The Club

by Mandasue Heller

  ‘It was three years ago,’ Kenneth told her, sighing heavily. ‘A gang broke into their house while Vic was out playing a gig. They were actually looking for the house next door but got into theirs by mistake. Vic’s kid brother must’ve confronted them, and they shot him. Then they went on to kill his mom, his wife, and his daughter, before going after the guy they really wanted and taking off.’

  ‘So they got away with it?’ Jenna asked, her face completely drained of colour.

  ‘For a while.’ Kenneth nodded slowly, his eyes dark with painful memories. ‘But they got caught a few months ago. That’s why Vic went back so fast – for the case.’

  ‘I didn’t know,’ Jenna murmured, shaking her head. ‘I can’t believe he’s been walking around with this for so long without telling us. It must have been killing him.’

  ‘It damn near did,’ Kenneth confirmed softly. ‘That’s why he came to England in the first place. Me and Gina made him come, because we knew he’d never get over it if he didn’t get a break from that place.’

  ‘So Gina’s your wife,’ Jenna said, putting the pieces together. ‘And the teething baby?’

  ‘Mine.’Kenneth smiled. ‘Not teething any more, though, I’m glad to report. Sleep’s never felt so good.’

  ‘I bet,’ Jenna said, still reeling from what she’d heard. ‘So, how is Vibes?’ she asked, thinking that it probably sounded strange to Kenneth because he called his friend by his given name. But she couldn’t bring herself to do the same. ‘Have you heard from him recently?’

  ‘Yeah, he called this morning. The case has been dragging on because of conflicting witness statements, or whatever, but the prosecution think they’ve got it nailed now. The jury have been out for the weekend, but they should be ready to give their verdict tomorrow.’

  ‘I hope it turns out the way he wants it to,’ Jenna said quietly. ‘What will he do after it’s finished?’

  ‘I don’t think he’s really thought about it yet,’ Kenneth said. ‘But he’ll have all the time in the world once this is out of the way. It’s always been there in the back of his head, stopping him from moving on. But once it’s done, he can start over.’

  ‘So he’s not made any plans to come and stay with you again?’

  Sighing, Kenneth shrugged. ‘He’s more than welcome, but it’d have to be his decision. No pressure.’

  Sensing that he was warning her not to expect too much, Jenna said, ‘Do you think it would be all right if I called him? Just to say hello – let him know that we’re all still thinking about him. He was very popular here – everyone would be devastated to know that he was going through something like this on his own.’

  ‘I’m sure he’d love to hear from you, but I’d leave it for now,’ Kenneth advised, his voice soft. ‘Just till they get the verdict.’

  ‘Of course.’ Jenna nodded. ‘But do you think you could let me know what happens?’ Getting up, she went to her desk and jotted her numbers down. ‘These are my mobile, office and home numbers. I’ll always be near one or other of them. I just want to know he’s all right.’

  ‘Sure.’ Taking the numbers, Kenneth smiled. ‘Soon as I hear, you’ll hear.’

  Thanking him, Jenna sat back down. Then she said, ‘About his stuff, by the way. When he left it, he said he didn’t want to leave it at the house because there wasn’t enough room. Is that still an issue?’

  ‘Well, there’s no room inside,’ Kenneth admitted. ‘Especially now Gina’s pregnant again.’

  ‘Really?’ Jenna smiled. ‘Congratulations.’

  ‘Thanks.’ Kenneth gave a proud grin. ‘Wasn’t planned, but, hey . . . God and his mysterious ways, huh? Anyway, I’m gonna make some space in the garage for it. Vic was stressing, ’cos he promised he’d send over for it. But he’s been stuck in the courthouse almost every day, and catching up on his sleep when he’s not, so he hasn’t managed to sort anything out yet.’

  ‘It’s not a problem, it being here,’ Jenna told him. ‘I honestly don’t mind. It’s quite safe, and definitely not in my way.’

  Shrugging, Kenneth said, ‘Okay, well, I’m sure he won’t mind if you don’t.’ Finishing his drink, he put the glass down on the table. ‘I guess I’d best let you get on, then. I’ll give you a call as soon as I hear anything, and I’ll tell him you were asking about him.’

