‘Don’t worry about it,’ Joe said. ‘I’m getting used to it. Anyhow, I’d rather be ignored than get some of the dirty looks I’ve been getting.’
‘Ignorant load of fuckers round here, aren’t we?’ Carl grinned. ‘But Cheryl’s probably invited everyone on the estate, knowing her, so they’ll be cool with you after this.’
‘Hope so,’ Joe said, handing the spliff back to him. ‘Apart from Cheryl, and the old woman from upstairs, you’re the first one who’s actually talked to me. Oh, and my next-door neighbour, but I’d rather he didn’t.’
‘Give you the big welcoming speech, did he?’ Carl asked knowingly. ‘How long he’s lived here, what a load of inbred scummy heathens we all are – that kind of shit?’
‘Something like that, yeah.’
‘Tosser,’ Carl sneered. ‘No one can stand him round here. And he’s lucky he’s still walking after Cheryl’s ex gave him that going-over last year. She tell you about that?’
‘Shay mentioned it,’ Joe told him, lowering his voice to add, ‘That is his name, isn’t it – her ex?’
Nodding, Carl said, ‘Sorry, didn’t realise you’d met him. What did you make of him?’
‘Seemed okay,’ Joe replied neutrally, aware that Carl and Shay might be mates. ‘He came round while I was fixing her washing machine; didn’t really say too much.’
‘Caught you and her alone in here?’ Carl sucked a breath in sharply through his teeth and gave a soft chuckle. ‘Bet he wasn’t happy about that?’
‘Didn’t look too impressed,’ Joe admitted, grinning now as the weed started to take hold. ‘Can’t be sure, but I think he might have made a dig about me being a nonce.’
‘That’ll be ’cos you live next to the freak. Probably thinks youse are setting up a paedo ring or something.’
‘No way!’
‘Only messing.’ Carl grinned, his eyes as red now as Joe’s were beginning to feel. ‘Anyhow, take no notice of Shay. He talks big but there’s worse than him around.’
‘Yeah, I think I’ve met one of them. Big fella with a pitbull.’
‘Eddie.’ Carl smirked. ‘Yeah, he’s bad, all right. How did you meet him?’
‘We passed on the stairs and his dog tried to go for me,’ Joe told him. ‘I thanked him for keeping it off, and I swear he nearly kicked my head in.’
‘You’d be lucky if that was all he did,’ Carl said ominously. Then, abruptly changing the subject: ‘So, which side are you on?’
‘Eh?’ Joe gazed at him blankly.
‘Footie,’ Carl explained. ‘City, or a dickhead?’
Grinning, Joe shrugged. ‘Guess I’m a dickhead.’
‘Bloody hell, it’s not often you hear a man admit that,’ Vee laughed, coming back into the kitchen just then. ‘Hear that, girls? Joe’s a dickhead.’
Pushing past her, Cheryl gave him an apologetic smile. ‘I’m so sorry. She’s not with me – honest.’
Joe and Carl exchanged an amused glance and burst out laughing.
‘Looks like someone’s had a bit too much wacky,’ Lisa observed.
‘Oh, that reminds me,’ Vee said, reaching into her bag for her purse. ‘Can I get a twenty, Carl? And make sure it’s bigger than the last one, ’cos that was well under.’
A tiny wave of paranoia washed over Carl as the self-preservatory part of his mind reminded him that he’d only just met Joe and didn’t yet know if he could be trusted. But a quick glance at the man’s wasted eyes and inane grin soon dispelled it. Like Cheryl had said, he was one of them – and he definitely didn’t look the type to grass. Relaxing, he took some bags out of his pocket and handed one to Vee.
‘Anyone else while the shop’s open?’
‘Can you do me a lay-on?’ Lisa asked. ‘I don’t get paid till next Thursday.’
‘No probs.’ Carl handed a bag to her. ‘What about you, Joe?’
‘Er, yeah, why not? Can you do me a tenner?’
Passing a bag over, Carl shook his head when Joe put his hand in his pocket. ‘Nah, keep it. Cheryl owes you, so she can give it to me instead.’
Sidling up behind him, Mel prodded him in the shoulder and hissed, ‘You’re not supposed to be doing lay-ons any more.’
‘Leave it out,’ Carl snapped, jerking his shoulder away from her. ‘They’re mates.’
