Rotten to the Core (15 page)

Kate
missed Billy so much, and sometimes really needed him around. But on speaking to Jay one night after a very rare early night together, he had all but implied that it
had
been Billy
who had attacked him
. He wouldn’t discuss it with her, and he didn’t actually say the words, but he had implied it clearly enough to her. Maybe that was half of Jay
’
s problem with her at the moment
,
she thought,
he
had been really funny with her when he had first come home from hospital, he had gone nuts at Sonia for letting Kate move in without consulting him,
and
Kate had felt very unwelcome
.
Then he
had
spent the next few
d
ays constantly telling her not to go through his stuff
, and
that she wasn’t to be poking around, he was acting very odd.

At first Kate had put it down to her being a little over-sensitive, with her hormones and everything, but it had just gone from bad to worse
. Th
en she
had
thought
that
maybe some of it was resentment for what her brother had done to him
,
that they were just experiencing what most couples did from time to time, a rough patch. It was all new to both of them
,
this baby stuff
;
Kate was more than aware of just how scary it all was
. P
erhaps Jay
was
scared of becoming a dad, settling down, and supporting them all. Kate just wanted to see him smile at her like he used to, and to want her like he used to. Jay seemed not to be that bothered at
all
by
her, and he didn’t seem to be interested in the baby either, but after long talks with Sonia, Kate felt a bit more reassured about that one.

Sonia and Kate had become good friends over the past few weeks and often spent the morning
s
gossiping over mugs of tea and buttered toast
.
Sonia was obviously excited about being a grandmother
;
she was forever coming up with cute baby names
,
hoping to inspire Kate, and making suggestions about places they could take the baby once it
was
born
.
S
he was a tonic and Kate would have
felt
lost without her. When Kate had been close to tears one morning because of Jay
’
s total lack of interest in the baby‘s first kick, Sonia reassured her that while women feel an instant connection with the life that
wa
s growing inside them, men sometimes d
id
n’t have any feelings towards the baby until it
was
actually
t
here
.
T
hat
was
when the baby bec
a
me ‘real’ to them. It made sense in Kate’s mind, and she hoped that when they did have the baby, Jay would be a good dad.

There were times when loneliness washed over Kate
.
S
he hadn’t heard from Emma now for five weeks, the last two times she
ha
d been round there Emma had been acting really odd
ly
, and now Kate knew for sure that she was taking something, she decided to keep away, she didn’t want anything happening to her baby and hopefully Emma would realise that if she wanted to see her then she could, but only if she wasn’t off her head on drugs.

The biggest hole
had
come f
rom cutting Billy out of her life, and now Jay was becoming even more distant, Sonia seemed like Kate
’
s only friend,
and as nice as that was
,
Kate needed more. She didn’t want to burden Jay even more than she already had, so she
had
decided that she needed to make her own money. Kate was bored of sitting around all the time, she was pregnant not ill, so when she saw this little part
-
time job advertised
,
she
decided
that she would
apply
for it, earn some cash to buy her baby some nice things, and get out of the house for a bit too.

Kate had decided not to tell
Jay about the interview yet
,
as she wasn’t holding out much hope of getting it, but she was sure that he would be made up for her if she did get it
.
He
would be pleased that she could pay her own way. Sonia had insisted that she needn’t worry about
paying
rent while she lived
there, and Kate had decided to e
arn her keep
and
help out around the house, washing dishes, doing the laundry, whatever needed doing, it was the least that she could do.

Kate
had never realised how lazy Jay was
;
most days he laid in bed until midday, then he would slob about for a couple of hours, drinking strong coffee and chain smoking, despite her asking him to stop because of the baby. Then from about three o’clock most afternoons he was gone, “doing business
,
” he would vaguely add when asked, and Kate
rarely
saw him again until the early hours when he crawled into bed next to her.
             
Things needed to change
;
this wasn’t how Kate had seen her and her baby’s future
,
and fingers crossed if she did get this little job, things would be better for them all. Maybe she would treat Jay to something with her first pay
to
show him that she really loved him. Once they were back on track things would be fine.
             
Feeling better
,
Kate picked up her bag and made her way to the interview
;
she was going to arrive a few minutes early,
to
show willing, she had loads of time to get there
;
besides
,
Goldie’s nightclub was only a few streets away.
 

