The Downfall Series Box Set

by Edie Baylis

  At least Daisy hadn’t shown up so he’d felt no need to add to the cock and bull he’d fed Maggie the night before. Besides, he and Daisy were near enough over anyway, plus it had never been particularly serious to start with.

  Not that he wanted anything in depth with Maggie either because she seemed a bit full-on. The last thing he needed in his line of work was a nagging bird who questioned all and sundry about his comings and goings.

  Dan smiled, his fingers gently kneading Maggie’s shoulder. Maybe if all of this pulled off at the Glint, then perhaps he could get her on the books? Get some commission or placement fee for recruiting a new girl to work the poles or deliver extras?

  He knew Maggie had had enough of the supermarket. By God, he’d had to pretend to be interested and sympathetic when she’d spent two hours only this morning going on about it, so maybe she’d be open to a change of career?

  He ran his eyes appreciatively over her shapely legs and back up to her ample chest. She was a nice looker. Lovely eyes too. If he played his cards right he could make a nice few quid out of her.

  “Are you going to get me another drink, babe?” Maggie purred, her finger twiddling a circle on his thigh.

  Dan smiled and nodded. “Of course. Same again?” Stretching, he rose from the chair and made his way to the bar. It looked like his luck was in again tonight, he thought pleased. He wouldn’t be giving Jim free reign on this one, he decided moodily. Enough was enough.

  It was bad enough Maggie had been asking who his flat mate was. It had been a bit difficult to pretend he didn’t have one what with the noise coming from the spare room.

  Putting his order for their drinks in at the bar, Dan turned back around to give Maggie a nice smile, then his face fell as Sally crashed through the door looking like she’d been dragged through a hedge. His heart sank. Not again. What now?

  “Jesus, babe!” Standing up in shock, Maggie grasped both of Sally’s shaking hands. “What on earth’s happened?” Signalling for Dan to get Sally a drink, she pulled her down onto a stool at their table.

  Barely able to speak she was so out of breath, Sally gulped in large mouthfuls of air to try and regulate her breathing. She’d run up the road as best as she could. Her feet had chafed horribly in her high heels and she knew she’d have the most awful blisters tomorrow, but she didn’t care. She’d had to get away and had looked over her shoulder for the first five hundred yards, making sure that man wasn’t on her tail, but even when it was quite obvious he wasn’t giving chase, her heart continued to pound harshly in her chest. How could she have been so stupid?.

  “What’s going on?” Dan asked stiffly as he returned to the table with the drinks, guessing his night was now ruined because of this stupid bitch. Again.

  Maggie shrugged. “I don’t know yet.” Turning back to Sally she placed a glass of wine in her trembling fingers. “Right. Tell me what’s happened, come on.”

  “Oh Maggie,” she sobbed in hiccupping breaths. Her mascara ran down her cheeks in thick black rivulets. She shouldn’t have done this on her own. She should have listened to what Maggie would have undoubtedly told her and she’d have been right.

  “It was awful.” Sally took a swig of her wine. “I got a letter and I turned up instead, but the guy was a psycho. He threatened me.”

  Dan rolled his eyes. Fucking drama queen.

  “Slow down, slow down!” Maggie cried in response to Sally’s babble. “What letter? What man? I don’t know what you’re talking about?”

  “I should have told you! I didn’t because I knew you’d say I shouldn’t go! I’ve been so stupid!”

  “With what?”

  “I got a letter for Jim and I opened it. I couldn’t give it to him, could I? He’s not there so what was I supposed to do?” Sally wailed, trying to justify herself.

  “Right and then what?”

  “It was off this bloke. Well, I didn’t know whether it was a bloke or a woman, but I figured a woman wouldn’t write saying a favour was needed would they?”

  Maggie glanced at Dan seeing he was staring absently at the ceiling, obviously not bothered her friend was in a state. Typical. Irritated, she turned back to Sally. “Ok and?”

  “Well, this person wanted to meet Jim at the Mitre, so I-I went instead.”

  Hearing that name for the second time, Dan went on alert. She couldn’t be talking about JIM could she? Not the same one?

  “You went? What on your own?” Maggie cried incredulously.

  “I know, I know. I just wanted to find out more about Jim. I want him back. This person obviously knew him well, so I thought I could get some information.”

  “And did you?” Maggie took a gulp out of her lager. This was crazy. What had Sally been thinking?

  “No,” Sally wailed, fresh tears rolling down her heavily-stained cheeks. “The guy was a nightmare. He was huge and I mean huge. Looked like a fucking psycho and he threatened me. He said unless I knew where Jim was I should get out of his sight,” she sobbed loudly. “He said I’d screwed things up and that he held me responsible. Now he knows where I live and I’m scared he’ll come after me.”

  Maggie sighed. “I can’t believe you’ve done this, Sally. I told you that Jim bloke was unhinged.”

  Dan jumped up from his seat. “Where was this again? The Mitre did you say?” Shit! It had to be the same Jim. “Where is he?” he shouted, his voice loud.

  “Don’t you go getting involved,” Maggie snapped, trying to pull Dan back down to the seat. “You don’t know her ex. He’s a fucking nutter.”

