Ruby by Heather Burnside (sight word books .TXT) 📕

him the traumatic memory of what he had done to her came flooding back. How could she face spending time alone with him when her childhood memories still haunted her so much?

53

July 2011

Ruby was sitting in her lounge with Tiffany, and her cousins, Josh and Calvin. She had called them there for a meeting after updating Tiffany about everything.

‘So, come on,’ said Josh after they had exchanged small talk. ‘We know you haven’t called us here for nowt.’

‘No I haven’t,’ said Ruby. ‘I’m having a bit of trouble and I’m hoping it’s something you can help me with.’

She hated the sound of the words on her tongue. Even though her cousins had offered a long time ago to help her with any bother, it was something she didn’t want to do. It made her feel inadequate to have to ask them; she remembered all too well from her childhood what their perception was of her as a female. And now, here she was, living up to their expectations. But, the way things stood, she didn’t have any choice but to ask for help. She was out of her depth and knew she couldn’t handle Kyle’s gang alone.

‘What is it?’ asked Josh.

‘Have you heard of Kyle Gallagher? You might recognise his name from when we were kids.’

The two cousins exchanged looks, their arched eyebrows and furrowed brows showing a mix of surprise and contempt. Calvin was the first to speak, his tone hostile.

‘Sure, we know who he is. I don’t remember him as a kid though.’

‘Has he been giving you bother?’ demanded Josh, his voice even sharper than his brother’s.

‘You could say that,’ said Ruby, sardonically. ‘He’s been taking protection money from us for a while.’

‘What the fuck! Why didn’t you tell us?’ asked Josh.

Ruby shrugged. ‘I suppose I didn’t want any comeback.’

‘Fuck that! Nobody’s taking the piss out of my cousin and getting away with it,’ threatened Calvin. ‘We’ve got a fuckin’ reputation to keep up.’

‘There’s more,’ said Ruby, sighing. ‘He’s started taking freebies as well and him and his gang are rough with the girls.’

‘Yeah,’ chipped in Tiffany. ‘We’ve had three of them leave because of it.’

‘Really?’ asked Josh. Ruby and Tiffany nodded. ‘So, you want us to sort them, is that it?’

Before Ruby had chance to respond, Tiffany chipped in again. ‘Tell them the latest, Ruby.’

Ruby sighed again, her expression showing her discomfort. ‘Kyle wants me to sleep with him.’

‘And…’ prompted Tiffany.

Ruby shuffled uncomfortably. ‘And, it was him and his mates that attacked me when I was a kid. They gave me this scar.’ She pointed to her cheek.

‘Fuckin’ bastard!’ shouted Calvin. ‘I didn’t realise it was the same guy. How come you never told us any of this?’

‘I didn’t think you’d be interested.’

‘Are you fuckin’ joking?’ raged Josh.

‘Well, you did act a bit differently towards me when we were kids.’

Calvin cut in before Josh had chance to respond. ‘We can’t let the cunt get away with this!’

‘Don’t worry, he ain’t fuckin’ getting away with it!’ said Josh.

‘But they’re dangerous,’ said Ruby. ‘Are you sure you can handle it on your own?’

Calvin sniggered. ‘You think they’re fuckin’ dangerous? You don’t know shit! And we won’t be on our own. We’ve got plenty of handy blokes working for us…’

Josh flashed him a warning look to prevent him from giving too much away. ‘We can sort it, don’t worry about that. I want you to give us as many details as you can; names of the gang members, descriptions, any addresses you might have for them, that sort of thing. Don’t worry if you don’t have too much on them, we can find out the rest ourselves.’

‘OK, but what will you do?’ asked Ruby.

‘You don’t need to know too much,’ Josh replied. ‘All you need to know is that it’ll get sorted. Just leave it with us.’

‘Thanks,’ said Ruby, her initial reluctance now replaced by relief.

She gave her cousins all the facts she could think of relating to Kyle and his gang and they both listened while Calvin made notes. Although she had dreaded being judged by her cousins because of her weakness, it seemed they had finally grown up. Now, rather than putting her down, their main concern seemed to be in defending her and they had been surprisingly receptive.

‘There’s something else,’ she ventured once she had told them as much as she could relating to Kyle. ‘There’s another guy who’s got it in for me. He hasn’t really done anything yet, but he’s threatened revenge. I think he’s just biding his time, but he might even have sent Kyle’s gang round as a way of getting back at me.

‘What’s his name?’ asked Josh.

‘Aaron Gill but they call him Gilly.’

‘Never heard of him,’ said Calvin, ‘And if we ain’t heard of him then he must be small fry. Is he from Manchester?’

‘Yeah. He hangs out in the Rose and Crown. He’s a pimp.’

‘Why’s he after you?’ asked Josh, and Ruby told them both what had happened.

‘He sounds like a nasty little fucker,’ said Josh, ‘but Calvin’s right, he ain’t no big shot. And there’s no way he’ll be behind Kyle and his gang. Trust me; they don’t have anyone pulling their strings. But if you want us to sort this guy out as well, we can.’

‘Yeah, I do,’ said Ruby. ‘Oh, and thanks.’

‘No probs, cuz,’ said Calvin, ruffling her hair. He turned to Josh. ‘Come on, bruv, let’s go.’ Then he laughed. ‘Me and you have got work to do.’

Once they had gone Tiffany took Ruby in her arms. ‘Are you OK?’ she asked.

Ruby pulled away from her embrace and nodded as she replied. ‘I think so.’

‘Do you think they’ll be able to sort it?’

‘Should be able to. I think Josh and Calvin are involved in a lot more than we know about. They didn’t seem too bothered about the situation. In fact, they seemed to be looking forward to going up against Kyle’s gang. I hope they don’t go too far.