by Alex Kane
Before Arabella could process what was happening, she was stepping through the security gate and into the open air, sucking muggy air into her lungs and smiling as she exhaled. Her ten-month stint in HMP Kirktonhill was over. She’d done it, served her time. Now she was free to do whatever the hell she wanted. And she would.
Arabella stepped off the kerb and crossed the road towards the parked car. She recognised it a mile off. Her beloved Audi TT.
‘A’right babe?’ Eddie said as he leaned against the bonnet of the car. ‘I had her valeted especially for you coming out.’
Arabella grinned ecstatically at her man as he picked her up and spun her round. Wrapping her legs around him, she pushed her lips against his and squealed with excitement. ‘God, have I missed you.’
‘A’right babe, Jesus, at least let me drive us home first,’ he laughed, putting her down on the ground.
‘Keys,’ she said, holding out her hand and wiggling her fingers.
‘Really? You’re just out the jail and the first thing you want to do is drive?’ Eddie said with a raised brow.
‘Eddie, I haven’t driven this girl in almost a year,’ Arabella replied. ‘Keys. Now.’
Rolling his eyes, he tossed the keys in Arabella’s direction and made his way around to the passenger door.
As she felt the weight of the keys in the palm of her hand, she glanced back at the prison she’d spent the last ten months of her life in. It hadn’t been too bad. She’d made friends. Acquaintances, at least. The women and the girls had respected her in there. Some more than she’d expected. And she’d made a friend for life in Roxanne.
‘What you hanging about for? You want to go back in or something?’ Eddie called out from the passenger seat.
‘Fuck that,’ Arabella said, sinking into the driver seat of her beloved car. As much as she was going to miss her buddy, she was more than relieved to be out of that place. Running her fingers over the steering wheel, she gave a pleasurable sigh. ‘Ugh, I’ve missed her.’
‘Who?’ Eddie said, pulling on his seatbelt.
‘The car, you idiot,’ she giggled, leaning over and kissing him again. He cupped one of her breasts for just a second and Arabella shivered with his touch. ‘Oi, I don’t want to have to go back in there on indecent exposure.’
‘Ha,’ Eddie laughed. ‘You’d better get a move on then and get us back to the flat.’
Turning the key in the ignition, Arabella felt the engine vibrate in her bones. It felt incredible to be free. To know that she was driving home, that she would sleep in her own bed in the arms of her man. There was nothing like a man’s arms around her.
Pulling away from the prison and out of the main gate, she turned the car onto the road before realising she didn’t know how to get home. She’d arrived at HMP Kirktonhill in a van, cuffed inside a small compartment with only a tiny square window she’d barely been able to see out of, so she didn’t know the way home. Before her sentence, she didn’t even know where Kirktonhill was, let alone the prison.
‘You’ll need to direct me to the motorway from here, Eddie. I dunno where I’m going,’ she said. Not that it mattered, she thought. She’d happily drive in any direction as long as it was far away from Kirktonhill.
Following Eddie’s directions onto the M8, Arabella headed westbound towards the west end of the city. As the car came to the brow of the hill, the city came into full view on the horizon and for a moment, Arabella was stunned. She’d forgotten how amazing Glasgow looked from a distance. She’d missed it more than she’d first realised.
‘So, how does it feel to be free?’ Eddie asked, taking a cigarette from his packet and putting the window down. Lighting it, he handed it over to Arabella, who gladly held it between her lips.
‘Fucking outstanding, Eddie. Honestly, that place was a shit hole,’ Arabella said, pulling on the tip.
‘Well I wasn’t thinking it was the Hilton.’
‘Far from it. At least with the Hilton you get a decent amount of men coming and going,’ she winked.
‘Oi, I hope you didn’t swing the other way in there because you were missing me.’
Rolling her eyes, Arabella shook her head. Not that Eddie noticed. He was too busy laughing at his own joke.
