They both turned their eyebrows on her. “We are not,” they said in unison before glaring at each other.
“You’ll be scrapping over whose turn it is to play with the dollies next,” she sniggered.
“Amusing,” they both said at the same time, making Rachel laugh harder.
“Well you look like crap,” was Jez’s first comment.
Mikey sighed and threw his briefcase on the floor.
“What’s up with you?” added Jez.
“I don’t know. Coming to this place I think,” he said, throwing his arms wide, indicating the small, non-descript bungalow they now used as their headquarters.
“Missing the grandeur of the compound?” said Jez, leaning back in his chair, twiddling a pen between his fingers.
“It might sound stupid after what happened to it but it made me feel safe and…”
“Powerful?” said Jez with a knowing smile.
“Yeah. This suburban nightmare really doesn’t cut it.”
“But it’s safe, hardly anyone knows we’re here. The whole of the north of England knew about the compound and I like it here, it’s cosy.”
“You’re turning into an old bastard. You’ll be bringing slippers and a blanket with you next.”
“Or I might go the whole hog and just lounge about in my underwear.”
“Urgh. You bloody won’t.”
“Funny, that’s what Cathy says. Anyway, I don’t think it is just this place. Your bad mood won’t be anything to do with the fact that Jules has gone to Devon and that a big handsome cage fighter wants to marry her?”
“Maybe you should marry him if you fancy him so much,” muttered Mikey, throwing himself into a chair.
“I’m right though, aren’t I?”
“No.”
Jez’s look was disapproving. “What did we say about never lying to each other? Do you want to end up a dictating psychopath like Alex?”
“Fine. Yes, I’m missing her. Happy now? What?” he added when Jez just stared at him.
“Your feelings for Jules are getting stronger, aren’t they?”
Mikey nodded, looking miserable.
“Bloody hell,” he sighed. “There’s something between you two, there’s no denying it but you can’t do anything about it. Don’t you see that?” Jez scowled at him when he didn’t reply. “You don’t. Unbelievable.”
“I can’t get her out of my head mate, she’s haunting me. Last night me and Amber, you know, and all I could think about was Jules.”
“She has a habit of burrowing into men’s heads, just look at Jackson and Dane and bloody Jared Slattery.”
“This isn’t just a crush. I love her,” he exclaimed.
There was a moment of silence before Jez said, “oh shit.”
“Tell me about it.”
Jez leaned forward in his seat and jabbed a finger at him. “Now you’ve got to snap yourself out of this right now. You’ve got Amber and Josh.”
“Yes, I hadn’t forgotten.”
“I know if Amber hadn’t been pregnant you probably wouldn’t be married to her now but Jules is your cousin, your first cousin.”
“It’s still legal,” he retorted.
“Why do you always fall back to that old argument? Anyway, you’re going to have to get over it because she’s going to marry Jackson.”
Mikey sat bolt upright in his seat. “Did she tell you that?”
“No but I know she will. She loves him.”
“Yeah, whatever,” he glowered.
“It’s been Jax for her for a long time but she’s only just reached the stage where she thinks she might actually be able to have a proper relationship with him without fucking him up. Don’t go spoiling that for her. Anyway, you and Jules couldn’t be together, you’d drive each other up the wall.”
“That’s not true. When we’re together she’s different, softer.”
“Jules, soft?”
“Yeah, she does have another side to the spiky, scary, murdering one.”
“Yeah, the sarcastic piss-taking one.”
“Don’t talk about her like that.”
“I can because she’s my sister. Anyway, she’ll either come back from Devon dead or in handcuffs because her and Ryan will try to kill each other,” said Jez, eyes twinkling with good humour.
Mikey sighed again and shook his head. “You know, I really envy you mate.”
“You do?”
“Yeah because you worship Cathy. You’d never look at any other woman. That’s all I want.”
“And you think you’d get that with Jules?”
“I already do. Jesus, since I met her I’m not even interested in looking at my own wife.”
