The Promise Read online

  ‘I’m sorry for sounding like I was telling you what to do. I won’t do it again, Delray. Can we just forget tonight ever happened? We can go back to bed, cuddle up?’

  ‘Hello, is there anyone in there?’ Jabbing Javine hard in the side of her head with his forefinger, Delray mocked her now. ‘Fuck me, you really are thicker than shit. Cuddle up? I test out the merchandise, Javine, I don’t fucking cuddle up with it afterwards.’

  Merchandise.

  Delray’s words rang loudly in her ears.

  Javine felt sick.

  Delray shook his head. ‘Nothing in this life is free, Javine. You think you can just open your legs once in a while and this is the sort of lifestyle that you’ll get from it? That’s called being a whore, love, and if you’re happy to act like one, then I’m very happy to treat you like one.’

  Javine’s face paled. Seeing the car keys in Delray’s hands, her eyes flickered over towards the doorway behind him.

  Delray grinned.

  ‘Don’t you be getting any silly ideas now, Javine.’ Wagging his finger, Delray let her know that he was still one step ahead of her.

  ‘I’ll be asking Lenny to look after you while I’m gone. Lovely man, is Lenny. I know you don’t think so, seeing as you spent the best part of the past three weeks talking down to the bloke like he was some kind of personal fucking lackey. Talking to him as if he was some kind of a twat while he drove you here, there and every-fucking-where as if he was your own personal chauffeur.’ Delray couldn’t help but chuckle to himself. ‘Old Lenny’s got a heart of gold, but you get on the wrong side of him – which, in case you’re wondering, you did! – then he can be a right fucking ruthless bastard.’ Delray’s eyes glistened with amusement. ‘Fuck me, Javine. Even I wouldn’t have the barefaced fucking cheek to talk down to Lenny the way you have these past few weeks.’

  Throwing open the bedroom door, Delray stomped down the hallway towards Lenny’s room to fetch him.

  Hearing them talking, Javine scanned the room, panicking, as she looked for a way out. Even if she snuck out of the large bedroom doors that led to the balcony of his penthouse apartment, there was nowhere for her to go.

  The only way out was past Delray, but there was no chance of that: Delray was already walking back towards her. Lenny walking behind him.

  Javine’s heart sank.

  ‘Lenny said he’d only be too happy to keep a close eye on you, Javine. That’s nice of him, isn’t it?’

  Seeing the look that exchanged between the two men, Javine couldn’t suppress the pathetic sob that escaped her mouth.

  Which only seemed to amuse Delray further.

  ‘Don’t let her fool you into thinking that she is all sweet and innocent.’ Delray patted his friend on the shoulder. ‘She likes it rough mate; the rougher the better.’

  Smirking now, Delray grabbed another fistful of Javine’s hair. Pulling her head back, he leant in towards her once more, his mouth almost touching hers as he got off on the pain he was inflicting.

  ‘Don’t you make the mistake of telling me what I can or can’t do ever again, do I make myself clear?’ Delray spoke quietly. His tone menacing.

  Javine tried her hardest to nod, but her head felt like it was in a vice. She could barely move.

  ‘What was that?’ Delray tugged harder.

  ‘I won’t,’ Javine spluttered, choking on her own sobs.

  Delray smiled, but he was a tiny bit disappointed, if he was honest. He thought Javine would have had a bit more fight in her than this. Thought she was going to give them both a run for their money.

  ‘Good!’ Bending down, Delray kissed her full on the lips, enjoying the power that he had over her as she flinched when he forced his tongue into her mouth.

  Done with her for now, Delray let go, letting her fall backwards onto the bed.

  Javine was nothing more than a quivering wreck.

  Oh yes, he was going to have a lot of fun breaking this one.

  By the time he and Lenny had finished with the girl, Javine Turner wasn’t going to know what the fuck had hit her.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Wiping her hands down the front of her jeans, Josie stood back and admired her handiwork.

  The dish she’d prepared didn’t look bad at all; in fact, for once, she was actually impressed with herself. Her culinary skills were limited, to say the very least. She’d never made a shepherd’s pie from scratch before. Smiling to herself as she placed the dish in the oven, she knew that she’d done well today.