‘So what have I missed then?’ Arabella asked, putting the window down slightly and blowing smoke through the gap.
‘Nothing much.’ He shrugged, but Arabella could see a mischievous grin creeping across his face.
‘Liar. Tell me.’
‘Okay fine, there is something. It’s pretty huge but I need you to promise me you’ll stay calm when I tell you.’ His face was serious now and Arabella felt the panic beginning to build in the pit of her stomach.
‘Oh shit. What is it?’
‘I bought a hair salon,’ Eddie said, connecting his phone to the stereo as if he’d just told her he’d picked up a loaf of bread for her arrival home. Oasis began to blare from the speaker as he sat back in the comfort of the leather seat.
Arabella eyed her man, wondering if she’d heard him right.
‘What the hell would you want with a hair salon?’ she asked, turning her attention back to the road.
‘It’s for you, Arabella.’
Her stomach flipped excitedly and she shot him a look. ‘You bought me a salon?’
‘Well, aye. Let’s face it Arabella, you’re not exactly going to be people’s first choice at an interview when they see you’ve got a criminal record now, are you? I got a good mortgage rate on the place because the owner wanted a quick sale. So, if you want it, it’s yours. I was going to keep it a surprise until I took you to see it tomorrow. But you know me, cannae hold things in if they’re too good.’
‘You’ve bought me a salon?’ Arabella repeated, feeling dumbfounded. ‘So what? I’m the manager?’ she suggested. ‘Like head stylist? Ed, I need to think about this. I’ve not touched a hair on anyone’s head in almost a year. I’d barely got started at all and any skills I did have will be rusty.’
‘Look, the place is already fully staffed with a full client list so you can take your time with it without having to worry about losing money. You really won’t have anything to worry about.’
Arabella was stunned. She and Eddie had only been together three years, including the time she was inside. But in that short time, their relationship had moved quickly. Arabella had been physically drawn to Eddie and vice versa. Once the passion and fire between them had settled down, they’d decided that they still wanted to be around one another and Arabella had moved in with him.
‘Eddie, is this all legit?’ She pushed. ‘I mean, I know the business is doing well. But enough to be able to buy a salon for me?’
‘Right,’ Eddie sighed. ‘Look, I’m a business owner, Arabella. And because of that, the bank is very happy to lend me the money to start up a new business. That’s all you have to know.’
Eddie sucked on the end of his own cigarette and Arabella kept her eyes on the road. The sun was high that May morning. The month that Scotland has its summer and she was out. Smiling at the thought, her mind was still on how Eddie could afford to do what he’d done for her.
‘Are you sure?’
‘It’s not dirty money, alright? I told you, it’s all legit.’
Silence hung between them for a moment before Arabella accepted the situation for what it was. A fresh start, offered to her by the guy who’d stood by her while she served her time. Who’d stood by her from the very beginning. She struggled to believe that anyone could love her that much.
Arabella couldn’t wipe the smile off her face even if she’d wanted to. She finally had everything she’d wanted. But she still had to inspect the new place before she agreed to go ahead. If he had the savvy to buy the salon without her knowing, then he would have the savvy to sell it if she wasn’t happy. But Arabella knew herself; she would love it even if it wasn’t perfect. The salon was going to be her fresh start, her happy ever after. Did those still exist? After being sentenc
ed, meeting Roxanne and now coming out to find that she was going to have her own business, things were almost too good to be true. Whilst in prison, she’d tried to stop herself from thinking negatively about things. But she always lost what she loved, in the end. Why should now be any different?
‘I wouldn’t do that to you, Arabella. I wouldn’t buy you a salon with dirty money. You’ve been through far too much shit in your life. I know you struggle to believe that people can love you. But they can and I do. I want you to have a good life, Arabella. And this is where it’s going to start. I promise I won’t leave you like your mum did. I won’t let you down like those so-called bastard friends did. Okay?’
Arabella fought against the tears. For once, they were happy tears. She nodded and smiled.
