The bloke had almost jeopardised everything. If Colleen had recognised Alex from his dealings with the councillors and builders at the developments, the bloke could have completely blown their cover. Alex should have stayed the fuck away, and let Jimmy deal with his business any way he saw fit.
But, of course, Alex wouldn’t have thought about that, would he? That was the man’s problem. High on gear, Alex wasn’t capable of thinking much about anything at all. All that shit did to him was make him even more paranoid and aggy and Jimmy wasn’t in the mood for his dramatics tonight.
‘How about you two? Have you been together long?’ Colleen said. Sensing the atmosphere at the table, and desperate to defuse the situation, she turned her attention to Tiffany, who, unlike her, seemed oblivious to the ever-growing tension. Tiffany seemed more interested in her drink by all accounts. Downing the last of her champagne she tapped her nails impatiently against the empty glass, indicating to Alex that she wanted a refill.
Alex however just snubbed her.
‘Together? Oh we’re not together, are we, Alex?’ Tiffany laughed. Then seeing the confused expression on Colleen’s face she continued, ‘There’s three words that you can’t use when it comes to me and Alex: “Together,” “Relationship,” and “Girlfriend”.’ Tiffany rolled her eyes in Alex’s direction and continued to talk as if he wasn’t even sitting in the room let alone sitting right next to her. ‘He’s what you could call a commitment-phobe,’ Tiffany said in a pouty voice as she stuck her tongue out at Alex playfully. ‘What are we? I guess you could call us friends with benefits, though the benefits lately have been few and far between,’ she said, deliberately trying to get a rise from her boyfriend. All they’d done lately was argue and tonight looked like it would be no exception.
‘Oh wind it in, Tiffany. I’m sure the last thing these two want to listen to is you harping on about how bloody miserable you always are.’ The undercurrent of her words instantly irritating Alex.
‘And why am I always so bloody miserable?’ Tiffany rolled her eyes once more then holding the empty bottle of champagne up, undeterred by Alex’s snide comment, she turned her attention to Colleen.
‘Shall we get another bottle or what? You’ll have a few more drinks, won’t you, Colleen?’ Tiffany said to Colleen for backup.
Looking at Jimmy, not sure what to say as an answer, Colleen could see that the girl was already wasted. Slurring her words, and intent on causing a row with Alex, she thought that Tiffany had probably had more than enough, but she was too shy to say. So as Jimmy shrugged, resigned to the fact that Tiffany and Alex were going to order more drinks no matter what, Colleen simply nodded.
‘Good. It’s nice having a drinking partner and I fancy getting wasted,’ Tiffany said, shooting another stare in Alex’s direction. ‘Especially seeing as there’s nothing else to do tonight.’
‘Great. You keep drinking, love,’ Alex sneered at the girl. ‘Hopefully you’ll drink enough to pass out, and then we won’t have to listen to your whiney fucking voice no more.’
Jimmy, remaining silent while he watched the awkward exchange, glared at Alex now. He was pissed off at how tonight was panning out; if Tiffany and Alex were both on one and drinking, it only meant one thing: Tonight was only going to get a lot worse.
Alex not only had the hump, but seemed intent on ruining Jimmy and Colleen’s evening too. And Alex Costa never did anything by halves. If he was intent on ruining Jimmy and Colleen’s evening he would do so, as only the man could.
In spectacular Alex Costa style.
* * *
Staring ahead at the long queue of girls all waiting to use the loo in the fancy toilets of Mayfair’s Tranquillity Nightclub, Tiffany Smith grabbed Colleen’s hand and led her to the disabled toilet at the end.
‘’Scuse us. She’s not very well,’ Tiffany lied, marching ahead of the row of girls as she and Colleen jumped the queue. ‘I’d mind out of the way unless you want to get covered in puke.’
Triumphant, as the two girls bundled inside the cubicle and locked the door behind them, Tiffany pouted.
‘See! That’s how you do it, babe!’ she said as she hitched up her minuscule dress and sat down on the toilet, clearly not fussed about Colleen seeing everything that she had.
Colleen was already of the understanding that Tiffany was anything but shy.
‘We’d be out there queuing up for ages, and that’s valuable drinking time lost.’ Tiffany grinned as she finished having a wee, before getting up and letting Colleen have her turn.
