“Of course.”
“Only, you seem to be very concerned over a brass,” Aiden ventured, suspiciously. “Your brass, may I remind you. A girl you practically begged me to hire out to you.”
As if a sudden thought had occurred to him, Mr Baker added, “My clients wear protection, but surely she was using contraception…”
Aiden sighed and replied, exasperated, “She was. She must have stopped or forgotten or something…” Then he added viciously, “Then again, it could have been yours. I mean, you have been fucking her too, haven’t you, Mr Baker?”
“Be careful, Aiden.”
“Nah, mate, it’s you who should be careful about who you’re fucking talking to!”
At that, Aiden slammed the phone down. He ran a hand over his face then downed the rest of the glass of Alka Seltzer that was still clutched in his hand. Then, taking the stairs, he burst into his bedroom and began to get dressed, ignoring the lecture he was receiving from the girl who was no longer welcome.
Mr Baker paced up and down his hallway several times before he decided to make some breakfast. When he entered his bedroom twenty minutes later, he was carrying a tray with a glass of orange juice on it, some toast and a plate of fried eggs and bacon.
Gina was on high alert, having heard snippets of his telephone conversation, and she stared wide-eyed up at him as he placed the tray on the bedside table. “What happened?” she asked, and she was all ears as he began recounting the phone call to Aiden, leaving out the part where Aiden had a girl with him.
“He couldn’t care less about you or the kid, Gina, so why do you care so much about him!” he exclaimed when she asked him if Aiden seemed upset about the baby.
She was overwhelmed by his fury as he paced the room, telling her all the things he’d like to do to Aiden Foster, and as he finally came to sit beside her on the bed, she placed a hand over his. He instinctively curled his fingers around hers and squeezed her hand affectionately.
“Kieran.”
“Kieran?” she asked.
“That’s my name,” he announced, and taking a piece of toast from the tray beside him, he offered it to her with a hint of a smile.
Gina shook her head. “I’m really not that hungry,” she said.
He sighed. Dropping the toast back on the tray, he gazed back at her. “You’re beautiful, do you know that?” he whispered.
Gina was just about to respond when there was a rap on the front door. Mr Baker reluctantly released her hand and left the room. He closed the door behind him and Gina could only hear the muffled sound of voices as she sat upright in her bed, listening intently. The conversation didn’t last long, and she was sure she’d heard a thud, but the loud crash that came after was indisputable and she slipped out of the bed and slowly rose to her feet. She could hardly feel her legs as she walked across the room, as quickly as she could, and she wobbled and had to grasp hold of the doorknob to prevent herself from falling against the door. She listened for a moment but there was only silence on the other side now.
She opened the door and poked her head out. There was a small corridor leading to the main hallway between the two bedrooms on that side of the apartment, and she crept down it in the silence that resumed. As she came out into the main hallway, she saw that the front door was open, then her eyes fell to the body of Mr Baker, which lay still, a pool of blood beneath his head and expanding over the tiles before her eyes. A bullet had been shot into his skull, directly between his eyes.
Chapter thirty-one
December 1989
When Aiden strolled into The Stag, Reggie was sitting at the bar chatting to Damien. Reggie greeted him with a wide smile. “Happy birthday, my boy! Twenty years today! How time flies, eh?”
“Oh, shit, yeah… I’d forgotten…”
Reggie sensed Aiden’s unease and ordered him a whisky. When he passed the drink to him, he surveyed his demeanour. Trying to work out Aiden’s moods had got easier over the years. Reggie could almost read the man like a book, but Aiden never failed to surprise him. “What’s up?” he asked with concern. Truth was, he had some good news for Aiden, and he would appreciate it if the temperamental bastard could be on good form to hear it.
“Nothing, mate,” Aiden lied. “Just a couple of Mr Baker’s girls have been giving me a bit of aggro. They’re not happy that I’ve taken over.” He shrugged, conveying his total lack of interest in their feelings. “They’re annoying the fuck out of me, getting above their station.”
