Rival

by Jacqui Rose

  Alan’s pudgy face lit up, his vein-lined cheeks going even redder as he spoke, sounding breathless. ‘Really?’

  ‘Of course. Ain’t it obvious?’ Tia said at the same time as trying not to wince as Alan kissed her on her neck, feeling the slobber of saliva all over her skin.

  Self-satisfied, Alan smirked as he continued nuzzling her, his hands beginning to wander onto her large breasts. ‘I suppose it is now you come to mention it. I wish my wife was as grateful as you are – she never wants me anywhere near her. We sleep in separate bedrooms now.’

  Thinking what a smart move that sounded by Alan’s wife, Tia continued to play the game.

  ‘Well, that’s not nice. If I had someone like you, Alan, I certainly wouldn’t be sleeping in the next room … Now what can I do for you today?’

  Grinning widely, Alan proceeded to take his erect penis out of his trousers. ‘You can start by sucking this tinker here. Then, Bernie, you can sit on my face and call me Daddy. Now how does that sound?’

  Trying her hardest not to shudder in disgust, Tia, almost unable to get her words out nodded as she fought back her tears. ‘Oh, I’d like that, Alan, I’d like that very much.’ And as Tia got down on her knees, the bright side seemed to be pretty dark.

  13

  It began to rain as Vaughn charged down Carnaby Street, keeping Franny in sight. As he raced along, bashing into the crowds of people coming the other way, everything inside him told him to hang back, to leave it, to stick to the deal that he’d made with Harry and ultimately that Harry had made with Wan. But he couldn’t. He just couldn’t. And he wouldn’t because whether they’d made a deal or not, he’d never forget what she’d done. He’d never forget that she’d set him up and if it wasn’t for the fact the gods had been on his side, he’d be long dead and buried by now.

  Racing into Ganton Street, Vaughn picked up his pace, not wanting to lose this chance to speak to Franny; after all he hadn’t seen her since before the set-up and he wasn’t about to miss this opportunity.

  He began to jog as he saw her cut into Marshall Street and then he turned his jog into a sprint and, catching her up, he grabbed her jacket, roughly dragging her past the dry-cleaner’s and down the side of the newspaper shop into a tiny alleyway.

  With his cheeks red with anger, he spun her round and slammed her against the wall so she was facing him. ‘I want a word with you.’

  Franny stared at Vaughn, a look of panic passing over her face, but as usual she managed to quickly get her emotions under control. ‘Keep away from me, Vaughn.’

  Looking at her as hard as she was looking at him, Vaughn shook his head as he pushed her again against the wall as she tried to step away. ‘Don’t think so … Why, what’s the matter, Franny, you ain’t feeling so brave now you ain’t got your men around you?’

  Franny, never one to back down, sneered. ‘I could say the same about you. How is Harry?’

  Seething with hatred, Vaughn leant nearer to her, his handsome face veiled in scorn. ‘Oh he’s fine, unlike you.’

  ‘How do you make that out?’

  He whispered in her ear, making it seem to any passers-by they were simply lovers in the street. ‘Because one day, Franny, I’m going to get you, cos I know Wan and his men, and they ain’t going to be looking out for you forever. You’re going to piss them off. That fucking mouth of yours that you can’t keep shut is going to get you in trouble.’

  Franny laughed ruefully. ‘Like I say, the same thing could be said about you. You think that Harry is going to keep watching your back forever? He ain’t, but you’ll wish he was, cos the minute I hear he’s dropped you, I’ll be coming and finishing off the job that Huang started.’

  Infuriated by Franny’s attitude, Vaughn, unable to help himself, grabbed her jacket collar and slammed her hard against the brick wall. But as much as it had hurt Franny, she showed nothing to him apart from contempt.

  Franny’s dark brown eyes narrowed as her long, chestnut hair fell over her face. ‘Temper, temper, Vaughn. I’d be careful if I were you. You wouldn’t want me running back and telling Wan you attacked me, would you? Because he won’t like the fact that you disrespected him. He wouldn’t appreciate it that I’d made a deal with him to look out for me and yet you just blatantly ignored it. It won’t look good for you or for Harry, come to think of it, and I can’t imagine Harry would like that.’ She paused for a moment and then added thoughtfully, ‘How did he do it?’

