The Feud (33 page)

‘I’m sorry. I couldn’t help meself. You make me so horny. Let me drive you home,’ Jed begged her. He liked this girl: she was so different from the others who always spread their legs so easily.

Frankie shook her head. ‘You stay here. I have to go home with Joey. My parents will go mad if we come home separately.’

Searching for the pen he always carried on him, Jed grabbed Frankie’s hand and wrote his number on her arm. ‘Please ring me, Frankie. I’m sorry if I was a bit forward, but it was only because I like you so much. Come out with me on Sunday? I’ll treat you like a princess, I promise.’

Frankie’s emotions were out of control. Meeting Jed had blown her mind, and her sensible side told her he was very wrong for her indeed. ‘I don’t know, Jed. My dad and your dad don’t get on. It ain’t gonna work,’ she told him bluntly.

Jed walked towards her and hugged her in a way she had never been hugged before. ‘Trust me, we’ll make it work. Fuck our dads, who cares what they think? I like you, you like me and nothing else matters. Let’s try and make a go of it, eh? What do you say?’

As Jed grinned, Frankie’s heart pounded. He wasn’t just trying it on – he actually was into her. With the E frazzling her brain, Frankie didn’t know if she was coming or going. How could she be with Jed? He had just tried to shag her without her consent. Desperate to get away from him, she picked up her jacket.

‘Goodbye, Jed. It was nice meeting ya. Take care of yourself.’

Jessica breathed a sigh of relief as she heard the front door close and the twins creep up the stairs. Joey had rung home last night, as promised, but it still hadn’t lessened her worry. She could never relax when the kids stayed out, and she’d lie awake imagining all sorts. Hearing a strange whining noise, she nudged her husband.

‘Ed, wake up. One of the dogs sounds like it’s crying. Go and make sure it’s OK.’

‘All dogs whine. It’ll be fine, Jess,’Eddie said grumpily. He had been in a deep sleep and wasn’t happy being woken.

‘Ah, listen to the poor little mite. Go and see to ’em, Ed. They might want to go out to do toilets. You brought them home. Go on, up you get.’

Mumbling obscenities to himself, Eddie threw on his trackie bottoms and stomped downstairs.

The twins lay top-to-toe in Joey’s bed. Neither of them were sleepy and they were whispering excitedly about the previous evening. As Frankie gabbled on, Joey sat up and stared at her. ‘You’ve taken something, ain’t you? Your pupils look massive and you’re talking all weird.’

‘No, I ain’t,’ Frankie said defensively. She could still
feel the effects of the ecstasy tablet, and still felt quite high.

‘You’re lying. Did that fucking John give you drugs?’ Joey asked, his temper rising.

‘Sssh, Mum and Dad will hear. Do you wanna cause a riot? If you must know, I had half of one of them Es in the Berwick. Jed never gave it to me, somebody else did.’

Joey couldn’t believe how stupid she had been. If their parents found out, the pair of them would be grounded for life. ‘Don’t ever do that again, Frankie. You don’t know what’s in the bloody things. And who’s Jed? I thought the bloke you was with was called John.’

Frankie took a deep breath. She couldn’t tell anyone who Jed was – not yet, anyway. ‘I said John. You must be hearing things,’ she told Joey.

‘Are you gonna see him again?’ Joey asked.

‘I don’t know. I need to get some sleep now, I’m going back to me own room,’ Frankie replied haughtily.

Joey grabbed her arm. ‘You haven’t told me what happened yet. Did you do anything with him? You didn’t have sex with him, did you?’

‘No, of course I didn’t,’ Frankie replied, pulling her arm away. Joey questioning her was making her feel paranoid and she needed to be left alone. ‘I’ll tell you all the gory details later,’ she whispered, as she shut his bedroom door.

Frankie walked into her own room and quietly closed the door. She sat down at her dressing table and studied herself in the mirror. She looked out of it; her eyes were the giveaway. ‘Shit,’she mumbled, as she remembered the barbecue that was planned for later.

She cursed herself for having taken the bloody tablet in the first place. How was she meant to sit and be normal
in front of her parents and grandparents when she felt totally out of her nut? She crawled into bed and shut her eyes. Jed’s face was at the forefront of her mind. He had been too forward for her liking, but no boy had ever made her feel the way he had.

Frankie had taken Jed’s number, but she hadn’t given him hers. She shut her eyes and pictured Jed’s face. He had eyes that twinkled when he smiled. She loved his lopsided grin, his dark, wavy hair. Even his funny accent set her pulse racing.

Thinking of his rock-hard penis, Frankie shuddered with excitement. Jed might be bad news, but she had to see him again. It was the only way to get him out of her system.