It was Jez’s turn to sigh. “The way I see it is you’ve got two choices - stay with Amber and do your best to get Jules out of your head or tell Jules how you feel and see what she says.”
“You’re actually advising me to split up with Amber?”
“I can see this is tearing you in two. At first I thought it was just a crush but I’ve realised it’s so much more and I don’t want to work with a miserable bastard.”
“Charming.”
“Aren’t I?” he smiled. “So what are you going to do?”
“I don’t know, I need time to think it over, it’s an important decision.”
“I think you already know what you’d like to do.”
“No I don’t.”
“Course you do. You just need to work out which part of your anatomy you’re thinking with.”
“You sound more and more like Ryan every day.”
“I don’t think Ryan would appreciate that but I’m grateful for the compliment.”
“Yeah, I know you don’t get many,” Mikey said, tugging his mobile phone out of his jacket pocket when it started to ring. “What?” he said into the handset. He sighed again and shook his head. “Yep, will do.” He glanced at his watch. “Give us half an hour,” he said before hanging up. “That was Toni McVay.”
“What did that mad bitch want?”
“Us at The Wherry Tavern immediately.”
“Oh Christ, why?”
“She didn’t say but whatever it is it’s not going to be good and it will probably involve a lot of violence.”
“Doesn’t everything with the McVays?” said Jez, getting to his feet. “Come on then, better not keep Her Royal Highness waiting.”
Toni kept Mikey and Jez waiting in the back room of the pub for nearly an hour, winding up their tempers, well, Mikey’s anyway.
“Bloody stuck up cow,” said Mikey. “We drop everything and run over here for her benefit then she keeps us waiting like lemons.”
“Take it easy,” said Jez, nose buried in a newspaper. “She’ll be here. She might be stuck in traffic.”
“Bollocks. She just likes making an entrance and having everyone run around like headless chickens.”
“True but we don’t want you wound up tight when she gets here. Try and relax.”
“Got any horse tranquilisers?”
“I wish I did,” he said dryly from behind the newspaper.
Mikey had to restrain himself from shouting finally when the door was opened by a man wearing a leather jacket and jeans, sporting a black goatee and chin length black hair streaked with grey, mean dark eyes darting from side to side, scanning the room for danger, the scars erupting from both corners of his mouth giving him a permanent grim smile. He entered the room followed by his employer.
“About time,” announced Mikey, earning himself glares from not only Jez but from Toni and her bodyguard, Caesar, too.
“I beg your pardon?” said Toni icily, black eyes narrowing.
“You’re late, we were getting worried about you,” said Jez, getting to his feet to greet her, smoothing over Mikey’s faux pas. Toni didn’t take kindly to hostility.
“The traffic was dreadful,” she said, seating herself in the chair Jez had just vacated.
Both Mikey and Jez noted she wasn’t drap
ed in her usual finery. Toni loved her jewels and furs but she was wearing a simple black dress, impressive cleavage hanging out as usual with a plain black leather jacket and knee high black boots without an ounce of bling. This alone told them something serious was going on. This was only confirmed by Caesar, who stood directly behind her, on guard duty.
“Do you want a drink?” said Jez.
“No, I’d prefer to get straight down to business.”
“Has something happened?”
“You bet your cute little arse it has sweetheart,” she said. “Uncle Tam, you remember him?”
“You brought him along to my wedding,” said Mikey flatly.
“Aye I did. Well he’s a fat, ugly backstabbing wee shitebag,” she snarled, shocking them both.
“Uncle Tam?” repeated Jez.
“Aye, are ya fucking deaf or something?”
“My hearing is perfectly fine thank you,” replied Jez coolly, once again reminding Mikey of Ryan.
“Good because I could always get Caesar to unplug your ears,” she said, black eyes growing darker. She sighed and shook her head. “I apologise.”
Mikey and Jez gaped at her.
“You do?” said an incredulous Mikey.
“Aye. Truth is boys, I need your help.”