  ‘Do what? What the fuck are you talking about?’

  ‘I’m talking about Harry. How did he persuade Wan not to kill you? I mean, let’s face it, Wan’s brother’s dead and it’s your fault, yet he’s still letting you walk around. There must be something else to it. Harry’s good with the gift of the gab, and he and Wan might even have done business together, but that still ain’t a good enough reason for Wan not to come after you. There’s something else to it; I just know it. And I’ll find out. Mark my words.’

  It was Vaughn’s turn to sneer. ‘Sorry if I spoilt your plans.’

  ‘I like to see it as just a hiccup, because you won’t be around for long. So enjoy life whilst you can.’

  Vaughn took a step back and stared at Franny. She was beautiful but she was cold and dangerous and it didn’t seem to matter who she hurt as long as she came out on top. ‘You’re poison, Franny. Look around you. Everyone has left; they’ve gone. You ain’t got no one. You pushed them all away. And you’re so desperate you’ve had to pay Wan to look out for you. He and his men are scum and I didn’t think even you would want to be around them. You’re one sad bitch, you know that?’

  ‘And you know what you are?’ She paused for a moment before quickly kneeing Vaughn in the balls, causing him to double over in pain. He coughed and spluttered as Franny leant over him, rubbing his back in a condescending way; then she reached down and grabbed hold of his balls, squeezing them tight. ‘What you are, Vaughn? You’re a dead man, but you just don’t know it yet.’

  Upon which, Franny Doyle marched away, leaving Vaughn curled up in a ball on the floor as his phone began to ring again.

  14

  Deep in thought, Franny stormed along Berwick Street. She was still shaking from the confrontation with Vaughn, more from anger than anything else. However, something Vaughn had said had rung true with her. She was alone. She didn’t have anyone around her. Not anymore. And as much as she pretended she didn’t care, she did. And it hurt like hell no matter how much she tried to ignore it.

  She was lonely and, looking back, she wasn’t sure how along the way it had all gone so wrong. The past couple of years had been a nightmare. Everything seemed to have trickled through her fingers. Everyone who’d been close to her had gone. And although she and Vaughn had never really seen eye to eye, there had never been an all-out war between them until now.

  There had certainly been a snowball effect. She knew if Vaughn hadn’t set her up for a murder she hadn’t committed in the first place, then likewise, she would never have put a hit on him and neither of them would’ve been in this position.

  Worse still, she’d lost her best friend, her business partner, her lover, Alfie Jennings, who seemed not to want to have anything to do with her. It was painful even to think of his name.

  After the failed hit on Vaughn, Alfie, angry with her and not wanting to get into the middle of the war that was brewing up between her and Vaughn, had taken his daughter to Marbella to get away from it all. To get away from her.

  Though she supposed him going away wasn’t just down to the bad blood with her and Vaughn. Even before he’d gone things had been tense between them, and Alfie had a huge part to play in that. Mainly because a couple of years ago whilst she’d been in America, Alfie, thinking she was never going to come back, had gotten together with an old flame, and it had been then that he’d fathered his child, his beautiful daughter.

  And although she’d been mad at him – angry and hurt – she’d hidden her feelings as usual, burying them as she’d always been
taught to do since she was a child. So, in that respect, it’d been relatively easy to forgive him. Though as much as she didn’t feel many things, as much as she’d learnt over the years to be tougher and stronger than any man, any face around – which had meant turning off any kind of emotion – she had felt something for Alfie. She’d loved him, and when his daughter was born, surprising herself, she’d fallen in love with her too. A huge unconditional love, which had shocked and frightened Franny, especially as she’d never taken an interest in children before. Yet with Alfie’s daughter, she’d been besotted.

  But now they’d both gone away and she didn’t know if they were ever going to come back. And Christ it hurt – big time. At times she felt she couldn’t breathe. She missed him so much. She just wanted him back. And for what it was worth, behind her tough exterior, behind the fight for survival in the dog-eat-dog world that she’d been born into, her heart was broken into thousands of pieces.

