of the fuckin’ job. It’s here on tap. You gotta take some pussy. It’s like medicine. Rite of passage an’ all that.’
He pulled the heavy door open.
Chapter 59
10 years AC
O2 Arena - ‘Safety Zone 4’, London
The first thing Jacob registered was the overwhelming stench of human shit.
A girl cowered in the corner of the room, bruised blue arms wrapped tightly around her pulled-up and clamped together knees. She was naked and every inch of her skin seemed to be covered in a mottled mark of one sort or another. The girl was whimpering at the sound of the door creaking open and at the first sight of Dizz-ee she buried her face in her knees.
‘Sure she needs a bit of cleanin’ up,’ said Dizz-ee. ‘I been busy on her last week, but reckon she’s got to be shag-ready now.’
It was quiet in the room save for the soft fizzing of the strip light. The deep throbbing beat of music coming from the stage above was muted by the acoustic cushioning of the small room’s walls.
‘I can’t do this,’ said Jacob quietly. The wretched sight of the girl’s narrow frame beaten black and blue was enough to completely kill off any residual desire for a sexual encounter.
The girl suddenly looked up sharply at the sound of his voice. One eye was swollen and purple and almost entirely closed. The other eye he vaguely recognised.
‘Jacob?’ she muttered.
Dizz-ee cocked his head curiously, still smiling amicably. ‘Uh? She know you?’
Jacob found himself robbed of breath. ‘She’s my sister.’
Dizz-ee giggled. ‘No way! You’re shittin’ me? Fuck. There’s a crazy fucking coinciden—’
Jacob had swung his fist before he realised he was doing it. It was ill-aimed and glanced off Dizz-ee’s cheek, knocking him back against the door frame. Not even close to knocking him down, though.
Dizz-ee clasped a hand to the side of his face. ‘The fuck you do that for?’
‘You did this to my sister?’ asked Jacob, his voice quiet, fluttering with adrenalin.
Dizz-ee studied him. ‘Yeah, she’s my girl. Do what the fuck I like with—’
Jacob rushed forward, his hands grasped hold of Dizz-ee’s shirt and, with strength he didn’t know he had, he lifted the boy off the ground and threw him across the room against the wall beside Leona.
Dizz-ee bounced off the wall and landed heavily on his bottom.
‘You fucker!!’ screamed Jacob, stepping towards him. ‘You bastard!!’
But he stopped short, staring down at the glinting blade pointed at him. He felt ice-water instantly pour through his veins.
A knife. Nothing terrified him quite so much as the sight of one held in a shaking, twitching hand.
‘Gonna stab you up,’ said Dizz-ee calmly. ‘Gonna pop you, then gonna pop your sis.’
Leona scrambled away from him, over the mattress into the opposite corner of the room and pulled her legs up protectively.
Jacob’s anger was held in check for the moment as his eyes studied the tip of the knife. Remembering a time long ago, when he was eight, the tip of a blade held against his throat, pushing so hard he thought the thing was actually already through the skin and inside him.
Dizz-ee laughed. ‘You want to come again? You want to try it?’
Jacob remained poised, his hands clenched, unclenched, clenched.
‘Snoop told me we’re leaving this place. Gonna go live on your place. Cool, uh? Said your mum’s the big boss there.’
Jacob said nothing. He and Nathan had been so stupid telling Mr Maxwell where they’d come from. Stupid. Too trusting. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
‘First thing we gonna do when we get there is fuck your mum. Shit, man, reckon we’ll all have a go at her.’
Jacob realised Dizz-ee was goading him. Trying to get him to lose control of himself and make an ill-judged lunge for him. His anger, the rage that had made him lash out, was fast ebbing now, being replaced with a growing sense of dread at the sight of the long blade angled towards him. He felt the trembling spread, grow more pronounced. Angry with himself that he wasn’t able to hide his fear like other boys and men seemed able to do effortlessly.
‘Awww,’ said Dizz-ee, pouting a lip in mock sympathy. ‘You all scared now?’
‘No,’ replied Jacob, his voice warbled uncontrollably.
‘You’re shittin’ your pants, I can see that.’
In the corner, behind him, he could hear his sister whispering for him to back off . . . to be careful.
‘You just a little fuckin’ mummy’s boy, eh?’ said Dizz-ee, sliding up the wall slowly, getting to his feet. ‘Little mummy-boy.’
Jacob stayed where