  ‘Send him my love,’ Jenna said, standing up to show him out. ‘Everyone’s love,’ she added quickly, not wanting him to think that she was planning to make a move on Vibes now that she knew his situation.

  ‘I’ll do that.’ Kenneth smiled. She obviously had feelings for Vic and, if he was any judge, it was mutual. She seemed like a real nice woman, and was probably exactly what Vic needed to put his life back together. But it was too early to tell how Vibes would feel when all of this was over.

  Coming back into the club when she’d shown Kenneth out, Jenna went up to the VIP bar to tell Kalli what she’d heard.

  Kalli was as shocked and upset as Jenna to think that Vibes had been carrying that burden alone for so long. Her eyes immediately brimmed with tears. ‘Please let me know when you hear anything,’ she said. ‘And give him my love when you speak to him. Tell him he must come back, so we can take care of him.’

  ‘I’ll give him your love,’ Jenna assured her. ‘But his friend doesn’t want to pressure him into making any decisions, so I won’t say the rest. Maybe when he’s back on his feet and contacts us, we can hint that we’d love to see him again.’

  ‘Good idea,’ Kalli said, sighing heavily.

  ‘Everything else all right?’ Jenna asked perceptively. ‘You seem upset about something.’

  Pursing her lips, Kalli shook her head. ‘Just Austin doing my head in. Nothing new.’

  ‘Oh?’ Jenna gave her a sympathetic smile. ‘Want to talk about it?’

  ‘No point.’ Kalli shrugged. ‘He’s an idiot, but he’s going to have to learn by his own mistakes – because I’m sick to death of trying to protect him.’

  Just then, a group of Manchester City players arrived. In high spirits because they’d won an important match earlier that day, they came up the stairs arm in arm, singing loudly.

  ‘Looks like you’re going to have your hands full,’ Jenna said, glancing around as the footballers neared the bar. ‘I’ll leave you to it. Give me a shout if you want to sound off.’

  ‘Thanks,’ Kalli murmured, smiling gratefully. Then, switching on the professional smile for the players, she said, ‘Evening, boys. What can I get you?’

  Leaving her, Jenna strolled around chatting to people for a while. But she wasn’t really in the mood for socialising, so she went to her office to get away from it all.

  She seemed to have lost all enthusiasm for the club lately, and she wasn’t sure why. They were doing fine financially now, and the customer numbers were better than ever. But the place just didn’t feel like hers any more, and she resented constantly having to assert her authority with people like Maurice and JoJo.

  Maurice was a perpetual pain in the arse with his supercilious sneers and thinly veiled disrespect, but something was really bugging Jenna about JoJo and Vanessa. Like Fabian, she was wondering where they’d got the money for those new clothes. The Diamond was Tony’s project, sure, but the staff wages were still going through Zenith’s books, so they shouldn’t be getting any more than usual. And if they were, it was totally unfair to the rest of the staff – and totally out of order on Tony’s part because Jenna had not agreed to that. She’d have to ask him about it, but she wasn’t looking forward to it because he was bound to make her feel like she was making a silly fuss about nothing. She couldn’t just say nothing, though, because he’d think he had free rein to do whatever he liked. And they were partners – Jenna more so than Tony, albeit by only two per cent – so every decision should be jointly made.

  That said, she didn’t want to jump in and start shouting the odds when there was so much other stuff going on in her head that might cause her to overreact. Not le
ast the matter of Vibes.

  It had been bad enough walking around with the guilt of thinking that he had cut ties with her because of that kiss. But now that Jenna knew about his family, she felt not just sad, and angry that something so terrible had happened to such a good man, but even more guilty that she hadn’t seen the pain that must surely have been there beneath his smile the whole time she had known him.

  Just as Jenna left the room, Leonard came in from the kitchen. Keeping his head down, he made his way up to the VIP bar in search of Austin. They had arranged to meet on the corner by the train station after work, but he needed to see him now, to gauge where his head was at after last night’s little ‘incident’.

  Not a lot had actually happened, but it had been enough for Leonard’s heart still to be singing when he’d awoken this morning. Thankfully, Avril had been out already, so he hadn’t had to suffer her sarcasm or suspicion, and he had spent the day just waiting for night to roll around so he could see Austin again. He couldn’t stop thinking about him, but it wasn’t just the joy of what had happened between them that was on his mind. It was the worry of what Leonard had learned about Austin’s financial state, too.

