Back in the Game

by Caz Finlay

  Jake Conlon watched as the twins proceeded to knock seven shades of shite out of each other for twelve rounds. Neither one of them would concede and Eric was forced to declare their match a draw.

  Taking off their head-guards, they patted each other on the back and it was hard to believe they’d just been trying their best to knock each other out.

  ‘Is this how you two usually work out?’ Jake asked as he handed them a towel each.

  ‘Only when we’ve had a bad day,’ Connor said with a laugh.

  ‘Fancy a go, Jake?’ Paul asked him.

  ‘No thanks.’ He liked a good scrap as much as the next man, but he didn’t fancy being beaten to a pulp by one of the Carter twins, not even one who’d already done twelve rounds.

  ‘So what did you want to talk to us about, Jake?’ Connor asked and Eric sensibly made himself scarce. He was used to opening his gym after hours for the boys and he knew to keep his nose out of their business. They rewarded him by making sure that no one ever took the piss.

  ‘I have a business proposition for you both.’

  ‘Oh?’ Connor said as he raised an eyebrow. ‘Sounds promising.’

  ‘It is. I want to take over Bobby White’s firm.’

  ‘Why?’ Paul asked.

  ‘Why not? Bobby is a prick. Nobody likes him. He’s not even from round here. With our contacts we could take it all. We could be as big as my old man, and yours was, back in the day.’

  Connor laughed. ‘I think you’ll find it was your mum who really ran the show.’

  Jake shrugged. ‘Whoever it was, we could be bigger.’

  ‘What exactly do you have in mind?’ Connor asked as he wiped some of the sweat from his hair with a towel. ‘We just go in there and take it from him?’

  ‘Why not? Between us, we’ve got the manpower.’

  ‘Sounds like a plan to me,’ said Paul.

  Connor shook his head. ‘I’m not against it, Jake. We’ve been thinking about making a move ourselves, haven’t we, Paul? But we have to think it through. If we’re going to go to war, then we need to have a plan. Bobby mightn’t be from round here, but he’s no mug.’

  ‘Bobby has already been sniffing around my business. He’s gone quiet again now, but it’s only a matter of time before he makes a move himself. If I don’t act, then he will.’

  ‘Well, if he does, we’ll be ready for him, won’t we?’ Connor replied.

  ‘This means you’re in then?’ Jake asked.

  Connor and Paul looked at each other and smiled. ‘We’re in.’

  ‘Then welcome aboard.’ Jake smiled back.

  ‘Equal partners?’ Connor said.

  ‘Of course,’ Jake replied.

  ‘The Carters and the Conlons. A truly unholy alliance,’ Eric said as he shuffled past with a smirk on his face.

  ‘All the more protection for you then, Eric,’ Paul called after him. ‘You nosy sod.’

  Chapter 34

  Bobby White handed his two most loyal employees, Liam and Harry, a glass of scotch each and indicated that they should take a seat in his office.

  ‘Are we celebrating, boss?’ Harry asked, pointing to the bottle of expensive whisky on Bobby’s desk.

  A grin spread across Bobby’s face. ‘We certainly are, H. We are about to pull off a job that will make Jake Conlon and his motley crew look like a bunch of amateurs.’

  Liam smiled at him. He was still smarting from Bobby backing out of their plan to get rid of Jake permanently, and it was about time they did something to put the smarmy little shit in his place. ‘Nice. So, what is it?’

  ‘I told you about that guy I knew from Newcastle whose brother is over in Colombia. Well, he has just sorted me with a cracking deal on some of the best quality shit money can buy. This shipment is gonna make us rich, lads. Everyone from Scotland to Crewe will want in on this shit. It will blow Jake Conlon’s gear out of the water, and we’ve got a whole fucking truckload of it coming in on Sunday night.’

  Harry nodded in anticipation and Liam started to laugh. ‘Nice one, boss,’ he said. ‘What do you need us to do?’

  ‘After all the bother we’ve had with our containers, I want you two nowhere near this one until the gear is safely in our hands. Your faces are too well known. No one can get a sniff of this, lads. I cannot afford to lose this shipment. I’ll have Reuben drive it to Sammy’s warehouse and you can unload it there.’

