No Going Back

offences. You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence…’ Lucy said, taking great satisfaction in the fact that she’d just taught the man a very valuable lesson in underestimating the strength and force of female police officers, as she read him his rights before handing him back to her colleague.

3
‘Ashley! I’ve been calling you all night and don’t make out you haven’t seen my calls; you’re normally surgically attached to that bloody phone of yours,’ Shelby spat furiously down the phone. She was leaving her seventh voicemail message for her husband tonight. To say that she was beyond annoyed was an understatement.
It had gone midnight now, and Shelby knew from bitter experience that if Ashley had gone on a bender straight from work again, the chances were he’d be on the missing list all night.
God knows what – or worse, who – he’d be up to. Shelby didn’t even want to think about it. Her mind was already in overdrive as it was. How dare he keep doing this to her? Fobbing her off and treating her as if she wasn’t a priority in his life? She was his wife. She was carrying his baby. And what did she get in return? A lying, cheating, no-mark of a husband. That was what. Lording it up all over London, spunking his wages at every bar and club instead of coming home to her.
And she knew why he wasn’t coming home to her: because she was fat. At eight months pregnant, she felt like a beached whale. Her bump huge and swollen, the rest of her carrying more weight than usual too. Because she’d indulged with her pregnancy. And why shouldn’t she?
If she wanted some cake, she’d earned it. It wasn’t as if she was able to knock back her favourite Chardonnay every night now. Shelby had let herself go. She knew it. What man would fancy her at eight months pregnant? Not even her husband any more it would seem. Well, she’d had enough. She hadn’t signed up for this blatant disrespect from Ashley, and there was no way that she was just going to sit back and keep putting up with it.
‘You’re a pig, Ashley. Doing this to me yet again. You’re out of order. You knew that I was cooking us a nice dinner tonight. I’ve been sat here on my lonesome all evening like I’m the last thought on your mind…’ Shelby said, fighting to hold back her tears now. Because she wasn’t upset. She was furious. ‘Well, I’m sick of this, Ashley, and I’m not doing it any more.’ Shelby pouted angrily, though she knew her words would fall upon deaf ears. Ashley would do as he pleased, regardless. Then he’d pick up the pieces afterwards. After he’d spent the night shagging some skanky little tart in the meantime, no doubt.
If she didn’t take drastic action and teach Ashley a lesson he wouldn’t forget in a hurry, he would only keep on doing this to her. Or he’d get worse. And Shelby didn’t want this life for her or her baby.
‘I’m leaving you, Ashley. I’m going to go back to my parents. Tonight. Right now,’ she said resolutely as she pressed the phone to loud speaker, before dragging her suitcase out from under the bed. ‘And this time, I’m not messing about. It’s for good. Me and this baby deserve better than this. We deserve better than you,’ Shelby said dramatically.
Feeling victorious now, she hung up the mobile phone and slung it down on the bed before throwing some of her clothes inside the case. If her words didn’t have the desired effect on the man the minute he replayed them, then maybe coming home to an empty flat would do the trick.
A few days at her parents’ house would be just the remedy she needed. Let Ashley sit here and fester all on his own. Let him make his own dinners for a change. Maybe then, when he realised how much he needed her, he’d learn to appreciate her a bit more and stop taking advantage of her all the time.
Ashley would be screwing once he realised that she’d involved her parents in their latest domestic again, too. Because it wasn’t any secret that her father barely tolerated Ashley.
Shelby smirked as she zipped up her case and put her coat on, relishing the thought of the revenge she’d reap, using that knowledge to her advantage. Ashley needed a proper wake-up call once and for all, and if she wasn’t capable of making him see the error of his ways, then maybe her dad would.
Her parents would, of course, welcome her home with open arms, and she was looking forward to having someone run around after her again for a change. She’d get her mum to make her favourite curry that she liked. And maybe some of that homemade soup that she always whipped up for her when she was feeling down in the dumps.
About to call a cab, Shelby had a change of heart. She’d walk it. Their house was only five minutes away if she cut across Wandsworth Common. And turning up in the middle of the night, having walked there on her own because she was beside herself at Ashley not coming home yet again, would be sure to send her father into a frenzy of rage.
Giving the flat one last look-over, Shelby switched all the lights off before shutting the front door behind her.


4
Stepping into the dark alleyway that ran alongside Smokes nightclub, Ashley Cooke was glad of the peace and quiet. The music inside the club had been so loud that he’d felt the heavy thud of the bass pulsating right through him. Combined with the copious amounts of beer he’d managed to knock back tonight, he’d started to feel queasy.
Shit, I’m getting old! He laughed to himself at how pathetic he was as he pulled out the cigarette box from his jacket pocket and