Chapter 79
“Eli…listen, I want to believe you, but—”
Eli snorted.
“No,” Dad said earnestly, “I do. I don’t want to believe you’re putting yourself in that situation, but you are. Rob’s record speaks for itself, and what you have described is typical of an abusive relationship—he has picked out someone who is by their very nature vulnerable, and he’s exploiting that. As long as you’re not under his roof, you’re not under his control, so for now…”
“We met in a bar, Dad, he had no idea I wasn’t a man,” Eli said firmly. “He’s not luring me in or whatever you think he’s doing.”
“And how would you know, Eli? You’re too close to the situation, you’re blinded by—”
“You’re the blind one,” Eli said stiffly. “Blinded by prejudice. You think because he’s got a record that he’s like that with everyone. And I can’t just say something that’ll make you believe me, Dad, because you won’t believe me, you refuse to.”
Eli’s phone started ringing in the pocket of his jacket, abandoned on his bed. For a moment he held his father’s gaze, then turned away. He felt…oddly freed. He had said his piece, and far from the anger he usually felt, he felt…fine. As though suddenly it didn’t matter whether his father liked it or not.
Jen! flashed up at Eli from his phone, and he rolled his eyes. “Hey, Jenny.”
“Eli!” she sounded harried. “Thank God, I can’t get hold of Mum or Dad.”
“Dad’s here, must’ve left his phone in his jacket again. You okay?”
“No, my car won’t start! Can you come and pick me up? I’m at work, I don’t want to have to walk right down to get the bus back into town, you know what it’s like round here…”
“Yeah, okay, no problem,” Eli said, glancing at the clock. It was half past six, and pitch black out already. He’d told Rob to come by at seven, but…“I’ll start out but Rob might be closer, do you want me to send him?”
“Um…”
“He’s coming to pick me up later anyway.”
“Oh, okay then. Thanks, Eli, I owe you, majorly!”
“See you in twenty, sis.” He hung up, and levelled his father with a flat stare. “I’m going to text Rob, then go and pick Jenny up, and then we’ll all come back here and Rob and I will get my stuff and be off out of your way. And Dad, seriously, if you don’t stop needling at me about my relationship every time I see you? We’ll be off for good.”
* * * *
Jenny worked in Attercliffe, in a moody call centre set well back from the main road and poorly lit at the best of times. It was generally not as creepy as it looked, but things had been known to happen. Eli was relieved, when he pulled up in Dad’s borrowed car, to find Jenny sitting in her own and, apart from looking flustered and a bit harried, fine.
“There you are!” she said, getting out of her Audi. “It just won’t start! I think it’s the battery, it tries to turn over but it won’t and I have the wrong number for the RAC saved, and—”
“Get Rob to pop the bonnet when he arrives, he might be able to start it,” Eli advised. “He keeps jump leads in his boot if it’s the battery, and—”
Movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention, and he snapped his head around. Three figures loped out of the shadows by the call centre, faces obscured by hoodies and baseball caps, and they moved with a slow swagger that spoke danger.
“Jenny,” he said quietly, “get in Dad’s car.”
“Nice rides,” one of the figures said. “What d’you reckon they cost, huh? Twenty grand each?”
One of his mates sniggered; Eli put out an arm to shield Jenny, and began to inch her back towards the cars.
“A pouf and a preggers bird,” the guy sneered, then coughed a dry laugh. “Give us your keys, then.”
“No,” Eli said.
“Oh for fuck’s sake, he wants to be a fucking hero. Give us your keys, mate, don’t be a twat.”
“I’m not letting you steal our cars.”
“Uh, yeah you fucking are, ‘less you and your slag there want a good fucking hiding?”
The ringleader stepped forward into the halo of light pooling on the tarmac from Dad’s headlights, the sickly light throwing his thin frame into sharp relief, a pointed chin jutting from the shadows of the hat—
And Eli caught the sinister glint of a crowbar hanging from a gloved hand. 24
Shit. Shit, shit, shit!
“Jen, get in the fucking car,” Eli breathed out of the corner of his mouth.