‘Wow.’ Holly shook her head. ‘Poor Kelly. She must be gutted.’
‘Nah, she’s buzzing. She’s always been a daddy’s girl, so she’s made up that she’s being sent to stay with him while her mum’s in the loony bin.’
‘I thought she’d lost touch with her dad?’ Holly frowned. ‘She told me she hasn’t seen him in years.’
‘Yeah, but only ’cos her mum wouldn’t let her after he fucked off with another woman,’ said Bex. ‘Now she’s away with the fairies, Kell reckons her dad’ll go for full custody. And if he gets it, that’ll be the last we ever see of her.’
‘Why? She’ll still have to come to school, won’t she?’
‘Yeah, but not this one,’ Bex said, taking a last drag on the cigarette before stubbing it out on the log. ‘She rang me when I was on my way home from Julie’s the other night; told me her dad’s moved to Ireland and he’s going to try and get her into a school over there.’
‘Oh, right,’ Holly murmured.
‘Never mind,’ Bex said, jumping up and pulling Holly to her feet. ‘We might have lost her, but we’ve still got each other.’
Holly nodded, but she was absolutely gutted to think that she might never see Kelly again. She and her mum had moved around so much over the years she’d lost count of how many schools she had attended, and how many friendships she’d made and lost. Her last school had been really rough and she had been badly bullied, but this one was in an affluent area, so her mum had thought she would get on much better; that the other pupils, whose parents all drove posh cars and owned their own houses, would be polite and well behaved. What her mum hadn’t accounted for was the fact that the posh kids might not want a scruffy estate brat in their midst, and Holly still cringed when she remembered the dirty looks she’d received when she turned up on her first day wearing her ill-fitting, obviously second-hand uniform. If it hadn’t been for Bex and Kelly taking her under their wings, she didn’t know how she would have coped. But now Kelly was gone and Bex was hanging around with Julie Gordon, Holly felt like her world was shrinking – and she didn’t like it one little bit.
5
Suzie prised an eye open and squinted at the clock. Rolling onto her back when she saw that it was almost 3.30 p.m., she yawned and stretched her arms above her head. The combined scents of sex and sweat hung heavy in the air, and she smiled at the memory of Rob waking her that morning with his head between her thighs. When things were good between them, they were really good, and it reminded her of why she’d fallen for him in the first place. Not only was he handsome and charming, but no other man had ever come close to pleasuring her the way he did when he made the effort.
And, boy, had he made the effort this weekend.
After talking things over, Suzie had agreed to give him another chance, and they had been in bed ever since, only getting up to nip downstairs for food and drink. She truly hoped it was a sign that they had turned a corner in their relationship. But all good things had to come to an end. She had a booking tonight, so it was time to stop indulging herself and start getting ready.
About to sit up, she twisted her head round on the pillow when the door opened, and she smiled at Rob as he walked in.
‘Hey, tiger . . . Hope you’ve made coffee, ’cos I’m gonna need about a gallon to get me—’
‘Fuck the coffee!’ Rob thrust a mobile phone under her nose. ‘What’s this?’
‘What’s what?’ She squinted at the screen, her vision too sleep-blurred to see anything in detail.
‘Quit stalling and start explaining!’ he barked.
‘Explain what?’ She shuffled upright in the bed. ‘I can’t see anything.’
‘Look harder!’
Confused, because he’d been in a great mood after they’d made love a couple of hours earlier and she had no idea why he was so angry now, Suzie blinked and peered at the text message on the screen. Mouth falling open when she realized it was her phone he was holding, not his, she said, ‘What the hell, Rob! Why are you reading my messages? And how did you get my password?’
‘Are you seriously that dumb?’ he spat. ‘You think I don’t know your fucking passwords? Or should I say password, seeing as you use the same one for every-fucking-thing, you thick bitch.’
‘How dare you!’ She tossed the duvet aside, furious that he’d violated her privacy. ‘You begged me for a second chance, and now I catch you snooping through my phone? Well, that’s it! I’m not taking this shit any mo—’
Rob backhanded her across the face before she could finish, and she fell heavily back. Terrified when he lunged at her, she tried to roll out of the way but he was too fast, and she cried out in pain when he seized her wrists and pinned them to the mattress above her head.
‘Who is he?’ he demanded, his eyes blazing as he stared down into hers. ‘And how long’s it been going on? Have you been fucking him then coming home and fucking me?’
‘I haven’t been with anyone!’ Suzie protested, struggling to breathe with his full weight pressing down on her.
‘Sure about that, are you?’
‘Yes, I’m sure, and you need to get off me before this goes too far. I mean it, Rob. Stop it now,
