Time To Play by KA Richardson (best book club books of all time TXT) 📗

getting friendly with a boy from her village. She was shaking as Danny moved his hand down and cupped her behind, bunching the bottom of her dress upwards, whispering ‘sorry,’ as he lifted her slightly. She was close to panic as the footsteps finally entered the room.

‘What the fuck?’ snarled the man, entering the room and grabbing Danny’s arm, yanking him away from Elvie. She gasped as the man pulled his fist round and connected with Danny’s jaw. As Danny stumbled, she grabbed his arm and held on tightly.

Danny stood and put his arm round her protectively, glaring at the other man. ‘You’re too late; I’ve already had her twice today. Sorry, bud. Couldn’t resist this sweet piece of arse.’ He squeezed her behind, pulling her even closer to him, and she leant in, knowing how important it was that the other man believe she was no longer a virgin.

Elvie slid her hand across his chest. ‘You want that I go with him now? I please him too?’

She watched out of lidded eyes as the other man wrinkled his nose in disgust, turning and slamming the door with such force that it reverberated around the whole house.

Danny stepped away from her, and she knew instantly he meant what he had said, he had no intention of hurting her. She was just about to speak, when the door flung open and Gaz entered, fastening his belt as he walked in.

‘What the holy fuck? How come he didn’t want her?’

Elvie saw him look at the strap of her dress hanging off her shoulder and watched his eyes bulge as he realised what he was sure had happened.

‘Jesus, Danny. You must have a death wish. Boss lady’s gunna kick your arse from here to kingdom come. What was she like though? Bet she was as tight as a duck’s arse? Maybe later I’ll dip my wick, huh?’

‘Don’t think so, Gaz. This one’s mine. I’ll deal with the old bat when we get back to the house.’

Danny took hold of Elvie’s hand and led her from the room. Pausing outside the door behind which her friend was, she pulled him to a stop, begging him silently to let her see her friend.

He nodded, and Elvie pushed open the door.

Nita lay on the bed; in the same position she’d been before. Her dress had been disturbed, but otherwise she looked like she was sleeping. Elvie knelt beside her and saw the prick of blood on her arm, next to the few dots that were dried and crusting. She frowned as she realised her friend had been injected several times. Gently, Elvie placed a hand on her friend’s face. Nita didn’t stir, she was deep asleep.

‘Come on, time to go,’ said Danny, pulling her to her feet.

Elvie knew she couldn’t fight, not right now. She would plan her escape then come back for her friend. She allowed Danny to lead her out to the van.

 

Chapter Seven

Sunderland City Police HQ – 4 November

A li glared at the computer screen in front of him. Sometimes days just sucked, and this was one of those days. It had started when he arrived at work to a note on his desk from the chief superintendent requesting his attendance at a meeting at 10 a.m. – a meeting he had just got out of and was still reeling from.

He’d been brought into the force as a secondment almost a year ago and had initially been based out of Newcastle. Then changes had been brought forth due to budget cuts and what not, and he had been transferred to Sunderland to provide cover. The chief super had disclosed that morning that the force may not be able to justify him being in position and were considering terminating his secondment and sending him back to Police Scotland.

To say he was fuming was an understatement. He’d uprooted his whole life to move down to the north-east of England, on the proviso that the secondment would be two years in length and may lead to permanent employment. It had been somewhat easier because his brother Alex was living in Sunderland, but it had still been a hell of a decision to make, leaving his home in Edinburgh and relocating, renting out his flat, leaving his family behind. Ali was the second oldest of eight siblings, Alex being the oldest. It had been hard to walk away, even knowing they were only a few hours over the border.

He’d really only just started settling in, had decorated the flat he rented and was just becoming comfortable with the people he worked with. To be told ‘thanks for your service but you’re not needed’ was a kick in the teeth. He wondered if it had to do with the prisoner that had escaped. Deep down he knew it hadn’t been his fault. The offender hadn’t even been in police custody at the time, but he knew people blamed him. If he was honest with himself, even knowing he couldn’t have stopped what happened, he still blamed himself. Setting his chin in determination, he resolved to speak with the Federation rep later.

After the meeting he’d returned to his desk to find the system offline, meaning he couldn’t update HOLMES on the latest spate running through Sunderland. People were doing those stupid NekNomination contests: drinking a lot of alcohol in one go then tagging a friend via social media to continue the trend. So far he’d dealt with one death from the contest and a couple of very near misses where the persons concerned had been assaulted and robbed in the street without being able to remember a thing. It was a ridiculous trend; one he hoped would peter out soon.

With a sigh, he pushed the file to one side and reached for the next on the pile to his left. Opening it, he realised it was the