For the first time, she really believed that someone loved her.
Chapter Fifteen
Jake Cairney sat back on the seat in the kitchen of his flat and pressed send on the untraceable mobile phone that he used purely to contact the boys when they were out on a job.
USUAL DROP OFF POINT BOYS. LET ME KNOW WHEN YOU’RE ON YOUR WAY.
Eastblane Designer Outlet, that’s where the boys were headed. In fact, they would be there by now. Jake was nervous. Thousands of pounds were at stake here. There was no room for error.
This particular designer outlet on the outskirts of Glasgow hadn’t been targeted before but that wasn’t to say that Jake’s team didn’t know the place like the back of their hands. They’d made sure that they knew the layout, where each shop was in relation to exits, how long it would take for them to get from the exit of each designer store to the car park. One man, one store each. Jake had no concerns about his team. They were experts who knew exactly how much time they had, how much merchandise they needed and which brands to get. Specific orders would be honoured. Jake didn’t get his hands dirty, not anymore. Back in the day, he and Roxanne had loved the thrill of a robbery. Leaving large gaps of time between them and making each one far different from the last kept them from getting caught. Being young, they loved being able to do the jobs themselves; it was exciting and kept their passion for each other alive because they were in it together. When Roxanne went to prison, Jake decided to screw the nut and keep his hands off the job. He needed to keep himself out of prison not just for Roxanne but for himself, too. He was getting older now, not as young and spritely as he used to be. If he was the one orchestrating the robberies and the hits, then his face was out of the picture and that kept him out of prison. They weren’t exactly going to be making money if they were both behind bars. Jake did miss the feeling of exhilaration that came with it but after ten years off the job, he’d become used to being in the background.
Robbery wasn’t their only source of income. Their main business was drugs. Mainly recreational, as that made the most money. Coke was their biggest earner. At between thirty and forty quid for a gram, it certainly set them up nicely. Jake had never touched the stuff himself, he didn’t feel the need to. However, he saw what people liked about it. The cocaine high was what people wanted. And they never thought twice about paying large sums of cash for such a small amount. If people paid, Jake and Roxanne provided. Not just coke. Cannabis and speed too, but on the same scale. Coke was what had landed Rox in jail in the first place. The guy had been an idiot to think he’d get away without paying for his stash. It was just that Rox had gone a bit far in her punishment.
He thought about seeing Roxanne when she got out of prison, without the need to have prison guards at every corner of the room, watching them. Without having to be across the other side of the visitor table and not being allowed to touch her. Although he had paid off most of the guards to turn a blind eye, not all of them were as forthcoming as others. He had to take what he could get over the ten-year stint his missus had had to endure. And all because that prick Munro hadn’t paid off his debt. It wasn’t so much the debt; it was the attitude. He’d thought that because he was dealing with a woman, it didn’t matter. Well, he’d found out the hard way, hadn’t he? She’d near on bloody killed him. If it hadn’t been for the two officers arriving on the scene due to a neighbour complaining about a disturbance, Munro would have died that night. Thankfully for Roxanne, he hadn’t. The police had searched their home due to the nature of her crime, beating him up because he owed her money for drugs. Jake and Roxanne’s flat was clean as a whistle. Not so much as a speck of dust, no loose bank notes. Nothing. Jake’s storage unit company had been a good front for the income. He wasn’t stupid. Another reason he hadn’t yet bought them the house of their dreams. He didn’t want the police to see that they were giving it the big guns by buying a large property. Not until the storage unit caught up in terms of income. However, Jake was happy to continue living in the flat. He didn’t need the big flash house to know how successful they were. Maybe one day, when they were too old to carry on in the game they were in, they could buy a house out of the city and finally live a quiet life together.
Almost two hours had passed when he received a reply from his team.
DONE. ON OUR WAY.