  She hoped that Trevor would see that she was really trying to make an effort. So far, their little arrangement hadn’t been anywhere near as bad as Josie had anticipated. Trevor had his funny little ways but she’d known that before she’d agreed to let him stay over. Not only was it a bit odd in the bedroom, with him still insisting on just lying next to her fully clothed, but he was a complete control freak when it came to the flat, too.

  He’d told her that he couldn’t stay here if she left the place in such a mess. She needed to get the place tidied up. To start making an effort. It had galled her to be pulled up on having to clean her own home, but Trevor held all the money, therefore, he owned all the power. Josie was in no position to argue with the man, and the last thing she wanted to do was piss him off.

  She’d made a deal, and she needed to stick to her side of the bargain.

  Hence tonight’s humble offering of shepherd’s pie. Even Trevor would be hard-pushed to find fault with tonight’s dinner, and that man seemed to find fault with just about everything. Trevor Pearson, as odd as he seemed, did not miss a trick. The bloke had eyes on him like a hawk.

  Scraping the bottom of the saucepan, Josie eyed the huge lump of mash potato that she had left over. Even though there was food in the cupboards now, she couldn’t abide wastefulness. It physically pained her to throw away any kind of food. Probably because they never had any food in this house.

  She’d keep it, she decided, bending down to search inside the cupboard for a small dish to store it in.

  ‘Bloody typical,’ she exclaimed as she saw the bowl that she wanted was right at the back of the cupboard. Stuck underneath a large pile of dishes.

  Stretching her arm inside as far as it would go, she twisting herself around, contorting her body.

  Almost.

  Spanning her fingers out as wide as they could go, she could almost touch it. She just needed to lean in that little bit more. Stretch her arm as far as it would go.

  ‘Shit!’

  Catching the top of an old blue vase she squeezed her eyes shut as it toppled over. She waited for the sound of the glass breaking.

  Only, it didn’t. Opening her eyes, she saw that it had just landed on its side at the bottom of the cupboard, and rolled towards her. She felt relieved. The last thing she needed right now was broken glass all over the place when Trevor was due to turn up here at any moment.

  She wanted everything to be perfect. Just so.

  She’d already spoken to the girls, who, since Trevor had started coming around, had gone into permanent sulk mode. They were to be on their best behaviour tonight.

  Standing the vase upright, she heard a clang against the glass: something loose, rattling inside. Reaching her hand in, she felt the familiar rectangular flat shape at the bottom.

  Her mobile phone?

  Josie stared at it for a moment in complete disbelief. She’d kill those two bloody kids of hers. Her phone had been missing for well over a week. She knew it had been them, the pair of stroppy little brats, even though they’d swore blind that they hadn’t taken it. To think they had just sat there and stared at her gormlessly as she’d dragged the house apart looking for the bloody thing too. She’d convinced herself that she must have lost it when she was drunk, and all this time those two ungrateful children of hers had been laughing at her behind her back.

  She knew why they’d done it, too. The pair of them were on a mission to cause her as much grief as humanly possible. Sulking becau
se suddenly Trevor was constantly hanging around. They’d done it to teach her a lesson.

  Josie Parker shook her head. She hadn’t realised her two daughters could be that manipulating. For now, Trevor was sticking around whether they liked it or not. The man was a guest in this house, and the girls needed to make him feel welcome. She wouldn’t let them fuck it up for her.

  She couldn’t; she was depending on Trevor’s money now. If the girls didn’t like it, then tough luck. Josie Parker was going to rein the girls in – and sooner rather than later.

  She thought of Mandy.

  Josie hadn’t heard from her friend for weeks. Not since the blow up with Delray. It wasn’t just that, though, Josie thought, knowing that she was kidding herself really. Mandy would have been devastated to learn that her friend was back on the gear again.

  Josie had let her down. She’d let herself down too; she knew it.

  She could have gone to see Mandy herself; only, Josie didn’t think she could manage the fall-out from it all.

  And she still wasn’t feeling properly like herself. Groggy, her head fuzzy. She couldn’t put her finger on it. It was like living under a thick black cloud of depression; the darkness consuming her. She didn’t remember feeling like this the last time she had withdrawn from the gear.

