the sheets didn’t stink out the bathroom. As he headed out he realised that he’d forgotten to grab clean pyjama bottoms. He’d have to run back to his room half nude, but it was only a few steps so he didn’t think it would be a problem.
But as Dante rushed into his room he bumped into Ross’ daughter Tina. She was nineteen, quite short, with a curvy figure under her nightshirt and stripy socks over small feet. Dante realised that she’d wiped his rubber sheet, put a fresh cotton sheet on top of it and brought one of the spare duvets out of the cupboard in the hallway.
Dante gasped, stretching his pyjama top down over his penis and bum.
‘Don’t be daft,’ Tina laughed and threw him a pair of blue bottoms.
They didn’t match the top half and Dante didn’t like this because it made it obvious to everyone that he’d had an accident, but he was too embarrassed to complain and he stepped back out into the hallway to pull them on.
‘I didn’t wake you up did I?’ Dante asked, stepping back into the bedroom as Tina smoothed out the fresh duvet.
‘Nah,’ she smiled. ‘I couldn’t sleep.’
‘I’m really sorry,’ Dante said nervously. ‘I could have done the sheets. You didn’t have to get up.’
‘Come here,’ Tina said, as she sat on Dante’s clean bed. ‘You look sad, give us a cuddle.’
Dante smiled as Tina wrapped her arms around his back and squished him. Tears welled up as he sniffed her deodorant. The smooth skin and shoulder-length hair reminded him of his dead sister.
‘I always wanted a little brother,’ Tina said. ‘I wanted him to be called Barnaby.’
Dante smirked. ‘That’s such a toff’s name! He would have got battered at school.’
‘I always saw him dressed in a little sailor suit and patent leather shoes. It wasn’t a terribly realistic fantasy to be honest.’
‘I wish I could stay here forever sometimes,’ Dante said. ‘Especially if Holly could come.’
Tina ruffled his hair and pulled back a triangle of the duvet. ‘You’d better get in. You’ve got to be up early for the drive to Devon.’
‘If I was dead I wouldn’t have to sleep,’ Dante replied. ‘Or worry about getting bombed. Or wake up drowning in piss.’
Tina rubbed his back and gave him a kiss. ‘You are so strong and clever, Dante Scott. I’d bet you my entire overdraft that your mum and dad wouldn’t want you dead. They’d want you to grow up and become an amazing happy person, and that’s exactly what you’ll be.’
Dante smiled and took another breath tinged with hair and deodorant.
‘Now try getting some sleep and I’m only next door if you need me, OK?’
Dante nodded before skimming across his bed and diving under the sheets. Tina flicked out his light and he went to sleep thinking about Tina and imagining having someone like her as a girlfriend or wife when he was older. Sleep came easier when he looked forward instead of back.
9. LIES
Ross made Dante dress in chinos and a smart shirt for the trip to Devon. It was a five-hour drive in an unmarked police car, with Ross at the wheel and Dante’s armed guard Steve in the passenger seat. Dante had the back seats to himself and spent most of the trip on his Gameboy and reading every word of two wrestling magazines that Ross had bought for the trip.
It was eleven when they stopped off at Bridgwater services to piss and eat Burger King. Dante was pleased that Ross bought him a Whopper. His mum always said it was too expensive because he’d waste half of it.
‘That big enough for you, boy?’ the police bodyguard asked, before blowing on his coffee.
Dante smiled. He’d been delighted when Steve had turned up for the morning trip. Out of all the police guards, he was the one most likely to join him on the Playstation and the previous Saturday he’d even shown up with a packet of cake mix and they’d made a sponge with orange-flavoured icing.
‘We stopped here once on a Brigands run,’ Dante said. ‘A full-patch called Pigeon got knocked off his bike after a run up in Scotland. I was in the run truck …’
‘What’s that?’ Steve asked.
‘You can’t carry much luggage on a Harley,’ Dante explained. ‘So when the Brigands go on a run, there’s usually a truck or van that carries baggage, spare parts and stuff. When I was little I used to think it was cooler to ride in the truck