Vivian burst out laughing. ‘I think she thought you were deaf. You kept saying “Ay” then she kept saying “Aye”. I thought to meself, “Ay-aye, what’s going on here then?”’
Queenie couldn’t help but chuckle. ‘Anyone ever tell you you’re a funny fucker, Vivian Harris? You should’ve been on stage.’
‘Dad, are you going to show me those orders on the computer, or are you going to stare at that tramp all evening? Put your tongue back in, for goodness’ sake. It’s embarrassing. She isn’t much older than me.’
Feeling like a fool, Vinny led his daughter into the office. For some reason, Ava was the only person he knew who had the ability to make him feel like a silly old bastard. When he’d arrived home yesterday with Scotch in his veins after being out with Ed, Vinny had invited Felicity Carter-Price to share a drink with him after work. The drink had turned into two bottles of champagne, but nothing untoward had occurred. Vinny had kissed her politely on the cheek when she’d left, even though he’d been sorely tempted to fuck her brains out. Surprisingly for him, he’d rather enjoyed her company. Birds usually bored him rigid, but Felicity was intelligent, especially about world affairs and politics, and he loved that posh accent of hers. It was a massive turn on and he could listen to her for hours.
Deciding to take his daughter down a peg or two, Vinny ordered her to sit down. Ava had a decent head on her shoulders and would be an asset to the club in the long run, which was why he’d decided to teach her the ropes. Especially if he was going to be spending less time here once he and Eddie had the casino up and running. Ava and Carl could run the joint between them in his absence.
‘What?’ Ava asked, her bright green eyes blazing with anger, just like his own.
‘Let’s get some things straight, Ava. I will not be spoken down to in the club I worked my nuts off to buy. Neither will I have you call our dancers “tramps”. I actually thought you was ready for this when I took you on, but perhaps I was wrong? You’re obviously still a child at heart and if you can’t act professionally, how the hell can I ever leave you in charge?’
‘Oh, come on, Dad. I’m not stupid, which is why you offered me the bloody job in the first place. You know what an asset I can be to you, and you also wanted to stop me from going out clubbing and having a steady boyfriend. You don’t want me making mistakes in life and I fully understand that. Have I not got the right to stop you from doing the same? Because I am telling you now, if you start sleeping with that stupid posh tart, you will be a laughing stock. Imagine Nan finding out. And you think she’ll have a fit if she finds out I’m working here,’ Ava laughed. ‘She will literally have a cardiac if she claps eyes on your new fancy piece, I’m telling ya.’
Knowing Ava’s words were true, but not wanting to admit it to himself, Vinny’s anger increased. ‘There is sod-all going on between me and Felicity. And even if there was, it would be none of your fucking business – or anybody else’s, for that matter.’
Aside from being disgusted that her father clearly fancied a tart not much older than her, Ava was jealous. She’d never known her dad to be interested in women and hated the thought of having to share him, especially now they were so close. She waved her hands in the air and grinned. She knew she was thoroughly annoying him, but was determined to nip this tart in the bud. ‘Oooh, Felicity and Vinny. What a lovely ring that has to it,’ she mocked. ‘You’ll soon be the new Hugh Hefner.’
Absolutely livid, Vinny was about to give Ava a short sharp slap when Carl burst into the office without warning. ‘Eddie Mitchell’s on the phone. Says it’s urgent. He’s been trying to get hold of your other mobile. He said to call him on this number,’ Carl said, handing Vinny a piece of paper.
‘Get out of my sight,’ Vinny hissed at his daughter. He then composed himself before switching on the dodgy mobile that wasn’t registered in his name. ‘What’s up, mate?’
‘We’re gonna have to put that viewing on hold tomorrow. I’ve gotta shoot up north. Frankie’s had a visit from some pikey bird who reckons Jed is still alive and is living in Scotland with Georgie and Harry.’
‘Jesus wept! Do you reckon it’s kosher?’ Vinny asked. Everyone thought Jed O’Hara had been killed and the kids snatched by his gypsy family. The code of silence in the gypsy community couldn’t be cracked even by a man with Eddie Mitchell’s legendary connections and determination.