Joyce and Stanley arrived promptly at one on the dot. ‘Are Raymond and Polly here yet?’ were the first words out of Joyce’s mouth.

‘No, they’re coming later,’ Jessica said, ushering her parents into the lounge.

‘Where are the twins?’ Stanley asked.

‘In bloody bed. Went out with their friends last night, they did, and they’re still in the land of nod,’ Jessica replied in annoyance.

‘What the hell is that?’ Joyce screamed as two bundles of fluff jumped onto her lap.

Eddie smiled at his mother-in-law’s horrified expression. ‘Meet Buster and Bruno, Joycie, the new additions to the Mitchell household.’

Begrudgingly stroking their heads, Joyce was appalled as Buster got a little overexcited and urinated on her dress. ‘Oh, look at me new frock! Get ’em off of me. Quick, take ’em away!’ she screamed.

Stanley and Eddie looked at one another and burst out laughing.

‘Don’t worry, Mum, I’ll get a cloth. It’ll come out – it’s only a little splash,’ Jessica said, glaring at the men.

Eddie followed Jessica into the kitchen. ‘I’ve got a bit of a confession to make, babe. I rang me Uncle Reg yesterday and invited him over for the barbie. I felt a bit guilty ’cause I ain’t seen much of him recently. I didn’t think he’d accept, but he rang me back and said Paulie and Ronny are coming too.’

Jessica was not impressed. ‘Oh, Ed, it’s meant to be the kids’ birthday party. They barely know your family.’

Eddie hugged his wife and kissed her on the forehead. ‘I’m sorry, it just escalated and I could hardly say no. Come on, cheer up. I picked another few trays of meat up, so we’ve got plenty of grub. It’s only one day, Jess, we can get through it, me and you.’

Jessica sighed. Eddie’s family turning up was the last thing she needed, but she could hardly tell him to uninvite them at this late stage. For years, Eddie had welcomed her family with open arms, so it wouldn’t exactly hurt her to entertain his for once. She smiled at him. ‘Don’t worry, Ed. We’ll all have a great day. Can you pour Mum and Dad some drinks while I go and wake our lazy children?’

Joey got showered and dressed, then sat on Frankie’s bed while she got ready.

‘Do my eyes look OK now?’ she asked him. She had managed to doze off for a few hours and felt a damn sight better than she had earlier.

‘You don’t look as bad as before. In fact, you look much better,’ Joey told her honestly.

‘What time did you tell Dom to arrive?’ Frankie asked him.

Joey felt himself shudder. Inviting Dominic had seemed a good idea last night when he was inebriated, but in the
cold light of day, he was now shitting himself. ‘Wesley’s picking him up in a cab from the B&B. I wish I hadn’t invited him now. You don’t think Mum or Dad or our mates will clock on, do you, sis?’

Frankie shook her head. ‘Dominic looks as straight as a die and if he’s coming with Wesley, no one will bat an eyelid.’

Joey breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Who did you invite? I asked a couple of other boys in the Berwick. I hope they don’t turn up – I barely know them.’

Frankie laughed. ‘I invited Stacey, Demi and Paige. I can’t remember who else, I was a bit pissed. We better warn all of them not to mention the Berwick Manor. Mum and Dad think we went to Stacey’s after the pub, remember?’

‘You tell the girls to keep schtum and I’ll tell the lads. Did you invite that John?’ Joey asked.

Shaking her head, Frankie applied some lipgloss. ‘Nah. I’m not even sure if I’m gonna see him again.’

‘Frankie, Joey, everyone’s waiting for you down here.’ Jessica yelled. She was getting more annoyed by their no-show by the minute.

‘Come on,’ Joey said, dragging his sister away from the mirror.

Considering it had poured with rain the day before, the weather was glorious. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the sun was scorching.

Eddie sat out in the grounds with his uncle, brothers and Dougie.

‘Where’s Raymondo?’ Paulie asked.

‘He’ll be here soon, so will Gary and Ricky,’Eddie replied.

Desperate to meet her son’s posh girlfriend, Joyce was up and down like a yo-yo.

‘Will you sit down and come away from that bloody window, woman,’ Stanley scolded her.

Joyce gave him one of her looks. ‘No, I won’t. Now shut your face, you miserable old goat, and drink your bleedin’ beer.’

Gary and Ricky arrived and handed Jessica a big bunch of flowers. ‘We brought the twins something, but these are for you,’ Ricky told her.

‘You shouldn’t have. Your dad’s in the garden. Thanks, boys,’ she said, kissing them both on the cheek.

Joey hovered nervously in the hallway.

