Harry didn't have the heart to tell his sister to leave his room, so his homework remained unfinished until Karen walked in at ten to tell him to start getting ready for bed. Seeing Bex and Harry sitting together on the bed, arms wrapped round each other, a tear rolled gently down her cheek. It had been so long since she'd seen a sight like that.
"Harry, love, it's gone ten."
Harry nodded and stood up. "Are you going to be alright?" he asked Bex, who replied with a nod. He folded up his books and headed into the bathroom, where he turned on the tap and washed his face.
It couldn't be true, could it? Not only had his dad slept with a prostitute, he had covered it up and lost the chance to rescue Bex a year earlier. The very thought made him physically sick, and he threw up into the toilet.
Harry returned back to his bedroom to find Bex had gone and Karen was in place on his bed instead.
"Sit down, darling," Karen smiled, patting the bed beside her. Harry tentatively joined her. He wanted her to go; he'd still got maths to finish but he wasn't going to admit it. The sooner she was gone, the sooner he could avoid getting a detention for not finishing it.
"Mum-"
"For some reason, Bex seems to be confiding in you over the rest of us. I don't know why that is, but what I want to reassure you is that if she says anything that worries you, you can come and talk to any one of us. Or you can talk to Mr Mead or Mr Clarkson at school if you like, he's your form tutor, and I promise I won't ask them what you said. It's all in confidence."
Harry nodded. "Thanks, Mum, but I promised Bex-"
"A promise is a promise, but I don't want you being troubled by things." Karen stood up and patted him on the arm. "Just remember the offer's there, yeah?"
Harry nodded. "Thanks."
"Right, I'd better let you get ready for bed. Night, Harry."
"Night, Mum."
Karen left the room and closed the door behind her. She leant against it, almost sinking to the floor. Bex had gone into her own room, and as much as Karen couldn't believe it, she had her whole family back together again. She had dreamed of this moment for the past eighteen months, and now it was true. Maybe Bex returning would heal the wounds that had opened up since she'd left.
Nobody in the Fisher household slept well that night. Harry's homework was completed by eleven, by which time he was too awake to try and get to sleep. He tossed and turned for ages, trying to doze off. Charlie and Karen stayed up in separate rooms, neither wanting to give in and go to bed before the other. Jess was too busy texting her best friend Vicky to even think about sleeping. Bex was the only one who managed to sleep, but it was plagued by nightmares.
"You're my little slut, aren't you?"
Forty years old, according to his passport on the side, but he looked as though he was double that. Bex often had businessmen visit her when they were in the area, and by the accent, this one was American and no doubt had a wife and kids back home. Most of them did.
He took Bex's face in his hand and kissed her on the lips. "Oh, you are beautiful. So tell me, what's a slut like you doing in a place like this?"
How could she respond to a stranger? She was there because she'd left home to be with her boyfriend, and had ended up becoming roped into the 'family business.' The brothel was run by Neil's parents, with his mother dealing first-hand with the prostitutes and his father and brothers running the security and cover-up. Most of the girls were foreign, with only Bex and a couple of others actually able to speak fluent English. She'd not had many conversations, but what she knew was enough. They had all been girlfriends of the brothers at one point or another, and had been taken away from their families to sleep with other men.
Instead, she replied wittily. "Being a slut. It's what I do."
