Chapter 2 (Shit Hits the Fan)

Emily's POV

"Fucking stupid blue-eyed blonde. Beautiful blue-eyed blonde that is. Fucking stop it, Emily. Posh snob, that's what she is. Saviour, my arse! Fucking Effy. Why put bloody stupid no-good ideas into my head."

Emily was mumbling furiously to herself, storming through the small building, slamming every door she could get a hold on - almost knocking over Cook as she pushed passed him in the middle of the crowded pub.

"Oi, Red? Who's set fire to your knickers? Why in such a hurry? Give the Cookiemonster a cuddle. You look tense." Cook called after her.

"Not now Cook…! I'm not in the mood." She didn't mean for it to come out as harsh as it did. He was actually a good guy. He was one of those guys who had settled with just being her friend and not constantly trying to get in her knickers, one of the only guys who she dared to show any forms of honest emotion. She knew that his flirting was just a constant flow of endearment when sent in her, her sisters and Effy's direction.

She marched on. Determined to be left alone. She let out a sob as she stormed into her room, slammed the door shut after her and threw herself on the bed burring her head in the pillow.

She couldn't understand why this girl affected her so much. Normally she wouldn't care about any of the guests that came to the pub on their eventful journeys through life of freedom. She was used to just shut them out of her mind, not paying them any attention apart from the ongoing sexual encounters that kept food on the table so she could get through the day – on a total physically level.

But she didn't feel alive, she felt trapped and closer to being dead as the constant stream of old, careless, sloppy men got into bed with her only to get their release. She forced herself to play along giving them the satisfaction of a few moans and cries. Just so she could reach the end of the act as soon as possible. Everyday was the same. Always the same and she couldn't see a way out of this fucking miserable prison.

But somehow Naomi made her care with just one glance in Emily's direction. The first time she saw the her was when she stumbled out of her room after a horrible rumble with a fat, beer-smelling blacksmith without a hair on his head and one too many on his back. She just couldn't get out of the room fast enough and when she slipped out to the hallway trying to get dressed she suddenly found her eyes locked with the most stunning ice-blue orbs she had ever seen.

The blonde's stare seemed to bore right through her and sending her messages… small signals that told her that if Emily somehow managed to befriend the blonde, everything would turn out to be all right in the end.

In just one second Naomi managed to resemble everything Emily was not. Independent, proud, strong and most of all she just somehow seemed to be the definition of freedom.

But as it turns out she was wrong. Naomi wasn't going to make everything all right. She was a massive twat that thought nothing of her and the situation she was in.

She didn't even have the decency to look her in the eye while she was mocking her, her sister and her best friend. Fucking stupid beautiful blonde.

Emily let out a sigh and sat up. She sat down on the window shelf staring out at the hard weather. The snow just seemed to get more persistent by the minute. She wished she could just go out there. Just leave this place. But she knew she wouldn't make it out there. She wasn't brought up to know how to make it out there. And Katie and Effy… She couldn't leave them.

As she tightened the lace in front of her dress getting ready for the evening, she held her breath in order to gather her thoughts. She really didn't want to go downstairs tonight. She didn't want to see Naomi. The girl that reminded her of what she couldn't have. The freedom she couldn't have. Apparently she wasn't the solution to her problems and she couldn't bear the thought of being reminded of the small hope that the girl had lightened in her for it to shatter again just a few hours later. Most of all she didn't want to see those blaming pitiful glances.

"Argh… fuck this shit." She applied the last touch of makeup to her cheeks. Just a bit of rouge to give her face the hint of a spark that wasn't really there – a hint of life - a hint of happiness. She couldn't help but do a little bit more out of herself this night.

She looked herself over in the mirror and once she was satisfied she turned around blocking out the thought of just staying in bed tonight and went out of the room closing the door firmly behind her.

The pub was as always crowded - too crowded for her liking and the smell sometimes made her want to vomit, but not today for some reason. The smell didn't have as high priority as it usually did. Instead all her senses were focused on the thought of seeing Naomi, and she damned herself for it. Naomi was a useless prick. Her eyes searched the pub for the blonde but she couldn't see her. Well, that was for the best. She didn't need to be distracted tonight. Didn't need to get caught up in some kind of romantic dream that would never come true anyway.

So she sought out Effy and Katie who was already flaunting around sending naughty glances to whoever got caught in their line of sight. They were standing gracefully by the main wooden pillar placed in the middle of the pub waiting for some action.

"Hey guys… so what's the plan for tonight?" Emily glanced around the pub to locate their lucky victims for the night. Hopefully they could find some rich and not too unattractive men and give them the night of their lives. That way they didn't have to work through the night. They could settle with one bloke each. Emily knew that she was good in bed. She had experienced too many shouted love declarations whilst in bed not to know. The thing was that when the morning light came through the small window the loving words always turned to embarrassed mumbling and excuses of how they where too drunk to remember anything. So Emily never let the men stay for more than they had paid for. She had learned her lesson not to get her hopes up.

