by S. J. Morgan
‘All right, all right, calm down Alec,’ Minto laughed, looking between me and the others. ‘You’ll be asking for a tax receipt next.’
Having a receipt last time would have saved me two weeks’ rent, but I wasn’t about to mention it. We both knew he’d shafted me out of twenty-six quid.
I was about to head off when he called me back. ‘Alec? Don’t forget it’ll be the big two-zero after that. Twenty a week is still a bargain for that massive room of yours.’
I hung on to the doorframe and tried to avoid looking at him. ‘Bit rich for my blood,’ I said. ‘I’ll sort something else out.’
His eyes slid to the other two before returning to me. ‘Beg your pardon, Alec?’
The bravado of my announcement dribbled away. ‘Yeah – I’ll have trouble finding that much dough. I’ll get another place.’
Stobes sat at the table licking a ciggie paper while Black put his hands behind his head, settling in for the entertainment.
Minto strode towards me. ‘Sindy?’ he shouted over my shoulder. ‘Get here.’
My heart sank: Sindy and her loose lips was all I needed.
‘What about your room though?’ Minto said, as Sindy came in.
I shrugged. ‘Just get someone else –’
‘Get someone else? I can go to the trouble of getting someone, can I, Mr Johnston? Me?’ he said, jabbing a finger into his chest.
‘Or...I could see if...’
‘Did you hear about this?’ Minto said to Sindy. ‘Young Alec here is flying the coop.’
Sindy smiled at me. I could see she didn’t have a clue what he meant.
‘He’s leaving home,’ Minto whispered in her ear. ‘Buggering off.’
‘Oh. Yes,’ said Sindy, letting out a giggle.
‘Seems a bit rude to me,’ Minto said. ‘A bit impolite. I invite you here out of the goodness of my heart…’ He paused and looked across at Stobes and Black. ‘All three of you in fact, but only Alexander here is throwing it back in my face.’
It was news to me that Minto had made the decision about us all moving in.
He folded his thick arms and stood too close to me. ‘Not moving in with that classy bird of yours, are you Mr Johnston?’
‘No, I’m not.’
‘Reckon she’s pretty keen on you. For the moment, at least.’ He gave me an unpleasant grin. ‘I get the impression you’re her bit of rough. Relatively speaking.’
The others snorted, quietly egging him on.
‘Looks like her family have a bit of coin behind ‘em too. Could be well-in there, Alec if you play your cards right.’
I tried a half-hearted smile, wishing he wasn’t standing so fucking close.
He circled me slowly. ‘Perhaps she’s attracted to that unshaven look, the tight jeans, the spiky hair, eh, Alec?’
‘Or my magnetic charm,’ I said, all nice and cheery like we were just mates shooting the breeze.
Minto perched on the arm of the sofa, settling into his bit of foam-filled amateur psychology. ‘Thing is,’ he said. ‘You’re not too dirty or too risky for her,’ he said. ‘You’re the safe-dangerous option. Soft porn rather than hardcore if you get my meaning.’
‘Mm.’ I didn’t know or care what the fuck he was on about.
‘I don’t think she’d want anyone seriously troublesome though, do you? I mean, a bit of black hair-dye and a studded ear is one thing. A dodgy past on other hand...that might be a risk too far. Don’t you think?’
I swallowed. ‘I have no idea, mate.’
‘No, you don’t, do you?’ he said, and the smile slipped from his face along with the friendly tone. ‘Back to this little rental conundrum,’ he said. ‘Two weeks isn’t much notice, is it?’
‘Well I can’t afford twenty a week so...’
‘And what am I to tell Mr Patel?’ Minto said.
I was careful with my reaction, making sure I gave nothing away.
‘It’s okay. Alec already knows about Dad,’ Sindy said. ‘He knows Mr Patel’s not the owner now.’
Black and Stobes frowned at one another and I saw Minto shoot a glance in their direction. He took in a deep breath and grabbed Sindy by the top of her arm. ‘Anything else you want to tell everyone?’ he said. ‘This stuff is none of your business, so keep your big idiot-mouth shut.’ He led her out of the room so fast her bony little feet couldn’t keep up. She stumbled, bleated and we heard Minto practically drag her the rest of the way.
