Free Betrayed by Anna Smith

we did the job in Spain and Morocco.’
    ‘You nearly got killed.’
    ‘I know. But the fact that I didn’t has a lot to do with the way they operate. They’re a different class.’
    McGuire sighed, shaking his head.
    ‘Okay. Get me a costing and I’ll run it past the bean counters. They’re as tight as a duck’s arse these days.’
    ‘I know. But if we want to do proper investigations we need to spend money. Otherwise we can just chuck it altogether.’ She stood up. ‘This could be massive, Mick. And you never know what might come out during the exposé if we can get McGregor and Co. with their backs to the wall.’
    ‘Yeah, I hear you,’ McGuire said. ‘I want this story, Gilmour. Leave the finer points like money to me. You just get out there and make it happen.’
    Donna McGregor finished ironing and took the pile of clothes upstairs to the bedroom. She felt a little stab in her ribs as she walked, still sore from Eddie’s hefty punch whenhe came home drunk last night and turned on her again. She managed to explain away the small bruise under her eye to her pals at the bakery where she worked part time. But she knew they had their suspicions from the way she was having difficulty lifting trays from the worktops to the ovens. She told them she’d strained her ribs doing a fitness workout from the telly, but was sure they didn’t believe her.
    ‘Make sure you pack that blue linen shirt I bought in Spain last year,’ Eddie said as he emerged naked from the steamed up bathroom, drying himself with a towel.
    She tried not to look at him as he put the towel around his neck and paraded across the bedroom, but she could see that he was aroused. Donna took the shirt from the pile and left it out on the bed. She bent down to his bedside cabinet and took out several pairs of neatly folded boxer shorts and left them beside his case. Then she felt his arms around her, his hand sliding her skirt up her thighs and touching between her legs. She could feel him hard pushing against her.
    ‘Eddie. I’m trying to get some work done here. I’m trying to pack your things.’
    He said nothing, turned her around and scooped the towel over her neck, pulling her towards him.
    ‘I’m sorry about last night, Donna,’ he said, his lips curling a little. ‘But you’ll need to learn to watch your mouth.’ He touched her lips gently. ‘That lovely mouth of yours will get you in trouble.’
    Donna felt sick. She looked up at him as he put his hands firmly on her shoulders.
    ‘Come on, darlin’.’ His breath quickened as he put pressure on her, pushing her down. ‘I’ll be away for a few days. Come on now.’
    Donna very carefully sank to her knees, grimacing at the pain in her ribs, and took him in her mouth.
    ‘That’s it, darlin’,’ he groaned. ‘Oh fuck, I love the way you do that.’
    His body jerked and he gasped as he came. She gagged and she swallowed, tears coming to her eyes. Then she got to her feet, managing to compose herself as she walked out of the room.
    Downstairs in the bathroom she rinsed her mouth and retched into the toilet. She wiped her mouth with a piece of toilet paper and walked into the kitchen. She flicked on the television as the six o’clock news burst onto the screen. She could barely see the picture for her tears, but it looked like a car being pulled out of a quarry. Two drug dealers murdered in a Mafia-style hit, the newsreader announced. Pictures flashed up of the two men, whose bodies had been recovered in a car from the quarry somewhere in deepest Lanarkshire. There was something about turf wars but she wasn’t interested. She shoved the kettle on and looked out of the kitchen window at the patio in the setting sun. Her stomach gave a little leap. Tomorrow, once she got rid of that bastard upstairs, she had plans. Andy would come overand she could be alone with him for an entire afternoon. If Eddie had the slightest notion of what they did, of how Andy made her life worth