‘Well, don’t blame me when you land yourself in the shit,’ Mel huffed, flouncing away to get herself yet another drink.
Sticking two fingers up at her back, Carl downed his beer and waggled the empty bottle at Cheryl.
‘God, you’re such a lazy git!’ she complained, tossing him a fresh one as another knock came at the door.
More and more people began to arrive after that, and the small flat was soon heaving with bodies. Making sure that they were all introduced to Joe, Cheryl left him with Carl and the girls and went off to mingle. And Mel quickly followed when she spotted a group of lads congregating around the stereo in the living room, leaving Carl free to entertain without her miserable face to sour his mood.
Joe was more wasted than he’d ever been before, and he was having a great time. Carl’s repertoire of dirty jokes was hilarious and everyone was cracking up as he reeled them out. Especially Vee, who had plonked herself on Joe’s lap and kept jiggling up and down when she laughed so that her tits were bouncing in his face like lovely soft airbags. Yeah, he was having a great time.
At just gone twelve, a latecomer arrived and, picking up on a subtle shift in the atmosphere, Joe glanced around. Half expecting it to be Shay he was surprised to see that it was Eddie. And even more surprised to see how fawningly people were greeting him. Given his own less than friendly previous encounter with the man he’d have expected people to be giving him a wide berth, but they all seemed to love him.
Coming into the kitchen to find Cheryl, Eddie gave her a hug. ‘All right, babe?’
‘Yeah, great, thanks,’ she said, looking a little flustered as she turned towards the drinks. ‘There’s not much left but there’s still a few beers if you want one.’
‘Nah, I’m not stopping,’ Eddie told her. ‘I’m on my way out; just thought I’d check everyone’s behaving.’
‘Everything’s cool,’ Cheryl assured him. ‘But thanks, I appreciate it.’
Winking at her, Eddie glanced around to see who was here. Narrowing his eyes slightly when he saw Joe, he flicked his gaze onto Vee. ‘Veronica.’ He nodded.
‘Edward.’ She nodded back.
Casting a hooded glance in Carl’s direction, Eddie turned back to Cheryl. ‘Right, I’m getting off. Give us a shout if anyone steps out of line, yeah?’
‘Thanks, but I should be okay,’ Cheryl said, following him out to the door.
Waiting until she came back, Carl casually eased himself out from behind the table. ‘I need a wazz,’ he said to nobody in particular. ‘Won’t be a minute.’
Eddie was standing outside the main door lighting a cigarette when Carl came out. Jerking his head, he moved into the shadows of the bin cupboard.
Shivering as the icy air bit into him after the stifling heat of the crowded flat, Carl’s hands were shaking as he pulled a wad of money out of his pocket and passed it over.
‘There’s two-sixty there, but I’ve done a few lay-ons tonight so there’ll be more in a few days. And there’s another ton or so upstairs, if you want me to go and get it?’
Shaking his head, Eddie said, ‘I’ll get it tomorrow. Just make sure you’re keeping track of who owes what,’ he added, peering at Carl’s red eyes.
‘I never forget when it comes to dosh,’ Carl assured him. ‘But while you’re here, any chance of giving us a bit more? I’m running low.’
‘Since when have I walked round with shit on me?’ Eddie asked sharply, pocketing the money and taking another drag on his smoke. ‘Who’s the bloke, by the way?’
‘Joe,’ Carl told him, knowing exactly who he meant because that was the only new face at the party. ‘He moved in across from me a few weeks back.
Seems all right.’
A car pulled in off the road and stopped at the end of the path. Telling Carl to meet him at six tomorrow, Eddie strolled out and hopped into the passenger seat.
Back inside, Joe had caught the look that had passed between Carl and Eddie. Guessing that Carl hadn’t really gone to the toilet when he came back now with his arms covered in goose bumps, he looked up at him over Vee’s breasts and asked if everything was okay.
Nodding, Carl rubbed his hands together and looked around. ‘Yo! Where’s all the spliffs gone? I thought this was supposed to be a party!’
It was half-five before people started to drift home. Still sitting in the kitchen with Carl and the girls while Cheryl showed the rest out, Joe yawned loudly.
‘Do you have to?’ Vee complained, catching the bug and stretching her mouth so wide that Joe could see the fillings in her back teeth. ‘God, I’m not looking forward to going home. It’s going to be a right mission.’
‘Oh, yeah, I forgot you’d moved,’ Carl said, glancing up at her sleepily. ‘Where was it you went?’