Black nodded at the door. ‘Sounds like she’s going to be in a bit of strife,’ he said, getting out of his seat.
Stobes laughed as he leaned over the bin, clearing his jeans of tobacco and ash before going back to the sofa. ‘She’ll have a sore arse tomorrow, that’s for sure,’ he said. ‘Mind you, I hadn’t realised we’d got ourselves a new landlord.’
‘Makes no odds to me,’ Black said. ‘I couldn’t give a toss who gets the rent money.’ He looked at me. ‘So, is our little butty-bach really shifting?’
‘Reckon so.’
‘You won’t find anywhere cheaper – even with the rent-hike.’
‘I know but...money’s not everything.’
Stobes got to his feet again, his long legs unfolding like a crane fly. He took a deep drag on his rollie. ‘No wonder Minto’s disappointed. Reckon he saw you as potential comrade material.’
‘Comrade?’
‘Well, you know. Mates helping each other out. He makes a better friend than he does an enemy, that’s for sure.’
‘Aye. You’d do well to stay out of his bad books,’ Black said, nodding. ‘And, fair dos, there’s a lot of advantages to getting in with his fraternity.’
‘Can’t say I’d noticed,’ I said.
Stobes looked at me and paused, like he was still weighing up how much to say. ‘You could have money in your pocket, mate; the security of knowing you’ve got people watching your back. S’all I’m sayin’. But if you want to flounce off over a bit of rent money, so be it. Your loss. He won’t like it though.’
‘And when Minto doesn’t like something,’ Black added, looking at Stobes. ‘You fucking well know about it.’
I looked between the two of them. Was I being threatened? Advised? Warned? Without me realising, they’d become a double act, promoting the ways of the Minto Club.
‘Ach, don’t worry about it, Alec,’ Black said, standing up. He slapped me on the shoulder. ‘I’m sure that lovely ground floor front bedroom will work out just fine for you in Ashton Crescent.’
I stood watching his back as it disappeared out the door, wondering if there could have been anything else for Sindy to have given away.
Chapter 23
I hadn’t been able to get in touch with Daniella since our row at the Indian restaurant. Whenever I tried phoning her student flat, the communal phone was out of order and when I called her parents, they said she hadn’t been home. In my more optimistic moments, I persuaded myself that she just needed to calm down, and we’d get back to normal. At other times, though, I was scared she’d had enough of me, what with the dodgy acquaintances I had, the helpful hints from Mike and now this fake newspaper article.
I tried my best not to worry about it but whenever I thought of Daniella – of not seeing her anymore – I got this dull ache in my stomach. I wasn’t about to run off and marry her, but I had to admit she’d brightened every dank little corner of my existence. The prospect of going back to the shitty life I’d had before I’d met Daniella was deeply depressing.
I hadn’t figured exactly what I was going to say to her as I stood outside her student room, clutching a box of chocolates. I just knew it was my turn to front up and show some balls.
‘Oh!’ she said, blinking back at me. ‘Alec!’ I tried to tell myself her shock was the happy kind, but there was no spark in her eye, and the tremor in her voice was more of the panic-stricken than pleased variety. ‘I wasn’t expecting you,’ she said.
I wanted to peek round the door, see if she had someone with her but I kept my cool and nodded d
own at the chocolates. ‘A peace offering,’ I said. ‘I know you’ve had to put up with a lot of shit from me lately. I just thought...maybe we could...iron over the cracks a bit.’
She didn’t smile as she looked back at me. ‘It’s iron over the creases. Or paint over the cracks.’
‘What?’
‘You can’t iron over cracks.’
I thought about it for a moment. She was so much smarter than me.
‘How about just smoothing things over – with an iron or a trowel? Maybe a paintbrush? Or even these,’ I said, handing her the chocolates.
The fact she hadn’t yet slammed the door in my face gave me hope.
‘Please?’ I said. ‘They were the most expensive ones in the shop.
That’s a first for me. I’m normally very cheap. You know that.’
She sighed and pulled the door open. ‘You’d better come in.’
