The Promise Read online

  Trevor certainly had his odd ways about him. There was no denying that, and he should never have laid a hand on Marnie either. That had been bang out of order, but maybe Josie had been too abrupt with her resolve.

  And maybe, she thought to herself with a smile, she needed her bleeding head testing.

  Glancing at the clock, she needed to get a move on. Mandy would be here soon, and Josie was looking forward to going out and getting steaming drunk with her mate, especially after the last few weeks of shit she’d endured.

  ‘He ain’t coming back. I promise you. Why don’t you and Georgie stick a DVD in the machine and chill. I’ll only be out for a few hours. I promise.’

  Marnie still didn’t look convinced. Twisting a strand of hair around her finger, the child pouted, looking positively sorry for herself.

  ‘Marn, please! I’ve been sat in front of that bloody telly every night this past couple of weeks. Smoking myself to death, bored out of my friggin’ mind. This is just one night off. Please don’t make it difficult for me.’

  ‘But what about the Bogeyman?’ Marnie’s voice was barely audible now. A whisper. The child looked terrified even just saying the words.

  Josie stopped what she was doing and stared over at her, feeling the surge of guilt spread through as she saw that Marnie was genuinely terrified.

  She knew that it was all her fault. She’d been the one to put the stupid story into the girl’s head in the first place. All those times when she hadn’t been able to afford a babysitter, she had thought she was being clever by using stories about the Bogeyman to frighten the girls into staying in their beds at night while she went out working. She’d told them if they were naughty then the Bogeyman would come.

  Marnie was obsessed that the Bogeyman was going to come into her bedroom at night and take her away. She wet the bed almost every night now, suffering with the most awful night terrors. Her so-called ‘brainwave’ had turned into Marnie’s biggest phobia.

  ‘The Bogeyman isn’t going to come and get you, Marnie,’ she sighed knowing full well that no matter how many times she’d backtracked and told Marnie that the Bogeyman wasn’t even real, that she’d made him up, her daughter would never believe her.

  She used a different tactic.

  ‘You’ve been a good girl today, yeah?’

  Marnie nodded. She had been good. She had tried so, so hard to be good every day.

  ‘There you go, then. You’re safe. He only comes if you’ve been really, really naughty, remember?’

  Marnie nodded again.

  Josie knew that she shouldn’t feed on the girl’s fears, but she also knew that the way the conversation had been going, she was about to have an epic meltdown on her hands, and right now all Josie wanted was a skinful of gin and tonic.

  Thankfully, it seemed to do the trick. Marnie was quiet now; sucking her thumb, she continued to watch as Josie finished scrutinising her appearance in the mirror.

  Josie had no idea why Marnie was so fixated on such things. She’d never had these kinds of problems with Georgie when she was younger. Instead, Georgie had gone the other way. It was now that she was older she’d turned into a stroppy little mare. She’d been driving Josie nuts lately too. Complaining that she was constantly tired, and fed up. Josie was sure that it was just Georgie going through the motions of being a typical pre-teen. The girl’s hormones were probably raging. Josie sighed once more as she realised this was only the start of it all. She had many teenage years ahead of her for both of her girls and, if they were anything like she had been, she was going to have her work cut out for her. How the bloody hell had time flown so quickly? All these years, it was like she’d blinked and suddenly her firstborn was almost thirteen. Almost a teenager. No longer a little girl. It didn’t bear thinking about.

  ‘Go on, then, how do I look?’ Josie said as gave herself one final once-over before her friend arrived.

  She wasn’t sure if she fitted the stipulation of being a cougar by any means but, from what Mandy had told her, these two blokes they had arranged to meet tonight sounded dead keen. After ransacking her wardrobe for something to wear, she’d opted for a plain black skirt and a lacy camisole top. After washing her hair, and painting on a bit of make-up, she was starting to feel a bit like her old self again.

  ‘You look very pretty, Mummy.’ Marnie beamed. ‘The prettiest Mummy in the world.’

