The Driver Read Online Free PDF Page B

hoping that he felt guilty now for jumping to conclusions.
    ‘Could have asked me to do it,’ Shay muttered, noticing the wet towels that were still spread across the floor and realising that she was telling the truth.
    ‘Oh, yeah, ’cos I’m always welcome to come knocking on her door, aren’t I?’
    Shay sucked his teeth, irritated that Cheryl was using the situation as an excuse to have a dig about him cheating on her when she was the one who’d been caught red-handed with another dude. Not that this dude was any kind of serious threat, mind. He might have a pretty face, but the cruddy trainers and label-less clothes marked him out as just another no-hope estate rat, destined to live a hand-to-mouth existence until he died in bed with a dribble of Special Brew running out of his gob.
    Catching the look that Shay was giving Joe, Cheryl’s hackles rose. How dare he waltz in here and throw his scorn about like he was God’s gift to women everywhere. He’d do well to get some of Joe’s manners, in her opinion, never mind strutting around like the big I-am.
    Thinking about manners, she realised that Shay had no intention of introducing himself so she thought she’d better do it.
    ‘This is Shay, by the way,’ she told Joe. ‘And this,’ she informed Shay frostily, ‘is Joe. He’s just moved in across from Carl and Mel.’
    Joe held out his hand but Shay ignored it and hooked his thumbs through his belt loops. ‘Met the nonce yet?’
    ‘Your next-door neighbour,’ Cheryl explained when she saw the confusion in Joe’s eyes. ‘Shay kind of caught him spying on a little boy last year.’
    ‘ Perving over him,’ Shay corrected her, a glint of disgust flashing through his eyes. ‘Cunt wants locking up, if you ask me. And see if he ever so much as breathes near Frankie, he won’t just get a kicking, he’ll be going head first off the balcony.’
    ‘All right, you’ve made your point,’ Cheryl admonished him quietly, wondering what Joe must be making of all this. He’d seen Shay twice now and both times her ex had been acting like a lout.
    ‘Just letting the man know what we think of nonces round here,’ Shay drawled, cracking his knuckles loudly and heading for the living room. ‘My boy up yet?’
    ‘What do you think?’ Cheryl muttered, rolling her eyes. He knew damn well that Frankie got up at the crack of dawn every day. Not that it affected him , seeing as he wasn’t the one who had to get up to see to him.
    Turning to Joe when they were alone, she whispered, ‘Sorry about that. He just gets a bit funny if he comes round when someone’s here.’
    ‘Don’t worry, I’m thick-skinned,’ Joe reassured her. ‘But I’ve really got to go. Will you be okay?’
    Cheryl nodded. She knew he was really asking if she would be safe on her own with Shay, but while she was grateful for his concern she was also deeply ashamed that he’d witnessed the argument in the first place. She was just glad that it hadn’t turned into one of their real fights because they could both be vicious when they got going, so it always ended up looking and sounding much worse than it actually was.
    Sighing when Joe went to show himself out, Cheryl reached for another cigarette. She usually couldn’t wait for Shay to come round but she wished he hadn’t bothered today. She’d been having such a nice time with Joe, and it had been great talking to a man who actually listened and who answered questions without jumping down your throat and accusing you of interrogating him. But, even if Joe hadn’t already made it clear that he wasn’t interested in having kids of his own, never mind someone else’s, she knew that nothing could ever come of it because no man was ever going to come within a mile of her while Shay was still strutting around acting like he owned her.
    Nodding when Joe said goodbye, Shay scooped Frankie out of the playpen and got down on the floor with him to play with the toy cars. Coming into the doorway