House of Angels Read Online Free PDF Page A

wishes.
    ‘Damn it, Mercy, just swallow your pride, go to the store and ask for work. It’s what your ma wanted for you. That bastard Josiah Angel owes you that much at least.’
    ‘I want nowt from him,’ Mercy said, her small voice tight with pain. ‘The man has ignored my existence for sixteen years, why should I go to him now with me begging bowl?’
    ‘Because he’s your da, and as much responsible for your well-being as your ma was.’
    ‘No he ain’t. I loved me ma, but I hate him.’
    ‘’Course you do, but who else do you have now that she’s gone?’
    ‘I have you and Jessie. Leastways, I thought I did.’
    Jack patted her head in a rare show of affection. ‘’Course you do, lass. Always, you know that. But we’re stretched as it is, and this man could give you somuch more. You deserve better than this.’
    Mercy was accustomed to listening to her old friend, whom she admired and revered, turning to him whenever she was in trouble. Jack was older and wiser than herself, a man now at twenty-three, and with a growing reputation for toughness. He led a band of followers who lapped up his every word, ready to do his bidding with no questions asked. But Jack was no one’s fool, and not a man to cross. If power helped you to survive on Fellside, then Jack Flint ranked high in the pecking order; top of the tree in these buildings, although there were rival gangs down other yards and entries.
    He could be as boisterous and rowdy as the rest; drink most of them under the table when he had coins in his pocket, but was also pig-headed, stiff-necked, and naturally perverse and argumentative. He was perhaps a mite too impulsive, and certainly never slow to take on a fight if challenged. But he was also a man of strong opinions with a mind of his own, the sort of person you could turn to when in trouble, always ready to take on the world if he sensed an injustice, albeit judged by a set of principles forged by the tough life he’d led. Jack Flint was impervious to danger and readily flouting all normal rules and conventions.
    In Mercy’s eyes he could do no wrong. He was deeply caring, supportive and protective; not only her best friend but her hero, and she had adored him for as long as she could remember. Even the look of him delighted her. His hair, the colour of burnished mahogany, sprang back from a wide brow, reaching almost to his shoulders, aswild and untamed as Jack himself. His velvet brown eyes were dark and brooding beneath winged brows, the chin strong and square, the lower lip full and sensual beneath a straight, almost aquiline nose. A face that might have marked him out as an eighteenth-century gentleman, had not the set of those broad shoulders proved he was very much able to take care of himself in the tough world of Fellside.
    Of late, Mercy had begun to see him in a rather different light from that of big brother, a role he’d readily adopted on her behalf, although not through any encouragement on his part. Much to her disappointment, Jack still saw her as a scrawny child in need of care and protection. But it had long been Mercy’s secret desire to alter this view he held of her, given time and opportunity. She dreamt he might one day see her as a young attractive woman. For this reason alone, if for no other, she paid heed to what he had to say.
    ‘You don’t have to give a toss about the greedy bastard. I’m not asking you to turn into Josiah Angel’s devoted daughter, or to love and respect him. Why should you, for pity’s sake? But you could use him, as he used your ma. Play him for all you’re worth and relieve him of some of his ill-gotten brass.’
    Mercy gave a vigorous shake to the head. ‘Oh, I could never do that. I couldn’t just walk in and ask for money any more than I could ask him for a job. I just couldn’t.’
    Jack let out a heavy sigh, and looking into the young girl’s pale face with bruises like thumb prints beneath those big turquoise-blue eyes, judged