Rotten to the Core (30 page)

             
“Next time you show your face around here
,
boy, I’m go
ing to
cut y
our
fucking throat
,
do you hear me? You’re not fucking welcome
.
I
f I hear of you even looking at Sonia
or
Kate the wrong way, I’m going to personally cut you up into tiny little pieces and feed you to my fucking dogs
.
D
o I make myself clear
?
”

Jay could just about see Ryan’s face
; it was
screwed up and red with hate and anger. Just when he thought
the punches
had stopped, Ryan leant down and whispered
:

             
“And this one’s for Emma, you slimy fucking cunt
.
”

Getting up and launching his size
-
eleven boot into Jay’s stomach, he then
s
pat at him before turning and walking back into the house and double
-
lock
ing
the door, more for Sonia’s benefit than anything
:
he had a strong feeling that Jay wouldn’t be so stupid as to come back again.

Jay struggled up off the floor
.
I
t had been a pounding all right, but he knew Ryan’s reputation, and that was a little tap compared to what that man was capable of. Glad that the warning was over
,
he scurried back to his car
;
hoping
that
as few people as possible had just witnessed his humiliation, he pulled away so quickly that his tyres screech
ed
. He was aware that his own mother had probably stood and watched that whole scene, along with ha
lf the fucking neighbourhood,
twitching the
ir
curtains and probably loving the show. He pulled up a few streets away
and,
a
fter wiping the blood from his nose
,
he
rested his head on
the steering wheel.

Shit, they knew about Emma.

He
knew he
was up fucking Shit Street without a paddle. Billy has
dumped
Tanya, now it was
Jay’s
turn
to be in the firing line
. He decided to make a few calls to his contacts to see exactly how far this thing had
gone
.

Robbie Challis had been expecting
Jay’s
call. Billy had paid him a visit a few days earlier, after following Jay. Robbie had been very humble to Billy and had explained that he had thought
Jay
was working for
Billy
. Billy
had
felt sorry for the bloke, it was clear Jay had mugged him off and was using
Billy’s
name to do so. He asked Robbie how much he had given in cash
to
Jay, and Robbie figured it
at
about four grand
;
his last lot had been the week before, and they were busting their guts to make the five grand a week Jay demand
ed
.

             
“Tell you what
,
mate,
you keep it
,
o
n the condition that you tell Jay the next time he calls round that you
do
work for me, and that from now on he’ll have to go through me
,
too
:
understand
?
”
Billy reasoned.

             
“Yeah
.
”
Robbie was shitting himself
;
he could see Billy was really pissed off
;
he was glad that he wasn’t his target.

             
“What about Jay
,
though, he’s bound to kick off
,
Billy
.
”

Looking around the tiny flat, seeing the scales on the table
and
the collection of mobile phones next to them,
Billy
could
s
ee that this guy was out of his depth and just some small
-
time druggie, Jay always tried to pick on the weak
.
Billy grinned
,
deciding that
Robbie
could
keep his money, he wanted no part of it
:
he had bigger fish to fry.

             
“
I
f he calls
,
just pass the message on
.
Any
trouble from that
ponce
, you call me, right. As far as I’m concerned, you and me have no axe to grind
,
mate, you get on with your business, it doesn’t interest me one bit, but you make sure you tell Jay you’
re
working for me from now on, got it, and trust me
,
once he hears that you will get no trouble at all
,
mate
.
”
Dropping his card onto the table
,
he let himself out.

             
“Right
.
”
B
reathing a
huge
sigh,
Robbie
was relieved that he no longer had to break his neck trying to get Jay’s dough together before he could think about his own money. So when the call from Jay came in
,
Robbie Challis enjoyed every word
.
As he inhaled one of the biggest
spliffs
he had ever rolled, this one of course for celebration purposes, he
said
down the phone
:

             
“Jay?
Sorry
,
Jay who
?
”

R
iled
,
Jay thought the bloke must be truly fucking stoned to be talking like this
.

             
“You listen to me
,
you fucking waster
,
”
he began,
but before
he
could finish his sentence he was interrupted by a slow cackle
.

             
“Why don’t you just fuck off
,
Jay
,
you
poncing
cunt
,
” Challis said
,
slowly and clearly so that Jay could take every syllable in
. “
Billy says he’s personally collecting the money from now on, any problems with that
and
you take it up with him. So you, you fucking mug, can do one
.
”

Hearing the
dialling
tone,
Jay
realised
that
Challis had hung up. He was shitting himself, his worst thoughts had been confirmed and he had a
terrible feeling that this was just the start of things to come. This was turning into a bitch of a day.

