The Traitor by Kimberley Chambers

hate you, Frankie. That’s your dad, nan and grandad’s way of telling you to fuck off. It’s obvious they blame me and you for everything, ain’t it?’
    ‘I suppose so,’ Frankie agreed. She hadn’t really thought of it that way.
    ‘Now I want you to promise me something. I want you to promise me that you’ll never contact them arseholes again. I’m not having you upset like this, Frankie, it ain’t good for your pregnancy.’
    Frankie clung to her hero. ‘I promise, Jed. I’ll still speak to Joey, but other than that, it’s just me, you and the baby from now on.’
    Jed held her tightly. ‘How do you know you can trust your brother? He might be in on it with ’em. I bet that cunt of an uncle of yours is something to do with it as well.’
    Shocked, Frankie pulled away. ‘My brother would never betray me. You don’t know Joey like I do, Jed, he’s not like them. Anyway, he’s not even living there any more.’
    ‘Where’s he living then?’
    ‘With his friend, Dominic. He’s living in Islington,’ Frankie replied.
    Jed chuckled. ‘Why don’t you just admit to me that he’s gay? I ain’t no dinlo. The first time I met Joey I knew he was as queer as a nine-bob note.’
    ‘So what if he is? It don’t make him a bad person, does it, Jed?’
    Deciding it was time to be nice again, Jed reverted to the softly-softly approach. ‘Why don’t we invite your brother and his boyfriend round for dinner one night, eh? Or if you’d prefer, we can take ’em out. I’ll pay, of course.’
    Wiping her eyes with her sleeve, Frankie managed a smile. ‘I’d love that, Jed. I promise I won’t have no more to do with the others, but if I still see Joey at least I’ve got some family left.’
    Jed pushed her hair out of her eyes. ‘Go and sort your face out, then let’s do that shopping. I’ll take you out for a meal when we’re done, then tomorrow you can ring your brother and arrange a night for us to see him.’
    As Frankie started to walk away, she glanced back at him. ‘I love you, Jed.’
    Winking at her, Jed smiled as she disappeared into their bedroom. From his point of view, the conversation she’d had with her nan couldn’t have ended any better.
    Yesterday, when she’d threatened to leave him, Jed had seen the fire in her eyes. He hadn’t liked it, not one little bit. Now she had nowhere to go once more and that suited Jed O’Hara down to the ground.
    Eddie Mitchell acted like cock of the walk as he strutted into the canteen. Clocking Baz’s friends, he ordered his food and sat on the end of their table.
    ‘All right, lads?’ he asked boldly.
    The three petrified men nodded simultaneously. They’d all seen what Eddie Mitchell was capable of and were truly shit-scared of him. As Ed munched away on the dry bit of bread-crumbed cardboard that the authorities had the cheek to call fish, he decided to mutter a few special words.
    ‘Get word to your mate, if he grasses me, I’ll kill him, then I’ll kill you,’ he said threateningly.
    Seeing a screw clocking him, Eddie smiled.
    ‘He won’t say a word. We’ll make sure of it,’ the shortest guy insisted.
    When the three men hurriedly made their excuses and left the table, Eddie began picking at their dinners. All the more cardboard for him. For the first time in ages Ed felt incredibly hungry and he was thrilled that his appetite had finally returned. If he was to make a success of his time in nick, he needed every ounce of strength he could muster.
    With her anguish from earlier now long forgotten, Frankie felt extremely happy as Jed pulled up outside the trailer. Their shopping trip had been a great success. They’d bought babygros, toys, a highchair, a pushchair and Jed had insisted on buying her some ultra-modern maternity clothes for when she got bigger.
    ‘Choose what you want, Frankie. You’re showing now and, another couple of weeks your clothes won’t even fit you,’ he told her.
    Frankie giggled as Jed struggled to