“Because of Uncle Tam?” said Jez.
She nodded. “He’s trying to take over the family.”
“And you want our back-up?”
She took another deep breath before saying, “yes. You know me boys, I don’t like asking for help but I have half the family backing me, the other half backing Tam. Your support could tip the scales in my favour.”
“It could,” said Jez thoughtfully, not committing.
Toni picked up on that and jabbed a manicured digit at him. “Hey, you owe me. Did I drop you when you had all that trouble with Jared bloody Slattery? Did my brother drop you when you had all that trouble with Uncle Terry, then the Jordans and then Alex? No, he was down here with his axe lopping bits off people for you and what did you do? You killed him.”
“We didn’t.”
“Rachel and Ryan did but you knew about it, you were probably there when it happened and did nothing to stop it. All of this I know and have I ever taken retribution? No. Like I said, you owe me,” she hissed at them like a rattlesnake. When they still didn’t speak she added, “I’ll tell you what I’ll do, I won’t ever mention it again. Rachel and Ryan can stop looking over their shoulders because I will let it go completely. I know that will bring them some peace of mind.”
Mikey thought what a sly cow Toni was because she was absolutely right, it would. He glanced at Jez, who nodded imperceptibly. Jez always let him take the lead when it came to the McVays because their original deal had been with the Maguires, not the Laws. “Okay Toni, we’ll help out.”
She nodded, all seriousness. “Thank you and I really mean that. I think you’re the first people I’ve ever said that to.”
Mikey nodded in acknowledgement. “We appreciate that. What do you want us to do?”
Her smile could only be described as shark-like. “I want you to come to Glasgow.”
Jez and Mikey glanced at each other, reading the worry in each other’s eyes.
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” said Jez diplomatically.
She tossed back her head, eyes flashing, which rivalled Rachel’s in their blackness. “Of course it’s a good idea. I thought of it.”
“Us going up there will only kick things off even more,” said Mikey.
“That’s what I want,” she spat. “I want Uncle Tam wetting his fat little pants.”
“And you think we can make him do that?”
“You won’t do it all on your own but it’ll help.”
“You want us to flex some Mancunian muscle?” said Jez with a wry smile.
“Such as it is, yes.”
“And what guarantees do we have for our safety?”
“You pair of jessies,” said Caesar. “Worried the big bad Scots will kick your wee arses?”
“Caesar please,” said Toni, although she was smiling. “It’s only sensible for them to ask.” She turned her attention back to Mikey and Jez. “You’re welcome to bring as many associates as you like, in fact the more the better. Bring that rough one, what’s her name? Jules. Her skills could be very useful.”
“No can do I’m afraid,” said Jez. “She’s in Devon.”
“And what is she doing in Devon?” said Toni in a way that indicated Jules shouldn’t have gone anywhere just in case she needed her.
“Visiting Ryan and Rachel.”
“Then call her back.”
“It’s best if she doesn’t get involved in this. She’s pregnant.”
Toni’s eyes widened. “Pregnant, to a man?”
“Well, yeah,” said Jez.
“I thought she was into women?”
“She is but she likes men too, like you,” said Jez, smile falling when she gave him a hard look.
“And who is the father?”
Jez didn’t miss a beat. “Jackson Driscoll, he’s a cage fighter.”
“Hmm,” said Toni thoughtfully. “Maybe she does have taste after all. Alright, it would probably be best to keep her out of it. Dragging a pregnant woman into this mess won’t do much for my reputation. You may bring your other associates, the one with the pissed-off expression and thick eyebrows.”
“You mean Grant?” smiled Mikey.
“And the sniper.”
“Mark Cameron.”
“Yes. He could be very useful. This is no trick to wipe you all out. If I wanted to do that I could have done it long ago. Neither would I lure you up to Glasgow, I would do it down here, well away from my territory.”
Neither Mikey nor Jez could argue with that logic. “Alright Toni,” said Mikey. “We’ll come, as long as you let anything to do with Frankie’s death go.”