“Well, that’s what happens when you try and work with independent women, mate. These girls are determined. Most of them are fucking scarier than we are!”
“Tell me about it,” Aiden muttered, taking a large gulp of his whisky.
“You should stick ’em on crack. They’d pipe down then…”
Both Reggie and Aiden stared at Damien in disbelief, unsure whether it was the nature of what he had suggested or whether it was because it was Damien who had suggested it – a man who had never expressed any interest in any element of their line of work before. “That’s pretty sick, Damien. We leave that shit to the fucking Eastern Europeans,” Reggie responded with distaste.
Aiden gulped his drink. Damien’s suggestion wasn’t at all a bad one. He knew of procurers like him who fed their girls heroin rather than pay them a wage. They hooked their girls up so bad that they’d do anything in return for a buzz. The thought was an appealing one as he thought of the shit he was receiving from some of the late Mr Baker’s oldest and most loyal employees.
The eventual takeover of Mr Baker’s business, apartment and a few other small brothels in his name – all bought and paid for with a mix of his money and a generous payment from Kamal, who had become a sleeping partner as a result of his contributions – had given him kudos that he’d not ever achieved before. He was earning massively and, in their world, the amount of money you made spoke volumes. From MPs to members of the police force and court officials, they were all his clients now. He had them in his pocket and this had given him instant power.
He was finally the master of his universe, with far more clout than the big man standing before him with a wide grin on his chops. He had to face facts: he had outgrown his old friend. Reggie was nothing to the likes of the people he associated with nowadays, nothing compared to what he himself had become. Reggie was, with all due respect, a big fish in a very small pond, and though Aiden was grateful to him for his start in the life, he knew that the time was coming to go their separate ways. He didn’t even like going to the pub anymore. It was a shithole; it was beneath him.
“Aiden, I’ve got something to ask you.”
Reggie’s deep voice penetrated Aiden’s thoughts and he automatically focused on his old friend. “What’s that, then?”
“I’d like to offer you a partnership! Instead of working for me, I’d like you to work with me.”
“Oh…” Aiden blinked at him, not knowing quite how else to respond.
“Well, don’t sound too fucking enthused!” Reggie laughed.
Aiden downed the remaining contents of his glass and set it down on the bar, nodding at Damien for another. “Sorry, Reg, you’ve just taken me by surprise…”
“So?”
Aiden smiled, but the smile didn’t touch his eyes. “Yes, mate… of course…” His reply was strained.
Reggie was overwhelmed at the prospect of their joint venture. Damien set down Aiden’s second glass of whisky and one for Reggie, and, though Aiden couldn’t be further from happy, they both raised their glasses and toasted their new partnership.
Chapter thirty-two
New Year’s Eve seemed a fitting time for Reggie to celebrate Aiden’s agreement to become his partner. The pumping music reverberated through the wall of the back bar in The Stag as Aiden drank heavily with Reggie, Connor, Damien and Damien’s newly acquired bit on the side, Lisa Maddox.
Two bottles of tequila and three bottles of Glenmorangie had been placed on the table and, whilst Reggie did a
good job of polishing off the tequila, Aiden and the others took care of the whisky.
Reggie stood and raised his shot glass. “I’d like to make a toast!” He wobbled slightly and the others laughed merrily. “I remember the first day Aiden came to my flat. I remember thinking, ‘fuck this kid’s tall, but Jesus, he’s skinny’!” Everyone laughed at that. “Do you remember what you first said to me, Aiden?”
Aiden smirked. “Yeah, I asked if you were the bloke who sold ash!”
“Ash?” Connor laughed.
Aiden puffed a laugh and Reggie went on, “He was only fucking twelve years old, bless him! I thought to meself, ‘this boy’s got some bollocks, being so young and to come to some big Rasta’s door looking for a smoke’! So, I let you in, didn’t I, Aiden? I asked you if you’d ever smoked before…”
“I said ‘yeah, ’course’…” Aiden announced, rolling his eyes at his own naivety.
