The Promise Read online

  ‘Hear me out,’ he said holding his hand up to stop Josie mid-sentence. ‘We won’t really be “together” together, if that makes sense – we’ll just make it look like we are.’

  Josie shook her head, totally bemused. If she was being completely honest, she was confused as to why pretending to be in a relationship with Trevor was going to be of any benefit to her.

  Still, Trevor persevered.

  ‘It will be a business arrangement just between us. If Delray gets wind of anything, then we say it’s legit. We’re a couple; making a go of it. How would he know anything else?’

  Josie was quiet. Though she still couldn’t for the life of her fathom how this would work out.

  ‘Say I come around … what? Three nights a week? And, in return, you will cook me a nice home-made dinner. Maybe do a bit of washing for me. To all intents and purposes, we’ll look and act like a couple.’

  Josie was trying not to laugh. This was simply absurd. Madness.

  ‘And, of course, you’ll let me stay over?’ Trevor said now, placing his final card on the table.

  ‘Overnight?’

  Trevor nodded.

  ‘Oh, I don’t know about that Trevor… ’ Josie didn’t know what to say. She could see that Trevor was deadly serious about his offer, but she’d never let a punter stay here at the flat before.

  It had always just been her and the girls. The three of them.

  She wasn’t sure that she could manage with Trevor being a fixture here too, even if it was just three nights a week.

  ‘I mean, it’s a lovely idea and all that but I really don’t think—’

  ‘I’ll pay you £600 a month,’ Trevor added, making sure that Josie was clear on exactly how serious he was.

  Suddenly Josie was taking him very seriously indeed.

  He’d already told her how he’d been left a large inheritance from his parents who had passed away. The mortgage on his flat was all paid off. The bills were all being managed. Everything was in order, and yet something very big was missing from Trevor’s life. That’s why he’d first got in contact with her in the first place.

  ‘What’s in it for you?’ Josie asked suspiciously, knowing full well that in the months she’d been seeing him, Trevor had not once made any kind of move on her.

  It wasn’t like the man was getting his share of hot, passionate sex in return for his money.

  Trevor looked down at the table. Picking at the edges of the tablecloth with his fingers.

  ‘It’s a lonely life, Josie, on my own in the flat,’ Trevor said, sincerely. ‘You, and your girls. You’re like a little ready-made family. I guess, for me, it’s more about company. You know. A nice home-made dinner, some good conversation.’

  Josie nodded. That made sense, she thought. Trevor being lonely.

  There was no crime in wanting a bit of company.

  Josie had been familiar with loneliness herself often over the years. Having to carry the weight of looking after and providing for her girls solely on her own shoulders. Life could be a real bastard like that, and six hundred pounds a month would be the answer to her prayers right now.

  It was complete and utter madness, but, in a weird way, Trevor had a point: it might just work. If it meant that she could still earn her wedge and, at the same time, she could keep Delray Anderton as far away from her as possible, then maybe it was the perfect solution to both their problems.

  ‘So we make out we’re a couple? You and me?’

  Trevor nodded.

  ‘And what about my girls? I mean, they live here too,’ Josie said, as an afterthought. Georgie would probably kick up a right stink, but Marnie would be okay about it. Josie was sure.

  ‘They’re not an issue to me, Josie. Like I said, you’re a family. Nothing needs to change.’

  Josie nodded, deep in thought.

  She was already spending the money in her head before she’d even earned it. Gulping down her glass of wine in one, she thought that, somehow, it just made sense. She was currently up shit creek without so much as a broken paddle, and Trevor was offering to bail her out.

  She’d be a fool not grab the opportunity with both hands.

  Nodding, she grinned at Trevor – now decided – as she held up her glass to toast their newly formed business arrangement.

  ‘Okay, let’s give it a go,’ she said. ‘To us!’

  Beggars couldn’t be choosers, after all, besides, where was the harm?

  It was about time Josie Parker caught a lucky break.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Hearing his phone ring, Delray Anderton rolled over and tutted loudly, irritated by the unexpected distraction that had drawn him out of his sleep.