‘Moved in with that Dave,’ she reminded him, her expression clearly displaying what a mistake that had been. ‘Oh, please come, babe,’ she mimicked. ‘I really need you. Yeah, till the next tart come along, then it was see ya, wouldn’t wanna be ya!’
‘You what? He dumped you?’
‘Yeah, ’cos he’s a two-faced lying piece of shit who can’t keep his dick to himself,’ Vee snarled. ‘So now I’m stopping with my sister, waiting for the council to get its arse in gear and give me something. I should never have given my flat up,’ she added bitterly. ‘I loved it here.’
‘Sorry it didn’t work out, love,’ Carl said sympathetically. ‘But you’ll get something soon.’
‘That’s life,’ Vee said philosophically. ‘But you can give us a lift if you’re feeling sorry for me.’
‘Sorry, no wheels,’ he told her. ‘Pigs confiscated it a few months back and I can’t be arsed looking for another one.’
‘What about you?’ Vee twisted around on Joe’s lap and looked hopefully down at him.
‘Sorry.’ He shook his head. ‘I’m well too wasted to drive.’
‘Any room in your bed for a little one, then?’ She grinned.
‘Oi! I like how you didn’t ask me,’ Carl blurted out, giving her a mock-offended look.
‘Oh, yeah, ’cos I really want to snuggle up next to your skinny bitch of a girlfriend,’ she snorted. Sighing now, she flapped her hands and gave Joe a regretful look. ‘Sorry, babe, you took too long to answer, so I’m going to have to give it a miss.’
Smiling, because he knew she was joking, Joe said, ‘Maybe next time, eh?’
‘If I can be bothered,’ Vee said, winking at him. ‘Ah, well . . . suppose I’d best ring a cab.’
Lisa’s head shot up. ‘Wanna share?’
‘Thought you were skint till Thursday?’ Vee reminded her bluntly.
‘Yeah, but I’ll pay you back,’ Lisa wheedled. ‘Come on, don’t be tight. It’s on your way.’
Muttering ‘Whatever,’ Vee stood up, leaving Joe with a big cold spot across his thighs.
‘Time I hit the sack,’ Carl croaked, getting stiffly to his feet when the girls had gone and stretching his arms above his head. ‘Hope Mel ain’t locked me out. She was proper in one ’cos I didn’t go home with her, but there was no way I was going to bed that early.’
‘Early?’ Joe grinned. ‘It was gone four by the time she left, wasn’t it?’
‘Yeah, and there was still two hours of party left,’ Carl reminded him. Touching fists with him now, he said, ‘Laters,’ and stumbled out.
Cheryl was singing softly to herself when she came into the kitchen a couple of minutes later. Jumping when she saw Joe still sitting there, she said, ‘Bloody hell! I thought you’d gone.’
‘Nope, still here,’ he told her. ‘Thought you might need a hand with the cleaning.’
‘Don’t be daft,’ she protested. ‘It’s my mess, I’ll do it. It won’t take long.’
‘Be faster with two,’ he pointed out. ‘Anyway, most of this is mine, not yours.’ He indicated the table, which was covered in empty bottles, dimps and ash.
Cheryl gave him an amused look. ‘God, your ex must have had you well trained.’
Joe shrugged, but he didn’t deny it, she noticed. Thinking again what a fool his ex had been to let him go, she took a roll of bin bags out from under the sink and handed them to him. She had known most of the people who’d come to the party for a long time, a couple even since primary school, and yet not one had offered to stay behind and help clear up. But here was Joe, a man she’d known for a matter of weeks, not only offering but insisting.
Scooping all the mess off the table and the ledges into the bag, Joe tied a knot in the top when it was full. Tearing another off the roll, he glanced up at Cheryl. ‘It was a good night, wasn’t it?’
‘Yeah, it was great,’ she agreed, switching the kettle on and taking a couple of cups out of the cupboard. ‘I’m just amazed there were no fights. There’s usually at least one, isn’t there?’
‘I think your friend might have had something to do with that,’ Joe commented, carefully tipping an overloaded ashtray into the second bag. ‘The big guy – Eddie, is it?’
‘I suppose he might have had a hand in it,’ Cheryl conceded, spooning coffee into the cups.
‘What’s the score with him and Vee?’ Joe asked. ‘I got the feeling things were a bit strained between them.’