“’Course you fucking did, and you choked like hell when I gave you a toke. Now look atcha, eh? I knew you were something special and you didn’t let me down!”
Reggie winked at Aiden and felt all the respect he had for the handsome young man before him, dressed in the Armani suit he’d bought for him for the special occasion. He had been like a father to Aiden since he’d come into his life eight years ago. He’d felt the need to look after him from the moment he’d seen his skinny frame standing nervously at his door. He didn’t understand why he’d felt so compelled to stand by Aiden Foster. The young man just had a way about him. Like a magnet, he drew people in, making them want to know him better. He was a hard worker too, and Reggie respected a grafter. He raised his glass higher and said, “To Aiden, my new business partner!”
Everyone raised their glasses. “To Aiden!”
Just then, the door opened and one of the temporary barmen, hired just for the New Year celebrations, walked over to Damien. He whispered in his ear then left. Damien downed the dregs of his pint and disappeared to the front of the bar. When he reappeared in the back room, he announced, “Aiden, there’s a bird in the bar asking for you…”
Aiden frowned. “Who?”
“She wouldn’t say, but she’s sitting at the bar. I’ve given her a glass of champagne to keep her busy. Pretty girl… well-kept by the looks of her.”
Aiden looked at Reggie and Reggie raised his eyebrows. He took his drink and left the table. Strolling out into the main bar, he searched the crowd. Damien caught his attention and pointed to the far end of the bar. When Aiden’s eyes fell on his visitor, he felt a lurch in his stomach so strong that he thought the ground had collapsed beneath him, and the rush of blood to his head sobered him immediately. Draining his glass, he dropped it onto the nearest table then, walking through the crowd, made his way over to the young woman who was sipping from a champagne flute, glancing uneasily around the bar.
When her eyes fell on Aiden emerging from the crowd, her glass froze halfway to her mouth and she stared at him anxiously, and when he finally stepped up to her, she placed the glass on the bar, cleared her throat and said, “Hello, Aiden.”
He immediately took her hand, and pulling her gently off her stool, he led her outside where only the hum of the thumping music could be heard. It was freezing, and condensation bellowed from their mouths as they breathed, but neither could feel the cold now.
Aiden stared at the young woman for a moment. He was aware that he hadn’t yet spoken, but he wasn’t quite sure what to say. The surge of longing inside him made him want to whip her up in his arms and embrace her, but he knew that wouldn’t be appropriate. Still silent, he pulled a box of cigarettes from his jacket pocket and offered the box to her. She shook her head and he proceeded to light one for himself and pulled hard on it. Exhaling quietly, he stared intently at the pretty blonde before him.
“You pleased to see me?” she asked shyly.
Aiden took another long drag, exhaled, then began to bite his thumbnail. It was a sign of nervousness that he didn’t show much these days. “What you doing here, Lils?” he finally said.
A timid smile crept on Lily Summers’s pink lips. “My aunt’s having a house party. She lives around the corner…” she paused then went on to explain, “I went to Carlton House earlier. I bumped into your sister’s friend Jennifer. She told me you’d moved out and Kate had mentioned that you’d be here celebrating… you’ve gone into partnership with somebody?” she tailed off and watched Aiden as he puffed on his cigarette, uneasily. She gulped. “I just wanted to see you,” she finally admitted. Aiden flicked his drained cigarette onto the road and immediately lit up another. “I see you still haven’t kicked the habit,” she said bashfully.
“You know me. I don’t ever change,” he replied.
“No.”
Lily stared down at her hands, with a yearning inside of her that she knew all too well. To finally be before Aiden Foster now, after what seemed like a lifetime, only made that feeling stronger. Their conversation was waning, and she wanted it to last forever. Aiden had never been one for expressing his true feelings very well when it came to matters of the heart, but she knew him at least well enough to know that he was overwhelmed to see her. She stared back at him, her gaze filled with wondrous scrutiny.
“You’ve grown… and you look smart,” she said, attempting to hold onto whatever time they had left.
