Jessie Keane - Lawless

Kit was shaking his head. ‘No. That don’t cut it. I have to know. If the Danieris didn’t pull the trigger, someone did. Someone who’s still out there, who thinks they’re home free.’

‘Kit, mate…’ said Rob.

Kit flashed him a look full of fury. ‘Don’t “mate” me. If it wasn’t the Danieri mob, then it was someone else. And I have to know who .’

What surprised Daisy most about working at the store was the stark difference between the shop floors – all pristine clean and laden with everything so beautifully and temptingly arrayed, designed to prompt impulse purchases – and the warren of dark passageways and bare cloakrooms and business-like offices the staff occupied.

‘Morning,’ she greeted everyone she passed, wanting to be one of the girls, accepted, part of the pack. She put on her burgundy coverall with Darkes picked out in gold thread on the left breast pocket, checked her golden-blonde hair was tucked up neatly in its French pleat.

‘Oh good mawning ,’ said Tessa Barclay in an affectedly ‘posh’ voice, nudging her friend Julie as they stood beside the big row of lockers where the staff put all their belongings during shop hours.

Daisy hurried from the locker room, their laughter ringing in her ears.

Just two weeks in, and she was learning the ropes at least. She checked the shelves she was responsible for and then went to the stockroom, gathering up what she needed. Then she went back, put the stock out on display and did a return trip, edged past Tessa and Julie who did their best to stand in her way while she puffed past them, arms laden with stock items. Ignoring them, she cleaned up, tidied everything. She kept thinking about her little boys, her twins, and she ached for them, missed them so much. But she’d wanted this. And now she’d got it. Truth was, though, she hated it.

‘I suppose these early mawnings are a bit of a strain on your ladyship, are they?’ asked Tessa, flicking a look at Julie, who smirked.

Daisy felt her mouth go dry. They were still doing this. Mocking her whenever they got the chance, whispering to everyone else on the shop floor that she was Ruby Darke’s daughter and only in here to spy on everyone and to pretend that she was working like any other ordinary person. They ignored her in the canteen, moving away from where she was sitting. Of course she could join Mum for lunch, but that would endorse everything they already thought about her: that she was Mummy’s little rich girl, unable to take the heat. That nepotism was alive and well, right here at Darkes.

‘Not really,’ she said, keeping her eyes on the neat lines of the stock she was putting out on display. ‘I’m up early with the twins anyway.’

‘Oh! Surely not! Don’t the nanny do all that for you?’ asked Tessa.

‘No,’ said Daisy. ‘She doesn’t. I like to help her get them up and dressed, give them breakfast.’

‘Then nanny takes over and you come and ponce around in Mummy’s store,’ said Tessa.

Daisy straightened and looked her tormentor in the eye. ‘I work here. The same as you do.’

‘Oh, she works heah ,’ said Julie in that horrible mockery of Daisy’s voice, and Tessa giggled. ‘Gawd alive.’

Daisy gritted her teeth. ‘Look…’ she started. She wanted to hit Tessa. And then Julie. This couple of utter bitches had set out to make her life a misery, and why? Because her mother owned the store? How was that in any way fair?

Doris, her section leader, came over. ‘We’re short-staffed on the tills, Daisy, will you cover? Store’s open in ten.’

Relieved, Daisy nodded. Aware of Tessa and Julie sniggering behind her, she went across to the tills, feeling herself shaking with temper.

This is a waste of time, she thought in a sudden moment of clarity. I’m not like Mum. I hate store work. I can’t do this.

But she’d wanted this, she reminded herself. Being a stay-at-home mother wasn’t for her. Trouble was, she didn’t know what was for her. The thought of her babies, little Matthew and Luke, kept her sane even if their father – her ex-husband Simon – drove her crazy with his stupid accusations and demands. And then there was Rob…

Her heart leapt when she thought of Rob, her mother’s minder and chauffeur. Daisy had been exchanging looks with him for months, she knew he was interested. Now she had only to give him the slightest encouragement. And she couldn’t wait. Marriage to Simon had been miserable, but she felt she could be happy with Rob. Their relationship was no relationship at all, not yet. It was at that tingling, exciting pre-courtship stage, when the other person is just a tantalizing mystery, when anything seems possible and the world – whatever its difficulties – seems like a fantastic place to be.

She took up her position on the till and fixed a smile on her face, teeth gritted, as the doors of Darkes opened and the customers streamed in.

‘Hi! Rob!’

Daisy got back home shortly after six, and there was Rob out on the front drive, washing down the Mercedes in the fading half-light with his shirt sleeves rolled up. She thought he looked sexy as hell. His toffee-blond hair was flopping into his eyes. Her heart did a roll, just seeing him there. He glanced up, didn’t smile.

‘Oh. Hiya, Daise.’

‘Busy?’

‘Yeah.’

He carried on soaping the car. Daisy watched him working, imagining those strong, strong hands on her body. He was so reliable , Rob. You felt like you could count on him for anything. She’d had a pig of a day, but seeing him was the perfect salve to her wounded feelings. Her co-workers hated her. She was the boss’s daughter, slumming it – that was how they saw her. They were determined not to give her a chance. But at least Rob didn’t have any of those stupid preconceptions.

‘How’s it going at the store?’ he asked, seeing that she was still standing there, watching him.

‘Fine. Great!’ she lied.

‘Good,’ said Rob.

‘Rob…’ Daisy stepped closer, and snagged her instep on the hose, twisting her ankle and lurching sideways. Rob reached out, caught her arm, steadied her.

‘Careful,’ he said.

‘Ow,’ said Daisy. That hurt. God, why wasn’t she any good at all this femme fatale business, like chic Auntie Vi? But no. She lumbered around the place, tripping over hoses and making a fool of herself.

‘All right?’ he asked, still holding her arm while she hopped on one leg.

‘Yeah. Fine,’ said Daisy, wincing.

‘Sure?’ Now he was smiling. Laughing at her. She was sick of being laughed at.

‘Fine,’ said Daisy, yanking her arm free and straightening herself up with all the dignity she could muster. ‘See you,’ she said, and limped off indoors.

Rob watched her go, and sighed. He knew where she was going with this, and – OK – he had wanted to go there too, quite badly. He thought she was the sexiest woman he’d seen in a long while, and he wanted to fuck her bandy. But he’d had time to think it through, and now he reckoned it would be a stupid move. She was too bloody posh , for a start. And too bossy. Plus, she had a shedload of baggage. She’d done that rich-girl-goes-crazy thing in her younger years, driven everyone nuts. Was she over all that shit yet? Who knew?

On top of that she had babies. Twins, for God’s sake. Double the trouble. Plus there was that crazy little fat fucker of an ex-husband – not that he could give a shit about Simon Collins, but still, it was an unwanted complication. And she was the boss’s sister, and Kit was almost off his head at the moment, there was trouble building up there with him and the Danieri mob. It was all a little too close for comfort. If he got together with Daisy and then they fell out, how would that sit with Kit, and with their mother Ruby?