Dishonour by Jacqui Rose Read Free Book Online Page B

hated screws nearly as much as she hated the police. She’d come across enough of them in her time when she’d visited friends and relatives in prison to know the majority of them were trumped up little bullies who would, if they had the guts, give Freddie a seeing to.
    Freddie watched his wife. He hadn’t seen her for a while after she’d cancelled the last prison visit. It was good to see her, especially after a sweltering two hundred mile ride in the prison van, stuck listening to the two muppets who called themselves prison officers brag about their latest bit of pussy.
    All he wanted to know was how Ray-Ray was doing. Nobody had told him anything. The prison officers had only smirked at him when he’d fought back the tears on the journey, wanting an update and asking if his son was still alive. Tonight though it’d be him who was smirking, after he’d put in a call to one of his men to pay them a little visit. To show them just what happened when they tried to make a fool out of him.
    Tasha’s face was drawn and tired, but she still looked as beautiful as the young woman he’d fallen for all those years ago. Not that he’d tell her. He had a reputation to hold onto, even with his wife.
    There was something else though, another look on her face he wasn’t quite sure of. She looked nervous. Jumpy. Though he guessed it was to be expected under the circumstances, it somehow made him feel uncomfortable.
    He needed her to be strong. To be the Tasha she’d always been. Resilient. Headstrong. Loving. A woman who didn’t demand the emotional attention from him most women would. He didn’t go in for all that crap, but even if he wanted to give it to her, he didn’t know how.
    He didn’t like to see her like this. He could see her vulnerability but he didn’t know what to do to make it better. So he did what he did best when he felt unsure. He got angry.
    Instead of smiling at Tasha and comforting her like he wanted to do, he snarled, letting his anger show in every word he spoke. ‘Tasha, what the fuck is going on? One minute I’m sitting in my cell feeling jack arse sorry for meself, then the next thing, I’m being told something’s happened to Ray-Ray, but they don’t quite know what, or rather, they won’t tell me what. So now I’m asking you . What the fuck is going on?’
    Tasha swallowed. She could see Freddie was frightened because that always made him angry, but then so was she.
    ‘I don’t know exactly what happened but I know there was a fire and Ray-Ray was in the house. That’s all I know. They’re operating. It doesn’t look good. They don’t know if he’s going to pull through.’
    Freddie’s powerful muscular shoulders visibly slumped. His head couldn’t get round it. How was this possible? He’d sent them up to Bradford to be safe. He had to find out if it was an accident. A faulty switch. A gas explosion. Something. Anything.
    Nobody had known where they were or at least not many people, but the thought that he could be somehow responsible for his son lying on an operating table tightened Freddie’s stomach. He didn’t want to think about the possibility of a revenge attack because of something he’d done to someone. There was a lot Freddie Thompson could live with but that just wasn’t one of them.
    ‘Where were you Tash? Where the fuck were you when this was happening because clearly you weren’t at home?’
    Tasha paused. She knew Freddie was going to ask this question, but for some reason she hadn’t prepared an answer. She could feel her mouth moving. Twitching to say something, but unable to find the words. Anything she did say would sound like a lie because it would be. And the truth? She just couldn’t say, because her husband could never find out the truth.
    Freddie stared at his wife. At forty-four years old she was stunning. Even with her messy hair and crumpled designer clothes, her beauty still shone through. Her skin was pale and lineless. Her face held the