Tiffany was hammered. The girl had drunk more than her body weight in champagne tonight, and since they’d arrived at the club, she’d had her fill of cocktails too. Still, at least the alcohol seemed to lighten up her mood.
Colleen was actually really enjoying Tiffany’s company, now that she had got to know the girl. Sure, she was a bit brash and outspoken, but Colleen admired her confidence.
Tiffany didn’t hold back; Colleen liked that about her.
Sitting down on the toilet herself, Colleen giggled as she almost slipped and fell off the seat. Holding on to the cubicle wall so that she could try and keep her balance, Colleen realised that she was drunk. It wasn’t just her head that was spinning, the small cubicle was too. She needed some water.
‘So? You and Jimmy seem pretty smitten with each other?’ Tiffany said, too busy reapplying her make-up and examining herself in the mirror to notice how drunk Colleen was.
‘Yeah, he’s nice. He’s different to how I first thought.’
‘Oh yeah, Jimmy’s different all right,’ Tiffany said raising her eyes knowingly. ‘He can be a real charmer, but I wouldn’t wanna cross the man. If you think Alex has a temper on him, you should see Jimmy in action.’
‘Really?’ Colleen said, finding Tiffany’s words a little hard to believe. She might have only been on a couple of dates with the man, but after seeing him every day back at her flat this week, already Colleen was starting to feel as if she really knew Jimmy. Tiffany was probably just exaggerating. ‘Well, he’s been nothing but the perfect gentleman to me,’ she said, a little more curtly than she intended.
‘He’s trying to impress you!’ Tiffany grinned, pouting into the mirror as she smudged her lipstick. She turned to her new friend. ‘I’ve never seen him look so smitten if I’m honest. He’s like a different man when he’s around you. I think he really likes you.’
‘Do you think?’ Pleased at Tiffany’s words, Colleen tried to play down her happiness that even Tiffany had noticed the effort that Jimmy was making with her tonight.
Colleen wasn’t sure if it was the amount of alcohol that she’d consumed, but she was really starting to fall for Jimmy. She had a sneaky suspicion that her feelings were reciprocated but it felt nice to hear that Tiffany thought so too.
‘So, how long have you and Alex been friends?’ she asked, wondering how Alex and Tiffany would even class themselves as mates seeing as the pair of them had done nothing but spend the entire night constantly making snide remarks to each other.
‘It’s complicated,’ Tiffany said, absentmindedly as she searched around inside her handbag. ‘It’s a love-hate relationship, only there isn’t much love. In fact there isn’t any love.’ Tiffany shrugged, not sounding overly bothered. Smiling as she found what she’d been looking for, she pulled out a small vial of white powder.
‘Alex is a bit of a commodity. Half the time I don’t even know why he bothers to invite me out. I think he just wants company, though fuck knows why when he can’t even be bothered to speak to me. Most of the time we go out he makes me feel like I’m fucking invisible.’
Tiffany was speaking honestly now. The drink had loosened her tongue, and the paranoia from snorting so much gear had started to kick in. Though she wasn’t just paranoid. Alex was being really off with her, much worse than usual.
‘I don’t know what it is that’s pissed the man off tonight, but he seems intent on taking whatever it is out on me and I’m not having i
t,’ Tiffany said, her nose firmly put out of joint at the way she’d been treated this evening.
‘Maybe you should talk to him?’ Colleen offered, unsure about getting involved in the girl’s relationship problems. She’d only met Tiffany and Alex a few hours ago, and to say their relationship looked volatile would have been an understatement to say the least.
‘Talk?’ Tiffany squawked loudly as if Colleen had just said something completely ridiculous. ‘Alex doesn’t do talking. In fact the man doesn’t do fucking much. Do you know what, we ain’t even sleeping with each other. How fucked up is that?’ Tiffany made eyes at Colleen as if it was the craziest thing she’d ever said out loud. ‘I mean, I’m not blowing my own trumpet but fucking hell, he’s lucky to have a girl like me. Especially after the way he treats me. No one else would put up with his shit. I dunno why I do half the time.’