‘Frankie is ninety-nine per cent sure it’s kosher, so that’s good enough for me. I’ll be in touch, but only from pay-phones. Don’t ring, just in case.’
‘I won’t, and if you need me, say the word. Good luck, Ed.’ Vinny ended the call, poured himself a Scotch and spun around in his office chair until he felt dizzy. It reminded him of playing with his brothers on the park roundabout when they were kids, so he stopped. He had no brothers left now. Roy was long gone, and he and Michael were dead to one another. There was no point in torturing yourself, was there? Sometimes you had no choice but to move on in life, and even though his daughter clearly hated her, Vinny’s pulsating penis told him that Felicity Carter-Price might play a small part in that moving on process.
‘What’s bothering you, Daniel? You’ve been acting weird since I went to the netty. Has somebody upset you?’ Roxanne asked. It had been her idea they pop in the Blind Beggar. She’d read about the pub in books and wanted to see it in the flesh. Daniel had got a massive welcome when they’d walked in and Roxanne was so proud to be introduced as his girlfriend.
Daniel Butler was worried. He’d rung his nan while Roxanne was in the bog to see what she’d thought of her and his nan was insistent she was younger than the twenty-one years she claimed to be. He’d always been wary that Roxanne had lied about her age. Even his dad and brother said she looked younger. ‘You got your passport at the club?’ Daniel asked her.
‘No. Why?’
‘You must have some sort of ID. Where’s your passport?’
‘I haven’t got any ID. I left home in a hurry and forgot to pack it. What’s this all about, Daniel?’
‘Not here. Let’s talk back at the club.’
Roxanne’s heart beat wildly as she followed her boyfriend out of the pub and along the High Road. It had to be about her age. She’d clocked his grandmother and aunt studying her closely. Both women had been incredibly inquisitive, firing question after question at her and she’d felt extremely uncomfortable. It had been more like an interrogation than a bloody visit.
Daniel’s silence was unnerving. Roxanne had never seen him like this and couldn’t bear the thought of losing him. ‘What have I done wrong?’ she asked fearfully.
Blanking her question, Daniel unlocked the door and ordered Roxanne to sit down. He poured himself a drink and sat opposite her. ‘No more lies, OK? It’s never gonna work if we can’t be honest with one another, and if you lie to me now, it’s over. How old are you, Roxanne? And please do not insult my intelligence by insisting you’re twenty-one again.’
When Roxanne burst into tears, Daniel immediately felt guilty. He crouched in front of her and held her hands. ‘Just be honest with me, eh? Then we can move on. I don’t care if you’re younger – we ain’t gotta tell anyone else. I can understand why you lied, because I’m a lot older.’
‘I’m only eighteen and I’m so sorry I lied to you. I thought you’d see me as some silly kid and not want me.’
Daniel smiled. ‘Age is only a number. It’s lies that I can’t stand. We love each other and that’s all that matters. So let’s go christen that bed, shall we?’
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Summer 2001
Daniel Butler grinned as he stepped out of the changing room. It was strange what life threw at you at times. A year ago he’d been whiling away the hours in a prison cell and would never have believed just twelve months later he would have a baby on the way and be planning his own wedding. ‘Well? How do I look?’ he asked his father and brother.
‘Very dapper,’ Michael replied.
‘Apart from that dodgy tie.
She’ll run a mile if you walk up the aisle with that on,’ Lee joked.
‘Cheeky bastard,’ Daniel laughed. ‘Make yourself useful and grab a table in that boozer over the road. Ravenous, I am. Order me fish and chips.’
‘You OK, boy?’ Michael asked, putting an arm around Lee’s shoulders as they crossed over the road. Lee and Beth were still having no luck on the baby front and he knew how tough it must be for him that Daniel and Roxanne would soon become parents.
‘I’m all right, Dad, but Beth’s struggling a bit at the mo. Her eyes fill up with tears every time I mention Dan’s baby or one of her friends gets up the spout. Don’t say nothing to anyone, but I’ve agreed to go for tests now. Dreading it, I am, in case the problem lies with me. I dunno if I can deal with being told I’m a Jaffa. I’d feel a right mug – and where’s that gonna leave me and Beth? She’s that desperate for kids, it’s become an obsession with her.’