  ‘I know what you’re doing, Marnie, and it ain’t going to work, love.’ Josie eyed her youngest daughter suspiciously as she laughed. The kid was a fast learner. ‘You’re trying to butter me up, aren’t you? So that I stay at home. You don’t miss a trick, do you?’

  Marnie shot her mum a cheeky smile.

  ‘Right, come on. Take your thumb out of your gob, and go and get some tissues and wipe your snotty nose, will ya!’ Josie said, bringing the child back down to reality with a bump as she heard the knock at the door.

  That would be Mandy. Bang on time as always.

  Josie was looking forward to tonight. She’d missed her friend greatly the past few weeks. This was just what she needed: a good night, and the pair of them putting the world to rights.

  ‘Right, Georgie,’ Josie called out to where Georgie was curled up in the front room on the sofa. She’d been in there half the day, lounging about, her eyes glued to the telly.

  ‘Remember what I said. I want you both in bed by nine o’clock. Do you hear me?’

  Georgie grunted.

  Josie rolled her eyes, knowing that was the only response she was likely to get.

  ‘Right, Moosh. You remember what I said ’en all,’ Josie said as she grabbed her handbag, and planted a kiss on the top of Marnie’s head. ‘You be good, okay.’

  Marnie nodded. ‘I will, Mummy, I promise.’

  Josie smiled.

  Seconds later she was out the door, determined to let her hair down and have a bit of fun tonight with her best mate, her two children already forgotten.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Josie was hammered.

  Sitting in the corner of the tiny little booth in Southwark, Mandy hadn’t been exaggerating when she’d said this place was ‘studenty’. It would be, wouldn’t it? Seeing as it was the student bar of Camberwell College of Arts.

  Their dates had been real posh boys too. Andy and Jonathan. Nice lads – as it went. Way too eager to impress, the pair of them had gone back up to the bar for what must have been the tenth time tonight.

  Josie and Mandy stood out like a pair of turds in a fruit bowl. Not that either of them gave a shit. They were too busy having fun. Showing all these stuck-up students how a night out on the lash was really done.

  Already into their third bottle of wine, Josie was so glad that Mandy had persuaded her to come out tonight; she was thoroughly enjoying herself for once.

  ‘I’m not kidding you, Jos, the state of the woman,’ Mandy was slurring now. Their focus on the two men had long since dwindled.

  They were so engrossed in their conversation that they’d forgotten the reason they were even here tonight.

  Mandy and Josie were having a really good catch up as she filled her in on everything she’d missed. First topic of conversation was, of course, the delightful Mel Lewis.

  ‘She’s only gone and shacked up with some Rastafarian bloke over in Lambeth. Get this, they live in a Rasta temple, which turns out is some old run-down squat. According to Davey, the silly old cow reckons she’s found her calling in life; though, trust me, going by the state of the ratty dreadlocks she’s now got growing out of the top of her head, her calling isn’t what she should have been looking for. She should have kept her eyes peeled for some decent shampoo.’

  Mandy shook her head in wonderment. ‘You couldn’t make it up, Jos. Poor Davey. I mean, the woman’s making a holy show out of him, isn’t she? Running off with any fella that even looks at her twice.’

  ‘What’s Davey said about it all?’ Josie couldn’t help but feel sorry for the man. She’d always liked Davey. He
certainly didn’t deserve the shit that Mel Lewis served up to him on a regular basis. He was a genuinely nice man; the type of person that looked only for the good in everyone he met. He’d even seen the good in her. Josie had lost count of the times Davey’d helped her out over the years, never once asking or expecting anything in return. Davey didn’t have an ulterior motive like most blokes around here did – making a point of collecting back favours from her in kind.

  Davey wasn’t like that; he was a gent through and through. Though, that was probably why Mel treated him the way she did. She mistook the man’s kindness for weakness.

  ‘Oh, you know Davey. Buries his head in the sand when it comes to that woman. He says they’re done now for good; but then, he says that every time she does it, don’t he? Before you know it, she’s back again. Though, I don’t know; this time he seems pretty adamant. Maybe he’s learned his lesson. There’s only so many times you can keep taking someone back, isn’t there?’