  Dan grabbed Sally. “The Mitre, yes?”

  Sobbing, Sally nodded silently and burst into fresh tears.

  “Got to go!” Dan yelled and took off out of the door before Maggie could say anything else.

  Scowling, Maggie stared at the door as it slammed behind him. Was he doing that knight in white armour thing again – like him and Charlie had offered to do the last time Jim had upset Sally? Why couldn’t he just concentrate on her?

  Hearing Dan’s car screech up the road, Maggie angrily turned to face Sally. “I can’t believe you’ve done this,” she muttered.

  BILL GRINNED AND POURED Marie another shot of vodka. Sheila had been right. This girl was the business. He’d been able to tell that from the minute she’d entered his office. What he saw behind her dark eyes left him in no doubt she knew the score. In what way he couldn’t say, but she’d definitely seen the works during her life and was unfazed. She was perfect.

  The only thing was he’d have to be careful bringing someone new into the fold whilst all this shit was going on with Carter.

  According to Charlie, the stupid prick had figured they were trying to muscle in on Crystals and had been going round flapping his gums, saying it wasn’t going to happen.

  True to form, Carter had called a meeting which he’d agreed to for tomorrow. That was fine. He was more than happy, for a while at least, to let the joker think he could play the game.

  Bill mentally shrugged. It was neither here nor there. “So Marie, are you happy to give this a go?”

  Jane smiled, exposing straight white teeth. “I’d be more than happy to, Mr Benson.”

  “Bill. Call me Bill, yeah?” he smiled.

  “So the question is when do you want me to start?” Jane asked.

  Bill scratched his chin. “Hmm, well I’ll have a chat with Sheila. As you probably know she’s been itching to stand down for some time, but there will have to be a hand-over period for definite, so shall we say next week? Give me a call tomorrow night after I’ve had chance to catch up with her and we’ll confirm things then.”

  Jane smiled and took the gold-edged business card Bill held out to her. She was excited. Really excited. Things were looking up. “Thanks, Bill,” she said earnestly. With a final smile, she got up from the chair and left the room.

  Bill smiled watching Marie leave his office. She was definitely beautiful that was for sure. He’d noticed she wore no wedding ring, nor had sh
e mentioned any family commitments. Not that he’d asked, but either way he’d have to make sure none of the boys tried it on with her. He didn’t need her having any distractions and he’d always had a firm rule of no in-house relationships.

  He grinned roguishly. Even though he didn’t know any details whatsoever as to what he could quite clearly see behind her eyes, he’d bet his bottom dollar that Marie was not the sort of woman who would be easily distracted, or led up the garden path by a man.

  DAN RUSHED INTO THE house and straight up the stairs, hoping to hell Jim was in the bedroom. He didn’t give a fuck if he was in the middle of something. He had no clue whether the guy looking for Jim was trouble or not, but either way he had an instinct Jim needed to know about it.

  “Jim?” Dan banged on the bedroom door then barged straight in.

  Seth lay on the bed shirtless, but alone. He’d been sightlessly staring up at the ceiling in a world of his own – his mind elsewhere. His eyes narrowed, fiercely snapping towards the door.

  Dan swallowed. There was so much stuff he didn’t know about this man who had somehow become closely embroiled in his life. “Sorry to burst in on you,” he muttered. “Your ex has been in the Traveller’s. She knows this girl I’ve been knobbing and apparently there’s a bloke in the Mitre looking for you.”

  “My ex?”

  “Sally.”

  Seth frowned and sat up. Not her again. Still hanging around was she? “Wouldn’t say she was my ex...”

  “Well, this bloke’s looking for you – said it was important.”

  “It always is,” Seth sighed. Probably some dickhead he’d promised gear to or something.

  “Sally seemed to think he knew you from old. Wrote a letter asking to meet up. Saying he needed to call in a favour.”

  “Favour?” Seth’s ears pricked up. “What did he look like?”

  Dan shrugged. “No idea. I haven’t seen him, but your bird said he was massive. Looked like a psycho apparently, but then she’s quite the drama queen!”

  Realising he many have offended Jim by that remark Dan tried to backtrack. “Sorry, I didn’t mean th...”

  Seth jumped off the bed and quickly shrugged his shirt on. It had to be didn’t it? Fucking hell. After all this time? Right, he needed to be fast.

  “By the way she’s not my bird, Dan. Never has been and never will be. Besides, why did she meet this bloke? Actually forget it. No time to worry about that. Got to go.” Seth pushed past Dan in the doorframe and cleared the stairs in two steps. “I’m taking your car, mate.”

  As the door slammed, Dan sat down heavily on the end of the bed and sighed. Now he was stuck here. Not that he envisaged anything would be going on with Maggie tonight with Sally in the state she was in.

  He didn’t know what was happening, but with a heavy sense of foreboding, felt like he should perhaps try to find out.

  TWENTY FIVE

  DIGGER GLARED YET AGAIN at the drunk prick on the bench seat. It was taking all of his power not to drag him out of the seat by his stupid floppy hair and launch him onto his face in the middle of the room. However he refrained. The less attention he brought to his presence the better.

