‘We get raped from time to time. There’s nothing we can do about it. It goes with the territory.’Lucy regarded her askance from the other side of the café table. Even given the mess Tammy was in – her hair a frenzy, her eyes red and bleary, cheeks streaked with clotted mascara – this was an astounding comment.‘How can you talk like that?’ Lucy finally asked.‘You’re in the lifestyle too,’ Tammy said defensively. ‘You telling me you’d never let them take it for free if they were trying to muscle you?’‘I think that was a bit more than people muscling you, love. God knows what those three losers had in mind. I’m not sure it would’ve stopped at rape.’‘It would have.’ Tammy wiped her nose with a tissue. Despite the fact she was still sniffling, her usual bravado was already returning. ‘They were just kids.’‘So how come you’re still crying?’Tammy shrugged. ‘Had a scare, but that’s all.’Yet more bravado, Lucy realised.‘But that doesn’t mean I’m not grateful,’ Tammy added hastily.
