Chapter Five

"I'm sorry mum," Rhys sobbed. He'd hit an all time low. He was an expert at getting himself into stupid situations, whether it was falling in love with his step-sister or spiking his brother's drink; both things that could've potentially ended with him locked up if it wasn't for Gilly and his family being so forgiving. But this time he'd done nothing wrong, yet it still felt as if he was getting the blame. The grief of Gilly's passing at the same time as the remaining anger he felt for him and having a broken Jacqui to try and look after at the same time, it was all getting too much.

"Don't be silly," Suzanne reassured him. "None of this is your fault. You need to remember that, ok?"

"What if it is his fault?" Josh asked, suddenly appearing, stood in the doorway having just walked out of one of the rooms.

"You what?" Rhys replied, turning his nose up at his brother.

"What if all this 'you raped my wife' crap's the cause for all of this? Who'd have anything against him otherwise? No one could ever hate Gilly, and you made a ridiculous choice choosing a McQueen over him because deep down you know that he'd never have it in him to rape anybody. I know you Rhys, but I've no idea what you're playing at right now," Josh spat out painfully. His words came out slowly, showing real emotion in his voice. You could tell he knew what he was saying; from his point of view anyway. He was fed up of his brother always screwing up like this, he was always doing it and it'd always ruin other people's lives and not his own. It had even almost ended Josh up in jail shortly after he'd moved away, that hadn't been easy to forgive him for.

"Don't suddenly come back 'ere and tell me all this, yeah? You haven't seen how Jacqui's been, right. Josh, you-you just don't 'ave a clue. We were gonna leave an' go all the bliming way to Cornwall 'cause of 'im. We even started to get things moving quicker, 'cause we couldn't even stand bein' around 'ere for another six months. I need support 'ere, yeah? I can't do all this on me own but you're-you're just makin' it a load worse, Josh." Josh looked furious as Rhys spoke; he'd got along with Michaela McQueen back in the day, but her elder sisters he could never warm to.

"Boys! Just calm down, alright? I feel like I'm parenting a couple of school kids all over again. Just stop it ok, arguing isn't going to bring Gilly back," Suzanne said softly. At that moment, an emotional Josh was quick to escape the room, giving his brother an appalled stare as he did so.

Not so long after Josh had left, Jacqui flew into the room with an angry look on her face-she and Josh must've passed each other on their journeys. Suzanne walked into the kitchen to give the two of them some space to talk; although shout would probably be a more fitting word.

"Do you have any idea what you've done, Rhys?" Jacqui growled, raising her voice a little more with every word she spoke. She walked closer to him, her eyes angrily fixated on his. Rhys just looked confused; he had no idea what Jacqui was talking about. "Why'd you tell them? Why would you tell them I was with Mercedes that night?" Jacqui continued, spreading her words out slowly so that they were well emphasized.

"Urrr…Because you were?"

"No Rhys! No. I wasn't at all. You know, you can be so stupid some times. There was me telling the cops one thing and you another. Great. Thanks Rhys, nice one."

"So now you're yellin' at me 'cos I believed you? Because I told the truth and you didn't? Why am I getting' the blame from bloody everyone around 'ere?"

"I was trying to find Gilly wasn't I! That is what I was doin' that night. I 'ad no alibi though, so I 'ad to lie to the cops." Upon hearing Jacqui's loud words, Suzanne walked over to them with a shocked expression on her face.

"Urm, excuse me, you lied to the police?" She asked in disbelief.

"I 'ad to dint I. 'N' I dint use the Mercedes story either. You were right weren't you, about visiting times 'n' that," Jacqui panicked, looking towards Suzanne and then back at Rhys again.

"You know what, yeah? This is gettin' way too complicated now," Rhys sighed, shaking his head, he'd had enough.

"Wel' you get your little brain around this; I'm number 1 suspect and it's all th-thanks to you so thanks for the love," Jacqui mouthed off at Rhys, hand gesturing as she spoke. She didn't mean to be so harsh to him, she just needed someone to blame and there was no one else. With tears rolling rapidly down her cheeks, she disappeared out of the door. Suzanne cross her arms and stood there staring at Rhys, still looking horrified.

"Why do you let her treat you like that, ay?"

"She don't mean it," he replied, biting down on his lip. "She's just-I dunno-just tryin' to push me away, ent she. Like she always does, guess I should be used to it by now.

Notes: Bit of a short chapter, sorry! Makes up for the last one being longer though. ;) I sware writing this is messing with my mind, I keep accidently thinking Gilly's actually dead in Hollyoaks, hahaa. Thanks so much GirlWednesday for your reviews, very much appreciated! I already have the next chapter written, just need to edit it a little before posting it.