Dangerous Games

by Gillian Godden

  ‘The boss, Antony, the guy who told you to clean up and go and see him. Get a move on, he doesn’t like to be kept waiting.’

  Antonias was gutted. He had bloodstains all over him and his shirt was ripped. His fist was swelling up as a result of the punches he had thrown, and his nose was bleeding.

  He would have to clean up quick, if he was going to meet Caroline. Eddie’s boss could wait.

  Eddie walked to the bar and Antonias headed into the gents. He stood in front of one of the washbasins and started running the cold-water tap. He put his hands into the cool water, scooped some up and threw it on his face. The water turned red. Antonias wiped his nose, and carefully felt it with his fingers; at least it wasn’t broken. He ripped off some pieces of paper towel and plugged his nostrils.

  Blood seemed to be everywhere – even in his blonde hair. In the end he put his head under the tap and rinsed it all out.

  Antonias pulled out some paper towels and started to dry himself off. He could hear some noise in the cubicle behind him. He put his head under the hand dryer and used it to dry his hair. It had the added advantage of drowning out the sounds of people having sex.

  He removed the plugs from his nostrils and was relieved to find the bleeding had stopped. He finger-combed his hair, then stood back and looked in the mirror. It wasn’t great, but he looked better than he had when he’d walked in. His shirt was wet, but that couldn’t be helped.

  Antonias took the gun out of his waistband, looked at it and grinned, then put it back again. It was hidden under his shirt, and when he put his jacket on, it couldn’t be seen at all.

  The cubicle door behind him opened. Antonias looked into the mirror above the sink to see who it was, and was stunned. It was Caroline, with some fat old grey-haired man. He couldn’t believe his eyes; now he felt sick.

  When she saw Antonias, Caroline stopped and stared at him. Then she composed herself, kissed the man she was with on the cheek and smiled at him.

  Antonias stared into the mirror, looking at the scene behind him. Caroline was holding money in her hand. He felt his face burning; she was a prostitute, and she had been having sex with that old man in the toilet cubicle.

  Antonias had waited all week to see her, he had fantasized about how beautiful she was, he had even boasted about her to Jake! What a fool he’d been.

  The old man walked out of the toilets and Caroline walked up to where Antonias was standing at the sink.

  Antonias looked at her; those beautiful lips, with their red lipstick, had kissed him and he had kissed them. Now they looked dirty and horrible. It was obvious she had just had oral sex with the man, as well as letting him screw her, because she swilled her mouth out under the tap, and then lifted her dress, to put her knickers back on.

  Antonias said nothing. He felt like crying, but didn’t know why. He had thought Caroline was his girl, and their times together had been special.

  ‘How is my beautiful pretty boy tonight?’ Caroline said. She held up her arm to run her hand through his hair, but he stopped her. She looked at him, puzzled by his reaction.

  ‘Why, Caroline? Why him?’ Antonias couldn’t understand it. She knew he was coming tonight, but had still cheated on him.

  ‘Why do you think, Antony? Because he has more money than you. I get tired of screwing around with these old guys and I look forward to some fun with you. Is that a problem?’

  Caroline really didn’t understand. He couldn’t believe she was treating what he had just witnessed so nonchalantly. Because the old guy had more money … what the hell did that even mean?

  ‘You’ve never asked me for money. How do you know I don’t have any?’ he said.

  ‘Come on, Antony, you buy a couple of bottles of cheap perfume, you’re a trainee mechanic who has fixed my car up, and I appreciate that, but I have needs, too … like paying the rent, you know? Stripping is good money, but it’s the extras that boost your wages, especially as the owner takes a commission.

  ‘I like you, Antony, I really do. You’re not limp, like the others, I don’t have to work hard to give you an erection, you’re always ready, night and day, and more than once. And you have fun, too, don’t you? So, what’s the problem? We can carry on, can’t we?’

  Antonias couldn’t believe his ears. She wanted to carry on having sex with him, after he’d just seen her with that old, fat man. There was no way. He had put her on a pedestal, infatuated and besotted. He had even, at times, thought he loved her. How wrong could he be.

