Page 48 of Into the Dark
I’m unfolding my clothes from my backpack when my mobile goes. Seeing Vic’s name on the screen makes my back, neck, and shoulders stiffen like they always do.
“Hey, you get my voice mail?” I ask without a greeting.
“Yeah. Where are you?” Her voice is high, and there’s a babble of noise behind her that must mean she’s at the salon. “I came by the flat earlier, but you weren’t in.”
“You came by the flat? For what?”
“Well, I was passing with your son. He was throwing up all night, and I didn’t want to send him to nursery only to be called to come get him.”
“What’s wrong with him?”
“How should I know? I’m not a doctor.” There’s a sharpness to her tone. “But I think it was something he ate at that birthday party yesterday.”
“How is he now? You got him with you?”
“No, I left him at your front door,” she snipes. “Course I’ve fucking got him. Where were you?”
I try to temper my desire to snipe back. “None of your business.”
There’s a pause. Then a sigh. “Jake, I honestly couldn’t give a shit which silly bitch you’re shagging now.” This is a lie. The truth is, Vicky cares a lot about the whereabouts of my dick.
“Yeah, okay, Vic. How is he now, I asked you?”
“Fine. Running about mental in here.”
“So where are you, and I’ll come and get him.”
“Salon. Kel needed a hand.”
I lift my watch from the nightstand next to Alex’s neat handwritten note. Beside it are a pair of her earrings, solid gold with green stones like the ring she always wears. They look like they might be old, but they’re nice. Very her. Kinda like her house and clothes, and her cat. I should buy her something.
“Okay, I’ll be there in about an hour to get him,” I tell Vicky absently before hanging up.
I dress quickly and leave the house through the back door, locking it with the key she gave me yesterday, which I then put on my car keys. All the way in I think about what the fuck I can buy for Alex that she doesn’t have already. Something she’ll like. Something that’s her. Something that will show her how much I love her.
Fuck, is this what every Christmas will be like with her? Every birthday. Wondering what I can get her that conveys how much I love her.
When even is her birthday? We’ve never talked about that. She knows me better than anyone has ever known me, and I don’t know her birthday?
As I pull into a parking space outside Vic’s salon, I text her.
Me: By the way, when is your birthday? I’m thinking I should probably know this shit? Jx
I open the Salon door to the smell of burning hair, hairspray, and that shit they use to lever off nail polish. It turns my stomach like it always does. I don’t see Cale running around, but I see Vicky chatting to a client as she cuts away at the girl’s long, dark hair. Kelly spots me first and waves before coming over.
“Jay, how are you? Haven’t seen you in ages. You been looking after yourself?” She casts her eyes over me, flirty and slow. “You’re looking well, so I guess you ’ave?”
“Yeah, good, Kel. You’re looking well too,” I tell her because it’s automatic. She’s a good-looking girl, Kelly. Nice smile and great tits. I know that because I fucked them on one of the sofas in the back office. The sofa my son is probably sitting on right now.
Shame rolls through me. I don’t remember much of anything about that night, but I still feel sick thinking about it. I drank Sal’s dry of Jack and shoved close to two hundred pounds’ worth of Charlie up my nose. Then I fucked Vic’s best friend in the place she part-owns. It isn’t a night I want to remember for a variety of reasons. It makes me nervous too because Alex thinks my days as a waster cokehead are a lot further behind me than they actually are. Should that be one of the things I talk to her about? Would she even want to know?
Fucking hell, I really hate coming here.
Just then, Vic spots me, makes her excuses to her client, and rushes over. “Hey, you got here quick. I just went to get him a sandwich. He was hungry. He’s through the back.” She turns, gesturing for me to follow her.
Kelly squeezes my arm softly then goes back to what she was doing.
Vicky leads me through a door that’s wedged open with a fire extinguisher and down the hallway with a few rooms leading off it. I know one of these rooms holds a massage bed. I know this because before I fucked Kelly from behind on the sofa in the back office, she offered to give me a massage in one of them. She’s qualified, she said.