  Josie grinned. Mandy would never admit it, but she was smitten with Davey. It was written all over the woman’s face.

  ‘So, are you two back on then or what?’

  ‘Well, I don’t know about “back on” as such. We’re just good mates, really. I just want to be there for him, you know.’

  ‘Oh, I “know” all right.’ Josie rolled her eyes and giggled. ‘You just want to be there for him in his hour of need. Just as mates.’

  ‘Oi you! It ain’t like that.’ Mandy grinned back, knowing full well that she didn’t sound even the slightest bit convincing, not even to herself. ‘I like him, really I do, but I don’t want to keep playing second fiddle every time old yo-yo knickers buggers off with a bit of strange.’ Mandy shrugged as if she’d put a lot of thought into her decision. Her tone serious.

  ‘I’m going to wait for Davey to come to me this time; play hard to get.’

  Josie eyed her friend suspiciously. ‘Okay!’ she said doubtfully. ‘Then answer me this, truthfully, Mandy… ’ Her voice deadly serious as she looked into her friend’s eyes, pausing dramatically for effect. ‘The last time you went to see him, did you have your best knickers on?’

  Judging by Mandy’s giggle, Josie knew she was spot on.

  ‘I bloody knew it. Hard to get? You just wanna be mates while you’re wearing your best cecks! Come on, Mand, who you kidding?’

  ‘Oh, bugger off you!’ Mandy should have known that she could never get anything past Josie. The woman knew her better than she knew herself sometimes.

  ‘Well, you know what they say. Always be prepared. You never know when the “opportunity” will arise. So to speak.’ Mandy winked at her mate; seeing the men were walking back over with a tray laden with more drinks, she quickly added: ‘Though given half the chance, I’d have him up against the wall quicker than the bloke could say pork scratchings.’

  ‘You all right there, ladies?’

  Jonathan and Andy sat down, wondering what was so funny as Mandy and Josie fell about laughing. The website had been right about one thing, instead of the usual boring mind games and pretentious shit that went part and parcel when it came to dating, Josie and Mandy at least knew how to have a laugh.

  Placing the drinks down on the table, Andy looked at Jonathan and shrugged. The women were clearly wasted.

  ‘The bar’s stopped serving food,’ Andy said warily as he placed the tray of shots down in the middle of the table, before picking up the packets of snacks in the middle. ‘Thought you could do with something to munch on, though. What do you fancy, nuts or pork scratchings?’

  ‘Oh, Mand is quite partial to a pork scratching, aren’t you Mandy!’

  Mandy and Josie were on the floor then, roaring with laughter at their private little joke, much to their dates’ amusement. Almost spitting her drink out, Mandy blushed all the way down to her feet.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Opening her eyes, Marnie sat up and looked around her bedroom.

  She must have fallen asleep. She hadn’t meant to. She’d been waiting for Georgie to come to bed too, but her sister had wanted to stay up and watch another film.

  Their mother had told her to be in bed by nine on the dot, and that’s exactly what Marnie had made sure she’d done. Even though she was scared of being in this room all on her own, she’d forced herself to get into bed. Forced herself to lay down under the blankets as she waited for her mother to return. So that she could see that Marnie was being good. Just like she told her.

  Only, she must have fallen fast asleep.

  Her mother had lied to her too. She’d promised that she’d only be a few hours. She’d been out most of the night. Much later than she said she’d be. Georgie had watched at least three films tonight in the time their mother had gone.

  The television was still on, still blaring.

  Marnie listened. She could hear her sister moving about. Walking around the flat, probably getting ready to come to bed. Marnie was glad. She hated being here in this room all by herself. Georgie hadn’t come in yet. Marnie wondered what she was doing. She wanted to get out of bed and have a look, but she knew it was bad, and she didn’t want to be a bad girl tonight. She wanted to be a good girl.

  So she stayed where she was. Listening to the TV; the sound of someone creeping about the house.

  She started to feel scared.

  ‘Georgie?’ Marnie said, her voice barely a whisper as it came out.

