ll be thirty soon and this might be my last chance of becoming a mother.’
Jason stared at Tracey with hatred. The sex between them had actually been good, which made him feel even guiltier. He’d never expected it to result in this, mind. ‘Don’t give me all that old flannel. If you’d have wanted to be a mother you wouldn’t have aborted your dead husband’s kid. And you told me you were on the pill, you lying cow. What happened? Gonna tell me now you forgot to take it, are ya?’
‘Well, I must have done, or it didn’t work. And don’t you dare call me a liar. I never planned any of this. How the hell was I to know you’d be in Palms that night? You are just as much to blame as me. You were as up for it as I was.’
‘So what do you plan on saying to Mel? Because I swear to you, Trace, if you tell her the kid is mine I will fucking kill you. She can’t find out, not ever. It will break her heart. You’re meant to be her best pal, for God’s sake.’
‘I know and I feel awful.’
‘Well, get rid of it then. Surely that’s the best solution?’
‘I’m not making any rash decisions, Jason. It’s my body, my baby, and I will decide what is best.’
Jason looked at Tracey with pleading eyes. ‘Please don’t do this to me. I’ve got enough on my plate as it is. I’ll pay you money, a lump sum. If I give you, say, five grand, you can take yourself away on holiday or something. It’ll do you good, a nice break in the sun.’
Unable to stop herself, Tracey leapt up and slapped Jason across the face. ‘How dare you offer me money to abort my baby! Scum, you are. The lowest of the low. Get out of my house. Go on; piss off back to the Mardyke Estate where you belong.’
As Tracey tried to bundle him out the room, Jason grabbed both of her wrists. ‘I swear, you breathe one word of this to Mel, Simon, or anybody else for that matter, you will live to regret it. Understand me?’
Tracey had known Jason wouldn’t be happy, but she had never expected him to act as appallingly as this. The night they’d made love until the birds had started singing in the morning had been an amazing experience. The sex had been awesome, up there with the best she’d ever had. But now he was acting like a complete stranger, dishing out threats. ‘Get out,’ Tracey hissed, opening the front door.
Panicking, Jason grabbed Tracey by the neck and pushed her up against the porch. ‘Not until you’ve answered my question. Do you fucking understand me?’
‘Yes,’ Tracey wept. ‘Now please go.’
Jason ran to his vehicle and shot off at such speed, the silver Toyota Avalon that had been assigned to follow him had trouble keeping up.
Melissa had been unable to get hold of Jason all evening. She’d left numerous messages asking him to call her, so when the doorbell chimed she assumed it was him. ‘Oh, hello, Simon. Long time no see. I thought you must be Jason. I’ve been trying to call him but his phone’s switched off.’
‘Ditto. He was meant to be meeting me in a restaurant earlier, but never showed up. V
ery unlike Jason. I thought he might be here.’
‘Come in, Si. Jase told me he was definitely popping by later, so we might as well wait for him together. I hope he hasn’t had an accident in the car. Shay doesn’t know where he is either. She’s at the flat. What can I get you? Tea, coffee, or do you fancy a beer?’
‘A beer wouldn’t go amiss thanks, Mel. So, how are you keeping? I’m pleased you and Jason are trying to patch things up. About bloody time.’
Melissa handed Simon a beer and made herself a coffee. She’d apologized to Donte for freaking out at the cemetery and promised him she was going to lay off the wine from now on. ‘I’m OK, thanks. I have my up and down days still, but trying to move forward. Jason’s moving in next weekend, has he told you?’
‘Yeah. He’s keen to move forward too. Shit happens in life, Mel. But you and Jason are good together. I’m sure, with a bit of effort, you’ll make it work again. Time is a healer, as they say.’
‘Hope so. How about you? I was sorry it didn’t work out between you and Tracey. She might be my mate, but between you and me, she hasn’t a clue what she wants out of life. Kieron’s death knocked the stuffing out of her and I think she’s afraid to get close to another man in case she gets hurt again.’
Simon smiled, his mischievous brown eyes twinkling behind his glasses. ‘Please don’t feel you have to explain, Mel. I’ve met plenty of Traceys in my time, trust me. In fact, I’ll let you in on a little secret, if you promise not to tell her.’
‘What?’
‘I’d booked up to take another woman on that cruise with me – Suzie. But she decided at short notice that she was going back to her ex. I didn’t fancy cruising alone, so to speak, so asked Tracey and changed the name over. We had a good time, to be fair, but I knew it wouldn’t last once we got back home. I’m seeing somebody else now. Christine, her name is, and I think you two would get along great. You’ll have to meet her. I met her online, but don’t tell Jason that as I’ll never hear the last of it. He ripped the piss out of me for even mentioning joining a dating site, so I told him I met Christine on a train,’ Simon chuckled.
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