  ‘No thanks, Caroline, I think I’ll buy someone else my cheap bottles of perfume.’ Antonias took out his wallet, pulled out twenty pounds, and pushed it down her cleavage.

  ‘Here, put that towards your rent.’ With that, he walked out of the toilets. Stupidly, he felt hurt and a little heartbroken. Maybe she had been his first true love, but he would make damn sure he wouldn’t trust a woman again. She would be his last love, too. He should have learned his lesson from the way his mother had treated him.

  Eddie was waiting for him when he went out. He handed Antonias a large whisky.

  ‘Here, mate, you’ve earned it. Where have you been? With that Caroline bird? Come on, the bossman’s waiting.’

  Antonias stopped Eddie. ‘Why didn’t you tell me Caroline turned tricks? You knew I liked her.’

  ‘I thought you knew, mate. Everybody likes Caroline, even me. The girls all do it, then they pay the bossman commission. Their striptease is just a warm up, to get the guys interested. Come on.’

  Now Antonias really did feel stupid; even Eddie had been there. How could he have been so blind? What was it that Elle said? ‘There’s none as blind as them that won’t see.’ She was right. He had thought he was special, and he wasn’t, he was just another punter. He downed the whisky in one and put the glass on the bar.

  Eddie knocked on the back-room door. The stocky man Antonias had seen outside was sitting at a table in a grubby makeshift office, smoking a cigarette. He was on the telephone, and made them wait until he had finished his call.

  ‘You took your time,’ he said. He was trying to intimidate Antonias. As far as Antonias was concerned, bigger and harder men than him had tried and failed, and so he just shrugged and said nothing. It was Eddie who did all the talking.

  ‘He’s been cleaning up, boss, making himself more respectable for you. This is my friend, Antony.’

  Antonias turned and looked at Eddie. He was nervous and sucking up to this guy and Antonias was appalled.

  ‘You have a bad attitude, son, but you are handy with your fists, I’ll give you that. I can always use a man like you. Do you want a job working the doors, on some old club I’ve got in the West End? It’s a shithole, but I do business there. Just weekends, if you’re interested.’

  Antonias looked around the room, and then back at the man; extra cash was always welcome.

  ‘How much you paying?’ said Antonias. He looked the man squarely in the eye, his face didn’t move.

  The boss smiled. He took another draw on his cigarette and blew the smoke into the air.

  ‘You’re a cocky bastard, aren’t you? I pay more than the minimum wage, if you’re worth it.’

  Antonias was disgusted. The boss had let his cigarette ash fall on to his jacket and just brushed it off. This was no way for some gangster boss to act, he was low-life scum.

  ‘I always work with my brother, he’s my wingman.’ Antonias knew Jake would agree. He saw Eddie turn and look at him, out of the corner of his eye. Eddie didn’t know he had a brother.

  ‘Okay, but you’re responsible for him. Now, get out there and earn me some money.’

  BROTHERS IN ARMS

  Through the week, Antonias carried on going to college and working at the garage. He enjoyed it, and it kept Elle happy. He was learning a good trade, and had even had the chance to pick up an old car and do it up for himself. It wasn’t much, but it was a start.

  At weekends, both he and Jake worked the doors at the worst, shittiest club in the
West End. It was a run-down place set right in the heart of London, within arm’s reach of all the big-name theatres. What a waste, thought Antonias, when he first saw it.

  The bossman, as they now knew him, had interrogated Jake about his age and ability to fight, and Jake had followed Antonias’s speech word for word. The bossman hadn’t been happy enough with that; he knew Antonias had prompted his brother, and so called for one of his security men to come in.

  ‘Prove yourself, sonny. Mike, hit him,’ he said.

  Mike, the security man, did as he was told and threw a punch at Jake, hitting him square in the face. Antonias hadn’t expected that. Poor Jake.

  Thankfully, all those months at the boxing club had paid off, and Jake flew into Mike and punched him a few times, making him stagger back.

  ‘Stop!’ shouted the bossman. ‘So,’ he said to Jake, ‘you’re the boxer and he’s the psychopath, fair enough.’