  She already knew it wasn’t Georgie. She’d heard this noise many times before.

  ‘Please, no,’ she whispered out loud to herself. Her heart thumping inside her chest now. Her body trembling with fear. Every one of her senses heightened as she waited for what she knew was to come.

  Lying back down, she pulled the bed cover up over her head, knowing that there would be no escape.

  Pressing her body down into the mattress, she prayed that maybe he wouldn’t find her; only, he always did.

  There was nowhere to run; nowhere to hide.

  She heard the door creak.

  He was here in the room. She could hear him breathing.

  Feel him watching her, even under the shield she tried to make with her covers.

  He was dragging something. Something big. Leaning it up against the bedroom door.

  He was barricading her inside. She wouldn’t be able to escape.

  ‘Georgie?’ Even as she tried to say the word she knew in her heart, in her soul, this wasn’t her sister.

  She couldn’t even speak now; full of fear, her voice had simply vanished, betraying her.

  She felt the whoosh of cold air as the blankets were lifted from her body.

  Then she saw him.

  Standing above her, looking down at her in her bed.

  That icy-cold look in his eye, that twisted smirk on his face.

  Her mother had lied to her. She’d said that if Marnie was good he wouldn’t come for her.

  But he had.

  The Bogeyman had come for her.

  She started to scream.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Squeezing his eyes shut as Josie worked her magic on him, Andy Lyons felt ecstasy building inside him. His mate, Jonathan, had been right. Older women were more experienced, more keen to comply. This one certainly was anyway.

  Grabbing a fistful of Josie’s hair, Andy tightened his grip as the anticipation built inside him. The feel of Josie’s mouth around him, pleasuring him, was like nothing he’d ever experienced before.

  He was ready to explode.

  Not yet though.

  Him and Jonathan had spent the night plying these two birds with alcohol, and the least they could do now was make sure they gave them their money’s worth.

  Enthralled with lust and excitement, Andy pulled Josie up from the floor, and spun her around. Grabbing at her breasts through her bra. Doughy. Full.

  He was there. Caught up in the moment. Panting like a wild animal, his primal instinct kicked in.

  Josie, surprised by Andy’s sudden forcefulness, yanked h
er skirt up and bent over.

  A sudden screech of surprise escaped from her lips as Andy plunged into her. Barely capable of one thrust, he let out a loud groan and collapsed with a shudder.

  ‘Well, that was bleeding quick.’ Josie grinned as she shook the man off her, and yanked her knickers back up, registering the disappointment on Andy’s face that he hadn’t been able to last longer.

  ‘Don’t worry, darling, it happens to the best of them.’

  Josie tried not to laugh. Another perk of shagging a toy-boy: these blokes didn’t look capable of holding their pints, let alone their stamina. Maybe Mandy really was onto something here. Tonight had been the easiest money Josie had ever earned and, on top of that, she’d actually enjoyed herself too.

  ‘Here, Jos? Are you done? I ain’t interrupting, am I?’ Mandy said, staggering towards where Josie and Andy had been doing the deed up against an old van in the back of the college car park.

  ‘It’s all right; me and Alan are all done.’

  ‘It’s Andy, actually.’ Doing up his fly, Andy corrected her, insulted that the woman couldn’t even remember his name.

  ‘Andy. That’s what I said.’ Josie winked at Mandy. Then seeing the look on her friend’s face she realised something was up. ‘What is it Mandy, what’s wrong?’

  Mandy shook her head. ‘I’m not sure, Jos. I got a phone call from your mobile. Only, when I answered it, it was your Georgie.’

  ‘Oh bollocks. I must have left it at home,’ Josie said as opened her handbag and rummaged around, just to double-check.

  ‘She sounded in a right state, Jos. Crying her eyes out. I couldn’t get any sense out of her. I think you need to get home, mate.’

  Josie nodded, then realised that Andy was still standing next to her, gawping at her like she had two heads growing out of her shoulders.

  ‘What?’

  ‘You’ve got kids?’

  ‘So what if I have,’ Josie said picking up on the judgement in his voice.