Josephine Cox - Songbird

Jack shrugged. “Who knows?”

“Another closed game with his mates, is it… losing their ill-gotten gains at the table.” The man gave a snort of disgust, “Bloody fools. More money than they know what to do with.”

Having located Raymond, Alice asked, “How long before you’re done?”

Six foot tall, with shoulders wide and strong as an oak door, Raymond often doubled as a bouncer, evicting the undesirables. “Half an hour tonight,” he answered shyly, avoiding Alice’s eye. “Back at eight in the morning to finish off.”

Alice nodded, and then gave a stifled yawn. “It’s been a long tiring day, and I need my sleep.” Bidding him farewell, she hurried away to get her coat.

Before leaving, she intended to have a quiet word with Madeleine. She was deeply suspicious. Steve Drayton was acting out of character and it worried her. What with Maddy taking off the way she did, without so much as a word, and then turning up out of the blue like that… and all he had done was give her a gentle chiding. It was not like Drayton to suffer public humiliation quietly. There would inevitably be some kind of retribution.

In her dressing room, Madeleine had changed into a robe and was seated before the mirror, removing the makeup from her face.

Engrossed in what she was doing, she did not hear him come in. It was only when he stepped forward that she saw his image in the mirror.

“God Almighty, Steve!” she exclaimed. “You scared the daylights out of me.”

Before she could turn round, he was on her, his long lean fingers toying with her hair, caressing her slender shoulders, then sliding down toward her breasts. When she raised her head, he leaned forward to kiss her on the neck.

Suddenly, without warning, he clenched his fingers about her throat and squeezed.

When she began to struggle, he increased the pressure until she could barely breathe.

Then, just when it seemed she might pass out, he released her.

“You’ve been a bad girl,” he murmured. “You walked out on me without a word.” He tutted. “That was so cruel.”

Cursing her to hell and back, he began to pace the floor, madly ranting on about what she had done to him. “Weeks you’ve been gone, and not one word! I went to the flat twice, and it was empty, so I knew you hadn’t been staying there. Then you just walk back in, as though nothing has happened. Did you never think how I felt? Christ! I was almost out of my mind, not knowing what was going on, not to mention being slagged off by the regulars with their smart-arse remarks. ‘Where’s your woman? Frightened her off, have you?’ Laughing at me behind my back!” His face looked wild.

“I’m not your woman,” Maddy said hoarsely. Shaken by the brutal way he had gone for her throat, she recalled Alice’s warning that, “One of these days he’ll lose control, and Lord only knows what he might do!”

Her open defiance stopped him in his tracks. “What – did – you – say?” he whispered.

Holding her head high, she shakily repeated the words. “I said, I’m not your woman.”

“Is that so?” Throwing his head back, he startled her by laughing out loud. In an instant, the laughing stopped. “So, if you’re not my woman,” he demanded, “whose woman are you?”

“I’m my own woman,” she answered. “That’s who I am.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he sneered. Dropping into the nearest chair, he regarded her with suspicion. “Explain!”

Sensing the onset of a fierce argument, Madeleine chose not to answer. Instead, she put her hands up to her neck, remembering what he had done; remembering what Alice had warned so many times.

“I’m talking to you, bitch!” He was out of the chair and standing before her. “Answer me!”

Ignoring him, she hurried to the door. “I had something important to tell you,” she confided angrily, “but I can see you’re not in the mood for talking. Not to worry. It can wait till tomorrow – if I can still speak, that is, let alone sing.”

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” In two strides, he was across the room, where he slammed shut the door and thrust her against the wall. “Don’t fight me, sweetheart,” he murmured. “You know I don’t like you to fight me.” His tongue was rough against her skin as he licked the length of her neck, where the marks of his fingers still showed, and downward, toward the rise of her breast.

Against all her instincts, Madeleine felt herself succumbing to his touch. “No! Let me go,” she whispered. “I don’t want…” But her words fell on deaf ears.

Even as she protested, she could not help but love him. Yet it was an uncomfortable love, a love that she knew deep down was not returned in the way she needed it to be, and never could be. Steve Drayton was too damaged a person to know what love meant.

Yet she would have given anything for him to love her completely, to care for her as a woman. And especially now, when she desperately needed him to see her as a future wife.

“Don’t ever tell me you’re not my woman.” The tip of his tongue encircled her ear. “You will always be my woman,” he murmured passionately. “And God help anyone who tries to come between us.”

“Steve?” His nearness was intoxicating.

He stroked her breast, curving it into the palm of his hand. “Ssh.”

She stiffened against him, making him draw back slightly. “Do you love me? I mean, really love me?”

“You know I do, otherwise why would I go crazy when I see other men ogling you?” Cupping her face in his hands, he kissed her full on the mouth. “I’d kill anyone who tried to take you away from me.”

“But are you in love with me?”

He laughed. “Haven’t I just said I love you?”

“Yes, but there is a difference. I mean, you can love a mother or a sister, but being in love is something else.”

“You’re talking in riddles.”

When he began peeling off her robe, she held him away. “No, Steve. I really need you to listen to what I have to say.” The time was right and she had to tell him now – while she had the courage.

“What the hell’s wrong with you?” His need of her was driving him crazy. “I know you want it as much as me, I can feel it.” He slid his open palms over her buttocks. “Come on, stop teasing.”

Maddy laid her hands over his. “ No , Steve! Not until you’ve heard what I’ve got to say.”

Inching away, he looked at her for a moment, at the tears in her eyes, and the nervous way she was fidgeting with her fingers. It puzzled him; a wave of paranoia swept over him. What was she hiding? Why did she look so guilty? “What’s going on?”

For weeks, she had dreaded this moment, but it had to be faced – and so had the consequences.

“I’m pregnant,” she confessed. “That’s why I went away – I needed time to think.” At the look of horror on his face, she began to gabble, “I thought you might be angry. I was planning to get rid of it… I even went to see somebody – an abortion clinic in Harley Street. In the end though, I couldn’t go through with it! I couldn’t kill an innocent baby… our baby.”

Seeing the look of astonishment on his face, she took hold of him, pleading, “It’ll be all right, Steve. You said you loved me. We can get married and be a family.” She giggled nervously. “It’s what I’ve always wanted.”

For what seemed an age he stared at her in disbelief then, with one mighty swipe of his fist, he sent her flying across the room.

“You’re nothing but a slut!” he shouted. Grabbing her arm, he yanked her to her feet, twice slapping her hard across the mouth. “A filthy little slut! What d’you take me for, eh? I’m no fool, I know why you went away. You’ve got yourself a new man, haven’t you, eh? And now he’s got you knocked up and the pair of you think you can offload his bastard onto me?”