  Jake was rubbing his chin. He looked at Antonias, who avoided his stare.

  The club was mainly a drug-dealing shop. It also fronted as a rave club for every dropout around. It stank of glue, because of all the glue-sniffers who came in, got high and then danced the night away. Obviously, it was full of prostitutes. His boss, Antonias decided, was just a pimp.

  Antonias steered clear of all the prostitutes; he wouldn’t make that mistake again. Even though they fussed over him and told him how handsome he was, he stayed professional.

  Jake had a few experiences, but at least he was warned by Antonias not to get involved and always to wear a condom, for his own safety.

  The money, Antonias had to admit, was good. He was earning two hundred pounds for a weekend’s work, as was Jake, but they had to fight every weekend, too. There was always some ‘hard man’ wanting a scrap.

  Elle would complain and fuss and clean them up with ointments, each time they woke up in the mornings with black eyes and scraped knuckles. She knew they weren’t just club bouncers, there was more to it than they were telling her, but at least they had each other. God help them.

  Elle knew by the money they made that it wasn’t all above board. Antonias and Jake had gone shopping and bought suits and shirts from well-known shops, things they couldn’t have afforded on regular wages. For the time being she decided to stay silent.

  The bossman seemed satisfied with their work, and soon he decided not to waste his two best fighters as doormen. He wanted them to do some collecting from the pubs he offered protection to. He thought the two brothers were scary, evil bastards, especially the blonde one. He didn’t trust Antonias, he reckoned he was crazy.

  As far as Antonias was concerned, this was a promotion, and he was happy to be moving around. Jake wasn’t so sure.

  ‘Come on, Jake,’ Antonias said, ‘we walk in, see the governor of the pub, collect our money and leave. What’s so wrong with that?’

  ‘If that’s what you think, Antony, that’s your mistake. What about when these landlords see two new young guys they don’t know, and don’t want to pay? Have you thought of that?’

  Jake was cautious. He knew the boss used them, but didn’t particularly like them. Antony didn’t grovel enough, and wasn’t scared of him. Jake felt that was a big mistake; this bossman hadn’t got where he was by having people unafraid of him. His brother should have pretended to be a bit scared, at least.

  ‘If that’s the case,’ Antonias said, ‘we’ll kick their arses till they do pay. Nothing new there, that’s what we do.’

  He was looking in the mirror and combing his golden locks. He was vain, mainly because he looked like a somebody, these days, not just Antony.

  Jake was amazed when he found out that this collecting the boss wanted them to do was more of a shopping list. It wasn’t just a few places; there were pubs all around the East End, some he had never even heard of.

  The first one they went in to was pretty easy; all they had to do was tell the landlord who’d sent them, and he handed over a banker’s cloth bag full of money.

  ‘Who are you two?’ the landlord said. ‘Never seen you before.’ He seemed friendly enough, but Antonias didn’t answer his question; he just picked up the money and walked out.

  The first half a dozen pubs were the same, but Jake was still wary.

  ’I don’t like it, Antony,’ he said. ‘Somebody out there knows by now that we have a shitload of money on us. We’re sitting targets.’

  Antonias knew Jake was right; they had no protection, other than themselves. People would soon know they were the bossman’s collectors. Today, though, he felt they were safe because nobody knew them yet, nobody was expecting him and Jake. Besides, even though they were both in suits, they weren’t exactly driving around in a first-class car. Anyone who saw them would probably think they were office workers or something. For now, at least.

  After a long day driving around, going into pubs and snooker halls, they had been to every place on the list. They went back to the boss and handed over the money.

  The boss took it out and spread it all out on the table, then made them both stand there while he counted it out.

  ‘It’s all there, boys. Mind you keep it that way, don’t get greedy and start helping yourselves. Got it?’

  They left the office. Antonias felt insulted by the boss for assuming they would steal from him.

  ‘Fuck sake, did you see all that cash?’ said Jake. He had been completely blown away by all the money on the boss’s table.

  ‘I did, Jake.’

  They had watched him bundle it all into his safe. He had given them an extra fifty pounds each as a bonus on top of their wages.

