Rotten to the Core (19 page)

The restaurant was packed, waiters
wearing
white gloves running around at everyone’s beck and call, sucking up
to
the rich businessmen that were dining their wives or mistresses. One table near the cocktail bar had caught her eye, there were five guys having a meal
;
by the way they were
dressed and acting, Tanya
guessed
that it was a business dinner. One very hot
,
tall
blonde
man
kept meeting her eye. Tanya smiled
at him
. That’s a bit more like it
,
she thought, maybe someone else in this room appreciates beauty.

             
“Tanya
.
” Billy nudged her
.
“
W
ake up, Sonia
’
s talking to you
.
”

Interrupting her thoughts of the tall blonde guy ripping
off
her lacy knickers with his teeth, Tanya blushed
.

             
“Oh sorry, I was miles away
…
what did I miss?”

Sonia put her cutlery onto
her now empty
plate
.
S
he had
had
sea bass on a bed of lentils
.
S
he felt very out of place
in this restaurant
,
where there were
too many glasses and too much cutlery, and the main meal had been so
small
that
her
stomach
grumbl
ed
for more. Still
,
the evening so far
was going
quite well,
although
she could tell that her son was on something, and this annoyed her, for once why couldn’t he just make the effort
?
He was fidgety and his eyes were like saucers, she hoped he could behave himself
for the rest of the meal
. She could see that Billy was
trying
really hard with Jay,
really
making an effort.

             
“
I
was just saying that I like your dress
,
honey
,
”
Sonia
smiled at the frosty
-
looking Tanya
,
“
i
s it designer?”

Looking flattered that her beautiful dress had finally been noticed, Tanya nodded
to indicate
that it was
;
she didn’t bother giving Sonia the designer
’
s name, as by the look of what she was wearing, she probably wouldn’t have heard of him, much less appreciate the
amount that the
dress had cost
,
which
had been charged to Billy’s credit card
:
the least he could do.

             
“Her dress
designer
?
Of course it is.
Probably had a designer price tag,
too
.
”
Billy looked at it now and had a feeling that his credit card had been given another bashing
:
Tanya had expensive taste.

Tanya bristled at his disapproving look
.

             
“
W
ell
,
it’s nice to make an effort sometimes, and for someone to actually pay me a compliment
,
” she threw back
.
S
he added a little chuckle, but the stiffness of her mouth indicated to everyone at the table that she was gritting her teeth.

Kate was having a lovely evening
;
it had gone much better than she had hoped. The food
had been
good
;
she was getting her appetite back, which was just as well
as
since she had lost the baby, she had lost so much weight
that
her clothes were
loose
. Billy was making an
effort
,
s
he couldn’t believe
that
she was sitting between her brother and her boyfriend having a very lovely meal. She had had the toughest few weeks of her life. She had thought that nothing
c
ould come close to the pain of losing her mother, but this had. She was heartbroken and still in shock, she
was finding it hard to
take in the fact that she would never properly be a mother herself.

When the baby had died
,
so had
Kate’s
dream
of her and Jay’s little family
.
But tonight was helping, she
had
never
thought
that Billy and Jay would be able to sit at a dinner table and share polite conversation and a
meal. She appreciated what her brother was doing and was so grateful to have him supporting her the way he had the last few weeks, he had been a pillar of strength to her and she would have been lost without him
.
Things were finally going to be ok
ay
.

             
“Well everyone, I’ve got some news for you all
.
”
S
he smiled
,
looking around the table
.
“
I’ve got a
bit of good news. I’ve got a new job, starting from Monday
.
”

S
he had been saving this news for the meal. She knew that the people around the table cared
for
her and worried
about her,
and she wanted to let them know that she was ok
ay
and moving on.

             
“
W
ell done
,
babe
.
” Sonia beamed
;
she was
glad that Kate was making plans for herself
.

             
“Where
?
” asked Jay
,
barely hiding the fact that he was a bit miffed that Kate had left him in th
e dark about her plans; surely
he should have been the first person that she told.