  He must have dozed off. Javine had completely knackered him out earlier. The girl was better than he’d expected. She certainly knew what she was doing between the sheets, and together with her tight, toned body, and her perky luscious tits, the girl was like a walking, talking wet dream come true.

  Delray was smitten.

  He always picked his girls well.

  Now though, draped across the bed in all her naked glory, with her arms locked around his, she was starting to get on his nerves. She was too clingy. Delray fucking hated that.

  Shrugging the girl away from him, he grabbed his phone from the bedside cabinet.

  ‘Tiffany? What’s up?’ He was instantly vexed at being disturbed at this late hour. Whatever she was calling for it had better be good.

  Earlier in the evening Lenny had dropped the girl off at the Mayfair Park Hotel to one of Delray’s most important customers. Richard Epping was a copper, and Delray was making sure that the bloke was being properly looked after by sending his pick of the girls.

  ‘Tiffany?’ he said, screwing his face up as the girl sobbed down the phone at him.

  ‘What the fuck’s going on? What’s happened?’

  ‘I’m locked in this bloke’s en suite, Delray. You need to come and get me. He’s off his head. He’s shoved that much coke up his nostrils that he doesn’t know what day of the week it is. He started choking me, and when I managed to get away he started getting really rough with me. I’m bleeding… ’ Tiffany spoke through her sobs.

  Delray rubbed his head, fuming with the fact that the greedy pig he was trying to butter up had the cheek to take advantage of his generous gift to him tonight. He could hear shouting in the background. A loud banging sound as Tiffany continued to cry.

  ‘What the fuck is that?’

  ‘He’s trying to break the door down, Delray!’ Tiffany sounded scared now, and rightly so, the bloke sounded like a total nutjob.

  ‘Fuck sake! Okay, just hang on, yeah? I’ll be there as quick as I can.’

  Putting the phone down, Delray dragged the covers from his body, wondering, briefly, if he could just send Lenny to sort it out.

  Richard Epping was a first-class prick. The bloke clearly couldn’t handle a few lines. Delray had cut him a favour tonight sending him Tiffany free of charge. It was supposed to be a symbol of their new-found friendship. To seal the little arrangement they now had going that Richard Epping would oversee any problems that arose should Delray ever need a pig in his pocket. Only, the cheeky fucker sounded liked he’d gone too fucking far.

  It was nothing a few slaps wouldn’t sort out; but he’d have to deal with this himself, personally.

  Richard Epping sounded like he needed a little lesson in learning some fucking respect.

  Delray sat up and swung his legs off the side of the bed.

  On the plus side, he thought, this might just give him that extra bit of leverage over the cunt… having the knowledge that he’d tried to rape and beat a helpless, young girl. If you looked hard enough, there was always a bright side.

  ‘What’s up, baby?’ Javine purred.

  ‘I’m going to have to shoot out. I’ve got some shit I need to deal with.’

  ‘But it’s three o’clock in the morning! Surely whatever it is can wait.’ Pulling herself up onto
her elbows, she didn’t bother hiding her incredulity.

  ‘It’s business,’ Delray replied curtly, not offering any further explanation as he shrugged on his crisp white shirt. ‘My business.’

  His eyes flashed her a warning. Instantly het up by Javine’s whiney voice, he didn’t take kindly to being told what he could and couldn’t do. Delray never answered to anyone, especially not a woman, and he wasn’t going to start now; only, Javine was too angry or too thick to read the signals.

  Persisting, the girl continued to pout: ‘Can’t it just wait until the morning?’ Crawling across the bed, her pert bare arse sticking up into the air, she was trying her hardest to look sultry.

  She was testing him. If he wanted her badly enough, he’d stay at home with her. Fuck the business; that could wait.

  Grabbing at Delray’s boxer shorts as he tried to buckle up his trousers, she playfully scraped her long painted nails across his navel.

  ‘Come on, baby, we got our own business to attend to. You’re not going to just leave me here, are you?’