Concentrating on tipping the contents of the vial onto the edge of her closed fist, Tiffany brought her wrist up to her nose, pressing her finger against one of her nostrils, before snorting back the line of cocaine expertly in one swift movement. ‘All he wants is a sidekick, you know. Just some dolly bird on his arm, so he looks the part. The truth is, the bloke’s so miserable, if it wasn’t for the fact that he showered me in gifts, and this shit, then even I wouldn’t stick around.’ Rubbing the remnants of residue from the corner of her nose before reapplying her lipstick, Tiffany shook the little vial of gear in Colleen’s direction.
‘Do you want some?’ she asked, pleased when Colleen shook her head, refusing her offer.
‘Good. I’ve only got a tiny bit left, and with the mood Alex is in tonight, I’ve got a feeling that he won’t be giving me anymore,’ Tiffany said, placing the small vial back inside her handbag before watching as Colleen rinsed her hands under the tap.
‘Men huh? They make out we’re the difficult ones.’ Tiffany was getting more animated as she spoke, her tone changing as the cocaine started to take immediate effect.
Colleen could hear the angst building with every word. Drunk, and now high on cocaine, Colleen had a feeling this wasn’t going to end well for the girl if she started to work herself up.
Ever the peacemaker, Colleen shrugged. ‘I think you’re reading too much into it all,’ she said lightly, hoping that her little white lie would be all it took to help Tiffany calm down a bit. ‘You might not have noticed but Alex hasn’t been able to keep his eyes off you all night. I’ve been watching him, the way he looks at you when you’re not looking. Do you know what I think? I think he’s playing hard to get. Some men are like that. They like playing games. Keeping you on your toes. Especially as he probably knows how much attention you get from other men.’
‘Do you reckon?’ Tiffany asked, hanging on to Colleen’s words as if they were a lifeline. ‘I never really thought about it like that, but now you’ve said it, it makes sense, doesn’t it? I mean, if he didn’t like me, he wouldn’t keep inviting me out with him, would he? And I do get a lot of attention from other men.’
Colleen nodded, glad to see that her words of reassurance seemed to be doing the trick. The truth was that Colleen didn’t think Tiffany was the problem tonight at all. Something was going on between Alex and Jimmy. Colleen didn’t know what was going on, but she’d picked up on the veiled undercurrent between the men, and she could tell that Jimmy was properly pissed off about something. It was as if Alex was purposely trying to goad the man into an argument.
But then he had been pretty mean to Tiffany, and Colleen could tell that Alex had taken a disliking to her too. He’d spoken to her a few times, mainly asking her questions about herself, but Colleen couldn’t shake the feeling that Alex was interrogating her. That he didn’t actually want to know, nor care about anything about her.
Maybe Tiffany was right. Maybe Alex was just a horrible, miserable person?
‘Do you know what, Colleen? You’re actually all right, you know,’ Tiffany said, giving her new friend the royal seal of approval as she hooked her arm inside Colleen’s and guided them both back through the throng of girls still queuing the length of the nightclub’s toilets.
‘Jimmy normally goes for pretentious bimbo types. Girls that look a bit like me, only they ain’t as clever as me, you know,’ Tiffany said, not realising that a bimbo was exactly how Alex and Jimmy both classed her. ‘You got something about you. I reckon you’re a lot tougher than you look too.’
And Tiffany really hoped Colleen was. She’d need to be if she was seriously thinking about getting involved with the likes of Jimmy Byrne. Tiffany was hoping that the girl would be sticking around.
‘You’re right about Alex too I reckon. I ain’t going to let the bastard get me down. If he wants to sit around looking miserable then that’s up to him, but I’m going to get out there tonight and have some fun!’ Feeling much better now that Colleen had helped her put everything into perspective, Tiffany smiled wickedly. ‘If Alex Costa wants to play games, then let me tell you, darling, he has well and truly met his match.’
Twelve
Alex Costa was drunk.
Barely able to stand now, he’d moved on from the copious amounts of expensive champagne and was downing Scotch like it was going out of fashion. Though the alcohol was doing nothing to soothe the thunderous mood he was in; if anything it only seemed to magnify it.
‘So what happened to our little plan then, Jimmy?’ Alex spat, as he drained the dregs of his drink and signalled for the waitress to bring him another. ‘I thought we were going to drive the old cow out? I thought you’d paid those kids to go round there and fuck her place up? Only instead of shitting the old girl up and making her want to fucking leave her flat, now you’re dating her daughter? What the fuck’s going on, Jimmy?’