35

The saucy brunette was using every trick in the book. She had
on
a low
-
cut top and a very pert pair of breasts spill
ed
over of it every time she
leaned
forward. She had been flicking her hair and pouting for the best part of the evening but
,
to be honest, Paul found it more entertaining than anything else. She was a very attractive girl, he
woul
d be a liar to deny that,
and
it was good for his ego to know that he still had it, but he had met dozens like her and she was nothing special.

It never failed to surprise him
that so many
girls tried it on with him as soon as they realised this club was his. He was more shocked that the
y
seemed to be completely unaware of how obvious they were. Gold-diggers of the worst kind, they were more transparent than the fucking windows.

Peeling himself away from the disappointed girl at the bar, insisting he had work that needed his attention, he made his way to the sanctuary of his office.
Pouring himself a whiskey, he went through his e
-
mails half
-
heartedly. He glanced at the clock and then back at the
computer
screen
;
tapping his fingers on the desk,
he chuckled to himself.
He had just realised that if anyone had been here to see him they would have just witnessed the look of a lovesick man. He knew that he had been doing nothing but mope, he could admit to himself that he was feeling lost without Kate. She was having a few days
off
, she had rung and explained
that
she needed to help her friend, and after hearing the story Paul said
he would help her in any way possible.
Kate
had also
asked
whether,
when she came back to work
,
she
could
bring Emma for a
trial
behind the bar
to
see if she was up to it. He had agreed without question
;
they could always do with extra hands, the place was booming, and if Kate thought
Emma
was up to it that was good enough for him.
Paul
had told
Kate
that if there was anything she needed
she should
call him. She hadn’t
,
though. Which was
,
obviously
,
a good thing, but he had hoped that she would have called by now
.
H
e missed her. She had her brother to look out for her, but
Paul
was her friend
:
they had become close. He knew that if he hadn’t heard anything from her,
though,
it meant she was ok
ay
.

Paul
realised that he wanted
Kate
to call just so he could hear her voice. He also realised that he had
,
somehow when he wasn’t looking, turned into a soppy bastard. Laughing once again
,
he knew that
at some point
he had fallen for her. He hadn’t known until now how much he loved being around her, working with her, laughing with her, talking for hours about
any
thing and
everything
.
He hadn’t felt like this about anyone for a long time and it had really shocked him. He had only been in love once, and he had been hurt badly
:
some might say beyond repair. His ex
,
Caroline
,
had taken him for a complete ride, she had cheated on him with anyone that had a pulse. He had been oblivious, completely unaware of what had been going on behind his back throughout their relationship. He
had been
so busy trying to build up his career, working every hour
that
he could,
that he
had no idea what she had been getting up to.
Paul
had wanted desperately to make a decent living so that he could provide for her and
for his
now broken family
. Sophia, his beautiful baby
…
it broke his heart to think of her, she deserved more than what they had given her. It had been such a mess, when he finally found out the truth about
Caroline
sleeping her way through the
city,
through a work contact of all people
who was
trying to do him a favour, he had confronted Caroline
,
half expecting her to be sorry
.
A
t the least she
could
have sounded apologetic. He expected her to beg him to stay with her
and
to say that she had made an awful mistake
.
Paul
had been full of rage at the betrayal, yet somewhere inside, he thought that if she was sorry
and
if she hadn’t meant to hurt him, maybe he could fix things. After all, he had done nothing but work twenty-four seven for months
;
even if it had been for both of the
m
, he hadn’t been there for her.  The last thing he
had expected
when
he had confronted her was her laughing in his face and sneering at him that it was entirely his fault. Caroline had blamed him for all of it
;
none of it had been her
fault
. She had screamed at him in anger
that
it was
he
who
had driven her to sleep with other men
.
He had neglected her; he had
never
been
there
;
she
had been
lonely. She reeled off a list of her conquests whilst slugging
a
gin and tonic, all the time staring into his eyes triumphantly
.
He
had stood in front of her a broken man, realising that this was nothing more than a game.
Paul
had
tried
to be a good husband; she had
tried
to score points. He
had
kn
o
w
n
then that it was all
pointless
; it had been for nothing.
Paul
had never known her. So he had walked away
,
and
he had
never looked back. Since then he had never trusted a woman, and he had thrown himself even more into
building his career. He had found success, had more money than he could have wished for
,
but he had learnt the hard way that there
was
more to life than money and clubs. If he did get a chance at love again, he would put that first above everything.
He wouldn’t
make the mistake of thinking money was showing your love. Money wouldn’t keep you warm after a hard day at work, and he didn’t want to grow old alone.