by Edie Baylis
Swerving into the British Legion car park, the rest of the cars and bikes carried on towards town. She craned her neck out of the window. “What’s going on?” she glared at Seth. “Don’t tell me you’ve got to do a job?”
“Hardly!” Seth laughed as the car pulled to a stop. Jumping out, he ran around and opened Jane’s door. Doffing his top hat, he bowed theatrically as he took her hand and gestured behind him. “For you M’lady...”
Jane’s mouth dropped open seeing a trap reined with two black horses and festooned with flowers.
Lifting her up onto the bench seat, Seth jumped up beside her and placed his arm around her shoulders. “Let’s go!”
The cart lurched towards the road and Jane stifled an excited scream. “I can’t believe you organised this!”
Seth pulled her towards her. “I’d do anything for you, Jane...”
As the trap cantered down the hill, Jane felt deliriously happy. Cars beeped their horns and people watched at the sides of the road, waving. Seth kissed her passionately and she clung onto him as the trap swayed down the road.
SEVENTEEN
DAVIS WAS THOROUGHLY pissed off. He’d only agreed to pick up the dough as a favour as he’d always got on with Seth, but
now the guy was beginning to fuck him off. Who did Seth think he was getting him to do lackey work anyway? He was Davis, not an idiot.
Touching the tender flesh over his right eye, he winced and knocked back a whisky. Ok, so it was early, but he needed a drink to calm himself down.
He’d been ten minutes late, but it wasn’t exactly his fault a fight had kicked off at the Barrels which he’d had to sort. Then he couldn’t find the fucking Chapter House. He’d driven round that poxy estate for bloody yonks before he’d found it.
Brushing back his light brown hair, Davis peered at himself in the bedroom mirror of the small rented flat. Bloody hell, his eye was already going black. Yeah, that looked just brilliant didn’t it? A bouncer with a black eye...
He just wished he’d kept his gob shut when that fat prick had asked why he was late, grudgingly admitting his response of ‘It’s only ten minutes, you cunt’ was probably not the answer the guy was expecting. On the same vein, he hadn’t appreciated being questioned. He wasn’t used to it.
When he’d clenched his fist in frustration, the fat bastard had clumped him and the rest of the bearded wonders had stood up. Much to his utter chagrin he’d found himself having to back down and accept defeat. Then Phil had pulled him to one side, telling him to fuck off and not to come back.
There was no chance of that. That was definitely the first and last time he’d be roped into anything like that again.
Glaring out of the grimy window onto the street below he scowled watching someone in a grubby vest trying to bump start a Metro. He’d have Seth for this somehow.
“Don’t be asking for a favour again, mate,” Davis muttered to himself, reaching for the whisky to top his glass up.
He hoped Seth choked on his fucking money.
JANE OPENED HER EYES sleepily. Smiling, she twisted the gold band around on her finger. Feeling somewhat fragile she carefully moved Seth’s heavy arm off her stomach, but he moved it back in his sleep, his large hand splaying out as if to reassure himself she was still there.
She looked up at the ornately carved ceiling of the room and relished the cool crisp feel of the thick white cotton sheets beneath her. The heavy gold bedspread was rumpled at the bottom of the bed and their clothes lay in a messy pile on the curved-legged boudoir chair to the right of a huge gold velvet-draped window.
Arriving at the Green Dragon after the ceremony yesterday they’d done a pub crawl, ending at the Barrels. Jane had thought she’d been dreaming, when at the end of the night Seth had flagged down a taxi, telling the driver to take them to The Castle.
She let out a contented sigh. They’d had drinks in the luxurious bar with its tail-coated waiters and sat on deep leather chesterfield sofas. She’d always wanted to stay at The Castle, but never thought in a million years she would get to walk up the thickly carpeted, sweeping staircase leading to the bedrooms.
Taking a deep breath, Jane slowly exhaled, feeling like total shit, but more than happy. She turned over to face Seth and studied him. His eyelashes fanned over his cheeks and his hair spread over the pillow. The gold chain around his neck lay in the little hollow of his throat that she loved kissing.