‘What’s the matter, love?’ Jessica asked him.

‘Nothing. Just waiting for my friends to arrive,’ he replied anxiously.

‘You’re acting like a right twerp. Have a couple of drinks, for fuck’s sake, else you’ll give yourself away,’ Frankie whispered to him.

‘All right if me and Joey have another drink, Mum?’ Frankie said, already topping up their glasses.

‘I suppose so. It is your birthday party, but don’t go too mad. How was your night out? You haven’t said much about it,’ Jessica asked.

As she screwed the lid back onto the vodka bottle, Frankie smiled. ‘It was a bit boring, to be honest, Mum.’

The ringing of the doorbell stopped Jessica from prying any more. ‘Get that, Joey!’ she yelled.

Joey’s heart leaped as he answered it. ‘Come in, Dom. All right, Wes? Say hello to me mum, boys,’ he said, as calmly as he could.

Jessica kissed Wesley, then turned her attention to Dominic. ‘Nice to meet you, at last. I know my Joey spends hours talking to you on the phone, but we haven’t met before, have we?’

‘No, Mrs Mitchell,’ Dominic answered politely.

Jessica was shocked by Dominic’s appearance. He was obviously into bodybuilding or something and looked years older than Joey or Wesley.

Dominic had been in this situation in the past with other boyfriends’ parents. He knew exactly how to play it. ‘Your Joey likes coming out with me, Mrs Mitchell. We pull so many girls, we’re babe magnets, aren’t we Joey?’ he joked.

Joey nodded dumbly.

Frankie’s pals arrived shortly after Joey’s. ‘Where did yous sneak off to last night? Joey said you went to a party in Dagenham,’ Frankie asked them.

‘Our night was probably boring compared to yours. The party was crap. Who was that boy you were with?’ Stacey pried.

‘He was gorgeous,’ Demi added.

‘I’ve never seen you behave like that before, Frankie. You looked well loved-up with him, you did,’ Paige giggled.

‘Oh, I’ve known him for years. It’s a long story, I’ll tell you later. Don’t mention him in front of my parents and don’t mention the Berwick Manor. If any one asks, we went to the pub, then back to yours, Stacey.’

Joyce heard a car engine and almost flew towards the window. ‘Here they are. She’s pretty, Stanley. Looks posh, she does. A bit thin. I’ll have to get Raymond to bring her around ours. I can soon fatten her up – looks like she needs a good dinner, she does.’

Stanley scowled at his wife. She had just moved quicker than his bloody pigeons could. ‘For Christ’s sake, Joycie, don’t start with your comments and embarrass our Raymond, will you?’

Joyce looked at Stanley as though he were something
on the bottom of her shoe. ‘Since when have I ever embarrassed anyone?’ she asked innocently.

As her son and Polly walked towards her, Joyce smiled at the girl and, unable to stop herself, did a little curtsy.

‘Whatever are you doing, Mother?’ Raymond asked her.

Joyce ignored him. ‘Pleased to meet you, Polly. My Raymond’s told me so much about you. This is my husband, Stanley. Stanley, stand up and shake Polly’s hand.’

Jessica stood in the doorway with Vicki. Unable to stifle their laughter, they fled back to the kitchen. Raymond followed them.

‘Mother’s off her fucking head. Pour Polly a glass of red wine, sis. I’ll have a beer. This is gonna be a nightmare, I just know it.’

‘Get us another lager, Ed. You got any stronger than five per cent?’ Ronny asked his brother.

Eddie had put a load of cold beers in a black dustbin in the garden and filled it with blocks of ice. ‘I dunno what’s in there. I’ll have a look for you,’ he said.

Ronny raced towards the bin in his wheelchair. ‘I’ll have the Stella. Five point two, that is,’ he said snatching two cans.

Eddie sat back down. He and Paulie had just been discussing their father’s murder.

‘So, where do we go from here? I’ve chased up Dad’s old contacts in the filth and they still reckon they ain’t got nothing. They said they never found as much as a fingerprint,’ Paulie said.

Eddie felt the usual fire in his belly as he discussed his father’s death. He had spoken to every underworld contact he knew ten times over, and no one had heard anything. The Old Bill still reckoned it was something to do with the kids that had been hanging around the area,
being a nuisance, but Eddie wasn’t so sure. How could a bunch of kids bludgeon to death a gangland legend and not leave a fucking clue?

Eddie swallowed his beer in one go. ‘I’ll pop round to see all Dad’s neighbours again this week. I’ll knock on every door for miles if I have to. Some cunt must know, or at least have heard something.’

Paulie nodded. ‘It just don’t seem fucking feasible, none of it, does it?’