The Edge of Sanity (12 page)

With nothing else to do, Jo lay down on the bed and studied the ceiling, primrose coloured, to match the walls, though that wasn’t the plan. Daniel had blobbed paint up there by accident, she remembered. Then he’d gone the whole hog and painted everything in sight, including her when she’d poked her face around the door.

She got him back though. Jo smiled quietly. She’d given him a nice primrose-coloured bum. That was another time Kayla had rolled her eyes and told them to grow up. It was said in good humour though then, before their home became a smile-free zone.

Where was Kayla now? At a friend’s, she had said. Someone in the year above at school maybe? Possibly. Jo didn’t know, but she had to believe that’s where she was. Staying with a friend, in a house where normality prevailed.

Was she sitting cross-legged on the bed, Jo wondered, as was her wont, smoking, more than likely, and bemoaning her parents to her friend? Lying on her back, much as Jo was, studying the ceiling and contemplating what kind of reception she’d get when she got home? Jo hoped so. Prayed that Kayla was safe in bed somewhere.

****

Where had he seen her before? Well, wherever, Charlie was going to see to it that the bird with the gravity-defying boobs ended up in his bed tonight. That blonde bint who fancied Steve would do nicely, too. Charlie gave Steve a nudge and dropped him the hint.

Steve though, the soppy git, turned him down flat. ‘Uh-uh, she’s not old enough.’ Steve shook his thick skull, acting like he was her big brother or something. ‘Her mother’d have the filth onto us, if she found out. Nah, I’ve already decided. Ain’t touching it, mate.’

‘Yer what?’ Charlie was getting worried about Steve. He needed a big hard bugger backing him up, not a bloody big softy.

‘Oh, man, wise up.’ Charlie sighed, exasperated. ‘If you don’t shag her, someone else will. The goods are on offer, mate. Take a look.’ He nodded toward the dance floor where Steve’s bint and the other girl were dancing with each other, which was seriously turning him on.

‘Nah, not interested. Sorry, mate.’ Steve, it seemed, was an immovable mountain, luckily for Steve. Had he not been built like Bigfoot, Charlie might have been tempted to put his view across a bit more forcefully.

Shit
. Charlie cursed quietly. The bloke’s a dealer and he gets a dose of scruples? Well, Steve could get pious on his own. Charlie had just remembered where he’d seen the one with the boobs before. At the
Slug and Lettuce,
looking like a lemonade-drinking virgin, and his interest was piqued. He’d hardly given her a second glance then, she being a bit spotty up close and not so overtly out there, but, man, she’d scrubbed up well tonight.

Course, she hadn’t given him a second glance since she’d arrived. She’d got that Hannah to keep an eye out over her shoulder. Dead obvious, she was, too, ogling him every five seconds, relaying his every move. And he’d been watching theirs. Well, the well-endowed one’s gyrating hips, anyway.

Oh, yes, Charlie was most definitely going to have himself some of that. No hurry though. She’d come to him when she was ready.

****

Hannah leaned close to Kayla’s ear. ‘He’s looking over,’ she said.

‘So?’ Kayla shrugged, doing her best to look as if she didn’t care, whilst surreptitiously adjusting her cami top to show off her tattooed rose in its best light.

He’d finally noticed her, then. About time, too. He’d looked straight through when they’d walked in, her blushing down to her shoes, embarrassingly, while Hannah practically salivated on sight of flippin’ Steve.

What was it with Steve anyway? Kayla hadn’t rated him much before, and now, with that Kanji tattoo on the back of his bonce, he looked like a complete idiot.

Still, whatever turns you on.

She glanced over her shoulder, to see Charlie looking right at her.

Charlie nodded and offered up his best charming smile.

Which he’d had on good authority was dead sexy. There you go, darlin’, he thought, congratulating himself on his cool. That should be green light enough for her.

She was in for a bit of a treat tonight. And he’d definitely earned himself one. Shifted a fair amount of stuff, they had, which had pulled in a fair wad. Not enough yet, mind, not if he was going to clear his debts, which he had to if he fancied keeping his tackle. Nevertheless, Charlie was pleased with the way the evening was panning out.

A reward was in order while he waited for his little fish to swim to him. Not the dog-shit weed these kids smoked though. Top quality stuff suited Charlie better, he being more discriminating. Northern Lights, he pondered, which was guaranteed good stuff, could even hallucinate on it if it was top notch. Or maybe Purple Haze?

Nah, Zero-Zero, he decided. Weed laced with crack. That’d set him up nicely until he got
her
home—with her in her tease-and-please outfit. And teasing him she was, if he wasn’t mistaken. Okay, she might be a bit on the young side, but she was up for it all right.

