Shafted Read online

  ‘I don’t want you to change,’ she told him earnestly, pressing her knees into his under the table. ‘I just want things to change. I never want to hear you mention that bitch again. And I’ve had enough of you always being on the run so I don’t know if you’ll be home from one night to the next.’

  ‘Keep the money turning over, and I won’t have to do anything too strenuous when I get out,’ Dex said. Then, glancing quickly around to make sure that his mother wasn’t on her way back yet, he said, ‘Subject of money: I’ve had an idea how to get a big wedge fast . . .’

  Narrowing her eyes as she made her way back to the table a couple of minutes later and saw Dex and Gaynor with their heads close in conversation, Nora deliberately ruined what she took to be a tender moment by plonking herself down in her chair, saying loudly, ‘Even the bloody tea woman’s talking about that pervert. Apparently, that girl was on the news this morning as well as in the paper. Must have missed that when we was on our way here – eh, Gay?’ She gave Gaynor a sharp dig in the ribs with her elbow.

  Sitting wearily back in his seat, Dex said, ‘Mam, I know exactly what’s going on out there. We have got a telly, you know. And we get the papers every morning, so I don’t need a running commentary every time I see you. It’s bad enough when I call you, ’cos you waste most of me time waffling on about shit.’

  ‘I like talking to you,’ Nora said, looking hurt by his dismissive tone. ‘And Logan’s got my goat over what he did to you, so excuse me if I can’t help but dream about getting the lads together to give him a going-over.’

  ‘Will you just leave it?’ Dex moaned. ‘We both know he’d end up dead if they went steaming in, and then I’d never get my bleedin’ hands on him.’

  Folding her arms, Nora said, ‘I don’t know what the bloody hell’s up with you since you got in here, but you ain’t yourself, I can tell you that for nowt. There was a time you’d have had him strung up for this, but now you’re acting like you want to protect him, or something.’

  ‘Behave,’ Dex snarled, angry with her for making out that he’d lost his bottle. ‘All I’m saying is there’s plenty of ways to skin a rat, and he’s gonna get his. But it’s gonna be me who sorts him.

  Till then, you just keep your neck in and your nose out. And quit hassling Gaynor, ’cos she’s the one who’s bringing the money in now. Got that?’

  Giving a grudging nod, Nora let it drop and spent the last ten minutes of the visit telling Dex about Molly’s upcoming school trip to Austria.

  ‘’Course, she’ll need spending money on top of the cost of the trip,’ she said at the end, smiling sarcastically at Gaynor now as she added, ‘If that’s all right with your ladyship? Only I wouldn’t want to be begging for handouts or nothing.’

  Telling her that Gaynor would make sure she got whatever she needed, and that he wanted to speak to Molly later so she should make sure that she stayed in to wait for his call, Dex was relieved when the bell rang to signal that visiting time was over. Staying in his seat until his mother and Gaynor had gone, he narrowed his eyes and cracked his knuckles sharply, enjoying the dull spears of pain which shot through his hands.

  Which was nothing to the pain Logan was going to feel when Dex got hold of him. And it looked like fate might just be conspiring to orchestrate that reunion a little sooner than he’d hoped. Fate, and a little persuasive interference from Molly.

  18

  Tania hid in her flat after the news crew had gone, refusing to answer the numerous knocks on her door in case it was more reporters. She’d been horrified to hear that Sam Brady had taken her comment about having sex at fifteen and turned it into an admission that it had been with Larry. She couldn’t blame him for misunderstanding, but she felt really stupid for letting her guard down like that and confiding in him. He’d made out like they were just having a chat, but he’d obviously been interviewing her all along, and now everyone thought that Larry was a paedophile. She just hoped that Larry understood it had been a mistake when she got a chance to tell him what had really happened, because she would never have dropped him in it if Sam hadn’t got her drunk and twisted her head up.

  Venturing out cautiously when it got dark, Tania slipped through the caretaker’s tool-room door at the pitch-dark rear of the flats to avoid the reporters who were still hanging about outside the front entrance. Putting her hood up and her head down, she dashed to the shops with the money that Sam Brady had slipped her the night before.

