Bang Gang(48)

"Don't be like that … "

I walked straight down the hall, practically launched the front door  from its hinges. I was halfway through my cigarette when I heard her  heels behind me. I didn't bother turning around.

"You want her, don't you?" she said, and there was that tone again, that  condescending fucking tone she's always used around me. "You want to  move back home, and get her to play little wifey, cooking and cleaning  and looking pretty around the house while you go and bang half the  fucking village and play a dirty bit of rough for anyone who's willing  to pay for it."

"What I want with Jodie is none of your fucking business, Lorraine."

"Oh, but it is," she said. "I'm Jodie's boss, practically her best  friend …  and you and me …  well, we're … " Her fingers trailed up my spine as  she stepped around me.

I glared at her. "We're nothing. I offer a service, you paid for it. End of."

"Offered. Last I heard, you couldn't get it up."

I took a drag. "Yeah, like that sounds likely."

She bit her lip, raised an eyebrow. "Hope not, Trent. Hope you're not  losing your touch. Maybe you need some more lessons … " Her hand shot to  my crotch and squeezed. I grabbed her wrist, pushed her away. "Don't be  coy," she said. "Not like I haven't seen it all before, baby. You're  everything you are now because of me …  Jodie's reaping the benefits and  she doesn't even know it … "

"I'm done," I said. "With all of it. I'm done with you."

"Sure you are … "

"I am. Think what you fucking like, Lorraine. It's over."

"And that's it, is it? No more clients, no more Bang Gang, no more cash  lump sums you can use to treat that cute little family of yours? Is my  money not good enough for you all of a sudden? You've taken enough of  it."

"Can't speak for the rest of the lads," I said. "Give Buck a call. I couldn't give a shit."

"I don't want a four-way, Trent, and you know it." Her eyes were full of  spite. "But Jodie does …  In fact, I don't think she'd care if you were  there or not from the sounds of it … "

I looked right at her. "What the fuck are you talking about?"

She sighed, full of drama. "I didn't want to tell you, but I can't stand  by and let you make a fool of yourself, even I'm not that cruel." I  waited for it. "I know you may think this is about you, Darren, but  she's using you. She doesn't see you as any more of a keeper than I do.  You're just a piece of rough to her, same as you are for everyone else.  She wants a gangbang just the same as every other cheap slut in this  village, only she won't tell you that, will she? It's not as if she can  afford one … "                       
       
           



       

I kept my gaze steady. "You think she's only with me because she wants  to have a free fucking gangbang, Lorraine? That's seriously what you  think?"

She grinned, triumphant. "That's what I know. She told me as much. She  told me she'd never be with you, not properly, not with you being such a  loser, such a liability, such a player."

"But she wants to fuck the rest of the guys? I'm just a free meal ticket?"

She nodded. "She's a woman finding herself again. It's only natural,  Darren. She has needs and no means of paying for them, of course she's  using you …  It's clear she wants an actual relationship, just not with  you. She needs someone who can be a proper role model to those girls,  and she knows it …  but in the meantime she's …  out to have fun …  at your  expense, it would seem."

I flicked my cigarette away. "And when did she tell you all this?"

"Only the past few days, or I would have come sooner … "

"Let me get this straight. Jodie told you that she's only using me to  get a shot at a gangbang with the guys, and she told you this a few days  back?"

"I guess the gossip has finally reached her. Turned her head. Like I  said, it's only natural she should want what other women are having."  She smiled at me. "See how ridiculous you're being? How pathetic?  Thinking she wants you when she only wants your cock, yours and your  mates' … "

"Clear off," I said. "Now."

Her mouth dropped open. "What? Oh, come on, Darren! You can't seriously  want to take this out on me. Don't shoot the pissing messenger!"

"Like hell you're a fucking messenger, Lorraine, you're nothing but a cheap liar."

She folded her arms. "I'm not lying, Trent. That's what she wants, you  just can't accept it. Don't be a fool! She's using you! Laughing at  you!"

I leaned in close, my mouth to her ear, and my voice was full of fucking  malice. "The only person who's taking me for a fucking fool around  here, Lorraine, is you." I brushed past her and stepped back inside,  making it damn well clear she wasn't invited to follow me. "It's over,  you and me," I said. "So stay out of my fucking face, and stay out of  Jodie's too."

"Darren! Just hear me out! You're angry, I know, but you're making a big … "

I slammed the door before I could hear any more of her shit.

I nearly sent Jodie a message right there and then, nearly told her  exactly what a conniving little cunt Lorraine really was, but to do that  I'd have to tell all. I'd have to hash up all the sorry details of the  long seedy history between me and that fucking woman, a woman I should  never have touched with a fucking barge pole.

I'd have to tell her that I'd been fucking Lorraine in secret for years,  that the majority of the cash in the box under my bed was from her  seedy advances, that she'd been the one to orchestrate the whole fucking  lot of it.

And Jodie thought they were friends.

They weren't fucking friends.

I tried to type it out, tried to say what I needed to say, but everything sounded shit. I've never been fucking good with words.

I changed my message to a general we need to talk that sounded so  fucking ominous I didn't want to send it. And then what? If I did? I  tell her about Lorraine and what? We weren't even together, not yet, not  definitely. Something like this could put a spanner in the works before  we'd even had a shot, before we'd even given ourselves a fair fucking  chance of making something real again.

What if Jodie took Lorraine's side?

She wouldn't. Couldn't. Not with a bitch like her.

But would she believe me? Why would she believe me? She hadn't even trusted me with Mia's fucking bullying issues.

I hated to think what fucking shit Lorraine would whisper in her ear.

I smoked another cigarette when the cow had finally fucked off, and  another after that. I needed to tell Jodie something, needed to warn  her, but now wasn't the time.

We had the rally weekend coming up, in person would be better, talk her  through it when I could see her face and she could see mine. Tell her it  didn't mean anything, that Lorraine didn't mean anything, tell her that  I wasn't even Bang Ganging anymore, hadn't been since she first came  over.                       
       
           



       

I'd tell her everything. Lay it all out on the table.

Nothing like breaking the habit of a fucking lifetime.





We were all packed up, my poor little Ford bursting to the seams with  tents and sleeping bags and a million supplies we'd probably never need.  I'd left Nanna with kind Maisie Harris, who came to do her toenails  every month. She didn't mind house sitting, she'd said. No need to house  sit, so Nanna said, but I wasn't convinced.

"I can't believe we're actually camping," Tonya said for the hundredth  time. "We haven't been camping since that time we went out to the cider  festival with Trent and Buck when we were kids. I still remember you  puking behind the bandstand after too many vodkas."

"Urgh," Mia said from the back. "You got drunk, Mum?"

Daisy giggled, and Mia did, too. Two giggly peas in a very small pod, those two.

"It's an exaggeration," I lied. "I think I had a dodgy hotdog."

"Probably that, yeah," Tonya said, and flashed me a grin.

I wondered if Darren was there already. I guessed he was, and all the  guys with him, at least that's what Ruby claimed. I imagined he was  already hard at work, doing all the car stuff, whatever stuff needed to  be done with these rally cars.

The event was signposted for miles, and we pulled up into open fields  that had been segregated into camping areas. The attendant pointed us  over to a spot in the corner, and Ruby squealed in excitement as we got  out of the car. People were already setting up tents around us, so we  grabbed ours from the car and marked out a spot. I still couldn't  believe I was doing this.