16

Opening her eyes,
Emma
looked around the room. Had he gone? The bedroom door was open, and
she couldn’t hear anything
in the house. Relief washed over her
;
he had gone, thank
God
. Emma was aching all over, her head was pounding and she felt
as if
she had been run over by a truck.
Emma
rolled over on her bed and tried to sit up but pain seared through her. Reaching over to her side table, she saw the fifty pound note on the side
;
biting her lip to stop the tremble
,
she couldn’t help but feel the insult. She reached down to the draw
er
in the table and took out her little bag of gear and struggled to keep from crying, it was almost empty. Snorting the contents and laying back against the stale
, grey
sheets, she felt the drug run through her body, helping to block out the last few hours of torture she had to endure.

Last night had been a bad one, a fucking bad one. The guy Jay had sent had been a nutcase, a proper loon. He had tied her up to start with,
using
black masking tape, and at first she had made a few light
-
hearted jokes about him being kinky, but he
had
breath
ed
really heav
il
y and stared at her, hate gleaming
from his eyes
. She
’d
started to get scared then
,
asked him to untie her, told him that this was not how she did things. But he
had
bound her even tighter. She had begged him, but he
had
just covered her mouth with the tape too. He had whispered in her ear
,
while he gagged her that she was a dirty slag and he was going to teach her a lesson
.
 
A
fter dozens of punches, he grabbed her so tightly around the
throat
that
Emma passed out, and then he brutally t
ook
her while she was out cold. She was sore beyond belief,
looking down
at her top
she saw
that
it
was torn almost in half and winced at the sight of
one
exposed breast, covered in bite marks and bruises.

He
hadn’t
looked odd when Emma had first let him in
.
H
e
had
said his name was Alan
.
A
t first
,
he
ha
d been very
quiet, and
o
n first impressions
,
Emma would have had him done as some sort of nerdy train
spotter. Guess you never can tell about people on looks alone
.
 
She rubbed the red marks on her wrists;
the binding
had been so tight. She had never been so scared. The reality of her ordeal was sinking in
;
he could have killed her.
But
then
to
leave money, Emma couldn’t believe it
.
H
e had paid to rape her. And somewhere in her mind
, to leave only
fifty pounds was an added insult.

Emma
was out of her depth
.
God
knows what she would do
next.
She couldn’t work out how she had let it get this far
.
O
ne minute she was in bed with Jay, thinking that she had a chance with him and doing her upmost to please him, the next thing she knew
,
Jay
was
persuading her to
“
entertain
”
one of his wealthy “friends”
.
Jay had made it sound glamorous. He said that he had “friends”
who wou
ld pay good money for Emma’s company,
“
friends” who wanted someone young and eager like Emma. Not only would she make lots of cash, but he promised that he would keep her in
a constant
supply of coke.

The first time it had actually gone quite well, it was a businessman from the
USA
, he was gorgeous, loaded
, and in fifteen
minutes Emma had
earned two hundred pounds. He hadn’t really spoken to
her,
he
had
just got what he wanted and
left
. Not the most mind
-
blowing sex she’d ever had but definitely the quickest money she’d ever made, and with the guy being so good looking it was hardly a chore. Jay had given her a big bag of gear as a thank
you and told her there was more where that had come from. It had seemed so easy
.
Emma thought that she could handle it, and that with Jay by her side she
woul
d be okay. That was the plan
,
anyway
;
the reality was far from that.

Jay had sent her some real weirdoes lately, lots of them. She had told him that she wasn’t doing it anymore
. It
had been a novelty at first, but she was beginning to feel used and dirty, but Jay wasn’t having any of it, he stopped giving her the gear knowing that she had become totally addicted to it now.

When she had tried to score coke elsewhere,
she had found that
it wasn’t the same as Jay’s stuff, it wasn’t as potent
;
it
didn’t give her the hit she craved. So after a bit more persuading from
him
, she had agreed to see some of
his
“friends” again, but this time Jay said he would make things easier for her, he’d deal with the money, and arrangements, look out for her, but he would also be taking a cut.

The condition was
that
she would have an endless supply of gear and still make goo
d money. She
didn’t really feel she had much of a choice
;
she was desperate to get some decent gear off
Jay
again, and to feel that buzz once more. She knew what she was doing, knew what she had become, but she didn’t care
;
all she could think about was getting her
next hit. She had no idea that
the coke
she had become hooked
on,
was actually China White: a form of heroin,
she was completely oblivious.

Emma had done a bit of speed and a line or two of coke when she was out with mates in clubs, and she had indulged in the odd joint, all pretty harmless. But this stuff was different, she craved it. She felt that she needed it as much as
,
if not more than
,
food and water. It was the first thing she thought of when she woke up, and the last thing she thought about
when she went to bed.
Jay had convinced her that it was well
-
cut coke, but she had tried coke
from
some of her more generous clients and nothing compared to the stuff Jay gave her
.
Emma
had her suspicions that it was cut with something else, but no idea that it was
h
eroin that she was now hooked on
:
h
e had her right where he needed her.