  Last time had been one massive brutal shock to her system. Stopping the heroin, then gradually introducing methadone. Last time she hadn’t had to do it all on her own; she’d had Mandy at her side, holding her hand every step of the way. Even when she’d been forced to show Josie some tough love and lock her in her bedroom for three days whilst she went cold turkey, she’d endured the screaming and shouting, the barrage of abuse as Josie had tried to break down the door to get out. To get away from her demons. From the night sweats and shivers that consumed her like waves, washing over her viciously in quick succession.

  Mandy had helped take care of the girls for her, too, that week; seeing them both off to school; making sure that they weren’t too scared of their crazed mother locked away in her room.

  And how had Josie repaid her? By fucking up their earn with Delray and then keeping herself to herself the last few weeks.

  Fingering the black screen, Josie wondered if she should just call her. Make amends.

  It would be good to hear her voice.

  Convinced that the battery would be flat, Josie pressed the button – pleased to see the screen light up moments later. The phone instantly bleeped as a series of messages flashed up on the screen. Nine text messages, and eight missed calls. A voicemail message too.

  All of them from Mandy.

  Josie held back her tears. Mandy had been trying to get in touch with her after all.

  Dialling the number, Josie felt full of emotion on hearing her friend at the other end of the phone.

  ‘Mandy it’s me,’ Josie said, almost bursting into tears, overjoyed that her friend had actually answered her call.

  ‘I know it’s you. Your name shows up as the caller ID,’ Mandy replied tartly, her voice deadpan.

  ‘Oh, Mandy, it’s so good to hear your voice, babe. I’ve missed you so much,’ Josie said, letting the tears roll down her cheeks. She didn’t care how pathetic she sounded.

  Mandy didn’t answer.

  ‘Are you still there?’ Josie said, checking that the screen hadn’t gone black, that the battery hadn’t ran out.

  ‘Yes, I’m still here.’

  ‘I’m sorry for everything, Mandy. Really I am. For what happened with Delray, for lying to you about being back on the gear. I’m not on it now. I swear to you, on Georgie and Marnie’s lives.’

  Mandy tutted at that, her disapproval clear. She had seen and heard it all before. Josie was wasting her breath.

  ‘And what about all the shitty messages you sent me?’ Mandy said now, feeling her temper get the better of her. ‘You sorry about those too, are you? Don’t tell me you didn’t mean a word of them?’

  ‘What messages?’

  ‘Let me enlighten you shall I. Let’s see. First there were the ones saying that I was to leave you alone. That I wasn’t to make any kind of contact with you. Then when I tried to reply, you started sending me the nasty ones. Calling me names and stuff. Saying that I dragged you down. That you wanted to better your life and the only way you could do that was by cutting all ties with me. The cheek of it, Josie.’ Mandy was unable to disguise the hurt in her voice. ‘Just because you’ve shacked up with one of your punters, don’t mean you can pretend you’re something you’re not, Josie Parker. You’re no better than the rest of us.’

  ‘But… I didn’t send you any messages,’ Josie said, confused.

  ‘It’s probably the smack, Josie; it’s made your brain deteriorate,’ Mandy said, sarcastically. ‘Go on, then, why you calling me now all of a sudden, huh?’ Mandy was smarting. ‘Has the novelty with you and your fancy man worn off already?’

  ‘It’s not like that, Mandy. Me and Trevor, we’re not together—’

  ‘Ohh, I bloody knew it. As soon as it all fell to pieces, you’d come running back to me. Well, you know what, Josie, you can stick our friendship up your arse, sideways!’

  Holding the phone to her ear, Josie fought back her tears as Mandy’s angry voice was replaced by the phone’s bleeping.

  Then she heard the key in the front door.

  Trevor was back already. Earlier than she had expected.

  Josie panicked.

  Hurrying, she bent down and quickly stuffed the phone back inside the vase, pushing it as far towards the back of the cupboard as she could reach, before jumping to her feet again, just as Trevor walked in the kitchen behind her.

  ‘Oh, I didn’t hear you come in,’ Josie swept her fringe out of her eyes as she tried to compose herself. Her heart pounding.

