shrivelled up like she’d been chomping on something sour. “Have you even listened to yourself lately? Sophie loves me, says I’m her boyfriend. Whatever, Callum. Like someone like her’s ever gonna be with one of us. She don’t even bloody know you, Cal.”
“I am her boyfriend, Vick. I swear down.”
She jabbed her hands in the air like some kind of crazy. “Where is she, then, this girlfriend of yours? Why ain’t she come over with you, sat down and met your friends? Where’s her friends? Have you met them? Met the family? Where’s her Facebook status, eh? Last time I checked it said ‘single’, Cal, I’ve been checking her out. Bet she ain’t gonna be changing it, neither. Posh bitch like her ain’t gonna admit to being with someone like you, Callum Jackson, she’s playing you for a fucking fool, man.”
“Dunno about her status, Vick, you know I ain’t on that shit. I’ve met her friends, though. They’re cool.”
“What about her fucking family, then? She’s from that Harding lot, saw her old man in the paper last week selling that mansion down Billionaire’s Row to some foreign king or some shit. Think he’s gonna have you round for family dinner, do ya? Oh, Callum, pass me a cucumber sandwich, will you? There’s a good fellow.”
“Don’t be like this, Vick,” I hissed.
“Someone’s gotta be!” she snapped. “Someone’s gotta give a shit enough to talk sense into that thick skull of yours. She’s messing with you! Likes a bit of rough, no doubt, wants to feel like a bad girl. She’s a stupid, selfish, stuck-up bitch.”
“She ain’t,” I barked. “She fucking ain’t, Vicki.” My temper was flaring, getting close to the edge. “Don’t be jealous, alright? You’re my best mate, always will be. Ain’t nothing gonna change just ’cause I got a girlfriend.”
Her eyes were so angry. “Jealous?! Of her?! I ain’t fucking jealous, Cal, I’m fucking looking out for ya.”
“If you say so.”
“I do fucking say so. You ain’t all that much, Callum, and it’s no good thinking you are. Just ’cause you got yourself a posh fuck buddy and some crappy garage down Haygrove. It don’t make you Brad bloody Pitt. You’re Callum bloody Jackson from East Veil, always bloody will be.”
I stayed quiet, fighting back the urge to punch her spiteful little mouth. I felt that twinge in me, right down deep, the one that says I’m no fucking good and never will be. Vicki just kept on going.
“What the fuck you doing here, then, eh? If you’re so bloody in love?”
“Came to see you.”
“Why’s Casey here? She weren’t last time. Shed wasn’t good enough for her the other day. Not today, though, eh?”
“Sophie’s just busy, got some shit to do. She’s calling later.”
“Ah, so she’s your girlfriend, but she’s got some shit to do, so you can’t go home...”
“Ain’t like that. Thought you’d be pleased to fucking see me.”
She laughed so fucking mean again. “She’s probably off with her real boyfriend. Some posh guy who talks nice but don’t fuck so good. That’s why she’s with you, Cal, make no mistake about it. She just wants your big fucking cock.”
“Shut up, Vick.”
“What’s she busy with?”
“Dunno. Don’t matter.”
She shrugged. “Fucking soft, you are. Playing you for a right fucking fool, she is.”
“I could go home now if I wanted, wouldn’t matter.” My mind flashed back to Roger in his stupid posh suit, fucking her in the room next door and laughing about me. “She’s for real, Vick. I’m gonna bring her round here soon, so you can meet her properly.”
“Why wait? Ring her now. Get her over here. I can say thanks for the money.”
“Told ya, she’s busy.”
“Busy with another man’s dick. Probably laughing about us poor people as she sucks on his gold-encrusted bollocks.”
She’d pushed it too far. Way too fucking far. I slammed my fist into the wall by her head, shredding my knuckles on the brickwork. “Lucky I’m your fucking mate, Vicki Pollock, but I’d shut your nasty fucking mouth before I forget.”
She shoved me, shunting me down the yard. “Go on, then, fuck off to her, if that’s what you want. You’ll be back, crying in my fucking arms when she shits all over you. We’ll see who your friends are then.”
“Yeah, we fucking will.” I turned away before I throat-punched her, pulling my hood up and disappearing while she was still raving in the street. I didn’t need to whistle Casey, she was as pleased as I was to be out of the fucking