A quiver of a smirk crept onto Aiden’s lips at both compliments. He knew he looked good enough to eat. The long hours doing weights in Reggie’s spare room plus the physical labour of his debt collections and working for the KKKs had left him more ripped than ever, and he looked trim in his new Armani suit, crisp white shirt, black tie and winkle-pickers. He not only looked very handsome, but also sophisticated, and he knew that this would be intriguing to Lily, who had never had to experience the humiliation of poverty like he had. She had never seen him so well turned out.
He cleared his throat. “So, what have you been doing for the past few years?” he asked.
“A levels and an HNC.”
His eyebrows lifted and his lips quivered in admiration. He wasn’t surprised to hear that Lily had achieved a quality education and he was genuinely proud of her. “In what?” he asked.
“History…”
He nodded. “That makes sense. I remember you used to like all that Tudor stuff. You were obsessed with Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn… if I remember rightly.”
He finally gave her a face-splitting smile and all his guardedness melted away with it. Lily returned his smile and attempted to overlook the effect that his smile still had on her. He had remembered rightly about her obsession, and this made her heart swell with affection. His reference to the ill-fated pair didn’t escape her thoughts as she considered her own star-crossed affair with the man before her.
She was taking a risk tonight. She was already seeing somebody else, someone she had met at college, and she had heard things about Aiden and his illicit businesses. Yet the entire time she had been getting an education under her belt and ruthlessly sleeping with another man she didn’t at all care for, she had always planned to return to Aiden, although in her heart of hearts she knew he was no good for her.
“I bet you passed everything with flying colours,” he announced warmly, bringing her out of her reverie.
Lily shrugged. She had received top marks without even trying, but it had been of no consequence to her, and she hesitated at first, then explained why. “My heart wasn’t entirely in it,” she said, her pale blue eyes meeting Aiden’s eyes of deep ocean blue. “I’d left my heart elsewhere…”
Aiden gazed down at her pretty face, then took in the rest of her. She was still the Lily he had known and adored, but now she had grown into a beautiful woman. Her shape had developed, enhancing her curves in all the right places from her medium-sized breasts to her womanly hips. Her face had lost the roundness of an adolescent, and her features were now pronounced, her high cheek bones prominent beneath the modest amount of blusher she had applied. Her eyes, still beauti
fully blue and round, were emphasised by the application of light pink eyeshadow and thick black mascara.
The attraction was still there – that deep pull in the pit of his stomach, making him want to grab her and touch her all over. But his melting heart suddenly grew cold at her next question. “Do you still see Gina?”
He puffed a breath of smoke in frustration. “What d’you have to go and ask me that for?” Lily looked away from him and stared up the street as tears pricked her eyes. She understood him well enough to know that his reluctance to answer her meant that he did still see the girl he had chosen over her. “Fuck, Lils,” he muttered, flicking his second cigarette onto the road then running a hand over his face.
There were so many things Lily wanted to say, so many things she’d planned to say, but all her words were trapped at the back of her throat as her mind whirled at the possibility that Aiden was still seeing Gina regularly, the possibility that they may be a real item now.
The hurt was overwhelming. What had she expected, really? She had wanted him to say ‘no’ – no, he hadn’t seen Gina for a long time, and no, their relationship had been a phase. He hadn’t really known what he was doing and he’d made a mistake choosing Gina over her. But he wasn’t saying anything!
Aiden put his head into his hands and rubbed his face in frustration. What did she want him to say? She turned up out of the blue expecting… what? He wanted to see her again. He wanted to tell her that despite all the other women he’d been with he’d never forgotten her. He wanted her to know that Gina had never meant anything to him.
He wanted to tell her the truth of why he had left her and he wondered now whether that was, in fact, the best thing to do: get the truth out in the open once and for all; tell her that he’d chosen to end their relationship, despite his love for her, because getting out of Carlton estate and becoming someone had meant more to him than she did. That being with a Filth’s daughter would not have allowed him to do what he’d had to do, do the only thing he’d known how to do: to earn a good living and make a name for himself.
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