  Something wasn’t right. She knew it.

  What Mandy had said about those messages? It didn’t add up.

  ‘What’s up with you?’ he asked, noting the red rims around her watery eyes. ‘You look like you’ve been crying?’

  ‘Oh, I was just chopping up some onions.’ She had no intention of telling him that she’d found her mobile phone.

  Suddenly, it all made sense. The little mentions of Mandy here and there; the times that Trevor had put the woman down, told Josie that she was better off without her. Trevor had hidden her phone. He’d sent Mandy those text messages, Josie was sure of it. But why?

  ‘Is that so?’ Trevor said, not convinced, his eyes going to the cupboard behind her.

  Desperate to try and pacify him, so that he wouldn’t probe her further, Josie started cleaning the kitchen worktops. She didn’t want to draw any attention to the fact that she was onto him. That she’d caught him out. Playing games with her life. Lying to her. Controlling her. Instead, she did what she did best. She plastered on a big, fake smile.

  ‘I’ve made us all dinner. Shepherd’s pie,’ she said. ‘It’s all home-made.’

  ‘That will be what that black smoke is then.’ Trevor nodded towards the cooker.

  ‘Shit!’

  Grabbing a tea towel, Josie pulled the piping hot dish out of the oven. The potato was black. Burnt to a cinder.

  ‘A bit distracted, were you?’ Trevor’s eyes were boring into Josie’s.

  ‘I was just cleaning up, you know. I must have lost track of time,’ Josie said, her voice small as she tried to disguise the quiver.

  Trevor nodded once more. His eyes resting on the smears of mashed potato on the worktops; the dirty dishes in the sink.

  He was annoyed now, Josie knew how much he hated liars.

  Yet, here she was, lying straight to his face.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Looking out across the panoramic view from his penthouse apartment, Delray Anderton smiled as Lenny handed him a glass of whisky.

  ‘Cheers, mate!’ he said, taking a large swig; the heat of the alcohol seeping through him.

  Lenny grinned.

  He was a sick fucker, Lenny. With a pencha
nt for violent sex. Taking out all his aggression on Javine earlier had been a much-needed release for him. He had wanted to teach that jumped-up little cow a lesson since she first started talking down her nose at him as if he was nothing more than the hired help. Still, for Delray’s sake, Lenny’d known he had no choice but to play along. He bided his time, knowing full well how Delray worked.

  His boss had big plans for Javine, and this was all part of it. Making her think that she was something unique, that Delray was crazy about her. Delray didn’t mean any of it. To him this was just all part of the game.

  Javine had obviously rubbed him up the wrong way, though, and Lenny could see how. The bitch really did think she was something special.

  Delray had played his hand quickly this time though. Normally he let this little charade play out until the girl was besotted. Devoted to Delray, she’d hang off his every word; it was a work of art to see it in motion. To see these girls go from happy, loved-up little wannabes to pathetic, needy neurotic messes.

  ‘So what next then?’ Lenny asked, watching Delray closely to gauge the man’s mood.

  ‘Did you speak to our client?’

  If that little bitch in there thought what Lenny and Delray had just done to her was bad, she had no idea about the sick fuckers they had lined up for her next.

  Delray screwed his mouth up, shrugging.

  ‘He said he’ll take her for now, but he wanted someone younger.’

  Lenny nodded. He’d guessed that might be the case. Delray’s newest business associate, a wealthy Arab called Hamza Nagi, had a penchant for younger girls. Much younger girls.

  Delray had been adamant that Javine would fit the bill being only seventeen but Lenny had known better. Javine didn’t fit the criteria at all. She might be seventeen but with her curvy figure and sexual experience she was more of a woman than most a decade older than her. Hamza Nagi wanted sweet and innocent, and Javine Turner was neither of those things.

  ‘We could tone her down a bit. Dress her in something young. Make sure she’s got no make-up on,’ Delray said, knowing full well that he was clutching at straws. ‘I don’t know! Short of sticking the girl in a school uniform and fucking pigtails with bows, there’s no way he’d be happy. She’s too busty. She might be young, but she’s got the body of a fucking porn star. He ain’t into that.’