‘I doubt it’s your fault, son. Us Butler males are anything but seedless. I bet the problem lies with Beth, but you can cross that bridge when you come to it. There’s plenty the medical profession can do these days – IVF and stuff. You and Beth’ll get through this.’
‘But we can’t afford it. IVF costs a fortune and the way the club’s been we’ve had to dip regularly into our savings.’
‘Son, anything you need, you come to me, OK?’
‘Thanks, Dad. That’ll cheer Beth right up when I tell her.’
‘That’s what fathers are for, boy. So, what’s your feelings now on Dan and Roxy? I seriously had me doubts at first, especially when it turned out she was only eighteen. But I’ve grown to like her, and she and Dan seem like a match made in heaven. He’s seriously calmed down since he met her. I’ve never known him so happy.’
Neither Lee nor Beth were overly impressed with Daniel’s wife-to-be, but Lee kept his thoughts to himself. As long as his brother was happy, that’s all that mattered. ‘Yeah, they’re good together. Dan’s gonna have to find ’em a new place to live when the baby arrives though. The club ain’t no place to raise a nipper. Not sure how he’s gonna be able to afford that. The student night’s turned out to be a disaster. We only had about forty punters in last Monday.’
‘You should never have got rid of the strippers. Sunday lunchtimes was always a good little earner back in the day, and the strippers were part of the furniture.’
‘Back in the day everything was a good little earner. But we ain’t back in the fucking day, Dad. We’re in the present, stuck with a club in freefall in a shithole of an area where no one drinks. It ain’t never gonna get any better, only worse.’
Michael picked up a menu and said nothing. When he’d first invested in the casino, he’d still been taking a 20 per cent cut out of the club, but had since stopped doing so when he realized how tough the lads were having it. The gaff still solely belonged to him though, so maybe it was time to sell up? A property developer would snap it up, and he’d see his boys more than all right so they could set up another business elsewhere.
‘What’s up?’ Lee asked.
‘Nothing. Whaddya want to eat? Let’s order.’ Michael wasn’t ready to disclose his thoughts just yet. Daniel had a lot on his plate, and Lee had his own problems. This was something he had to think long and hard about, and only he could make the gut-wrenching decision to sell a property that had proudly displayed his family’s name since the early sixties.
Bella D’Angelo spent ages choosing her outfit. Camila was appearing in a show at the Queen’s Theatre in Hornchurch this evening and Michael had offered to pick Bella up so they could arrive together.
‘You aren’t ever going to win him back, Mother. Making a fool of yourself at your age isn’t a good look, you know. I told Granddad earlier that you’ve been acting like a lovesick teenager lately and even he thinks you’ve lost the plot,’ Antonio said casually.
Bella glared at the son she’d once doted on. He was munching on a bowl of cornflakes, milk dribbling down his chin while trying to wind her up. ‘You’re a fine one to give out advice. What would you know about relationships? The only girlfriend I’ve ever known you to have lasted all of a week. Why don’t you go back to your room and play computer games while getting stoned? Because that and music is your whole life, Antonio. If anybody is a fool in this house, it’s you. You’re an embarrassment to me and your sister.’
‘Slag,’ Antonio spat, before walking away. He’d actually upped his abuse at his mother recently. The reason being she and Michael were getting along far too well for his liking. Michael often popped round the house now, and he’d even had the cheek to stay for dinner a few times. No way was his mother getting back with that vermin if he had anything to do with it. Over his dead body.
Feeling slightly guilty over the way she’d spoken to her son, Bella pushed it to the back of her mind. She rarely bothered answering Antonio back, but his constant sniping was beginning to wear thin. She knew why he was doing it. Relations had improved dramatically between herself and Michael, and her son could not handle that.
Bella sighed. It was such a shame Michael had cut out Antonio and said such cruel things when her awful secret had first come to light. She could fully understand why he’d lashed out and knew he truly regretted the way he’d treated Antonio. Michael had tried to make things right with her son lately. But Antonio it seemed did not have a forgiving bone in his body.
