Kev scrubbed the blood from his hands as he listened to the rest of the boys laugh about what they’d done. He hadn’t wanted to go through with trashing Donnie’s house when Layla was still inside by herself, but the rest of his cousins hadn’t given him much of a choice. He’d wanted to help Layla, but he knew that if he’d called an ambulance, the police would eventually start asking questions. And with Kev not long out of prison, it could have landed him right back where he didn’t want to be.
‘The bitch has what’s coming to her. She’s not dumb, she would have known fine well what her husband was up to,’ Cammy sneered as he lit a cigarette.
‘Aye. And it’s not like she’s going to remember who did it. She was barely conscious when we broke in,’ Mackie chipped in.
Kev sighed, shook his head. ‘She’s still a woman, though. Imagine Donnie did that to Darcie.’
Cammy shot him a look. ‘It’s a fucking good thing he didn’t. I personally would have shot the bastard long before now if that was the case.’
Dunny and Thomson laughed loudly as Tam sat at the round table, dishing out playing cards. He was part of the Barrhouse Firm now, and trashing Donnie’s house had been a way of initiating him into the Firm.
‘You’re family now, wee man. You’ll need to show me some of those boxing moves, see if I could take you on.’ Cammy sucked on the end of his cigarette, and Tam laughed.
Something didn’t feel right. He genuinely believed that Layla was an innocent victim in Donnie’s life. Just like Louise and whoever else who may have been unfortunate enough to come into contact with him.
Kev wondered if they were all just as bad as Donnie, allowing that to happen when Layla was still in the house, unable to even lift her head. That was why Kev had gone to check on her. He hadn’t expected there to be blood, but when he’d knelt down to check her, touching her head had been a big mistake. But Cammy had thought it would be a nice touch for Donnie.
‘Smear it on that canvas. Right across his smug face. When he next sees it, he’ll know he’s got nothing to fucking smile about,’ Cammy had said.
At the time, Kev had liked the idea. But now he was wracked with guilt. Not about Donnie, but about Layla.
‘Kev, you getting in on this or not?’ Dunny asked.
Kev turned, nodded and sat down at the table.
‘What’s up with your face? Cheer up, Kev. This is all because of what that bastard did to Darcie’s family. Your family. Now, get a fucking whisky in you and let’s play some poker,’ Cammy said.
Kev was worried about how far this was going to go. Innocent people could get caught in the middle. Wasn’t that what they were trying to prevent from happening in the first place?
‘Once Donnie’s dead, we can begin to get back to real business, without the fear of him coming after our girls,’ Cammy said. ‘I’ll be happy to pull that trigger. We just have to wait on the go-ahead.’