She drank in the stubble covering his sculptured cheekbones and as she traced her finger lightly down the ridges on his stomach, he let out a soft murmur and turned towards her.
SETH GROANED, FEELING Jane fit around him like a glove as he pushed into her from behind for the third time since he’d woken. “You’re insatiable you are,” he smiled, kissing her neck. “I love you, Mrs Wright.”
“I love you too.” she gasped while he rotated his hips deliciously.
“Just the church now,” Seth whispered, trying to keep a lid on his raging desire whilst his fingers ramped up Jane’s pleasure up further.
“Not yet though.”
Seth stopped abruptly.
“What’s the matter?” Jane asked, turning around as much as possible.
“Why not yet? Don’t you want to?”
Jane cupped Seth’s face, wishing he’d shut up and carry on what he was doing. “Don’t be crazy! Of course I do! You know how I feel.”
“Not really.”
“Oh Seth, I’m too tired to play your insecurity games today,” she sighed. “Come on, you know yesterday was a big deal to me.”
Pulling out, Seth jumped from the bed and glared at her.
“SETH!” Jane reached for him, but he brushed her away. She rolled her eyes. One day in and there was going to be a row already. She’d thought they might at least last until they’d got to the pub. “Well, if you’re going to be like that, then fine!” she snapped, lying back against the pillow.
Finally after a long stand-off silence, Seth sat on the end of the bed. “You’re still doing the church?” he muttered, staring at Jane.
“I said so didn’t I?”
“Well, I’m going to book it.”
“As you wish.”
“I DO wish!”
Seth’s brows knitted together and he shook his head, finally smiling when Jane lifted the cigarette from his mouth and took a drag. “I’m booking it, Jane...”
“Whatever makes you happy darling.”
“Don’t you dare be facetious with me, woman!” Stubbing the fag out in the ashtray, Seth pulled Jane across the bed and rolled himself on top of her.
MAGGIE SAT STOCK STILL. She’d been like this for what seemed like hours, but hadn’t yet found the courage to come out from under the scratchy blue woollen blanket, let alone peep through the closed caravan blinds in case he was still there. She felt sick to her stomach.
Unable to remember too much of last night, apart from Seth and Jane dancing in the Barrels, the rest of the night was a bit of a blur, but due to the uncomfortableness between her legs, she was pretty sure it had involved a fair bit of sex.
Bryn had left for work early even though it was a Sunday, but a couple of minutes later there had been a knock at the door. Maggie had reluctantly dragged herself off the bed, presuming he’d forgotten his fags, but something made her peer through the blinds first. She was glad she had because Ian had been standing outside.
“MAGGIE! Open the fucking door. I know you’re in there!”
Shrinking back onto the bed, Maggie had hidden under the blanket. It wouldn’t have made any difference if Ian chose to rip the door off its hinges, but it had made her feel slightly more in control. It also helped muffle her loudly hammering heart.
Ian had knocked for ages, moving around the caravan and peering through the windows whilst Maggie had remained motionless, trying to control her shaking, convinced she was going to have a heart attack. She’d no idea how much time had passed before he finally stomped away. But had he given up? He might have just pretended.
Feeling the familiar waves of fear rise in her chest, Maggie made a concerted effort to calm down before she spiralled into another full-blown panic attack. She’d had enough of those recently. She needed another Valium and fast.
According to Jane, all she had to do was to show Ian she wasn’t bothered - then he’d get bored and stop. All very well, Maggie thought, chewing at her fingernails, but how the hell was she was supposed to accomplish that? He scared the living daylights out of her.
JANE LAUGHED HYSTERICALLY as Seth sipped out of the champagne flute with bubbles piled all over him. Lying back at the other end of the sumptuous bath complete with gold taps, she took a sip out of her glass and eyed their third bottle of ice-cold Moet. She could get used to this sort of lifestyle.
Scraping the bubbles from his beard, Seth winked at her. “Do you really have to go back to work this week?”