Charlie eyed Steve sideways. He’d got his face stuck in a Becks, well on his way to getting tanked up. He might just stroll past her, Charlie decided. Check it out.

‘Goin’ for a smoke. Top that up for me, mate.’ He shoved his glass in Steve’s direction and sauntered toward the dance floor.

****

‘What’s he doing?’ Kayla mouthed at Hannah.

Hannah smirked. ‘Thought you weren’t bothered?’

‘I’m not.’ Kayla looked disinterested. ‘So what’s he doing?’

‘Whoops, coming over.’ Hannah shook her hair over her face, and then peeked through it. ‘Pants! He’s gone past. Gone outside.’

‘Well, that was a waste of time.’ Kayla sighed, heading off to throw herself in one of the leather-upholstered sofas lining the walls. ‘He hardly looked at me.’ She folded her arms moodily. ‘And did you see him eyeing up that acidhead on his way out? Probably lining her up for later.’

‘He didn’t give her the eye.’ Hannah flopped down next to Kayla. ‘He was giving you the eye. He’s interested, Kayl. Trust me.’

‘Yeah, right.’ Kayla looked doubtful.

‘He
is
… Uh, oh. Act cool. He’s coming back.’

Kayla scooped her hair from her face and studied her nails, the epitome of cool.

‘Come on,’ Hannah said, grabbing Kayla’s arm and dragging her to her feet. ‘We’ll go say hi to Steve. That’ll get you a bit closer to the top of your wish-list.’

Hannah was a bit miffed with Steve. He hadn’t even been over to speak to her. He was all over her like a rash the last time she met him, outside Maccies. Until some silly cow from the year above at school went and told him how old she was.

God, the embarrassment. She’s got her tongue halfway down Steve’s throat and the spiteful bitch strolls past and says,
didn’t think you were into schoolgirls, Steve.

Hannah had blagged of course, for all she was worth. Swore she was sixteen, but the damage was done. Steve had dropped her like a hot brick, given her an almost brotherly smile, patted her bum, and told her to go play with her dolls. Totally humiliating.

Kayla trailed along with Hannah. ‘And then what do we do?’ she shouted over the music. ‘Stand there like a couple of spare whatsits at a wedding?’

‘
Talk
to him.’ Hannah leaned closer. ‘Flash him a smile. And your boobs, while you’re at it. That should do the trick.’

‘Yes. Thank you for that piece of really useful advice, Hannah.’ Kayla smiled dourly as they squeezed, hand-in-hand, through the crowd, until they were almost on top of Charlie and Steve.

‘Go on.’ Hannah gave Kayla a nudge forwards. ‘Say something.’

Kayla shrugged helplessly. ‘Like what?’

‘Any-bloody-thing.’ Hannah rolled her eyes and sashayed up behind Steve. ‘Hiya.’ She stood on tiptoe to drape herself over his shoulders as he supped his pint. ‘Cool tattoo.’

‘Yerwhat?’ Steve missed his mouth and messed up his shirt. ‘Shit,’ he cursed, clutching the wet shirt from his chest as he turned to face her.

‘Sorry.’ Hannah fluttered her eyelashes.

‘S’all right.’ Steve shrugged good-naturedly. ‘It’s only an old one. So how you doing?’

‘Yeah, good.’ Hannah smiled, whilst Kayla looked dumbly on. ‘Here, let me get you another.’ Hannah gestured toward his half-empty glass.

‘Nah.’ Steve shook his head. ‘Don’t go spending your money. I’ll get ‘em in. Bud, isn’t it?’

‘Please.’ Hannah nodded, pleased that he’d remembered, and then quickly nudged Kayla as Steve turned back to the bar.

‘Go
on,’
she mouthed to Kayla, who was fidgeting behind Charlie.

Charlie took a swig of his Becks, and then turned to give Kayla a polite nod.

‘Haven’t I seen you somewhere before?’ he asked, his brow knitted, thoughtfully. ‘Yeah, definitely. Couldn’t forget a beautiful face like yours, could I?’

Got her, he smirked, as she beamed at him like a set of bleeding headlights. Foregone conclusion really. Hooked she was, good and proper. Now, reel her in slow, Charlie boy, he cautioned himself. Real nice and slow.

He leaned casually back on the bar, cocked his head to one side, and fixed her with his bedroom eyes. Brown eyes, he’d got. Like liquid chocolate, one bird had described them. Could melt a girl’s resolve at fifty paces. Well, he knew that, didn’t he?