‘They just don’t like each other.’ Cheryl shrugged. ‘She used to be mates with his girlfriend, but they had a big fallout so they don’t speak.’
‘I see,’ Joe said, going on casually, ‘And what about you? You seem to know him pretty well.’
‘Mmm,’ Cheryl murmured. ‘I kind of went out with him once.’
‘Really?’ Joe was surprised. ‘He doesn’t seem your type.’
‘He’s not,’ Cheryl agreed, avoiding Joe’s eye as she poured water into the cups. Sounding embarrassed now, she said, ‘I was only fourteen, but he was twenty, so I lied and said I was older. We hadn’t been seeing each other long enough to do anything, but we were getting there, so he went off his head when he found out. When I got this flat I found out he was already living up on the fourth. But there was nothing either of us could do about it by then, so . . .’ Trailing off, she shrugged. ‘We just sort of agreed to put it behind us.’
‘So you get on all right now?’ Joe asked, understanding why she’d seemed flustered when Eddie had arrived, because it was obviously a bit of a sore subject.
‘I think he feels like he’s got to look out for me,’ Cheryl told him. ‘But there’s no way I’d ever go out with him again. I know he’s good-looking but he’s not the kind of man I’d want to get involved with.’ Looking at Joe now, she gave him a sheepish smile. ‘Now you know my dirty secret. Do you think I’m terrible?’
‘For what?’ Joe asked, knotting the second bag. ‘Everyone’s done stuff they wish they hadn’t. Doesn’t make you a bad person.’
‘Suppose not,’ Cheryl agreed. ‘Doubt Shay would see it like that, though. He’d go crazy if he knew. I’m sure he thinks I was a virgin when we got together.’
‘Some guys are weird like that,’ Joe told her, picking up the bags. ‘But women can be just as bad. I’ve had a few of those let’s be honest and tell each other everything conversations, and believe me it’s easier to lie, ’cos they just chuck it all back in your face when you have a row. Probably best to let Shay carry on thinking he was the first and last, eh?’
‘In his dreams,’ Cheryl snorted, having already decided that there was no way she was spending the rest of her life licking up the crumbs that Jayleen left on her plate when there were so many gorgeous men out there for the eating.
Leaving her to her thoughts, Joe carried the bags out and dumped them in the communal wheelie bin. Just as he was heading back inside, the four girls he’d seen on his first morni
ng appeared. Holding the door for them, he wasn’t surprised when the first three scuttled through without looking at him. But the last one glanced up at him as she passed and their eyes met for the briefest of moments, leaving him with a strange feeling in his stomach.
‘What’s up?’ Cheryl asked when he came back into the flat with a thoughtful frown on his face.
Reaching for his brew, Joe said, ‘Nothing, really. I just saw some girls and they got me thinking.’
‘Four of them? Dressed like tarts?’
‘Mmm. I saw them when I was moving in, and they just seem a bit – I don’t know . . . odd.’
‘They’re not odd, they’re ignorant,’ Cheryl corrected him with a sneer. ‘You can be standing right in front of them and they’ll make out like they can’t even see you. And you know they’re prostitutes, don’t you?’
‘Really?’
‘Well, obviously I don’t know for sure, but that’s what everyone round here thinks. Why else would they come in at this time every morning and only ever go out late at night? And normal girls don’t dress like that, do they?’
‘I guess not.’
‘I think it’s disgusting,’ Cheryl went on, lighting a cigarette and pursing her lips prudishly. ‘But Chrissie’s obviously not bothered what they do for a living so long as they pay their rent.’
‘Chrissie?’ Joe repeated.
‘Oh, sorry, I forgot you don’t really know anyone yet.’ Sitting down, Cheryl pulled the ashtray across the table. ‘She’s Eddie’s girlfriend. She’s got the flat next to his, but she lives with him.’ Pausing, she gave Joe a guarded look. ‘You’d best not repeat any of this ’cos I don’t think anyone’s supposed to know.’
‘Course I won’t. But you don’t have to tell me if you’re worried.’
Feeling guilty, because he obviously thought she didn’t trust him, Cheryl said, ‘It’s Molly I’m thinking about, not me. She lives a few doors down, and she let slip that she’d seen him letting the girls in and out of Chrissie’s place. Only she begged me not to say anything in case he found out and had a go at her.’
The Driver Page 5