Jane nodded, desperately wishing she didn’t. She watched as he carefully placed his glass on the wide-tiled surround.
Reaching underwater, Seth grabbed Jane’s ankles and pulled her swiftly towards him through the frothy water. She came to rest astride him, finding him more than ready for her and as he effortlessly lifted her onto him, she sank down onto his hardness, picking up a steady pace.
Seth’s shoulder muscles flexed as he grabbed onto her hips, his full lips slightly parted. His breathing quickened as he pulled her deeper onto him.
“Jane,” he groaned, his eyes opening slightly to reveal a flash of green. “Kiss me...”
How could she refuse? Meeting his mouth, Jane knew there was no doubt she could happily spend the rest of her life in a bathtub drinking champagne with this man.
EIGHTEEN
PLACING HER HANDBAG down on the desk, Jane flicked her cigarette in the ashtray to the right of her telephone and sighed. Seth would go mental if he knew her new boss had asked her to do some nude photographs for the magazine, but she hadn’t told him. Even though she’d declined the request, he’d beat the fuck out of the man and she needed the job.
Although Seth was pulling in a fair wedge with his jobs they never had any money. She really didn’t want to get to the point where they had to rent out the spare room because as it was, the flat was like a motorway half the time with people coming and going - without some other fucker living there as well. They may as well have stayed in the car for the amount of privacy they had.
And then there was Stuart. If she’d have known that dickhead lived next door there was a very real possibility she’d have waited until somewhere else had come up, however much she’d wanted a proper place.
SETH GLANCED BEHIND him for the second time as a double precaution. Why he was asked to do these type of jobs in broad daylight was beyond him. He just hoped the information was correct and there would only be two gophers here and not a whole bunch of heavies.
Despite his morning whisky, he was still hungover and could do without having to resort to the backup plan. He touched the sawn-off concealed in his large inside pocket and his other hand tightened around the baseball bat as he raised his leg to kick the door down.
Two doped-up hungry-looking men stared in shock, one dropping a sawdust-filled crate when Seth crashed through the metal door roaring like a rabid animal.
Glancing around, Seth smiled. It appeared the intelligence had been correct. It was just these pair of dipsticks who were about to get the fluffy end of the lollipop. Even though he felt slightly unreasonable delivering debilitating cracks to the skulls of both men, he watched expressionless as they crumpled to the dusty floor.
Standing over the inert bodies, Seth looked for the crates he needed. There were dozens of them stacked against the walls.
For fuck’s sake. It was supposed to be a simple ‘pick up and take’ job for ten boxes, so which ones were his?
Looking for the branding he’d been told marked the correct crates, Seth kept an eye out for any sign of movement from the men on the floor. He’d been instructed not to finish anyone unless absolutely necessary, but he’d be the judge of that and the baseball bat remained raised in readiness in case either of them required a second whack.
Seeing the required symbol on the side of at least a few crates, Seth pulled one towards him and levered up the lid with a spanner from the nearest workbench. His heart beat faster as he pushed the straw aside and clocked the shiny barrel of a gun.
He pulled it carefully from its hiding place. Was this what he thought it was?
Handling the polished wood and silver casing, Seth turned it around in the light of the fluorescent strips. This wasn’t just any old gun, it was a Beretta. A very nicely, exquisitely sawn-off Beretta. These models were worth a fucking fortune!
Lifting the crate down to the floor, he stuck his hand back in and felt around. Fuck! There were at least ten or fifteen of them in this one crate alone. If they were all Berettas and if all of the crates contained these... Fucking hell!
Seth smiled, immediately deciding he’d be asking for one of these beauties as part-payment for the job.
ELIZA TRUDGED UP THE hill towards her parent’s house, getting slower and slower as she went. It had started to rain and she was getting soaked. She glanced at the road ahead, feeling sick from the memory of waking up next to Graham’s puny white body and worse, the knowledge that everyone knew what she’d done because they’d all been there.