She took a deep breath. ‘Would you, um,’ she faltered and blushed, rather becomingly, ‘like a drink?’ she finally mumbled.

Charlie had to admit he was taken aback for a second. They usually asked if he wanted to dance, if they weren’t touching him up for a tab. This was different.

Still, he thought he’d better decline, initially. Didn’t want her thinking he wasn’t a gent. ‘I already have one,’ he pointed out, allowing her a seductive smile, whilst mentally giving her an eight for her efforts.

‘Oh, okay.’ Kayla shrugged. ‘Well, would you mind getting me one then?’ She dazzled him with another neat-toothed white smile and handed him a fiver.

Now that really perplexed Charlie. Most streetwise birds would’ve said,
suit yourself,
and hip-swung on out of there, goods on display. Not this one though. She stood her ground, still smiling, but not provocatively, eyelashes in overdrive. She was just standing there gazing at him like a fragile doe-eyed fawn. Bloody ‘ell, he was a poet and didn’t know it.

‘Put your money away,’ he said, feeling suddenly magnanimous. ‘I was just about to offer you one.’

He’d intended to pace himself, let her work at it for a bit, but he was now seriously interested. Steve was right though. She was more a baby than a babe. She might be tall and stacked enough to have carried it past the bouncer with her face caked in make-up, which would have to go, but Charlie knew better. Not that her age was a problem. If she was in a nightclub, she was over eighteen, as far as he was concerned, and fair game.

Two minutes later, Charlie handed the girl her wine, made a great display of offering her his stool to sit on, much too Steve’s surprise, then made a supreme effort at small talk, even asking her name.

Talking to birds longer than he needed to, he couldn’t abide. They talked girly talk, or tried to impress him with talk of football, which they knew nothing about, beyond who looked good in shorts. Their mouths were only good for one thing, as far as Charlie was concerned. This one needed handling with kid gloves though, he suspected, at this stage of play, anyway.

Half an hour later, she was still sipping the same drink and marvelling over her glass at how popular he was. She actually thought he was shaking hands with the punters, rather than passing gear. Blimey, this one really was a novice. Charlie eyed her thoughtfully. Didn’t cotton on quick, did she? Obviously didn’t do drugs either. It’d take her all night to chill out at this rate. Time she started, Charlie decided. They all have to start somewhere, and he hadn’t got all night, not to sit here getting bored out of his skull anyway. She might tell him to get lost, of course, but Charlie was fairly confident she’d go for it. Had to, didn’t she, to prove she wasn’t a little schoolgirl.

‘Here,’ he said, offering her a tab and watching her face with wry amusement. ‘It’s a freebie. Works a lot faster than that stuff.’ He nodded at her wine glass.

‘No thanks,’ she eventually said, eyeing him steadily. ‘Don’t do drugs.’

Unbelievable. Charlie reeled inwardly. Going to need a bit of persuasion this one was, stubborn cow.

‘No, nor do I.’ He laughed, quickly composing himself. ‘Apart from the dope, of course. Non-addictive, see.’ Oh, man, he asked himself, was it worth it? It was just one shag, more or less. ‘Going for a smoke now, actually,’ he said. ‘Coming?’

She looked uncertain.

‘We can talk better out there,’ he said, inclining his head toward the exit.

She looked over at her friend, who was draped all over Steve on the dance-floor. ‘K.’ She shrugged, eventually, and got to her feet.

Good, thought Charlie, leading the way.

****

‘Are you sure it’s non-addictive?’ A flicker of doubt flitted across the girl’s face. ‘See for yourself.’ Charlie offered her his spliff, generously, he thought. He’d just spent the last soddin’ five minutes skinning up. And this was top stuff, pure skunk and crack crystal. And
he
was wasting it on a school kid? Must have left his brains at home.

Come
on
, take the bloody thing, he thought, getting a bit pissed off with her pissing about.

Still she seemed to deliberate.

What was the matter with her? Charlie sighed, deciding to make a last ditch effort, then dump her. A dig at her age should do it. ‘Course, I suppose you’re a bit young to smoke,’ he said with a loaded pause, ‘aren’t you?’

‘I am
not
,’ was the girl’s indignant reply. ‘I do smoke.’ She raked her hair off her face and reached for the roll-up.

Better, thought Charlie, satisfied, as he watched her draw back like a pro. Much better. And a helluva a lot better to wake up to than the sad slapper who’d ruined his shirt. Charlie wiped his hand across his mouth. ‘So how old are you really?’

‘What?’ She coughed, and blew out of billow of smoke.

‘I’m guessing … seventeen?’ Charlie took the spliff she offered him back.