Billy gave her his full attention.
“He treats me like a princess, Billy, I’ve never been so happy; I know it sounds really daft but it’s like what happens in films, you know? I love him….”
“Who is it?” She could see Billy was getting really impatient now.
“Look… please, Billy, please don’t be mad….”
“Get to the fucking point: who the fuck is it?” Billy bellowed; he slammed his glass down on the table, making Kate jump.
“Look, Billy, please don’t be angry. It’s Jay.”
“Jay? Jay who? Tell me that you are not talking about Jay Shaw.” He was rising to his feet now.
Slowly nodding, Kate could see the veins throbbing in Billy’s forehead; his face was red with rage. He looked like a volcano on the verge of erupting.
“That major fucking waster, are you taking the piss or what?” He was staring at her intently. She’d heard the expression ‘if looks could kill’, now she completely understood it.
“Please Billy listen…. He is really good to me, he really is a nice bloke, and you have just got to give him a chance….” She was crying now, she knew there was worse to come, and that from the way he was reacting he would never see it from her point of view.
“A chance... give him a fucking chance? I’ll tell you what I’ll give him, Kate, a pair of broken fucking legs, that’s what I’ll fucking give him! You and Jay are over, do you hear me? I’m going to go and give that cheeky fucker the news myself!” Billy was fuming; if that lowlife scumbag thought he had any chance with his sister he had another thing coming.
It had all seemed to happen in slow motion after that. Kate remembered seeing him go towards the front door and chasing after him, begging him not to go, begging him to leave her poor Jay alone. He shoved her out of the way with such force that she screamed it at him, at the top of her lungs in a desperate bid to get him to see sense: “Don’t you dare lay a finger on him, Billy, I mean it!!!! You don’t know everything." She was really sobbing now.
Through her sobs, he heard her say quietly: “I’m pregnant, Billy, I need him.”
It was all a bit blurred after that, her brother had just gone completely loopy. She had sat huddled in the corner of the room, her knees bent instinctively to protect her stomach and her head buried under her hands as Billy had smashed up the whole place. She hadn’t dared to speak in case he realised that she was still actually in the room.
“What a major fuck up, how could you have been so stupid?” he bellowed, as he emptied the cupboards onto the floor, smashing plates and cups. “You’re no better than any other slag on this estate now.” He was kicking the cupboard doors, as he paced the kitchen. “You’ve really gone and fucked your life up.”
He must have burnt himself out; because the next time Kate looked up, he was heading out of the front door; that had been about two o’clock this morning: which thankfully, Kate thought, was the last time she had seen him.
She had called Jay straight away, to warn him that her lunatic brother was on the warpath. He wasn’t answering his phone, so she had just left a teary answer phone message asking him to call her as soon as he got it.
So she was pregnant: big deal. Billy was probably more worried about his own life and his own reputation than he was about hers. The way Billy had reacted you would have thought she had just told him she was selling herself on the streets for a fiver a go.
She wasn’t as stupid as Billy had often assumed: she and Jay had been together for just over a year. A whole year ago when Goldie’s nightclub had first opened, from the moment Kate saw Jay, she just knew that he was for her. She had managed to keep it a secret from Billy up to now, which pleased her no end, especially given the way he had just reacted. Billy liked to think he knew everyone’s business around here, she knew he would no doubt be even more enraged when he realised that he was the last one to find out about his little sister’s fella.
She placed her hand on her stomach and felt a warm, fluttery feeling. She couldn’t believe that she had a tiny baby growing inside her: Jay’s baby. It was still early days in her pregnancy so she wasn’t showing. She still had to remind herself, sometimes, that it was really happening.
Jay wasn’t like most men where she lived. He didn’t need to go around threatening people to gain respect; he kept his head down and worked hard for his money. She had known that he was special the moment she had met him. Why couldn’t Billy just be happy for her and keep his bloody nose out of it?
2
Paul Goldie felt as if he had really arrived. Goldie’s was going to be London’s most happening nightclub.
With Paul, you always knew where you were. He was as straight up as they came; you give respect to get respect, he always said, and he lived by that. He was an excellent boss and he treated his workers fairly. He was always cool and calm where business was concerned, but if anyone was stupid enough to cross him they would pay dearly. He wouldn’t take any shit from anyone. Everyone wanted a piece of Paul. Men wanted to befriend him, to have him on-side, he was that sort of bloke, the life and soul of the party: wherever he was, was generally the place to be, as he had a real vibe going on. As for the women, they threw themselves at him. He was a real looker, dark and rugged with twinkly eyes: the whole package. Most importantly, though, he had ‘that spark’. One of Paul’s main qualities on which he prided himself was his intuition; he lived by it and it had taken him far. He knew who the people were who always seemed to be after something. The ones who always seemed to be on the take, out for whatever they thought they might be able to get. They were easily spotted from the word go, and he never let them close. Sometimes he would use them to his advantage, play them at their own game, but he preferred to surround himself with people he could trust. To have a few real friends was always better than to have a room full of fake users was his creed.
Looking around the club he felt a surge of pride at what he had achieved in such a small space of time. The top floor of Goldie’s was a private members club, a modern day gentlemen’s club. The exclusive membership cost a lot, but money wasn’t an issue with the members. Quite the opposite, in fact, the more money some had the more others tried to outdo them. If there was anything big or worth knowing about going down in London, you could bet your life someone in that room would be the brains or the brawn behind it. No women were allowed access, apart from the ones provided for the men’s personal pleasure. Sexist it may be, but that’s what his punters wanted and that was what they got, and what’s more that’s what worked.
The area was kitted out so tastefully it was hard to imagine the sordid goings-on that it would no doubt be used for. It was already a huge success and word had spread quickly among the men. It was just a chilled out place for like-minded men to have a few drinks, talk business or if the mood took them to indulge in a bit of pleasure. That pleasure came in the form of top London call girls who were paid to cater for the men’s every whim. There were a few large booths so that the men could have some privacy with the girls should they choose to, which most of them regularly did. The men were happy because their wives would never find out, the girls were happy because they got tipped well for their services, and Paul was happy, because his little empire was raking him in an absolute fortune. There were drugs being handed around like Smarties up there, but Paul knew when to turn a blind eye. Drugs were a mug’s game, he would never fall victim to depending on them to get his rocks off. But, of course, there was money to be made supplying them, and Paul had a couple of guys there to make sure that his members got what they wanted. His stuff wasn’t cut with anything dodgy, so the men knew they were better off getting their gear here. It was not something that he personally got involved with, it just wasn’t his thing, but he was more than wise to the whole supply and demand thing, and if there was a demand, he would be sure to be the one supplying, it would be stupid not to.