  Liam nodded. Sammy was his cousin on his mother’s side. He had an electronics warehouse on Brasenose Road and he was more than happy for Liam to use it when he needed, providing the price was right. ‘Have you spoken to Reuben?’

  Bobby shook his head. ‘No. I’ll leave that to you. You know I can hardly stand the little gobshite. Make sure he knows no more than he needs to.’

  ‘Will do.’

  ‘Make sure he doesn’t fuck this up,’ Bobby warned.

  ‘He won’t. I know he’s a bit of a dickhead, but he knows what he’s doing.’

  Bobby stared at him. ‘He’d better.’

  Chapter 35

  ‘I told you I haven’t seen him, Mum,’ Connor snapped at the blonde woman standing before him. Grace was about to walk into her office when she’d overheard the exchange. Not wanting to intrude, she’d lingered outside until Connor looked up and waved his hand for her to come in.

  ‘Sorry, Grace. This is my mum, Cheryl. Mum, this is Grace.’

  Grace watched as Michael’s first wife looked her up and down, a smug grin on her face. Cheryl had been one of Nathan’s many conquests in the past. Michael, who had still been married to Cheryl at the time, didn’t know that – at least Grace didn’t think he did – and Grace hadn’t thought it was information worth telling him. Nathan probably didn’t even remember screwing her; she was simply another one in a long list of women. But she was just his type – blonde hair and giant knockers. She’d obviously been a looker back in the day, but she’d struggled to maintain her expensive beauty regime once the twins had turned eighteen and Michael had stopped paying her a hefty monthly allowance. Grace knew that the twins kept their mum in the lifestyle to which they thought she should be accustomed, but they never seemed that close to her. Ever since they were young, she was always swanning off to Turkey to meet one of her many toyboys. A different one every year.

  Grace smiled at her. ‘Hello, Cheryl. Nice to finally meet you.’

  ‘Hmm.’ She sniffed. ‘Tell your dad I’m around if he needs anyone to talk to, Connor,’ she said and then she sashayed out of the room in a cloud of cheap perfume.

  Connor shook his head as his mother left the room. ‘As if my dad would be talking to her of all people. He can’t stand her.’

  ‘Why would he need someone to talk to?’ Grace asked.

  ‘He doesn’t. But she’s only just heard he’s getting a divorce and the deluded mare thinks she’s got a chance of getting him back. I almost feel sorry for her.’

  ‘You shouldn’t talk about your mum like that,’ Grace admonished him while suppressing a smile. Connor was only confirming what she already knew. Michael despised his ex-wife. He’d been devastated when he’d come out of prison to find she’d been sleeping with any Tom, Dick or Harry who’d looked twice at her.

  ‘What?’ Connor protested. ‘It’s true. I love the woman, but she made her own bed, Grace.’

  Grace couldn’t argue with that. ‘Where’s your other half anyway?’ she asked, referring to Paul.

  ‘He’s out with Jake.’

  ‘Oh?’

  ‘Just business.’ Connor grinned and, despite her stomach churning, Grace sensed not to pry any further. She loved the twins but she knew exactly what business they were in and the thought of Jake getting involved with them made her feel sick with worry. The twins were going to go far, but would Jake go along with them? She’d find out soon enough, no doubt.

  ***

  Paul watched Jake and his associate talking animatedly outside the bookies, their hot breaths creating clouds of fog around their faces. Des
pite the cold weather, the car was warm. Smiling to himself, he rested his head against the warm leather seat and thought about the events of earlier that afternoon. It seemed Jake loved a good scrap just as much as he did.

  He’d convinced Jake to go to his mum’s house with him to pay her boyfriend a visit and put a stop to him spreading unsavoury rumours about Paul’s character. Jake didn’t ask any questions, he just agreed to go along. And when things got a bit out of hand, Jake helped him clean up the mess he’d made, and deposited his mum’s hopefully now ex-boyfriend at the nearest A&E. Thankfully, his mum hadn’t been in, or she’d have gone ballistic and he’d have ended up having to pay for a decorator to come and redo the whole place. As it was, they’d had to bin the cream rug, but apart from that, you’d never know they’d been there.

  ‘What are you smiling about?’ Jake asked as he climbed into the car.

  Paul’s eyes snapped open. ‘Nothing,’ he said.