  They had spoken for some time, and Leonard had been dismayed to hear how much of a struggle it was for Austin just to get through each day. Austin had explained that he wouldn’t get better wages anywhere else, given his poor upbringing and education, but his acceptance of his situation didn’t make Leonard feel any better. Blessed with a wealthy family, a fabulous education, a well-paid career and a substantial inheritance, Leonard had never really believed that people actually lived like Austin did. In fact, during his time in politics Leonard and his colleagues had heard the same sob stories many times and had never paid them any mind. They believed that the people who complained of poverty were simply greedy layabouts who were unwilling to get off their backsides and support themselves and the multitude of brats they insisted on burdening the system with.

  But the boy had quite opened Leonard’s eyes to the inequalities that undoubtedly existed. Austin worked harder than most of the politicians Leonard had ever met, for a fraction of the pay, and all because he had never been given the opportunity to better himself. And Leonard felt that the responsibility for this lay partly on his shoulders, for having been a part of the system which kept Austin down. Not the rest of the spongers, just Austin. And now that Leonard had shown the boy a glimpse of how the other half lived by allowing him into his plush car, he couldn’t, in all conscience, refuse to help him out.

  Which was why he had driven the lad to the cashpoint last night and given him three hundred pounds from his private account. Small change to Leonard, but the look in Austin’s eyes had made it feel as though he had given him a million pounds – and Leonard had never felt so good about anything in his life before.

  The buzz had lasted right up until he’d arrived at the club tonight. But it had soon been dampened when he saw the looks passing between the blonde slut JoJo and Tony.

  It was obvious that something was going on between them, just as it was obvious from her new attire that JoJo had been well paid for whatever it was. And the thought that she had wheedled her way into Tony’s wallet sickened Leonard – almost as much as the so-called ‘high-class entertainment’ that his friends had been subjected to the previous night.

  Tony had assured Leonard that the dancing would be completely tasteful and decent. But it had turned out to be little short of porn as the sluts paraded their naked bodies around the small stage. Leonard had been mortified that his friends – some of whom had been his father’s friends – had been tricked into paying for such a disgusting spectacle. He could only assume that the tarts had put their clothes back on soon after he had left the room in protest – given that nobody had actually complained. But he thanked God that Tony had decided to make it a men-only club, because if Avril had witnessed the shenanigans there would have been hell to pay.

  Spotting Austin behind the bar now, Leonard approached him cautiously. The small Chinese girl was busy at the other end of the bar, and Leonard hoped that she wouldn’t turn around and see him. He knew that his face would betray him if she looked at him with those penetrating eyes of hers.

  Austin was equally nervous. Casting a quick glance at Kalli to make sure that she wasn’t watching, he whispered, ‘What are you doing here? I thought we were supposed to be meeting later.’

  ‘Yes, we are,’ Leonard whispered back, glad that Austin didn’t seem to have changed his mind. ‘I just wanted to make sure you were all right, after . . . well – you know.’

  Smiling, Austin said, ‘Never better. But you’d best go before someone sees us talking and puts two and two together and makes a porn film.’

  ‘Yes, of course,’ Leonard said, reluctant to leave now that he had seen the boy but knowing that he must for safety’s sake.

  ‘Oh, before I forget,’ Austin said as Leonard was about to turn away. ‘When you see JoJo, can you tell her I need to see her for a minute after work? I saw her earlier, but Fabulous chased us out before I got a chance to speak to her.’

  ‘Well, I’m not sure I’ll be speaking to her,’ Leonard said, his tone clearly conveying his disapproval of the slut. ‘Is it something I can help with?’

  ‘No, it’s just something she owes me that I need to get back before she forgets,’ Austin said evasively. ‘What’s she doing in there, anyway?’ he asked then, changing the subject before Leonard could ask what it was that she owed. ‘Only she came swanning in here like the cat with the cream earlier, showing off her new shoes and stuff, and I was thinking there’s no way she got them on our wages.’

  ‘She’s doing the same as she was doing in here,’ Leonard lied, aware that he was blushing. Not the best of traits for a politician when lying played such a major part in the game, but he hadn’t suffered from it so much in those days. Only now, speaking to people he liked on a personal level, had it become a problem.