  As soon as she got there, some girls spotted her and came rushing over to tell her that they’d seen her on the telly and in the paper. Feeling a bit like a movie star as they gushed all over her, telling her how fantastic she’d looked and asking her about Larry, Tania played it cool. Now that she’d had the exposure she needed to get Larry’s attention, she didn’t want to risk doing any more damage by telling people things he’d rather they didn’t know. So, giving the girls – and the rest of the customers who’d wandered into the shop in the meantime and were hanging around listening – a secretive smile, she told them that she’d promised Larry not to say anything else until they’d had a chance to get together for a private chat, but that they’d be the first to know if there was any news after that. Then, buying a paper, cigarettes, and the few groceries she needed, she rushed out, leaving them to speculate about whether she’d been hinting about news of the wedding or baby variety.

  Making her way home now, alternating between feelings of wild joy at having achieved the fame she’d dreamed of for so long and guilt that she’d said something potentially harmful about Larry again – which needed rectifying if she was to stand any chance of getting him to see her – Tania didn’t notice the girl and the woman on the other side of the road. Dressed in dark clothes, with their own heads covered, they were carefully staying just a step behind her so that she wouldn’t spot them. But even if she did and decided to run, they weren’t worried, because she wouldn’t get too far.

  Sneaking back in through the caretaker’s door, which she’d wedged ajar with a brick, Tania was about to close it behind her when it was pushed roughly open again and two shadowy figures came in. Stepping nervously back as they approached her with just the whites of their eyes visible as they stared out from under their hoods, she scraped her hand on the rough brick wall, searching for the door back into the flats. But just as she reached it, one of the figures lunged at her.

  Crying out, Tania was immediately silenced by a vicious punch in the stomach. Slumping down to her knees as a wave of nausea washed over her, she raised her hands to protect her face as the attacker grabbed at her hood, yanking her by it and her hair back to her feet.

  ‘Please don’t hurt me,’ she whimpered, sure that she was about to be raped. ‘Please . . . I’m a virgin.’

  Laughing nastily, Molly said, ‘Hear that? Reckons she’s a virgin.’

  Coming towards them now, having made sure that the door was secured, Jane gripped Tania by the front of her jacket and slammed her back against the wall. Lowering her face until they were eye to eye, she hissed, ‘You ain’t no virgin, you lying little bitch, but you’ll wish you was dead and buried if you don’t do as you’re told. Got that?’

  Nodding quickly, her stare darting from the woman to the girl, Tania was terrified. She’d thought they were men, but at least men would only have raped her. Girls were much more vicious, and there was no telling what they would do to her – or why. Although it was a pretty good bet that it had something to do with Larry.

  She was right, but not in the way she’d imagined. Because Molly and Jane weren’t there to give her a beating for getting off with their hero; they were there to take Dex’s plan for revenge to the next stage.

  ‘You told them on the news this morning that you was lying about only being fifteen when you shagged Logan,’ Molly said now, gripping Tania’s face and squeezing it so hard that Tania felt like her jaw was about to break.

  ‘Yeah, ’cos the papers got it wrong,’ Tania croaked painfully, misunderstandin
g again and thinking they were annoyed with her for getting Larry into trouble. ‘They said I’d said it, but I hadn’t. And that’s what I told them on the news.’

  ‘Quit fucking spitting on me,’ Molly hissed, giving her a slap.

  Crying now, because her face was hurting and she was so scared, Tania said, ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. And I’m going to tell everyone I never said that, I swear it.’

  ‘No, you ain’t,’ Molly snarled, squeezing even tighter. ‘You’re gonna say you did sleep with him when you was fifteen. And you’d better make sure they believe you, or you’re dead.’

  Squealing with pain when Molly shoved a hand between her legs now, grasping and twisting her crotch, Tania cried, ‘I don’t understand.’

  ‘You don’t need to understand,’ Jane told her, peering darkly into her eyes. ‘You just need to do as you’re told, or we’ll be back. And if you was scared when you thought you was about to get raped just now, you ain’t seen nothing yet, ’cos we’ve got some guys lined up for you who’d split your arse in half, then lick the blood off it for fun – and pay us for the privilege!’

