‘Fuck off.’

‘You  fuck off. My parents will be back soon and we’ve got CCTV at the gate, so it will have recorded you arriving. You’ve got fifteen minutes to tell me what’s going on, or I’ll tell them you tricked your way in, helped yourself to drink, smoked drugs in their house, then forced me upstairs and made me take my clothes off. See how easy it is for people to get themselves into compromising situations? See how bad this will look for your sister?’

‘You set me up?’

Her eyes hardened. ‘You did it to me first.’

She could do anything, say anything. She could say he touched her, that he made her do stuff.

‘Did you think I wouldn’t find out?’ she said. ‘Do you think I’m stupid?’

He sat down on the edge of the bed and wiped a hand across his eyes. ‘How long have you known?’

‘Since the pub. Your boss let it slip. But I knew all along you were only pretending to like me – all that chat at the party and then at the river. I didn’t believe any of it.’

He shook his head. ‘I wasn’t pretending.’

Her eyes were stone. ‘OK, let’s get this straight. You crash my brother’s party, you hit on me, then ask for my number. Why?’

‘I liked you.’

‘Bollocks.’

‘OK, I liked you and  I thought you might know stuff.’

‘What kind of stuff?’

He shrugged. ‘Something that might help my sister.’

‘Why would I?’

‘You were in the house when it happened. Karyn remembers you.’

She gave him a look. It was the strangest look, like a veil lifted, like what he was saying made some kind of sense. ‘You didn’t ask me anything at the river. You didn’t mention my brother once.’

‘I forgot.’

She looked puzzled. ‘You forgot?’

‘I was having a good time.’ He was aware of how gravelly his voice was and gave a quick cough. ‘Courts are crap, you know that. Your brother’ll get off for sure and I wanted Karyn to know someone cared. I thought I’d get information out of you – where your brother hangs out, that kind of stuff. I wasn’t ever going to hurt you.’

‘You were going to hurt my brother?’

He shrugged. ‘He raped my sister.’

Ellie’s face closed down again. ‘Karyn wanted  him. It’s not Tom’s fault she changed her mind in the morning. She flirted with him all night – laughing and joking, knocking back the booze.’

‘She fancied him. Haven’t you ever done that?’

‘I’ve never offered myself on a plate to a boy, then woken up and cried rape.’

‘That’s not what happened. I know her and she’s not making this up.’

‘I know my brother and neither is he.’ She took a step forward. ‘Why would he rape her when she was clearly going to give it to him anyway?’

Mikey’s stomach gripped. He held on tight to the edge of the bed. ‘I don’t know, but he did.’

‘Maybe your sister got so drunk she forgot she said yes – you ever thought of that?’

‘He should have looked after her if she was drunk, not taken advantage.’

Ellie glared at him. ‘Why did it take her twenty‑four hours to go to the police?’

‘I don’t know! I don’t know all the answers.’ He ran a hand through his hair. ‘She was scared, I know that. She still is.’

‘Yeah, well it’s not easy for any of us.’

And that’s when they heard the car, a door slamming shut down there. ‘That’ll be my parents.’ She looked at him with a strange fake smile and calmly turned round and unlocked the door. ‘I’m going to introduce you. Come on.’

‘What? Are you crazy?’

‘Let’s go and say hello. I’m sure they’d love to hear all about your plan to trick their daughter and hurt their son.’

He couldn’t believe she was opening the door, was walking out onto the landing, expecting him to follow. She was only half dressed. Her parents would kill him.

‘Ellie, come back!’

She swung round, her eyes furious. ‘Why should I?’

And that was when someone yelled, ‘Ellie, you up there?’ which sounded like a threat and made her flinch, and footsteps came pounding up the stairs.

Twenty‑three

Tom Parker stood at the top of the stairs in his ridiculous checked trousers and white polo shirt and folded his arms like a bouncer. ‘What’s going on?’

Ellie took a step back. ‘What are you doing here?’

He didn’t answer, looked Mikey up and down. ‘You’re the bloke from the party. You’re the one who nicked the whisky.’

Mikey laughed, couldn’t help it. Ellie had set him up brilliantly. Here was the brother, obviously part of the plan. The parents would turn up in a minute with handcuffs and ropes, closely followed by the cops.

‘You think it’s funny?’ Tom unfolded his arms and took a step towards Mikey. ‘You taking the piss?’

‘Take it easy, man.’

‘Or what?’

‘I’m just saying, take it easy.’

Tom took another step forward. ‘You’ve been smoking dope in my house. I could smell it when I came in.’

‘Back off,’ Ellie told him. ‘It’s nothing to do with you.’

He waved a hand at her, standing there in her bra and skirt, turned back to Mikey. ‘Have you touched my sister?’

Mikey lunged forward and jabbed his fingers hard in Tom’s chest. ‘You want to stop accusing me of stuff?’

Tom slapped him away. ‘Don’t touch me.’

‘Why? What’re you going to do?’ Mikey shoved him with the flat of his palm.

‘I said don’t touch me!’

Mikey could feel the bastard’s heart slamming under his hand. Having him this close – the stink of his sweat, his hot breath in Mikey’s face – it all came crashing back. Ellie might have a plan, but so did he – destroy the bastard who hurt Karyn.  It’s what he’d been chasing for weeks and it was finally here. He grabbed Tom Parker by his collar and rammed him into the wall behind.

‘No!’ Ellie said. ‘Leave him alone.’

Mikey pulled back his fist and smashed it into the soft skin of Tom’s mouth. His hand came away wet and blood dripped onto Tom’s white shirt.

Mikey laughed at the pale white face. ‘I’m going to kill you,’ he said. It sounded true. The adrenalin was fantastic. He punched him again, on his nose this time. Tom moaned, a soft sound, clutching his hands to his face. Blood leaked between his fingers.

‘That was from my sister,’ Mikey said. ‘That was from Karyn.’

Tom smeared blood from his nose with the back of his hand. ‘You’re Karyn’s brother?’

‘Like you didn’t know!’

Ellie pulled at Mikey’s jacket, but he shrugged her away. She’d set him up and it wasn’t working out – tough. He was invincible and Tom Parker was easier than he’d ever dreamed.

Mikey gave him another shove. ‘You wasted yet?’

Tom shook his head, steadying himself with a hand on the wall.

‘You are. You’re wasted. Come on, aren’t you supposed to win this? Wasn’t that the idea?’

Mikey was stirring up anger. He knew it and couldn’t stop. He felt a terrible thrill in his chest as Tom looked up, blood bubbling from his mouth.

‘Your sister’s a slut,’ Tom said.

Mikey pulled back his arm to whack him again, but Tom went for the gap, brought up his knee and smashed it into Mikey’s gut. He doubled over, gasping, his breath expelled in one shocking groan.

Tom yanked him up by his hair and belted a fist in his face – loud as a hammer, the bones of his knuckles burning into Mikey’s eye.

‘Outside,’ Tom spat. Like it was school, like any of this could be controlled. His voice spinning as he shoved Mikey down the stairs.

‘What are you doing?’ Ellie yelled. ‘Tom, don’t!’

Mikey half fell, half stumbled, his elbows and knees bouncing against the banister and the wall. In the hallway he went crashing down and suddenly Tom was on him, dragging him up by his jacket and propelling him through the front door.

The air changed everything. It had stopped raining and was hot and surprising outside. Mikey couldn’t see out of his eye and he was still winded, but he wasn’t leaving like this, being driven towards the gate, panting for oxygen. He twisted round, grabbed Tom Parker by his collar and forced him backwards. He felt like a magician, seeing victory turn to panic on his face.