  ‘Mmm,’ Austin murmured disbelievingly. ‘Well, I’d have a word with Mr A if I was you,’ he cautioned Leonard now. ‘Only I know how secretive he’s being about his business, and if she’s doing nothing different that ain’t the impression she’s giving everyone in here.’

  ‘Why, what are people saying?’ Leonard frowned.

  ‘That it’s a whorehouse,’ Austin told him quietly, casting another glance at Kalli and seeing that she only had one customer left to serve. ‘Look, you’d best go. Kalli’ll be over any minute, and she’s too nosy.’

  ‘Right you are,’ Leonard said, still frowning deeply. ‘I’ll meet you as arranged.’

  ‘Yeah, see you.’

  Kalli reached Austin just as Leonard went down the stairs. ‘What did Mr Drake want?’

  ‘Dunno.’ Austin shrugged. ‘He was looking for Jenna, but I said I haven’t seen her.’

  Kalli narrowed her eyes. He was lying, she could tell.

  ‘Are you going to stand there staring into space all night?’ Austin asked, nudging her. ‘Only there’s still two hours to go, and a shit-load of glasses to collect.’

  ‘Start collecting, then,’ Kalli snapped, marching away. Whatever he was hiding, she would find out sooner or later.

  Outside just then, Phil Dixon had his head down and his collar up against the pouring rain as he approached Zenith’s front door. Tony had told him not to come to the club, but after several unsuccessful attempts to reach him on the phone over the last few weeks Phil was so pissed off that he’d thrown caution to the winds and had turned up to see him in person.

  Bobby was standing in the doorway, his head barely covered by the arch. Looking Phil over when he reached the door, he shook his head. ‘Sorry, our kid, you can’t come in here wearing trainers.’

  ‘I’m not a punter, I’m here to see Tony,’ Phil told him, taking a last deep drag on his cigarette and flicking it into a puddle.

  ‘Is he expecting you?’ Bobby asked, guessing that he wasn’t or he’d have told the man to go to the door o
f The Diamond, which was around the corner, down the dark, narrow alley between Zenith and the café next door.

  ‘He knows me,’ Phil said, pulling his sleeve back and glancing at his watch. ‘No offence, mate, but I don’t wanna be standing around in this all night. Just give him a shout for us, will you? Tell him it’s Dix.’

  Telling him to wait there, Bobby went inside. Seeing Fabian passing the clubroom door, he called, ‘Yo, Fabian. There’s a bloke out here asking for Mr Allen. D’you wanna deal with it?’

  Already annoyed because Melody had been sitting with Jay Kay and his mates all night, making it impossible to get near her, Fabian tutted loudly. ‘Who is it?’

  ‘He said to say it was Dix,’ Bobby told him. ‘I’m not letting him in, though, ’cos he ain’t dressed right.’

  Opening the door, Fabian jerked his chin at the man. ‘What can I do for you?’

  ‘Nowt,’ Phil said, blowing at the raindrops dripping off his nose. ‘I want to see Tony, so be a good lad and go tell him Dix is here, will you? And don’t take the piss and forget I’m here, or I’ll have to start making noise – know what I mean?’

  Frowning, Fabian folded his arms, safe in the knowledge that Bobby was right behind him. ‘We don’t take kindly to being threatened in here, so why don’t you go away and come back when you’ve found your manners? Oh, and change the gear,’ he said then, looking Phil up and down. ‘We’ve got a dress code.’

  ‘Bit of a joker, eh?’ Phil sneered.

  ‘Oh, yeah, I’m a regular comedian,’ Fabian said, his face dead straight. ‘But as the manager, it’s my decision who does and doesn’t get in, so I’d suggest you drop the attitude.’

  ‘Are you for fucking real?’ Phil snorted. ‘Just get your arse inside and get Tony before I knock you the fuck out, you cunt.’

  Peering at him, Fabian was about to tell him to piss off when he caught sight of his gold earring, which had a tiny boxing glove hanging from it – just like the one Jenna had described when she’d been threatened in the yard. Letting his gaze slide surreptitiously down to the man’s throat, he saw the thick gold chain, but he couldn’t see if there was a dog at the other end of it because the man had the collar of his jacket turned up. It had to be the same man, but why was he here asking for Tony when Tony had supposedly warned him off?