On her bed, a dog-eared copy of Practical Cell Biology proved to be her only company and, thankfully, she was quick enough to give that the boot so I could sit down next to her.
‘I didn’t expect to see you again,’ she said. ‘When you walked out of the restaurant, I thought that was it.’
I nodded, almost afraid to answer: my track record for calming things down with a speech wasn’t great. ‘Did you want that to be it?’
She sat, hugging herself, tense. ‘I think I did, actually, yeah.’
It wasn’t the answer I’d been hoping for. ‘Past tense?’
She met my gaze and shrugged.
‘You really want to give Minto the satisfaction of breaking us up?’
She all but rolled her eyes. ‘That’s the only reason you’re here, is it?’
‘Course not.’ I risked an arm around the shoulder, a slight nestling in. ‘But it did give me the excuse I was looking for.’
She shook my arm off her. ‘Why d’you need an excuse, Alec?’ she said. ‘Is it so hard to just admit you acted like a jerk and apologise?’
‘Yeah, I know I was a jerk. That’s why I’m here…’
‘All I want to know is that I can trust you, for God’s sake. Is that too much to ask? Just to trust you?’
I could see she was struggling. Her eyes had that glassy look about them that they always had when she was upset. It made me want to put my arms around her, make things better, but I also knew she wasn’t a woman to be soothed too easily. I swear, she usually knew what I was thinking before I did.
‘You can trust me!’ I said.
She sat, watching me then studying for hints of lies and betrayal.
‘I don’t understand what’s going on with you,’ she said. ‘That article... all the things Mike keeps saying. I want to believe you, I really do, but... you’re so cagey; so shifty.’
‘I’m not!’
She leaned back against the wall and looked up at the ceiling. ‘You are, Alec. I don’t think you even mean to be. It’s just that you never expand on things – you always give away the bare minimum in terms of what you’re thinking and feeling.’
‘So? It doesn’t mean there’s anything sinister lurking in the background.’
She turned her gaze on me. ‘You sure about that?’
‘Look, I promise you!’ I got to my feet, suddenly too wired to keep sitting next to her. ‘Whatever Mike says or Minto or any of that lot from my old school – this is me, promising you I have nothing to feel guilty for and nothing to confess. This is my promise. I haven’t done anything wrong.’
I chose my words very carefully. I wanted to be certain I wasn’t lying to her. Yes, it was the bare minimum, just as she accused me, but what if I told her everything and she questioned my innocence? It was one thing to have her doubt me when she was swamped by uncertainty and hints, but how would I ever bear it if she felt that way after hearing the truth? I just needed her to trust me.
Daniella was still watching me; cool, detached, weighing things up.
‘Y’know,’ I said to her, ‘just because I don’t shout my every thought from the rooftops doesn’t mean I’m hiding stuff. Or that I don’t feel anything.’
That seemed to stump her. She shook her head, like she’d lost track of her own argument and leaned forward again. ‘I know, I know. I guess you’re just...different to the people I usually meet.’
I sat down, close to her and moved a few strands of hair from her face. ‘So, what is the usual type you meet?’
‘Conventional,’ she said with a sigh. ‘Safe.’
‘Ah yes, boring.’
That finally earned me a smile. ‘Yes, okay Alec. Boring, if that’s what you want to hear.’
‘Well there you are then,’ I told her. ‘You wouldn’t want me to be like them, would you? But it doesn’t mean I’m a bad person or a liar or a cheat.’
‘I know.’
‘I’m just a private person. I find it hard to open up.’
She turned those blue eyes on me, and I could see she liked my latest incarnation: Alec Johnston, Man of Mystery.
‘I get that,’ she said.
I leaned forward and gave her a slow kiss. It felt good to touch her lips again. ‘It’s not that I’m keeping any misdemeanours from you,’ I told her. And technically, that was true. ‘But I’m not ready to be an open book either. Maybe you wouldn’t even want that.’
She looked kind of mesmerised by my little speech. ‘I s’pose you’re right,’ she whispered.
I leaned in for a gruntier kiss and, as we eased back on the bed, I was finally given the welcome I’d been hoping for.