  ‘Liar.’ Jake grinned at him.

  ‘Did your mate know anything?’ Paul asked as he put the car into gear.

  ‘Hmm. Seems our mate Bobby has a massive shipment coming in on Sunday night.’

  Paul smiled. ‘Nice one.’ He knew Jake was still smarting at Vinnie losing him a fortune a few weeks earlier. Jake was sure Bobby had been behind it, and now it was time for payback. ‘So we’re taking it from him then?’ Paul asked.

  ‘Course we are, lad,’ Jake laughed. ‘Get us back to the club so we can fill Connor in. He’ll be wondering where we are. We said we’d only be an hour and that was three fucking hours ago.’

  ‘Well, you shouldn’t be such a fucking bad influence then.’ Paul winked at him.

  Chapter 36

  Michael walked up behind Grace as she was putting some paperwork on the shelf. Wrapping his arms around her waist, he whispered in her ear, ‘Fancy getting out of here and coming home with me tonight? I’ll make it worth your while.’

  ‘Behave yourself. I’m busy,’ she said, although she made no attempt to move from his embrace and instead leaned into his body. He buried his face in her hair, inhaling the smell of her perfume, and began to wonder whether he’d even be able to make it home before he buried himself inside her.

  ‘How exactly will you make it worth my while?’ she purred and he felt a familiar stirring in his groin area.

  ‘You already know how,’ he growled in her ear.

  ‘Yes, but I want feeding too. I’ve been stuck in here all day and I’m starving.’

  ‘Fine. I’ll pick us up a Chinese on the way home, and I’ll make you a breakfast fit for a queen in the morning. Will that do you?’

  ‘Hmm, I suppose,’ she said and then she turned in his arms and took his face in her hands.

  He was about to kiss her when the door to their office was opened. They both turned in surprise to see who had rudely interrupted them without even knocking. Michael was about to give whoever it was a mouthful of abuse and tell them they were fired, but when he saw who it was, he groaned instead.

  ‘Oh, don’t tell me you’re fucking her?’ his ex-wife Cheryl spat angrily

  ‘What the fuck are you doing here?’ he snarled as he and Grace stepped away from each other. ‘Don’t you know how to fucking knock?’

  ‘I need to talk to you,’ she snapped. ‘Alone!’

  ‘Anything you have to say, you can say in front of Grace,’ he replied.

  ‘It’s okay. I’ll leave you two to it,’ Grace said as she started to put on her coat. Michael was about to protest about her leaving when she leaned over and kissed him so hard he almost forgot his annoying ex-wife was in the room. ‘I’ll wait for you in the bar.’ She smiled as she glided out of the room. ‘Bye, Cheryl. Don’t keep him too long, will you?’

  Michael watched Cheryl staring after her, her face red with anger.

  ‘Are you really screwing her?’ she spat when Grace left.

  ‘Oh, fuck off, Cheryl. It’s none of your business who I am or am not screwing.’

  ‘I thought you had better taste.’

  ‘Well, it’s certainly improved since I married you.’

  She glared at him and he could hardly believe he’d once thought she was the love of his life. His family had never taken to her. They said she was so far up her own arse she could lick her ribs clean, but he used to think she was full of class.

  ‘What do you want, Cheryl?’ His patience was growing thinner by the second. All he could think of was Grace waiting for him.

  She sighed dramatically. ‘One of your lunatic children has put my Terry in hospital.’

  Terry the Turk was Cheryl’s latest boyfriend. He seemed to have lasted longer than most of the others and had been hanging around for a few years by this point. But Michael had heard whispers of the rumours Terry was spreading about Paul and had planned on giving the cheeky little fucker a good slap himself. When he heard Terry was in hospital with a broken jaw, a concussion and three broken ribs, he assumed one of his boys had heard the rumours too and saved him a job.

  ‘It’s funny how they’re always my children when you’re pissed off with them, isn’t it?’

  ‘Well, it’s your fault they’ve turned out the way they have. Pair of animals.’ She shook her head.

  ‘You’re not saying that when they’re giving you money though, are you?’

  She blushed and he hoped she at least felt some shame for being such a horrible fucking mother.

  ‘It’s none of your business what them boys give me. Anyway, are you going to have a word? My Terry will be in hospital for weeks.’