Jake got up and headed out to his storage units on the industrial estate five miles from his flat in Glasgow. All twenty units were full. All of them were genuine punters storing their worldly possessions. Unit twenty was his gold mine. It was the only one with a hatch door on the back corner of the floor space. No one knew it was there apart from his team and Roxanne. Beneath was where it all happened. Drug production and storage. And a safe where all of their criminal income lay.
* * *
Arriving at the storage units, Jake got out of his car and walked towards unit twenty. A small van was sitting outside, the engine off. The boys were inside and waiting. Jake’s stomach flipped with anticipation to see how much merch they’d managed to pull from the order. He wondered what Roxanne would make of it all if she were here. Would she praise the team, or simply tell them to get onto the next job?
Roxanne McPhail was a force to be reckoned with, as a criminal and a woman. Jake would do anything for her, be anything for her if it meant she was happy. Not only that, but Jake knew that having Roxanne in his life was the nearest thing he would ever have to being normal. He was prepared to do anything to protect that. He thought back to when he met Roxanne through a crime ring years ago. He knew as soon as he set eyes on her that she was the one he couldn’t let get away. She was feisty, full of ambition to be successful and live a luxurious lifestyle but she would never shy away from hard graft. He saw a little of himself in her, knew that she was intent on going places and he wanted to be part of that with her.
That first job they’d done together had been brutal but such a thrill. Robbing the post office before they’d had a chance to bank their takings had been incredible. No other job had matched the feeling he’d had when he saw her with the gun in her hand and the mask over her face. He loved a powerful woman and Roxanne was the walking definition of that. They’d got away with a five-figure cash sum that day and never got caught. When Roxanne was involved, no one was ever found out. She knew how to work the system, avoid the cameras. But most of all, she wasn’t afraid to pull that trigger if she had to. She was the smartest of all of them.
Jake smiled inwardly as he remembered. She would be coming home soon and he couldn’t think of anything else. But for now, he had to focus on the job in hand.
Opening the door, he stepped inside the unit. Four boys stood at the back, all of them with boxes and holdalls at their feet. One of them was smoking a cigarette, another glugging back a can of Red Bull. All of them chatted amongst themselves.
‘Nice one, lads, Rox will be delighted,’ Jake said as he stood next to them.
‘Nae bother, boss.’
‘You managed to cover the entire order?’ By the look of what was at their feet, it seemed that way.
‘Aye boss. Couple grands’ worth each,’ one of the lads replied.
Jake nodded and kept his eyes on the merch. He pictured the look on Rox’s fac
e when he told her about it. And this was just the beginning. There would be plenty more where that kind of cash came from. Plenty more. On top of the drug deals, things were going to be fine. Jake had worked so hard to build the business, to grow their income.
When Rox got out, things would only get better. And Jake was planning on asking Roxanne to marry him. That was the only thing missing from their lives. Being married to Roxanne would hopefully help to conceal his secret even more.
Chapter Sixteen
Arabella allowed Eddie to guide her inside the flat. He’d insisted he blindfold her and that there was a surprise waiting.
‘Is this really necessary, Eddie?’ Arabella asked, stumbling over her own feet and feeling Eddie correct her stance.
‘Yes it’s necessary. This is the first time we’ve been together on our own in almost a year. I want it to be special.’
Arabella rolled her eyes behind the blindfold. Eddie was always trying to be a romantic but failing miserably. The last time he’d surprised her was after she’d mentioned seeing the new Shark vacuum cleaner advertised on the television and thinking it looked amazing. He’d gone out and bought it for her. But not just because she liked it. He’d wrapped it up for her birthday. The look on her face must have given her away because he’d insisted he return it, but he still hadn’t understood. He hadn’t realised she was disappointed about getting the Shark for her birthday – he’d just thought it was the wrong model. That in itself had made her laugh, and his failed attempt to be romantic made her love him even more.
‘Right, stand there,’ Eddie said before letting go. She felt him move away and listened as he busied around her. ‘Okay, take it off.’