  ‘Jeez, Antony, all that money for sitting on his fat arse, without taking a risk.’

  Antonias looked at the fifty pounds in his hand. ‘Is that all he thinks we’re worth? Fifty bloody quid. He needs to learn to look after his workers more, and while he’s at it, he could spend some of that stash getting that filthy suit of his dry cleaned.’

  ‘You’re never satisfied, are you,’ Jake said, as they were getting in the car. ‘What do you want?’

  ‘I want his job; I could do it better and with more style. You’ve seen the state of him, who the hell is going to respect that? But, firstly, Jake, my man, let’s go for a drink, find some willing women and get laid.’ He grinned at Jake and playfully nudged him in the ribs, then he started the car and drove off, heading for a nearby nightclub.

  Jake was laughing. ‘For God’s sake, Antony, is sex all you ever think about? That, and money?’

  Antonias was grinning and nodding his head, as they pulled up outside of the club.

  Antonias and Jake stood at the bar having a drink. They knew the local bouncers, now, and they would come and talk to them. Life seemed good, and Antonias knew, with his looks and some money in his pocket, he wouldn’t be without female company for long.

  He had just finished his drink and was about to order another round, when two women came and stood beside him at the bar. When their drinks came, Antonias held out his money and paid for them. They gushed their thank yous and started talking to him and Jake. He felt it was as easy as that. By the end of the night, they were all parked around some dark corner, having sex in the car.

  Antonias dropped the women off at home, then drove back to Elle’s.

  ‘Bloody hell, Antony,’ said Jake, ‘how come I always get the front seat? I always get the handbrake stuck in the way. Next time, you can do it in the front.’

  ‘Because, Jake, it’s my car and I get first choice. But okay, if you feel like that, I’ll go in the front tomorrow.’ They both started laughing at each other.

  Elle always left the porch light on for them and they both knew, even though she was in bed, she didn’t really go to sleep until they were both home, safe and sound.

  When they got upstairs, they tapped on Elle’s door and went in.

  ‘Night, Elle,’ said Antonias.

  ‘Night, Elle,’ echoed Jake.

  They watched her go through the same ro
utine she always did.

  She switched on the bedside lamp and said, ’Oh, is that the time? Sorry, boys, I was asleep. Did you lock up?’

  Jake nodded.

  ‘Are you both okay? Did you have a good time? Do you want a drink or something?’ Elle was getting ready to pull back the covers to get up and make them something to eat and drink.

  They turned and smiled at each other, then looked back at Elle. They each put a hand up to stop her getting out of bed. ‘No, we’re fine Elle,’ said Antonias. ‘You get some sleep, we’re going to bed, now.’

  They both knew they were lucky to have her; she loved them and would do anything for them.

  ‘You know what, Jake? I think we’re too old to live at home,’ said Antonias, quietly. ‘We should get our own place, and then you wouldn’t get stuck on the handbrake. We’d have somewhere to take girls.’

  ‘We couldn’t leave Elle, she’d be devastated. No, give it a while longer, let’s get some more money together, first.’ Jake didn’t like the idea of leaving Elle on her own, she’d been so good to them both.

  ‘We wouldn’t be leaving her. She does expect us to grow up and move on, you know. Anyway, someone’s got to do the washing and cook us a decent meal every now and again.’

  Jake shook his head. ‘She’s not the bloody housekeeper, she’s our mum, and you’re a cheeky bugger.’

  Antonias lay in bed that night, thinking. Even though he was tired, he thought about what Jake had said: ‘Our mum.’ He’d lived with Elle for years and not thought of her like that, even though she had always been there for him. Yes, she was ‘our mum’, or the closest they would ever get to one.

  ***

  As the months passed, Jake and Antonias carried on collecting. They ran into a few arguments along the way, but nothing they couldn’t handle. Antonias had used his head and bought a large safety box with a lock and key, to put in the boot of his car. While he was working at the garage, one day, he had screwed the safe in place, under the spare wheel. He also decided to start carrying the gun he had picked up after the big fight at the strip club, just in case.