  ‘And if you think this is a joke,’ Molly chipped in, ‘just try us and see what happens, ’cos we know where to find you. And we know where your mam and dad live, an’ all. So pull any stunts, like calling the police, and you’ll all be dead. And you’d better believe it won’t be fast,’ she added nastily, giving another sadistic twist to Tania’s crotch. ‘It’ll be slow and really painful, like this.’

  Sobbing now, Tania said, ‘I’ll do whatever you want, but please don’t hurt me or my mum. Please . . . I’m begging you!’

  Looking at each other, Jane and Molly nodded simultaneously. Then, turning back to Tania, Jane said, ‘So, what you gonna say?’

  ‘That I was fifteen the first time I slept with him,’ Tania gasped, the pain from her crotch and her face searing her entire body.

  ‘And why are they gonna believe you this time? ’Cos you’re gonna have to be convincing after all the lying and taking it back you’ve done so far.’

  Tears pouring down her cheeks now as she betrayed the man she loved for the sake of her own skin, Tania howled,‘I know about the b-birthmark on his dick.’

  Sneering, Molly said, ‘So you did sleep with him, you dirty little slag. You wanna be ashamed of yourself for letting an old man like that touch you! Aren’t you ashamed, eh?’

  ‘Yeah!’ Tania sobbed.

  ‘And what are you?’

  ‘A dirty slag!’

  ‘That’s right. And no one cares about dirty slags, so don’t think no one will care when they find you dead with your arse ripped open.’

  ‘Just one more thing,’ Jane chipped in, getting an irritated look from Molly for ruining her fun. ‘You don’t say nothing for a week. And I don’t care how many reporters come knocking, you keep your gob shut for one full week from today. Then you go and tell them all about you and Larry when you was fifteen. Understand?’

  Giving Tania one last winding punch in the stomach when she nodded, Molly said, ‘Just make sure you do as you’re told, or we’ll be seeing you again – soon.’

  Leaving Tania in a heap on the floor, Jane and Molly snuck back out the way they’d come and ran across the field behind the flats.

  Laughing as they stumbled against each other in the dark, Jane said, ‘You’re your dad’s daughter, all right, you. Where d’y’ come up with all that mafia shit?’

  ‘You,’ Molly retorted amusedly. ‘Me dad always said you was a nutter.’

  ‘Like hell,’ Jane chuckled, pleased that Dex still saw the spark in her.

  Climbing through the gap in the fence at the far end of the field, they ran to Patrick’s car and climbed in, relieved to have made it so far without being seen. Turning the key in the ignition, Jane cursed under her breath when it spluttered like an old man after a lifetime on Woodbines. She had wanted to use Dex’s Jag but Nora had vetoed that again, even though she knew that they were doing this for him. She reckoned he’d forbidden her to let anyone touch it, but Jane knew she was just being selfish because she wanted to keep all of his stuff to herself. Still, Dex would regret letting her keep such a tight grip on his motor because it was going to be a rust bucket by the time he got out if no one had been allowed to maintain it.

  ‘I could kill your nan sometimes,’ she muttered after her third unsuccessful attempt.

  ‘Funny, that’s what she says about you,’ Molly retorted cheekily, reaching into the glove compartment for her mum’s cigarettes.

  ‘Light me one, an’ all,’ Jane told her, finally getting the car started. ‘And your nan loves me, for your information.’

  ‘In your dreams,’ Molly snorted, passing Jane’s cigarette to her. ‘She can’t stand you.’

  ‘Yeah, well, she’d best get used to me,’ Jane muttered, pulling out onto the road and setting off for Nora’s house. ‘When your dad gets out I’m planning on spending a lot of time round at your nan’s. Till I persuade him to come home where he belongs.’

  ‘Behave,’ Molly sneered. ‘He ain’t gonna leave Bitchy-Poo for you.’

  ‘Is that right?’ Jane replied, a knowing half-smile on her face. ‘Just shows what you know, then, doesn’t it? ’Cos me and your dad have never stopped loving each other. He was round my place all the time before he got banged up.’

