‘We were going to call, but it was late so we decided to hit the sack and ring you today. Why? What’s the urgency?’
‘What’s the urgency? Are you for fuckin’ real, Josh? You’ve killed a man! And Kyle’s livid. Him and his gang came to the parlour last night. They smashed the place up and beat me and Tiffany up too.’
‘You’re fuckin’ joking! Are you OK, cuz?’
‘Just bruised,’ she said, rubbing the painful area on her back, ‘but they really shit us up! It was bad, Josh.’ She could feel her voice crack with emotion but she tried not to let it show.
‘Shit! I’m sorry, Ruby. I honestly thought he’d leave you alone after what we did to that guy.’
‘Is that why you killed him?’ asked Ruby. Then, before he had chance to respond, she added, ‘You don’t know him, Josh. The guy’s a fuckin’ savage! And, to be honest, I’m shit scared of what he’s gonna do next.’
This time Ruby did give in to her feelings. Her fear of reprisals overrode any need to put on a brave front as the worry about her imminent meeting with Kyle hung over her. Then a thought occurred to her. ‘What about Gilly? You didn’t kill him too, did you?’
‘Nah, he was a piece of piss. The guy shit himself as soon as we took him outside the pub. I don’t think you’ll be having any more trouble from him.’
She let out a weary sigh. At least one of her problems had been dealt with. But then she thought of something else. ‘Kyle’s threatened to deal with you and Calvin too.’
‘I’d like to see him fuckin’ try!’
‘You don’t know what you’re dealing with, Josh.’
‘No, you don’t know what you’re dealing with. Believe me; we’re used to taking care of fuckwits like him. He ain’t no big deal! You’ve gotta do them before they fuckin’ do you.’
‘Is that why you killed that guy?’ Ruby asked again.
She could hear Josh let out a puff of air, as though in irritation. ‘Not really, no. We didn’t really mean to fuckin’ kill him. We were just gonna send out a warning, but the guy wouldn’t cooperate so we just fuckin’ did what we had to do.’
‘Brilliant, well now we’re all in the shit!’ Ruby fumed. ‘Because this won’t stop here, Josh, I’m telling you.’
Josh raised his voice to counter Ruby’s rage. ‘Alright, alright! Shush a minute and listen to what I’ve got to say.’ When Ruby went quiet, he carried on, ‘If you really think it’s gonna go further, then we’ve got to fuckin’ get to him before he gets to us.’
‘No!’ said Ruby, shocked.
‘Well what’s the fuckin’ alternative? Wait for him like sitting ducks?’
Ruby knew he had a point but she didn’t like to think about how this was going to end. On the other hand, she didn’t want Kyle to beat her. ‘I don’t know,’ she said, already considering his suggestion.
‘Right, I’ll tell you what,’ said Josh. ‘You have a think about it and let me know when you’ve made a decision. But, in the meantime, we’ll be looking out for him, and if this Kyle or any of his gang tries anything with us, they’re fuckin’ dead men.’
*
Ruby was at home and was supposed to be making phone calls to arrange repairs to the club while Tiffany was out shopping for some replacements. Despite their injuries they had decided to get things back to normal as soon as possible. Ruby didn’t want to spend time moping around. As she’d told Tiffany, their injuries weren’t major so she didn’t see why they couldn’t crack on with things.
But for Ruby it was also an act of defiance to show Kyle and his gang that they couldn’t keep her down for long. Why should she lose money while the club remained shut? There was also the risk of the girls going elsewhere if they had to go too long without working. Besides, Ruby needed a focus to take her mind off things. It wouldn’t do her any good to dwell on the vicious attack of the previous night and the ongoing menace from Kyle and his gang.
The problem was that once she’d finished her call with Josh, she couldn’t concentrate on anything other than the predicament she was in. Ruby was in torment. She wished her cousins hadn’t gone so far by killing one of Kyle’s gang. But, even if they’d just given him a warning, would it have been enough? Kyle was so ruthless that she now doubted whether a warning alone would stop him.
But the damage had been done and she was already suffering repercussions. The evil look in Kyle’s eyes last night as he had made his threats told her that he would stop at nothing in his quest to punish her and destroy her cousins. She didn’t like to dwell on Josh’s suggestion because she knew what it entailed and deep down she knew that the only way they would find any peace would be by wiping out Kyle and his gang.
Killing people was so abhorrent to her. If only there was another way! But despite the way she felt, Ruby couldn’t come up with any other solution to their problems. As Josh had said, what was the alternative?
Thoughts were going around on a loop inside her head. Eventually, when she’d played them over several times, she pushed them aside, and got back to her phone calls. But disturbing thoughts kept returning: Kyle’s threat to deal with her cousins, the terror of last night’s attack and her imminent meeting with Kyle all refused to go away. They hovered in the background snarling at her conscious mind like a ferocious beast that wouldn’t stay down.
Later that day, Ruby’s phone rang and her anxious thoughts took over once more. It was Kyle. He came straight to the point.
‘Right, Trina, or is it Ruby now?’ His