‘Whey-aye! The bairn’s started showing. You still look amazing though, you bitch,’ Alex laughed. She would forever be grateful to Roxanne for her new happy life. Her pal had kept her promise and got Tracy the sack from her barmaid job very soon after moving in with Daniel. It was there Alex had met Stevie. His father owned a mini-cab office in Bethnal Green and her and Stevie both worked there now and lived in the flat above.
‘You’re looking well, too. How times change. We’ve most certainly moved on from our days with that perv Stavros, haven’t we?’ Roxanne laughed.
‘Sure have, pet. So have you booked the big day yet? You don’t want to be waddling down the aisle.’
When Roxanne had found out she was pregnant, she’d been anything but overjoyed. Being a mum wasn’t something she’d planned at her age, and the thought of giving birth and the responsibility that came afterwards filled her with fear. She’d actually been hoping Daniel would want to pay for a termination. He’d been stunned when she’d told him, but once he’d got over the initial shock he’d insisted they keep the baby and get married before it was born. ‘September the twelfth. We booked it yesterday, and I want you to be a bridesmaid – I’m only having two, and Daniel wants his sister as the other. We’re getting married in the East End, a registry office. No way am I walking into a church and facing a vicar, not when I’m pregnant.’
‘I’d be honoured to be your bridesmaid. Who’d have thought when that miserable cow Tracy invited us to the club that night, you’d end up marrying the boss? She was so jealous. I think the ugly cow fancied Daniel herself,’ Alex laughed.
‘I know. It’s mental, isn’t it? We’re holding the reception at the club. I’ve told Daniel I don’t want a load of people there. I don’t want a big fuss.’
‘He’s got a big family though, hasn’t he?’
‘Yeah, and obviously they will come. Apart from his Uncle Vinny. Daniel’s dad and him don’t get on.’
‘Vinny Butler is a real face around here. Stevie’s told me all about him. Apparently, years ago, he used to knock about with some Turkish bloke and one night they had a massive fight with a gang of men outside the cab firm. Vinny pulled out a blade and cut one of the men’s faces real bad. He dropped a wad of money in the cab firm the next day and told Stevie’s dad, “You say nothing.”’
Roxanne grinned. She had never met Vinny, but had him to thank for sorting out the fake passport which had enabled her to register with a doctor, open a bank account and get married. She’d had to come clean with Daniel in the end, had told him she was positive her father had a dodgy past which he and her m
other had hidden. She’d also told him she thought her father was on the run from the police, which was true. The only thing she had lied about was why she thought he was on the run, and her own little secret. She couldn’t tell anybody that – not even Alex.
Lee Butler was on his fifth pint. Unlike his father and Daniel, he wasn’t a wine or spirit drinker, but today he was drinking faster than them. Beth had been in a terrible state yesterday, hadn’t even gone to work last night. Truth be known, he was dreading going home later. Babies, babies, bloody babies, he was sick of hearing the word. And even though he tried not to be, he could not help being jealous of Daniel’s ability to knock Roxanne up so quickly, which was why he was in the mood to stir the pot. Both he and Beth were sure Roxanne was hiding something about her past. There was definitely something dodgy about her.
‘You wanna slow down a bit, bruv. You’re starting to go boss-eyed,’ Daniel joked. Since marrying Beth, his brother wasn’t the biggest drinker in the world.
‘He’s got a point, Lee. You do look a bit like Norman Wisdom,’ Michael laughed.
Not in the mood for jokes, Lee changed the subject. ‘So, I take it the mysterious Roxanne has invited her even more mysterious family to the wedding?’
‘Nah. Roxy don’t get on with her family. You know that because I’ve told ya, and so has she. Her mate Alex is gonna be a bridesmaid alongside our Cami.’
‘Not being funny, Dan, but I want Dad’s opinion on this. Don’t you think it’s weird that we know fuck-all about Roxanne and her family? Something ain’t right; I can feel it in my bones. You sure she ain’t undercover Old Bill?’ Lee laughed.
Daniel glanced at his father. He was the only one he’d disclosed the truth to about Roxanne’s past. He’d known his dad was worried when he’d admitted she’d lied about her age, so he’d come clean. He would never tell anybody else though, including his brother. She was ashamed of what her father had done and he didn’t blame her.
Tainted Love: The gritty new thriller from the #1 bestseller Page 37