Completely lost in dismal thoughts, Eliza didn’t notice the car pulling up beside her. Only the horn blasting caused her to jump and turn around.
“Do want a lift or not?” Seth shouted through the Senator’s window.
Eliza gratefully ran around the other side of the car as Seth leant across and opened the passenger door. She’d hardly closed it before he screeched off. “Thanks for the lift, I’m bloody soaked!”
“Where to?” he smiled.
“Home.” Eliza glanced sideways. Seth’s hand was on the steering wheel and the other on the gear stick inches from her leg. A trademark fag hung between his lips and she tried not to stare. Christ! Stop it, she thought. She clearly needed to pull this weekend as the sexual frustration was obviously getting to her.
“What you been up to, Eliza?”
Oh, just thinking what it would be like to sit on your face, she thought silently, hoping the blush creeping up her went unnoticed. “Not a lot. Apart from berating myself for my crap choice in men!”
Taking his eyes off the road, Seth turned to her. “What happened with you and Lee?”
Momentarily mesmerised by the green of his eyes, Eliza attempted to formulate a sensible answer, feeling guiltier by the second about having carnal thoughts about her best mate’s fella.
“I don’t know. I liked him,” Eliza looked back towards Seth. “Things just got a bit confused.” When he raised an eyebrow questioningly, her stomach flipped. Stop it Eliza. Stop it now!
Pulling up outside her parent’s house, Seth yanked the handbrake on. “There you go!”
Oh damn. Were they here already? Eliza smiled brightly and opened the passenger door. “Fancy a cuppa?”
“Yeah, why not!” Seth had been on his way back from the drop-off and hadn’t had a drink for hours. Although his mouth was like the bottom of a bird cage, he’d been more than happy to be handed seven hundred notes when he’d dropped off the gear. He was even happier to also be the proud owner of one of those bloody lovely Berettas.
Eliza felt her colour rise noticing her mother eyeing her from the kitchen window as Seth followed her up the path to the front door.
“Hi!” Joy called as they stepped into the hall. “And who’s this?” she eyed Seth mischievously. “Ooh you’re a nice specimen aren’t you?”
Seth bent down taking Joy’s hand and raised it to his mouth, kissing it lightly.
Eliza cringed. Was it not bad enough that she was still living at home without being treated like a fucking teenager? “MUM! You know full well who this is.”
“Yes I know, I’m teasing. Just wondering when you’re going
to get a nice one?” Joy smiled as Seth gave her one of his winning grins.
Eliza sighed. If her mother knew what this man was really like it would shut her up once and for all.
NINETEEN
THE SUN BLAZED THROUGH the curtains onto Stuart’s face. This wasn’t completely surprising as they were as thick as that bloody awful bog roll found in public toilets. There was also a quite obvious fundamental flaw in that they were six inches too narrow for the window.
Feeling like the top three layers of his skin were burning off, he turned over and pressed his face into the lumpy pillow. It was like trying to sleep on a bag of fucking marbles and the whole thing was pissing him right off.
As he plumped up the pillow, a spring from the second-hand mattress poked him in the ribs. Growling in anger and frustration, he threw himself over onto his side, his hair hanging in a greasy mess.
As the usual thumping noise began from next door Stuart gritted his teeth and scowled even harder hearing Jane’s muffled voice through the wall.
Shut the fuck up bitch, he thought savagely. The last thing he wanted to hear was her. It consistently annoyed him that they’d moved next door. Nearly three months now he’d put up with their arguing every night and the headboard banging. On and on and on half the night, only to begin again first thing in the morning.
Thump. Thump. Thump. THUMP.
Oh what was the point? Pushing himself up to a sitting position, Stuart heaved himself to the edge of the bed and pulled his sleeveless T-shirt over his skinny chest. What he needed to do now was get out of here before that idiot showed up again.
Time and time again he’d spelt it out to Paul that if he came round and Jane and Seth caught sight of him, he wouldn’t be able to help anymore. He’d explained these things took time to come to fruition, but Christ, the prat was impatient.