She nodded once. “Already done.”
“And you guarantee our business deal permanently. No undercutting with our competitors.”
It was a crafty move but one Toni had expected. If she’d been in their position she would have done the same. “Deal.”
“Excellent,” grinned Jez, causing them all to look at him stonily.
CHAPTER 9
Battler and Bruiser - once the Maguires most feared enforcers - were now entirely legitimate, owning a string of security consultancy businesses up and down the country. However they’d set up their main headquarters in Devon, not far from Ryan and Rachel, so they could distance themselves from their criminal pasts in Manchester. They were doing extremely well too, their company was very highly thought of.
Rachel entered their office in Torquay to find Battler talking with a tall, curvaceous woman with chestnut curls.
“Hi Battler, Belle,” smiled Rachel.
“Rachel,” said Belle, pleased to see her. They’d always got on well. “How are you and how’s Ryan after the court hearing?” she said with concern.
Rachel liked Belle, she was smart and sassy and worked for Battler and Bruiser in a variety of roles, but primarily she was a honey trap.
“He’s okay. You know Ryan, hanging in there.”
“It’s an awful business, I can’t believe it’s been going on all this time and no one noticed. Gives me the shivers.” She looked down at Battler. “Don’t you think?”
“Battler’s never got the shivers in his life,” smiled Rachel.
“True, he’s so big and strong,” said Belle, casting adoring eyes on Battler, who was oblivious, too caught up in writing something down.
“There’s the address pet,” he said, holding a yellow sticky note out to Belle. “Watch yourself, he’s a bit of a letch.”
“Will do,” she sighed, taking it off him. Belle looked back at Battler, who had returned to scribbling on a notepad. “So, will you be in the pub tonight?”
“Err, dunno yet,” he replied. “Be with you in a sec Rach, I need to get this finished,” he called
without looking up.
“No rush,” she called back, taking a seat at Bruiser’s vacant desk.
Rachel watched, amused as Belle continued to hover around an oblivious Battler’s desk, hoping to get his attention. “Well, I might see you later then?” she said hopefully.
“Yeah, maybe.”
Belle’s eyes filled with disappointment and she turned from his desk dejectedly, forcing a sunny smile when she saw Rachel watching her. “Bye Rachel,” she said cheerfully.
“Bye Belle,” she replied.
She left and Rachel patiently waited for Battler to finish writing. She enjoyed watching him write, it always brought back memories of Frank Maguire, the father of her first husband, Danny. Frank had found Battler and Bruiser living rough on the streets and taken them under his wing. As they had never finished school neither of them could read or write, despite having good heads on their shoulders. Liking his workforce to have an education Frank had put them through school. She missed Frank, who was murdered by his own brother Terry, Jules’s dad. He’d got his comeuppance at Jules’s hands and was now dead too.
Finally Battler looked up and smiled. “And what can I do for you Rach?” He wasn’t handsome in the typical sense of the word but he was huge and solid as a rock with a shaved head and a craggy but oddly attractive face. The local housewives were always in and out with piddly little assignments for him simply to get some one-to-one time with him. His younger brother Bruiser had at first enjoyed the same attention, until it became common knowledge that he worshipped Daina, his pregnant fiancée.
“I think it’s more a case of what you can do for Belle.”
“What do you mean?”
“She fancies you.”
“You’re joking, she’s gorgeous.”
“I know and she wants you Battler.”
“I’m sorry love, I think you’ve got that wrong.”
“No I don’t. She was standing there waiting for you to say you’d meet her at the pub and when you didn’t she looked really disappointed.”
He frowned. “You sure?”
“Definitely.”
Battler was very intelligent and highly astute but when it came to his own personal life he was clueless. He’d been single for years, although he did enjoy personal time with women but that was just about some companionship and fulfilling a physical need. He liked his own space and said he was too old to change his ways now, although he was only in his fifties.
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