  Stepping back, Delray didn’t bother to answer her.

  Javine could look as fucking doe-eyed as she pleased, but business was business, and no woman – no matter how good a fuck she was – was going to get in the way of how he ran things around here. He hadn’t got where he was today by listening to some whiney fucking bird chirping non-stop in his ears that was for sure.

  Watching, as Delray tugged on his trousers and reached for his car keys, Javine copped the major hump now. They’d just spent the past hour and a half making love, and now Delray was going to up and leave her as if she was nothing more than some quick, convenient fuck?

  ‘Oh well, that’s just charming, isn’t it?’ she huffed.

  Though it wasn’t just Delray she was annoyed with now: she was pissed off at herself too. Maybe she’d given in and slept with him too soon? Maybe she should have held out just that little bit longer. She thought that he’d be besotted with her by now, well and truly under her spell, but instead, all of a sudden, he was just treating her as if she was an inconvenience. Just some girl that he happened to have shagged.

  Well, Javine wasn’t having it. If she let Delray walk all over her now, then there’d be no going back. He’d for ever act like he was the one in control, that he didn’t need to answer to her, and she wasn’t prepared to put up with it.

  ‘Fine!’ she said dramatically. Jumping out of the bed she stomped across the room. ‘Well, you go about your business and I’ll go about mine too,’ she said, sounding like a sulky little child as she threw open the wardrobe doors in search of something warm to wear.

  She could feel Delray’s eyes on her. Burning into her. Probably taking in the view of her spectacular arse. Good! Let him look. She wasn’t going to let him treat her like some kind of plaything. Like she could just be used as and when he wanted her and then tossed aside.

  ‘Business?’ Delray asked, sounding almost amused. ‘What business do you need to attend to?’

  Javine smiled to herself triumphantly. Glad that she’d finally got Delray’s attention now that she’d hinted about leaving.

  ‘I’m going to go home and see my babies. I’m sure Dolce and Gabbana will be missing their mummy.’ Pouting, Javine pulled a plain black dress over her head. ‘Especially seeing as you won’t let me bring them here… ’

  Javine was on a roll. If this was going to be their first official argument, then she intended to make it count. She was going to tip the odds in her favour. She was still pissed off over the fact that Delray had point-blank refused to let her bring her doggies here when she’d moved in with him, that she’d been forced to leave them behind with Ashleen.

  Once Delray had apologised to her for ditching her tonight and they’d made up, she was going to insist on him bringing her dogs to her.

  In truth, she was desperate to see her two little rascals. A full-scale tantrum couldn’t have been timed any better, in all honesty; it meant not only that she’d get to see them, but she might also be able to talk Delray into letting her bring them back with her when the man finally came around grovelling. Which he most certainly would, she was sure of it.

  ‘Stop with the melodramatics, Javine,’ Delray said, clenching his fist, close to losing his rag.

  ‘Says the man that’s swanning off out in the middle of the night… ’

  Delray was across the room.

  Javine smiled, believing that he was going to wrap his arms around her, tell her that he wouldn’t leave.

  Instead, he was on her in seconds.

  By the time Javine registered the grave mistake she’d just made talking to Delray so disrespectfully, it was too late.

  ‘Do you know what, Javine, I’ve had enough of listening to your whiney fucking voice.’ Grabbing her by a clump of hair, Delray dragged her across the room, launching her backwards onto the bed.

  Screaming at the searing pain in her scalp, Javine tried to prise Delray’s hand from her hair, but he only yanked it harder, ripping a huge chunk of it out.

  ‘What the fuck are you doing?’ Javine screeched, unable to believe what Delray was doing to her.

  ‘You don’t get to tell me shit. Do you get me?’ Delray bellowed now.

  ‘Please, Delray, get off me—’

  ‘Are you still telling me what to do?’ Delray sneered.

  Javine stopped talking.

  Delray let go; then, grabbing her roughly by her chin, he squeezed his fingers into her skin, hard.