"Naomi should be here soon, Ems. Why don't you give her a go? She's shagable and I think she's rich." Effy said casually sipping her bear.

Emily desperately tried to erase the mental pictures of Naomi wriggling naked about beneath her as she composed herself for the all-knowing stare that Effy without question was now throwing at her.

"Fuck off Effy. You're my best friend but sometimes you're just annoying as fuck! You know as well as me that she's a massive twat who doesn't want anything to do with me… or you for that matter. Don't fucking go there! Alright?!"

"'Twat', yes, 'massive', no I don't think so. But okay, then. Emily, please try not to be too much of an old maiden. You need to play the game in order to win. So does Naomi… She just needs to be reminded of that."

"I don't want Naomi… why don't you get it? And Katie, fucking stop snickering will you!? I'm so tired of you guys today. Don't push my buttons." Katie who had been standing snickering for the past two minutes came to an abrupt halt - desperately trying to hold back a giggle.

Effy kept her gaze nonchalant "If you say so. I let someone else push your 'buttons' for me then. So, how about Katie and I go to that group of traders over there and you can go to those three lads sitting at the table in the corner? I think they got pouches that is worth getting drained."

Emily almost gauged and rolled her eyes while Katie kept on snickering into her drink. Unbelievable. You would think that they would get tired of sex with randoms and stop making nasty jokes about it. But 'no' they where both so fucking disgustingly calm about this situation. Maybe it was their way of coping with this terrible situation. The keyword being 'terrible' as they all knew it really was… nauseatingly terrible.

She once again glanced over the people in the pub as she caught sight of Naomi sitting at the bar glancing nervously towards her before lowering her eyes to the pint placed in front of her. Well fuck her and her freedom.

Emily caught the eye of one of the three lads and started swaying her hips as she slowly walked towards them. Looking innocent but sexy as hell…. Most guys liked it when she seemed helpless or maybe just dumb. The guy she locked eyes with started grinning and notched the others with his shoulder and gestured towards her. They all whispered secretively to each other, as they looked her up and down with hungry eyes. She glanced back at Naomi one last time but with disappointment realised once again that Naomi just didn't care. Her face was turned towards the window seemingly looking out at the snowflakes now slowly dancing around as they fell from the sky. Emily turned her attention back to the three young men sitting in the corner and put on a cheeky grin. This was going to be an easy task.

"Hey boys… So what brings you here tonight?"

It was always a good question to start off with. That question often let to some information about what she could expect from them - moneywise so to speak.

"Nothing much babe… but I could do with a nice rumble with some fine lookin' legs. And as it seems you got just what I need." The tallest of the guys said grabbing her by her bum and started pulling her down on his lab.

"Is that so?" She smirked dropping her voice an octave or two to make it more seductive.

"Well maybe we can come to an agreement then? How do you - my fine man - feel about joining me for further discussions on the topic upstairs? The only thing you need to do is to bring your money and leave your now very jealous friends down here to guard your other belongings. No weapons are allowed in my room you see." She winked at him before she planted a hot open-mouth kiss just below his ear. To her surprise the lad shook his head violently and she leaned back confused to get eye contact.

"No, darling… This is a package deal. We're all coming up… I assure you, you won't be disappointed. The lads, here and I… " he gestured towards his two friends and leaned in to whisper in her ear. "… we go way back, you see. We know how to work together… Getting things done properly. Top quality I tell you. And you look a bit like someone who should be set straight, yeah? We'll do that for you, I promise. So up we go little lady… lets get this party started."

He pushed her off his lab and grabbed her by the waist as he stood up and started leading her towards the stairs heading to the upstairs rooms.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Emily was surprises. She hadn't seen that coming. But she shook it off easily because she was quite used to dismissing rather repulsive requests.

"I don't do more than one at a time, lads. I'm sorry but if that's what you want I suggest you go somewhere else to find it, alright?" she stated firmly while pointing to the front door.

"Actually its not alright, not alright at all." The guy said shaking his head as he pulled a knife out from underneath his jacket and held it to her back. His hand on her hips squeezed her harder and kept pushing her forward towards the stairs. "You got me all worked up babe."

His mates got up to stand beside him grinning goofily as they looked around the bar to check if they had brought too much of attention to them. Sadly - Emily realized - they hadn't and she made for shouting for Cook to help her out of this situation that was fairly rushing down hill.

"If you say anything or start shouting I will fucking kill you okay. Do you want to die, ey little girl?" He said poking her lightly with the knife at her back. Emily shook her head.

"Thought so. Look, just do as I say and everything will be all right, okay? Now… walk." Emily started taking a few steps up the staircase. She could still feel the strong metal blade poking her in her back and she didn't dare to look back to see if she could get eye contact with anyone who could help her.

She stumbled up the last few steps and where pushed down the small corridor towards her room.

"Which one is your room darling?"