  ‘Yeah, whatever,’ Molly drawled, sure that her mother was making it up. Her dad might well have gone round there for the occasional shag, but that was all it was. Much as Molly and the rest of the family loathed Gaynor and wished that he’d bin her, they’d long ago resigned themselves to the fact that he must have some sort of feelings for her. Though God only knew why. Unless, as Molly was beginning to suspect, he was just using her to keep his business going till he got out.

  Driving on in silence, Jane wondered why Molly found it so hard to believe that Dex still found her attractive. All right, she might have exaggerated how often he went round, but he had been popping in throughout the whole time he’d been with Miss Frosty Knickers, so he obviously still wanted her. And Gaynor might well suit his craving for a respectable front, but she’d never be able to give Dex what Jane gave him. She wasn’t smart enough to survive in his world, for starters. And she definitely wasn’t sexy enough to keep him satisfied.

  Jane and Dex had history, and no bitch could ever take that away from her. While she might have messed it up by grassing him up and shagging his mate behind his back that time, he knew she’d only done it for revenge because he’d hurt her one time too many. She’d regretted it ever since, but there was no way you came out and laid yourself at Dex Lewis’s feet with an admission like that. You had to know how to play the game his way, and that meant never admitting you were wrong while leaving the way open for him to come back into your life when he was ready.

  And much as Nora professed to hate her, Jane had her number, too. She might be a vicious old bitch, but behind the snarl she had a damn sight more respect for Jane than she would ever have for Gaynor. And she would get used to Jane being around sooner or later. It was just a different kind of game you had to play with that one.

  As usual, Nora was in the kitchen when Molly and Jane arrived back. She was on the phone to Dex, who had chanced keeping his mobile in his own cell for the night so that he could find out if things were going according to plan.

  Saying, ‘Here they are now, son,’ she looked up at Jane expectantly. ‘How did it go?’

  ‘Like a dream,’ Jane told her, pulling the fridge open without asking and helping herself to a bottle of beer.

  Nora would usually tear a strip off her for being so cheeky, but she let it go this time. Grinning, she said, ‘Hear that, son? They pulled it off, no trouble. You wanna speak to them?’

  Flipping the cap off the bottle, Jane grabbed the phone before Molly could get it and said,‘Hiya, babe, were you missing me?’ Turning her back now, she giggled and whispered, ‘Yeah, me too. And I told you I’d pull it off. I’ve never let you
down, have I?’ Tutting softly when he reminded her that she’d let him down plenty of times, she said, ‘Yeah, but I’m making up for it now. Anyway, I’ll love you and leave you, darlin’, ’cos our little girl wants to talk to you.’ Blowing him a noisy kiss, she handed the phone to Molly, giving her an I-told-you-so smile.

  Plonking herself down in a chair, she winked at Nora and said, ‘Coming together now, eh, Ma?’

  ‘No thanks to that dozy mare Gaynor,’ Nora grumbled, checking her watch. ‘She’s supposed to be fetching some money round, but she’s late, as per.’

  ‘Want me to drive round to the flat and get it off her?’ Jane offered, determined to make herself indispensable.

  Saying, ‘Ta, but you’d best not or his lordship might kick off,’ Nora took her cigarettes out of her pinny pocket and tossed one to Jane – a sure sign that she was thawing, at long last.

  Finishing the call now, Molly put the phone down and turned to her mother and grandmother with a sneer on her face. ‘He says to tell you thanks for coming with me,’ she told Jane, pissed off with her for making a show of shoving herself back into the family. Then, to her nan, ‘And he says you’re to tell the other one to fetch an extra five ton for her.’ She jerked her chin towards her mother. ‘Only you’re not to tell her who it’s for.’

  Hurt that her own daughter didn’t seem to want her to be a part of the Lewis side of the family, Jane’s eyes glinted with something indefinable as she swigged her beer straight from the bottle. But who gave a toss what they thought? Molly, Nora, Patrick, Jimmy, Jason – they could all go to hell if they thought she wasn’t worthy of Dex’s love. And as for Gaynor, that bitch better live it up while she could ’cos her reign was coming to an end – if Jane had anything to do with it.