  Yes, she’d made mistakes. A hell of a lot of them. And she was sorry, really sorry, but it just didn’t seem like Alfie was going to be as forgiving in return. He could barely call her back when she left a message, and when he did speak to her, a coldness was there in his voice.

  Though if ever she needed him, God, she needed him now. Her problem, though, was that she would never admit it. Couldn’t admit it to him. In truth, she didn’t know how to reach out for help, because being vulnerable was something she wasn’t very good at …

  Suddenly, Franny’s thoughts were broken and she froze by the Endurance pub, on the corner of Berwick Street, as she stared down Kemps Court – though it was more like an alleyway than anything else. She could see yellow police tape halfway down, cutting off access, and there were police officers milling around, putting up a white forensic tent.

  But it wasn’t them Franny was staring at, it was the girl lying behind one of the large bottle recycling bins. And as much as she’d only been able to get a quick glimpse of her before the tent had gone up, and despite her body being twisted and crumpled up, Franny knew exactly who it was. It was Sophie, the young girl who’d overdosed yesterday at Wan’s club. Seventeen-year-old Sophie.

  She felt sick and with her heart racing, unable to look anymore, Franny stepped back into the shadows and hurried away.

  She didn’t know what she’d expected. But it wasn’t this. Not this. Not for some young girl to be thrown and stuffed down a dirty alleyway like she was rubbish. So yes, there was one thing Vaughn had been totally right about. Wan and his men were scum, and somehow she needed to stop them in their tracks.

  15

  ‘Where the fuck have you been?’ Vaughn snarled at Tia as he ran up to where she was standing on the corner of Park Crescent. ‘Where the fuck have you been?’

  Having texted Vaughn half an hour ago to let him know where she’d be waiting, she stared at him and shrugged. ‘I … I’ve been busy. I just needed to get some fresh air and I walked around for a bit. Anyway, I’m here now, ain’t I?’

  Vaughn stared at Tia. He stepped forward, fighting the temptation to wring her neck. He glanced at his Rolex. ‘When has now been five hours later? Do you know how many times Harry called me?’

  Not in the mood to be questioned by Vaughn, and certainly not in the mood to think about Harry, or any man come to that, especially after the afternoon she’d had with Alan and another punter who seemed to think that rough, violent sex was something she wanted, Tia shrugged again. ‘A few times I’m guessing.’

  Vaughn exploded in rage, giving the elderly couple walking by a fright. ‘A few? A fucking few? Try more like thirty-four times. Thirty-four fucking times, Tia. That ain’t a man who’s happy, is it?’

  She stared at him coolly. ‘To tell you the truth, Vaughn, right now I couldn’t care less if he was happy or not.’

  Enraged and still wound up by Franny as well as having a painful throb in his balls from where she’d kneed him, Vaughn flushed red as he hissed with fury through his teeth.

  ‘Oh, but you’ll care when you see him. You will care when he smacks you about some more and gives you another crack in the face.’

  The minute Vaughn had said the words he regretted them as he saw Tia flinch.

  ‘Fuck off, Vaughn, and thanks by the way, thanks for your concern. But then, I shouldn’t expect better from you, should I? You are who your friends are.’

  With Tia angry with him, Vaughn’s temper continued to flare, and leaning inches away from her face, he growled, ‘You know that I ain’t like him, you know I’d never do that.’

  With the noisy sound of the Marylebone Road behind them, Tia shook her head and raised her voice, her big brown eyes full of pain. ‘I wouldn’t know would I? I wouldn’t put anything past you.’

  ‘That ain’t fair, Tia.’

  Laughing bitterly, Tia fought back her tears. She didn’t want to show Vaughn how upset she was; in fact she didn’t want to show him any kind of emotion at all. ‘Don’t talk to me about fair. Don’t you ever talk to me about fair. You wouldn’t know the first thing about it.’

  She turned to walk away but Vaughn grabbed her arm, pulling her back. ‘You ain’t going anywhere, darlin’. I’m taking you home. And you can face the music and tell him why you ran off.’

  ‘I will and I’ll tell him exactly what I told you. I’ll tell him I just needed some air, that ain’t a crime, is it?’

