Read Online The Hook by Raffaella Barker - Free Book Online

different victim tonight, actually,’ she said. ‘But he’s not very open-minded.’
    Danny came out of the bathroom with his hands concealed inside a nest of slithering green and his hair one jagged inch long.
    Maisie screamed and stamped her foot.
    â€˜You little bastard. That took hours to do. That hair cost a fortune and you’ve just cut it all off because you didn’t think you looked cool enough.’ She slapped the wet hanks into the sink and burst into tears. Danny reached out a hand to her to say sorry but she pulled away, saliva a reptilian gleam on her lips. ‘Fuck off. I’ll never forgive you, so don’t even try to say sorry.’
    Another door slammed, this time Maisie’s bedroom. Mick whistled.
    â€˜Well, she’s got a temper in her to stop rivers, hasn’t she?’
    Danny was by the sink, mute and defenceless as a shadow, looking down at Maisie’s hair extensions beached above the waterline on dirty pans and plates. He was almost crying. Christy put her arms round him.
    â€˜Come on, Danny, you know she doesn’t mean it. Let’s go to the pub for a bit. When we come back she’ll have forgotten about it.’
    Mick didn’t want to let it go.
    â€˜You shouldn’t be having her do that to you, Danny. Tell her to say sorry now, tell her to act up or she’ll be in a load of big trouble.’
    Christy noticed for the first time in a while how strong Mick’s accent was. Maybe he sounded more Irish because someone else was there. On her own with him Christy was not conscious of his voice at all. It was as if they communicated without talking much, but that couldn’t be rightbecause Mick had to talk all the time; if he didn’t he would explode.
    They went to the pub at the bottom of Maisie’s road and Mick left them at a table and went to the bar. Danny rolled a cigarette thin as a pipe cleaner and lit it perched on a windowsill. Smoking with his chin tucked into the collar of his shirt and his hair dripping down his neck, he shivered and clenched his teeth. Christy squeezed his hand across the table.
    Mick returned with the drinks wedged in a lopsided triangle between his hands, and sat down next to Danny.
    â€˜Do you want to come with me to meet some bikers on Thursday? I’m doing a kind of story on them and I heard there was a meeting going on near Wisenton. We could go and see what they’re all about.’
    Danny shed his gloom and sat up, his spirits lifting as confidence bolstered him and his gestures became emphatic.
    â€˜Tell me more about what you do. Chris hasn’t said anything and it must be really interesting.’
    â€˜I don’t know anything, he hasn’t told me.’ Christy glared at Mick.
    He took her hand and kissed it.
    â€˜I got into the whole thing because I like taking pictures and I used to go all over to do it. You meet people, you get talking in bars and sometimes something comes of it, you know.’
    Christy went to get the next round of drinks, weaving though groups of people to the bar, taking hertime so Mick and Danny could talk. It was easier to ask Mick questions with Danny asking too. Alone his intensity bore down on her, crushing her own thoughts until she had nothing to say.
    Mick wanted Danny to come back to the cottage with them. Christy felt guilty about Maisie.
    â€˜I’ll go back and stay with her,’ she said when they reached Mick’s car, but Mick handed Danny the keys and opened the back door.
    â€˜Come on, sweetheart, I need you to hold my hand now while this speed freak takes us home.’
    Danny pulled a yellow note from the windscreen.
    â€˜You’ve got a ticket. Bad luck.’ He stretched to pass it to Mick then pulled it back frowning. ‘Hang on, there aren’t any restrictions here after six, so how come they’ve given you this? Hey, it says four o’clock; you weren’t here then, were you?’ Danny