I memorise the address and hand Kane his phone back, silently thanking him for being a little controlling and adding a tracker to her car. Striding through the back doors of the bar, I run to my Shogun. Those flats are the last place I want Lilly to be.
40
LILLY
Answering the phone, Ash’s rushed voice comes through the speaker. “Lil. I need your help. It’s Jodie. Can you come over?”
Fern widens her eyes at hearing Ash on the other end of the phone.
“What’s wrong?”
“She’s sick. I don’t know what to do,” he says.
Fern glares at me as if to tell me to stay away from him, but I can’t turn a blind eye when someone needs help. Even if it is someone I loathe, like Jodie. It’s not that I hate her as such, but I hate that my brother feels obligated to help her, just like I feel obligated to help Ash. I guess the same feelings I have for Jodie are the same feelings Fern has for Ash.
“I’ll be there as quick as I can.”
Fern stands from her chair, disappointment written all over her face. “You have yourself to think about now, Lil. You can’t be around people like that.”
“I’m not like you, Fern. I can’t turn my back on my family.” Grabbing my bag, I stand, kiss Mum on the forehead and ruffleHarry’s hair as I walk out the door, giving Fern one last glance before I leave. “I owe him, Fern. I need to do this.”
She means well, but Ash is more my age. Fern was older when our dad passed away. She doesn’t know how badly that affected us. Mum disassociated, lost in her grief. We were all alone. Fern did her best, and so did Shane, but it was too late for Ash. He was already in with the wrong crowd.
My mind races as I drive towards the old estate. The flats called Lake View Rise are nowhere near the lake and aren’t as picturesque as they sound. Maybe if you’re on the third floor of the three storeys, you might get a glimpse of the lake in the distance, but that’s it. Just a glimpse of how the other half live in their lakeside country homes. As if teasing the poor with here’s what you could’ve won in this lottery of life we’re all living.
Pulling up to the flats, I park my car outside and rush to the door.
Ash greets me as I approach. “Thanks for coming, Lil. She’s been throwing up for ages now.”
“What’s she had?” I ask as I follow Ash into the room.
“She’s had a bad trip.” He snarls at Levi sitting in a chair in the living room.
Levi narrows his eyes, flicking a knife open and closing it again.
Jodie lies on the floor next to a sick bowl, her pale skin covered in a sheen of sweat. The whole room smells of sick, and Levi’s regular stench of weed and body odour.
I kneel next to Jodie, assessing her vitals, her pulse thready and irregular, her skin pale and cold. “She’s weak Ash. Why the hell did you call me? She needs the hospital.” I pull my phone from my bag and, with a shaky hand, dial 999.
Levi rips the phone from me. “No ambulance here. There’s no fucking way I’m having the old bill at my door.”
Nausea fills my lungs, my heart thuds beneath my breast. “Last time I checked, this wasn’t even your flat. If anything, it’s me that’s paying for the rent, so why don’t you take a hike?” I reach for my phone, but he moves his hand away.
“Your brother-in-law already took five grands’ worth of gear from me. I have about three gees worth of weed growing in the bedroom, not to mention all the equipment. If she needs the hospital, I suggest you get her sorry ass in the car and take her.”
“You’re disgusting, you know that?” Acid burns my mouth as my anger bubbles over. “How can you put money before a human life?”
He blows out a puff of air. “Jodie has no life. She exists. Look at the state of her.”
“All thanks to you.” With a snarl, Ash pulls his phone from his pocket. “She needs an ambulance, Levi. Nobody’s involving the cops.”
Levi pulls a gun from his back pocket. “I said no fucking services at this property. Be fucking thankful I let you call your sister.”
He points the gun at my head. “Put the fucking phone down, Ash. Or you’ll be burying two bodies, not one.”
I stay very still, taking shallow breaths, my eyes bulging.
Ash bares his teeth at Levi. “I’m gonna fucking kill you.” He takes two steps towards me, shielding me from the gun pointing at my face.
