Trying Not To Love You

Part Seven

Chapter Seven

"What the hell are you doing?" She'd returned to Helen who was both angry and confused at her actions, "he's trouble Martha, you know that."

She'd sat next to the so-called friend, and now she turned on her seat to face her, "trouble? Why because he has a prison record? So no one gets a second chance? Is that it?"

Helen laughed, "he's always causing trouble."

Martha shook her head, "give the man a break. We've all made mistakes. And to be honest the whole place just turned on him for no reason. Can't the man have a drink in peace?"

"He's slept with half the town."

As defences went that was worse than poor, she looked at her friend and noticed the same look that she'd seen there in the past. Laughing Martha drained her drink, "and is that the problem Helen? That you aren't on that list? Jealous, or a little bit rejected? Because I never took you as being a judgemental bitch."

She didn't wait for an answer, instead she glared at James who was behind the bar harping on about all that had happened, then left.

"I don't need you interfering; can't you see how you made me look?"

Martha had barely taken a dozen steps away from the building when the voice stopped her. Turning she saw Sonny stood half shaded by a doorway across the road, a venomous look on his face, "and that's you, isn't it. Too scared to lose face, you'd rather people think the worst of you than risk seeing a chink in your armour? Get over yourself Carter. You hear me?"

He was clenching his hands in to fists rhythmically at his side, attempting to control his volatile temper, "I'm not scared of anyone. YOU hear ME?"

His face was contorted into a scowl, lines creasing his brow, his teeth bared; this was a huge battle for him. With a sigh she reached up to touch his cheek, ran her thumb along the tight muscle of his jaw, just for a second. It was an affectionate gesture and she didn't know why she'd felt compelled to show him that she cared...maybe because no one else did. And maybe because there was a troubled little boy in there somewhere and she was seeing that more and more.

Dropping her hand she shook her head, "I hear you, I'm just not sure I believe you!"

With that she walked away.

Sonny couldn't get the previous night out of his head, no one had ever put themselves on the line for him, and he didn't know what to make of that. He'd been angry, so so angry for so long, but he'd not seen Martha since, and therefore hadn't had the chance to deal with it. And it was tearing him up. He'd woken up in a flat above the bookies, a bad move as he rolled to see Shirley's daughter lying next to him. She'd kill him; she was one of the only people here who gave him the time of day...other than Martha. And it was Martha that he couldn't keep out of his mind as he pulled on his clothes.

When he got back to his room, he changed into his sweats and a t-shirt and went for a run, a few miles of pounding the road would hopefully clear his mind, the weekend was approaching, and he wanted to keep his head down, finish what he started, then move on. He was determined to be free of all the darkness, get away from the underworld he'd lived in for years.

Back in London he'd initially worked for a loan shark Peter, collecting debts, in any way he could, initially it was women and soft targets, but as he got older and more reliable he moved onto more difficult targets. He could look after himself, the time in care had seen to that, and he was good at what he did. Not caring if he lived or died, and not caring about the people he dealt with meant he never failed to deliver. Whatever it took.