Chapter 24
I figured the worst was behind me: I’d fronted up to Minto that I was leaving, I was paid up with my rent and I’d found a new place to live. All I had to do was stay out of everyone’s way for the next week or two. It meant I was basically killing time until I could piss off out of that rancid flat for good.
For very good.
The mistake I made was assuming that Minto was as happy to see as little of me as I was to see of him. But if there was one thing I should’ve learned about Minto, it was this: if you make assumptions, he’ll go out on a limb to prove you wrong.
That’s why I wasn’t prepared for all four of them turning up at my door one evening, just when I was settling down for a night in with the box. They stood there like a bunch of cut-throat carol singers, telling me – not inviting me – that we were going out to celebrate my new place. Sindy looked so sodding pleased about it all, I wondered if this was her idea.
I was hauled out of the room, handed a helmet and, as soon as we were outside, directed to the back of Black’s machine. Five of us on two bikes didn’t divvy up too well of course, so Sindy had to perch on the front of Minto’s machine with Stobes taking rear position.
I hadn’t wanted to join them: I’d pretty much begged to be left alone, but the more I argued, the more I started to sense that a refusal, even a polite one, would be like gobbing in Minto’s face. I had no choice.
I imagined us going to one of their favourite haunts in the city, but as we headed further from home, I started to worry less about which pub we were going to and more about whether I was about to end up in a ditch with a knife in my throat.
A regular house in a suburban street wouldn’t normally seem menacing, but as we pulled into the concrete driveway of this particular residence, I knew a pub full of punters would have been preferable. Whose house were we being taken to? And more worryingly, why?
I’d expected a carpeted hallway beyond the front door. What I got was something very different. Inside, it wasn’t a regular house at all. It was a huge open space and I presumed the house was extended out the back as it seemed to stretch for miles. There were big warehouse-style roll-up doors and Minto opened them to reveal a massive parking area out the back; its high walls protected with glass and barbed wire.
‘Welcome to our world,’ Minto said, turning to me. ‘Hope you’re impressed: it’s by personal invitation only, you see.’ He pointed to a sign on the wall that said ‘Apache MC Morris
ton HQ. Fuck Off Unless Invited.’
‘I’m honoured,’ I said. And I was guided inside.
‘You been in here before?’ I asked Stobes.
We were both sitting on the red leather couch, near an old jukebox.
‘Once or twice,’ he said. ‘I’m not a regular. I mean, I don’t attend the meetings or anything.’
‘Meetings? They have meetings?’
Stobes looked at me, crossing one skinny leg over the other like some cartoon giraffe. ‘It’s a bone fide club,’ he said. ‘They have stuff to agree on, tasks to do.’
‘I hadn’t realised.’
He leaned forward, rolling his beer can between his hands. ‘I s’pose these groups have had a bad rap,’ he said. ‘The press would have you believe they’re the new Mafia but in reality, it’s just a bunch of guys getting together.’
‘Quite the knitting circle,’ I said, watching a couple of inked-up heavies play pool in the corner.
‘I’m not saying they’re all angels,’ Stobes said. ‘But they seem all right. To me, anyway, speaking as an outsider.’
‘So, you’re not one of them?’
‘Nah, I’m more of...a casual acquaintance. Like, I know I could call on them for a bit of help if I needed it. And vice versa. I’m counted amongst their numbers if need be.’
‘Right.’
‘Like I told you Alec. They make much better mates than enemies.’
‘You said.’
‘There are worse people to hang out with, that’s for sure.’
Stobes seemed to be winding up his Political Broadcast of Behalf of the Bikie Party speech.
I wondered if this was the message I’d been brought in for. Minto didn’t do anything without a purpose, without a thought of how it would help him. I figured this was the reason behind my little leaving do. Perhaps there was a sense of urgency now I was quitting: a final shot at getting me on board before I cut myself loose.
There was a roar of laughter from the bar. As I looked over, Minto caught my eye. He put down his drink and headed over. Stobes seemed to take his cue: he got to his feet and left us.
Minto slid heftily along the leather seat. He looked around, saying nothing, like he was simply admiring his creation.
