Sapphy frowned. “Shut the fuck up, ya toff.” She threw sharply over her shoulder, barely turning towards him.

Her mother didn’t appear to have heard anything except the last word. “Husband,” she crooned, “where is my husband? That fucking kid…”

She continued to mutter incoherently, the words increasingly slurring together. Sapphy reached over and deftly removed the needle, before slipping her hand into her mother’s pocket and extracting her phone. Just enough battery left for one phone call, and thank fuck no credit was needed for this one. She tapped the 9 button three times and lifted the phone to her ear. When the operator connected, Sapphy requested an ambulance in a cool, collected tone, swiftly dispatching the diagnosis – overdose – and address. The operator assured her that an ambulance was on its way and Sapphy promptly hung up. Abandoning the phone on the floor beside her mother, she stood up and rounded on her husband.

“What are you, too good for us?” She scoffed. Barely giving him a second to respond, she added a sarcastic, “your highness!” before stomping out of the door and thundering up the stairs.

Carla reappeared at the top of the stairs before Sapphy could reach them, her brown eyes glittering with malice. Her copious amount of make-up almost cracked under her foul expression.

“Why the fuck didn’t you call a fucking ambulance, ya cunt?” Sapphy snarled at her. “She didn’t even recognise me, she’s so fucking doped – ”

“Get the fuck outta my face, Sapphy!” Carla yelled back, her voice rising despite the fact that her sister was only a few stairs down from her. “Of course she wouldn’t fucking recognise you, you ain’t been here. Who’s the one who’s been takin’ care of her while you off getting knocked up? Me, that’s fuckin’ who. So don’t you fucking dare come back here all high and mighty with your – ” She glanced over Sapphy’s shoulder at Torram and curled her lip “ – punchin’ above your weight there, ain’t ya?”

Punching was precisely what Sapphy did – upwards, towards her sister’s exposed stomach. Either from experience or because she’d intentionally provoked it, Carla saw it coming and caught the flying fist, bringing her other hand round to aim a slap at her younger sister’s jaw. Sapphy ducked and charged up the last couple of stairs, taking advantage of her additional weight and Carla’s lack of balance in the moment to knock the latter back off her feet. Carla hit the top stair with a thump and a gasp.

“You ain’t never getting Callum back,” Sapphy snarled at her. “I’m glad he was taken. Better in the System than with you.”

She turned and thumped down the stairs at considerable speed while her sister scrambled to her feet, face contorted with rage. Sapphy grabbed Torram by the wrist and bolted out of the door and up the street, her ears pounding. Carla screamed obscenities from the doorway and threw litter after them, while in the distance the familiar wail of an ambulance cut through the air.

Swiftly and silently, Saph led Torram along the road and turned sharply into an alley. The stench of rotting refuse and urine was overpowering here, and a couple of skinny cats skulked about. Pulling her husband behind a stinking dumpster, she shoved him forcefully against the wall and smashed her lips against his, kissing him deeply. She ran her hands down his torso and began to skilfully break past the buttons and zips on his trousers.

“I want it hard.” She told him breathlessly, pulling the waistband of his trousers down sharply. “Now.”