Getting up to go to
the
toilet Emma saw blood trickling down her thigh
.
F
ucking bastard, he really had been rough with her. She
had
almost passed out
from
the pain
.
F
eeling totally alone
,
Emma started to cry.
T
here was nobody who would help her. No point calling the
police
, how can a prostitute, who’s been paid, have the cheek to cry rape? She knew she needed to go to hospital,
G
od knows what damage this sick
 
bastard had caused.

Picking up the phone, Emma decided to call Jay
.
H
e was supposed to be looking out for her
;
this would be one mess that he could help her out with
.
H
e owes me big time for this one, she thought
.
H
e could
 
take her to hospital for starters and she was sure that after what she had to suffer because of him and his dodgy fucking “friends“, he owed her a big bag of
gear too. She was going to use this to her advantage
.
A
s he picked up the phone
,
Jay could hardly make out what Emma was saying through her sobs, the last thing she had heard him say was that he would be there in five before he hung up on her
.
N
ow she just had to wait.
 

Paul Goldie didn’t quite know what to make of his morning, but it had just started to improve,
and
greatly. For starters
,
he wasn’t even supposed to be here
.
Suzy
,
his promotions manager
,
was supposed to be here doing all these interviews for him. They
ha
d had a good night last night, the place had once
again
been
packed, and Paul knew that his staff had been working extra hard lately,
and
extra hours
,
as they were short staffed
due to illness
.

The place was making a real name for itself, he had lots of
new
faces using the gentlem
e
n’s lounge upstairs and even a few celebrities treating Goldie’s
 
like their local haunt.

Goldie’s had been mentioned loads on Twitter and had a massive following on
Facebook
too. As great as it all was, Paul was knackered
;
he had got home at three thirty this morning, and had only
put
his head down
for
a few hours when Suzy had rang him to say she couldn’t come in
.
H
er son was sick, and
as
Suzy
was
one of his best workers she would have felt terrible about calling him.

He had needed to sort some paperwork out anyway
,
so when he got
Suzie’s
call he thought that instead of doing a ring around and seeing if he could get one of his senior members of staff to do the interviews, he may as well
do
them himself
:
k
eep an eye on who was being employed.

They only needed cleaners for the morning, a couple more dancers/hostesses for the gentlem
e
n’s lounge, and
two
more bar staff.
Paul
had done
 
a few interviews already this morning, employed a couple of girls
who
had just starting out dancing
: they were
pretty
and
young
,
and
seemed
naive, but then they usually all were to begin with
. Then
they wised up and got shrewd
,
earning some decent cash. The gentlem
e
n’s lounge was proving to be a real hit, his regulars loved it
.
H
e wanted to keep it fresh
;
get a few more girls up there.
A
couple of older girls had come about the cleaner
’
s position
; they seemed to be
hard workers
who said they
want
ed
regular money.
U
p until about five minutes ago
,
the morning had been a bit of a chore.
Now that had changed.
Sipping his coffee
,
he looked across the table to where Kate was sitting
;
yes
,
now things were looking up. She was gorgeous
.
H
e looked her up and down once more
,
taking in the view
;
she was
very
class
il
y
dressed
,
Paul
had thought that she w
as here to apply for a dancer or
hostess position at first, she had the looks and figure for it, and Paul could see that she would get a lot of attention from the g
entlemen
, but once he started talking to her,
he
realised that he had got it wrong. There was an air of innocence about her, not only that, she
seemed
smart.
Kate
had come about the cleaning position, which Paul couldn’t
understand. S
he had been speaking for a couple of minutes now and
he
could tell that this girl had little idea of just how stunning she was.
             
“I’m happy to work whatever hours you have going
,
Mr Goldie, I’m a really reliable worker
.
” He didn’t doubt that.
“You can even put me on a
trial
or something, see how I get on?”
             
Paul smiled and wonder
ed
why such a beautiful girl would
want
to
spend her time picking up empty bottles and scrubbing toilets, when she could be out there doing anything she put her mind to.
“I hope you don’t mind me asking
,
Kate, but why exactly do you want to work here? Obviously Goldie’s is a great place to work
, though.
”
H
e laughed
.
H
e didn’t want to say that cleaning was beneath her.
“You could do pretty much whatever you wanted
,
”
he added.
             
“I just need the money
,
Mr Goldie
.
”