She waved a cheery goodbye to Ruby and Tiffany. ‘See you tomorrow.’
‘Bye,’ they shouted in unison until Ruby turned her attention back to her partner. ‘I’ll just try giving Josh and Calvin another ring before we go home.’
‘OK, but I don’t think you’ll have any joy at this time of night,’ said Tiffany.
Tiffany was right and when her calls rang out unanswered Ruby decided to leave it till the next day. ‘Come on, let’s get off home.’
They switched off the PC and left everything ready for the following night, then made their way down the stairs. Tiffany walked out of the building first, leaving Ruby to lock up. She was just about to turn the key in the lock when she heard movement behind her and Tiffany let out a scream.
Ruby swivelled around to find Kyle glaring into her face and clutching a baseball bat. He had brought a gang of men with him, all mean looking and wielding weapons. Her heart raced as she saw one of them grab hold of Tiffany.
Kyle gripped Ruby’s arm while snarling at her, ‘Open the fuckin’ door! You ain’t going anywhere.’
Ruby felt the first stirrings of panic, but she brazened it out. ‘Let go of my arm then. I can’t fuckin’ move it!’
He released his grip on her so she could unlock the door. She couldn’t escape anyway. Kyle and his men had formed an impenetrable barrier. As she tried to put the key back into the lock her hands were shaking and she found it difficult. Kyle jabbed her in the ribs with the baseball bat.
‘Get a fuckin’ move on!’
‘Alright! I’m trying,’ she replied, with an edge of desperation to her voice.
For Ruby the scene was too painfully familiar. Kyle: angry and threatening. And his group of bully boys: equally menacing and dangerous. It took her back to that traumatic event in her childhood. But this time she wasn’t alone; she had Tiffany with her. Ruby wished this thought brought her comfort. But it didn’t. It made things worse as she dreaded what was about to happen to the two of them.
Eventually she got the door open and Kyle rushed her upstairs, jabbing her in the back with the baseball bat while another of his men stayed with Tiffany and the rest of them raced ahead. By the time Ruby reached the top of the stairs, Kyle’s gang were already laying into the place, smashing the furniture up with baseball bats and slicing up the sofas with machetes.
The last attack on the club had been bad enough, but this time it was obvious they were intent on inflicting even more damage. Ruby looked on helplessly, restrained by Kyle’s vicious grip on her arm once more, as the gang trashed the club.
‘Oh my word!’ she yelled. ‘You bastards!’
Kyle swiped her across the face and Ruby instinctively retaliated, launching herself at him and sinking her nails into his scalp. But he brought the baseball bat down hard and Ruby screeched as she felt the painful blow. Giving her no chance to defend herself, Kyle brought it down again, and again, each blow more vicious than the last.
Ruby fell to the ground, noticing as she did so that Tiffany was getting a hiding from another of Kyle’s men. She could hear her girlfriend’s tortured screams as the man set about her with a baseball bat.
‘Leave her alone, you bastards!’ she shrieked, and she was punished with another savage blow from Kyle.
Eventually he stopped, but his anger was still evident as a stream of abuse spewed from his mouth. ‘You fuckin’ bitch! Did you honestly think you could get away with taking one of my fuckin’ men out? Whore!’
Ruby looked at him, confused as well as terrified. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
He aimed a sharp kick at her stomach, making her double over in agony. ‘You fuckin’ liar! I know you sent your bastard cousins. Did you really think they could scare me into leaving you alone?’ You must be fuckin’ joking!’
As he spoke, he carried on kicking her then resumed with the bat, smashing it down onto her back. Amid the haze of pain and terror Ruby realised what had happened. A feeling of dread circled her senses, overshadowed at the moment by the agony of the attack. Her cousins must have killed a man in reprisal for Kyle’s threat to her business. The stupid pair of bastards!
When Kyle had exhausted himself, he stopped the attack and began talking. His tone was still angry, but this time he was managing to hold it more in check. He was now focused on delivering a message rather than just hurling abuse.
‘So, your cousins want me to leave you and this place alone, do they? Not a fuckin’ chance! In fact, you’ve just made things a lot fuckin’ worse for yourself. From now on you’ll do everything I say unless you want to see your girls go missing, one by one.’
Ruby felt the sting of his words as acute as the pain from her battered and bruised body. She knew she couldn’t afford to lose any more girls. She’d already lost three of her best thanks to Kyle and his gang. And the thought of what he might do to any of her other girls terrified her.
‘OK, OK, I’ll do anything you say,’ she pleaded.
‘Oh, you will! But not now. You look a fuckin’ mess!’ Ruby became conscious of the blood on her face, which was dripping onto her clothing. ‘Get yourself cleaned up and you can ring me tomorrow. I want you to arrange another meeting with me and this time it will go ahead. Unless you want to face the consequences.’
‘Alright,’ said Ruby. ‘I’ll do it.’
‘Right. That’ll save you and your club. And when I’ve finished with you, I’ll be arranging to spend some time with your girlfriend too. But that can wait till another night. I want you first. Oh, and as for your cousins, I’ll make sure them two cunts