  Vaughn’s eyes flashed with anger. He was sick of women trying to manipulate him, he was sick of lies and he was certainly sick already of having to mind Tia. Even after less than one day, this job seemed like it was going to turn out to be much, much harder than he could’ve imagined. ‘Wind it in, darlin’. He ain’t stupid and I ain’t a mug. So don’t start treating me like a cunt; I ain’t in the mood. I don’t know what you were doing, but you certainly weren’t looking for air.’

  ‘I was. It was crowded in the shop and—’

  ‘Stop the lies, Tia,’ Vaughn interrupted her. ‘You better tell me the truth, otherwise I will tell Harry.’

  A wave of relief passed over Tia’s face. She sounded breathless. ‘So … so … so you haven’t told him?’

  Tightly, Vaughn said, ‘No, I should’ve done but like a fucking fool, I was looking out for you.’

  ‘Or were you looking out for yourself?’

  Glancing at a cyclist nearly being knocked off his bike, Vaughn sighed wearily. ‘Don’t push it, Tia. You should be thanking me.’

  With her face clearly strained, Tia’s voice was full of pain. ‘Understand this, Vaughn, I will never thank you for anything.’

  They held each other’s stares and with his jaw clenched in anger, Vaughn nodded and spat out his words. ‘Whatever you say, Tia, but I ain’t letting you off that easily … So, come on then, tell me: where were you?’

  Tia continued to stare at Vaughn, her gaze darting across his handsome face. She couldn’t believe Harry had lumbered her with him. Had she known otherwise, she would’ve thought that Harry had done it on purpose just so he could wind her up.

  Part of her wished she could go right ahead and blurt out what was going on with her. What she’d been doing. That she’d spent the whole of the afternoon being mauled and literally fucked over by men who made her skin crawl. But obviously she couldn’t. No matter how much she felt like screaming and telling someone, the fact was, if she wanted to stay alive, nobody could ever know. ‘I was upset, okay.’

  ‘Upset? For five hours?’

  ‘Yeah, Vaughn, it happens. Maybe you should try it one day. Oh no, you couldn’t, could you, cos to be upset would mean you’d have to care about something.’

  Ignoring her comments, Vaughn, not wanting to be drenched by the puddle the black cab coming up the road was about to drive through, stepped back from the pavement slightly as he said, ‘What about? What were you upset about?’

  ‘Are you joking?’

  ‘Do I look in a joking mood?’

  Pulling her jacket around her, Tia, just wanting to go home and have a bath, snapped,
‘Well where shall I start? Oh yeah that’s right, my daughter was kicked out, I lost my kids, I had to come back home, my twin sister is fucking my husband, the same husband who thinks it’s okay to knock me about, and then of course there’s you. I’ve got you as my babysitter.’

  Not quite knowing what to say but uncomfortable with the fact Tia was clearly hurting, Vaughn muttered, ‘Look, come on, let’s go. Let’s face the music, but let me do the talking.’

  ‘Really? What are you going to say?’

  It was Vaughn’s turn to shrug. ‘Fuck knows, but hopefully I’ll think of something.’

  Before Tia could say anything, a text came through. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and stared at it.

  ‘Is it from Harry?’ Vaughn said.

  She looked at Vaughn and nodded, her voice sounding strained. ‘Yeah, to add to all the others he’s sent me.’

  ‘Come on, let’s go then. The quicker we put his mind at rest, the better.’

  As Vaughn walked in front, Tia looked back down at her phone. The text hadn’t been from Harry at all. It had been from Wan. And it simply said:

  Where is it? I’m not interested in waiting.

  Suddenly beginning to shake, Tia shoved the phone back into her pocket and hurried to catch Vaughn up, wondering what the hell she was going to do now.

  16

  It was late the same evening as Franny sat full of concern next to Ellie in one of the empty rooms above Wan’s club in Greek Street. The place wasn’t yet open and most of Wan’s men weren’t about, so the only real noise was the buzz of traffic from outside.

  ‘Tell me what happened, Ellie.’

  With her eyes red from crying, Ellie, still dressed in the same black jumpsuit she was wearing earlier on in the day, shrugged as she glanced at Franny. ‘I don’t know.’

  Warmly, Franny said, ‘What do you mean, you don’t know?’