I froze when the sound of heavy footsteps on the attic stairs resonated around the room. Jumping off the bed, I kicked the scattered clothes into a corner and grabbed a pair of denim shorts from the pile. I had just shimmied into them when, THUMP THUMP!

I don’t get many visitors, because hardly anybody knows where I live, so it had to be my landlord, or my ex-boyfriend, Dave, who I dumped a week ago.

“Maggie, I know you’re in there. Open the fucking door!”

It was Karl the mad German who owned the rundown block of flats on Wandsworth Road that I had the misfortune to live in. Unfortunately, he also lived in the block, on the ground floor, so he was pretty difficult to avoid. My room was in the attic and I had to share a smelly bathroom with a male tenant, whose idea of cleanliness was leaving a dump in the pan!

“Wait a minute Karl, while I get dressed,” I shouted back.

“Don’t fuck with me you little bitch, open up!”

I spotted a white t-shirt, and as I grabbed it I heard a key in the door. I scrambled to get the top over my head, but he and a black guy burst in, while my tits were still hanging out. I pulled the shirt down and glared at them.

“What the fuck!” I protested. “You’ve got no right to burst in like that!”

Both men’s eyes had dropped to my groin where my button fly hung open. A tuft of blonde pubic hair was visible, but not for long, for I grabbed the sides and pulled them together.

“Can’t you fucking wait for two minutes,” I moaned, fumbling with the metal studs.

“Think we’ve never seen a pair of tits before?” Karl scoffed. “Have you got my money?”

Both men watched with greedy eyes when I ran my fingers through my blonde hair and shook it out. Karl was a big guy with broad shoulders and kind of handsome in a rugged sort of way. Trouble was he was a lazy slob who sat around all day in his flat, watching porn movies to while away the hours. He was in his 30’s, had light brown wavy hair and a squarish head on a short thick neck.

His companion was a similar build, but his skin was the colour of molasses and in the scheme of things, less attractive. He had a scar on his right cheek and a slightly crooked nose suggesting he was at some time in the fight game; or worked as a heavy. I knew Karl rented out a room in his flat, so I assumed he was the lodger.

I’d had two black boyfriends in the past and they were definitely more fun to be with, but they were both violent and possessive in equal measure, so I dumped them when I got the chance.

I backed away from the men, toward the table. “I can give you a week’s rent, Karl, and the rest later in the week.” I picked my bag up and held it to my chest. “My sister said she’ll send me some money.”

He had been quite reasonable about waiting for his money in previous weeks, so I was alarmed at his sudden change in attitude.

“Later in the fucking week,” he responded, mimicking my words. “That’s all I fucking get from tenants.” He turned to his pal. “Search the room, Tony. I wanna know if this bitch has got anything stashed away.”

He stepped forward and grabbed my bag. “Let go bitch, or I’ll bust it.”

I knew there was no point in fighting him, or trying to stop them from searching the room. I’m only 5’4” tall, while both guys were over 6 feet and had muscles on their muscles.

“You’ve got no right to come in here like this,” I complained, but released the bag to avoid damaging it.

“I have every right to grab assets if a tenant doesn’t pay her rent,” he growled at me, whereupon he emptied the contents of the bag onto the table. My makeup, purse, cigarettes, lighter, ID, crap and stash tumbled out. It was the bag of coke that he picked out of the clutter.

“Smack head hey? I’m gonna keep this cos it’s fucking illegal!”

“Don’t be a cunt Karl. Every one of your tenants is using one substance or another.”

He swung his arm and cuffed me round the head, knocking me sideways.

“Uhhhh!” I exclaimed. “That’s assault!”

“Watch your mouth bitch, or I’ll wash it out with a bar of soap! My other tenants aren’t behind in their rent, bitch! If you wanna snort a line you can come downstairs and ask for it nicely.”

I tried to snatch it out of his hand, but he easily evaded my attempt. I glared at him. “Don’t do that Karl. I’m gonna get you your fucking money. Give it back!”