  Michael laughed. ‘It serves him fucking right. He’s lucky he’s still breathing.’

  ‘You just can’t stand to see me happy, can you?’ she spat. ‘You and your bloody thug mates have turned our sons into vicious little bastards too, just like you.’

  Michael stepped closer to her and leaned in so his face was close to hers. She blinked rapidly at him and then started to smile. She leaned towards him, as though she thought he was going to kiss her. ‘You never complained about my mates when you were fucking them behind my back, did you?’ he snarled and then watched as the smile slipped from her face. She took a step back from him and lifted her hand to slap his face. He’d taken the odd slap from her back in the day – she was a woman with a temper – and he’d never hit a woman in his life, but this time he caught her by the wrist and stopped her, realising he was squeezing her arm when she winced in pain. When he let go, she looked up at him, her face full of venom.

  ‘Tell that little whore of yours I screwed her husband too,’ she cackled.

  ‘Get out before I have someone throw you out,’ he growled at her.

  ‘Tell them boys to leave my Terry alone,’ she said over her shoulder as she headed out the door.

  Michael put his jacket on and closed the office door behind him before going to find Grace. He’d suspected that Nathan had been one of Cheryl’s many suitors but he’d never told Grace that. He wondered if she knew. He wasn’t planning on telling her anyway. Nathan was dead and all it would do was remind Grace what a vile scumbag she’d once been married to. He made a mental note to speak to the twins in the morning and warn them Cheryl was on the rampage. Not for her benefit but for theirs.

  Michael walked out into the bar area and scanned the room for Grace. She was standing by the bar talking to a guy who was clearly three sheets to the wind and who kept trying to grab her arse. Michael’s instinct was to go over there and break the drunken fucker’s fingers, but he watched her instead, knowing that she wouldn’t appreciate his intervention. She was perfectly capable of handling herself, as she repeatedly liked to remind him. After moving his hand three times, she’d obviously had enough and she kneed him in the groin so hard that he doubled over and dropped to the floor. Michael laughed to himself as one of his bouncers stepped in and escorted the man from the premises.

  ‘Ready?’ she said breezily as she walked over to him.

  ‘Still fancy a Chinese?’

  �
�Yeah. I’m famished. What did Cruella De Vil want?’

  Michael laughed. ‘Nothing important. Come on, let’s go,’ he said as he put his arm around her shoulder. They walked out of The Blue Rooms like any other couple in love and Michael felt a pang of sadness, wondering how long it would be before it all came crashing down around him. Grace Sumner was like lightning in a bottle. He could never manage to hold onto her for too long.

  Chapter 37

  Grace smiled at Michael as he slipped beneath the sheets of his king-size bed.

  ‘Here you go. Breakfast in bed.’ He laughed as he handed her a protein bar.

  ‘Are you kidding me, Michael Carter?’ she said as she threw it back at him. He caught it as it bounced off his chest. ‘After last night, I want a full fry-up. At the very least, I expect some toast.’

  ‘What? That’s full of goodness, that. Plenty of protein to keep your strength up.’ He winked.

  ‘I’ll go out and get my own breakfast then,’ she said, pouting, pretending to be offended, as she pulled back the covers to get out of bed.

  ‘Hang on. Not so fast.’ He pulled her towards him. ‘I’ve got some bacon and eggs in the fridge.’ He silenced her with a kiss.

  ***

  Grace wandered into the kitchen to see Michael standing beside the oven over a sizzling frying pan. The radio played a nineties scouse-house song in the background and she laughed quietly to herself as she watched him nodding his head to the music and humming along. The smell of bacon made her stomach growl and she realised they’d barely eaten the night before, having discarded their Chinese takeaway as they’d headed straight up to bed. She smiled at the memory.

  What was wrong with her? She was behaving like a horny teenager. Perhaps it was because they both knew their time together would be brief. Grace would be going back to Harewood in a few months, and Michael would be staying in Liverpool. She couldn’t stay and he couldn’t leave.

  ‘You’re finally dressed then?’ Michael said and Grace realised he’d turned around and was smiling at her.

  ‘This better be good, Carter.’ She indicated the food he was preparing. ‘You promised me a queen’s breakfast last night if I came home with you again.’ She laughed as she took a seat at his kitchen table.