‘I know what I’m doing, Alex,’ Jimmy said rubbing his temples; he’d been doing his best to avoid getting drawn into an argument with Alex tonight, but now that the girls had gone off to the ladies, and they’d been left alone, Jimmy knew that Alex wouldn’t just leave it.
‘Two dates? You’ve been around there every night this week? Fuck me, Jimmy. Who are you kidding? We could have had it all dealt with by now. What’s the matter, eh? Are you going soft or what?’
‘You’re drunk,’ Jimmy said, tapping his fingers on the hard cold leather of the seat beneath him. He was trying to do everything in his power not to jump up out of his seat and bury his fist inside Alex’s throat for cunting him off the way he was tonight.
Jimmy held his temper though. Not wanting to lose his shit in public, with everyone watching. That wasn’t how he worked. Patience was Jimmy’s virtue, especially when there were witnesses present. Tomorrow, he’d deal with Alex properly, when the man was sober enough to comprehend the extent of his anger. Alex would be fucking sorry for his actions here tonight, Jimmy would make sure of that.
‘And as it happens the plan’s changed. I’m doing things my way. Edel and Colleen just need a nudge in the right direction. Maybe driving them out isn’t the right way to go about it.’
‘Are you serious?’ Alex sneered, unable to believe what he was hearing. ‘We need them out and pronto. That’s the only way. What are you thinking of doing? Fucking playing happy families with the pair of them? What next, you gunna pop the fucking question, Jimmy? Have a laugh, Jimmy.’
Knowing it was pointless trying to reason with Alex when he was in one of his moods, Jimmy didn’t bother to answer, which only ignited Alex’s temper further.
‘You actually like her, don’t you?’ Alex said, the realisation only hitting him as he spoke the words. ‘Fucking hell! I’ve seen and heard it all now. Is this your new grand plan? You want to settle down with that? Mrs fucking goody two shoes. Fuck me, Jimmy, the girl’s duller than a three watt lightbulb,’ Alex said raising his voice. ‘You must be desperate.’
Then, recalling the conversation he’d had with Jimmy about his mother harping on at him to settle down, find himself a decent wife, have a few kids, Alex realised that this was exactly what this was
about.
Jimmy’s little plan to get Edel and Colleen Walsh out of their flat had somehow been sidetracked. Now the man seemed to be playing the long game. He was going to butter them up somehow first, and then move them both on, bagging himself a new wife and mother of his kids in the process.
‘Maybe I should take a leaf from your book, eh?’ Jimmy said, unable to hold his tongue any longer. ‘Land myself someone like Tiffany, huh? Another wannabe gold-digger that’s only out for my fucking money.’ The vein in the side of his temple was twitching. Taking a deep breath, the tension palpable between them now, Jimmy’d had enough.
Alex could be a nasty fucker with a drink inside him, and judging by the snippy remarks he’d been making towards Colleen all evening, he’d clearly taken an instant dislike to the girl. He’d be even worse when she came back with Tiffany, and Jimmy wasn’t prepared to put up with it.
‘Why don’t you put your claws away, Alex? You’re acting like a first prize cunt. This is my business, so let me deal with it!’ Jimmy said, his tone sharp as he let Alex know that in no uncertain terms would he entertain his bullshit. ‘She’s a nice girl. A decent girl. I’ve done a lot worse.’
‘Ain’t we both,’ Alex sneered.
His mood worsening now that he and Jimmy had just rowed, he stared over to where Tiffany and Colleen had just emerged through the crowd. As if right on cue.
Just the sight of Tiffany lapping up all the attention that she was receiving as she strutted towards the VIP booth in her six inch hooker heels made Alex cringe. She looked like she’d styled herself on a cheap, tacky Barbie doll, in her hot pink minidress.
Jimmy was right about her too. They both knew it. The girl was only here for the money and the gear that Alex plied her with. No self-respecting girl would put up with Alex’s temperament. Yet as long as he kept throwing his money at her, and supplying her with enough shit to shove up her nostrils, the girl seemed to be happy to just keep coming back for more.
The Betrayed: A shocking, gritty thriller that will hook you from the first page Page 9