He suddenly grabbed me by the throat, clearly gaining confidence in the knowledge I was using. “Until you’ve paid the three hundred and fifty you owe me, you belong to me, do you understand?”

“In your dreams,” I retorted with as much vitriol I could muster. “And its only three hundred!” His blue eyes seemed to bulge as he pushed his face into mine, clearly trying to intimidate me. “I said I’m gonna get it by the end of the week. Just leave my stuff alone.”

He wasn’t fazed by my tough talk. My ass was against the table and I was having to lean back, but his grip wasn’t hurting me, just holding me in place. “Smack heads are lazy bitches and never keep their word.”

“For fucks sake Karl, I work in Pizza World and I work fucking hard!”

He poked me in the stomach. “Yes and it looks as though you’ve been stuffing your face with them all day long.”

I reddened at his reference to my body shape. In 3 months my weight had shot up from 8 stone to 9 stone 5 pounds and all my clothes hardly fitted me anymore. I’d been cleaning tables and floors all day, so I was tired and tense.

“You’re not so trim yourself,” I retorted.

He shook me gently. “You really don’t get it, do you bitch? You’re in a lot of trouble and you’re lucky I’ve only added fifty pounds interest. From now on I’m adding ten pounds a day. That’s one blow job in whore parlance!”

I wasn’t surprised that his mind had turned to sexual favours. “Karl, I’m not a fucking whore. I’ll get you your money.”

We were interrupted by his pal. “Here, Karl. I found some more coke and the bitch’s phone. It’s locked.”

Karl popped the bag of smack in his pocket and then took the handset, while maintaining a gentle grip on my throat. He held the phone up in front of my face. “What’s the code?” His hand tightened slightly, signifying that he wasn’t messing around.

His eyes told me that he was furious, but I stayed stum for the moment.

“Bitch, do you know what happens to slags that take the piss?”

Was he threatening me with more violence, or worse? My resolve weakened. “One, two, three, six, nine.” I croaked. He removed his hand and stepped back while he opened the phone.

I rubbed my face where he slapped me while he read what was on the screen. It suddenly dawned on me that I had left my sister’s email visible.

“So your sister’s sending you money, is she?” He rounded on me and raised his first. “You’re nothing but a lying little bitch. I ought to throw you out now!”

“Give me a few more days, Karl. You’re a reasonable guy and I’ll get you your money. Let me give you a hundred and the rest within forty eight hours.”

I had run out of options. My only relative was over 100 miles away and she wouldn’t help me out. I literally had nowhere to go. I grabbed my purse off the table and pulled out the notes, but before I had the chance to offer him a £100, he snatched the whole lot. He quickly counted it and then shoved it in his back pocket.

“Karl, that’s all the money I have. Take a hundred and forty and let me have the other fifty. I need some fucking cash to live on.”

“Haven’t you got any credit cards?”

“I’m 18 for fuck’s sake, who’s going to give me credit?”

“What about that looser boyfriend of yours, hasn’t he got a job?”

“He was leeching off me, so I chucked him a week ago. Karl, I need some cash to see me through the weekend.”

“If you want cash, or smack you’re going to have to earn it.” He looked down at my shorts, which hung open at the waistband. He grabbed one of the sides. “You’ve got your own cash machine down there, bitch. Come downstairs and I’ll show you how to use it.”

I nearly told him what I thought of him, but didn’t want to antagonize the brute.

He turned to his pall. “Find anything else, Tony?”

I glanced across the room to see the big guy was examining a handful of my dirty knickers. “This kid don’t own a fucking thing. Even her pants are filthy,” he said throwing the lingerie on the bed “The only asset the bitch has, is that porny-ass of hers and those cute puppies she flashed at us.”

Karl rounded on me and wagged his finger in my face. “Tony’s hit the nail on the head, bitch. Put something decent on and come downstairs. I’ll let you snort a line and we’ll have a chat about how you’re gonna pay the money back. If’n we don’t sort it out, I’m chucking your stuff out in the morning. Got that?”