  ‘See this mouth of yours, Javine, it’s going to land you in a lot of trouble. Telling ME what to do! Telling every other fucker all about my business. What the fuck do you think you’re playing at discussing me with the likes of Josie Parker, huh? You need to learn when to keep your trap shut.’

  ‘You’re hurting me.’ Javine tried to talk. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t think it would matter. She was being mean to me, looking at me like I was a piece of shit. I just wanted her to give me a bit of respect now we’re together.’ Javine fought to keep her voice neutral so that she wouldn’t antagonise him any further, but her tears betrayed her.

  ‘Together?’ Delray sneered, squeezing her face tighter. Javine could barely answer. ‘Are you having a laugh? If I wanted to be with someone, I’d go for someone with a bit more class than a little money-grabbing whore like you.’

  Javine stared back at Delray, his words hitting her as if they were a sharp, jagged punch to her gut.

  ‘I don’t understand… ’ she was spluttering her words out as Delray maintained his strong grip.

  It was as if suddenly she was seeing Delray for the first time, like his mask had slipped.

  His eyes flashing with anger, he glared right through her as if she was nothing.

  She realised that she didn’t know him at all.

  ‘You really fancy yourself as something special, don’t you?’ Delray leaned in to her – so close to her face that Javine winced. She could feel Delray’s hot breath on her cheek; the spittle from his lips, spraying her when he spoke. ‘Girls like you are ten a fucking penny, darling! I’ve had your card marked since the day we met, Javine. Only a stuck-up little bint like you would have been too blind to see it.’

  Javine was shocked. Up until that moment, he’d been the perfect boyfriend. He’d treated her like a princess. Now, she didn’t know what to think, what to believe. This had all been an act, some kind of a sick ploy, and she’d stupidly fallen for it. She knew without doubt that this was the real Delray Anderton staring back at her now.

  Cruel, vicious. Unrelenting.

  Delray laughed too. Thoroughly enjoying the look of shock on her face: the confusion that was there.

  This was the part that he loved the most.

  The moment of reckoning.

  All this time, Javine Turner thought that she was the one in control when, really, she had been playing directly into Delray’s hands.

  Women were so fucking stupid.

  Delray had ideally wanted a few mor
e weeks to work on the girl. He wanted to see if he could get her to agree to the little plans that he had in store for her by getting her onside. Some girls were like that: they fell for him, and agreed to do anything he asked, regardless of what it was.

  Only, Delray knew Javine wasn’t quite there yet. The girl wasn’t driven by love; that wasn’t why she was here. She was driven by greed. Lapping up his fortunes as if she had a God-given right to them. The silly cow had forced him to play his hand sooner than he would have liked, so now she was going to have to learn the hard way. With force.

  ‘You know your problem, Javine, you’re too far up yourself.’

  The bitch still didn’t have a clue. She was completely brainless, but then, that was one of the reasons that Delray had picked her in the first place.

  ‘If you weren’t so vain and self-obsessed, Javine, and you’d looked up from your little hand mirror once in a while, you might have seen what was going on around you.’ He screwed his face up. ‘You did make me laugh, though, with all that virtuous nun routine. Making me wait three weeks until you finally gave in and let me shag you. I mean, come on, sweetheart, you and me both know that your snatch has seen more fingerprints than Scotland Yard.’ Delray shook his head disapprovingly. It was a shame that he had to go out; he was really starting to enjoy himself. He loosened his grip.

  Javine didn’t understand what the hell was going on. She just knew that she needed to try and calm the man down, for her own sake if anything. She just wanted to rewind tonight, make everything go back to the way it was. Back to when Delray had been nice to her.

  ‘I’m sorry, Delray,’ she said, meekly. A stream of tears trickling down her face, snot running from her nose, Javine was trying her hardest to make him realise she was complying. She hated herself for sounding so weak, but she was terrified now and she didn’t know what else she could say or do.

  She was sorry; she just no longer knew what she was sorry for. Sorry that she’d fallen for this lunatic’s facade. Sorry that she was here alone with him in his apartment. Sorry that she’d been stupid enough to get herself into this mess in the first place.