             
“You are now looking at Paul Goldie’s personal assistant
.
” Kate grinned, feeling proud that she was going to be able to stand on her own two feet. Hopefully Jay would see now that she didn’t want to live off him and his money
,
but earn her own. She was supposed to have started her job weeks ago but what with losing the baby and everything
, it hadn’t happened.
Paul had been good about it. She
had rung
him a few days after she had
been discharged from
hospital and explained why she hadn’t turned up on the
original
Monday that she was originally supposed to start. She
had been
completely honest with him, and had
told him everything
;
she was surprised at how easy it was for her to talk to him. He had told her to take all the time she needed
,
and that there would be a job for her when she was ready. She had felt bad about lying to him in the first place,
and
she was glad that they now had a clean slate
;
work would be just what she needed to help put all of this behind her.

Jay went very
quiet
at the news
.
H
e decided not to say anything, but he was not a happy man. Paul had it in for him
:
what the hell was he playing at offering his bird a job
?

Billy was happy enough
:
he respect
ed
Paul, he was a decent guy, and Kate need never find out
that
Paul
had
organise
d
Jay’s beating. Knowing that Paul felt almost the same as he did about the guy made him feel better about the whole thing. A personal assistant
:
the guy must be moving up in the world
;
he chuckled to himself and raised his glass to everyone at the table
.

             
“To Kate
.
W
ell done
,
little sister
;
you’ll do a cracking job for him
.
K
nowing you, you’ll be running that place alongside him before long
.
”

E
veryone smiled and chinked glasses
.
L
ooking over at Jay, Billy smirk
ed, although it was o
bvious enough for only Jay to see it, and he did
.

After des
s
erts and coffee
had been
had by all, except for Tanya who insisted she was watching her figure but kept the wine flowing, Billy said that he would call
a couple of
cabs
.
H
e was glad the night was over. It hadn’t been too bad, but he
didn’t think he
could stand being in Jay’s company for another second, how he
ha
d hidden his feelings this long he
didn’t know. Sensing this
,
and trying to make Billy’s life harder, Jay piped up
:
“Oh, but the night is still so young
…
why don’t we come back to yours for a nightcap
?
”

Before Billy had a chance to make an excuse and get rid of this waster, Kate smiled at h
er brother
, happy that this was all working out so nicely between them
.
“I don’t mind
,
Billy
;
it
’
s only early, what do you
say?”

He couldn’t refuse his sister
.
Sonia made her excuses and got her own cab
.
S
he was going to have a nice cheese sandwich and a cup of tea when she got
home
, this posh food wasn’t enough to keep her full, no wonder all the celebrities that ate here were so skinny
;
poor buggers were living on child
-
sized portions.

Kate and Jay got in a cab with Tanya and Billy and headed to their
house
. Billy was going to have to let Jay into their home
,
and he
would
grin and bear it even though he was not happy about it
.
Tanya didn’t give a
shit
by now, she had
had
a rather good night herself, the blond guy in the corner had been giving her the eye all night, and the more she had drunk the
hornier
she
felt
. She gave him
a
look of regret as she brushed passed him through the restaurant and out to the waiting cab
.
S
he planned to have a few more glasses
of wine
at home and hopefully
then
pass out, as there would probably be no chance of any bedroom action with Billy,
again
! Kate was a bore, but Jay she found quite amusing. He was a cocky little shit and she could see through him, but she was finding it highly entertaining
that
he could so easily wind Billy up.

             
“Nice gaff
,
” Jay said
,
looking around the designer kitchen, this was exactly what he wanted, state of the art, real
ly
modern, a far cry from the shithole
in which
he lived with Sonia
and Kate
.
This house
was plush
, if small
.

             
“Tanya designed it,
f
ancies herself as a bit of a Linda Barker
.
S
pent a small fortune
,
didn’t you
,
Tan?”