  He knew he’d attracted a fair few glances when he’d first arrived, but then that was normal. He knew the score. These type of places always went quiet for a split second when someone new walked through the door and that was when they didn’t look like a wrestler on steroids. He shrugged. Whatever.

  There was little point him hanging around any longer. He now knew his letter hadn’t reached the intended recipient and so it was extremely unlikely Seth should just happen to show up.

  Deciding to hit the road once he’d finished his drink, Digger irritably sparked up a cigarette and concentrated on making the prat in front of him uncomfortable. He might as well amuse himself in the meantime.

  SHELLEY’S BREATH CAUGHT in her throat when the man who had humiliated her so badly strode confidently in through the door of the Mitre. Fuck. What was he doing here? She took in his big shoulders and narrow waist as he moved towards her and swallowed nervously. Shit. He was so fucking hot.

  A glimmer of anticipation formed in Shelley’s stomach as she dared to look up at his chiselled face, then felt deflated to see his hard eyes were not trained on her.

  Heart beating at ten to the dozen, she glanced towards Ben who was still trying to focus his eyes on the big man eyeballing him from the bar and squeezed his hand wishing he’d snap out of his stupor.

  Watching the man of both her fantasies and nightmares strut past her leaving the heady scent of his aftershave in his wake, Shelley’s eyes followed him as he slapped the Man-Mountain on the back.

  Digger swung around, eyes narrow slits before he broke into a wide grin. “Fucking hell, mate! Long time no see!” he exclaimed. It had taken a split second to fathom who exactly was standing in front of him. It had been a long time. A very long time.

  Seth looked a lot different to how Digger remembered. The long hair was cut short and he had stubble where the full beard had once been. He also didn’t seem anywhere near the same state mentally as he’d been before. Thank God. That had been the worst part. His eyes were still the same though, he thought looking into Seth’s harsh green stare.

  Pulling Digger towards him in a strong bear hug, Seth grinned widely. “You’re looking good, mate,” he smiled, nodding to the barman for a drink. “I can’t believe you’re here! I had a feeling it was you when I heard a massive psycho was looking for me.”

  Digger grinned. “I see my reputation still precedes me,” he laughed good-naturedly and picked up the fresh pint which had been deposited in front of him. “I was just about to shoot off. Didn’t realise that girl would have passed my message on.” Now wasn’t the time to ask what the fuck Seth had been doing with such a timid little bitch.

  Seth’s eyebrows knitted together. “She didn’t, it was someone else, but the less said about her the better.” He raised one eyebrow.

  Digger laughed his loud belly laugh, glad to see they’d easily been able to pick up where they’d left off. Sort of. “So Jim, what have you been up to?”

  Seth winked. “Glad you remembered to keep it real.” He knew Digger wouldn’t slip up. Not in a million years. “This and that, you know how it goes, but more importantly - what brings you here?”

  A serious expression passed over Digger’s face. “Need to call in a favour,” he muttered.

  Seth blinked, a flashback of the time when he’d promised to repay Digger and Phil’s help if they should ever need it. A flashback he didn’t want to dwell on.

  Rapidly shaking that time of his life from his mind, Seth smiled. “Ok, well I suggest we discuss what you need later on and in the meantime let’s have a few beers eh?” Clunking his pint glass against Digger’s, Seth grinned.

  IT HAD EVENTUALLY SEEPED into Ben’s brain that Shelley had become even clingier and he didn’t appreciate her inability to draw her eyes away from the prick who had turned up to be friends with the Gorilla Man either.

  “What’s so fucking interesting, Shelley?” he slurred angrily. He just couldn’t be doing with her. She was doing his head in. He was here with her wasn’t he, so why was she not giving him her full attention?

  Ben’s current drunkenness made him forget that he wasn’t bothered whether she was here or not and hadn’t even wanted to see her, but his addled mind was only capable of registering that as far as he was concerned she was taking the piss.

  “Nothing,” Shelley muttered, hastily pulling her eyes away from the men at the bar.

  “I said what the fuck are you looking at?” Ben shouted angrily, causing a few heads nearby to turn in their direction. “Fancy him do you?”

  Shelley flushed feeling uncomfortable. “No I don’t!” she lied and looked into Ben’s bloodshot eyes. “Shall we make a move?”

  She needed to get him out of here before he made a complete fool of himself and her. Worse, she needed to get away from that man before she ran
up to him and begged to lick his skin.

  “Why are you in such a rush?” Ben raged, completely oblivious he was acting like a prat. “What is it with that guy?”

  Shelley sighed and stood up, pulling at Ben’s hand. “Look I had a bit of a thing with him ages ago and I just can’t stand him that’s all. He treated me like shit.”

  Ok, so her thing had been a quickie fuck in the toilets because she’d thrown herself at him, but that wasn’t the point. Shelley grabbed her bag off the table. “Come on, let’s go.”

  Ben’s eyes narrowed as he staggered to his feet and belched loudly. “Fucking wanker!” Raising his voice further, he glared as the two men glancing amusedly in his direction. “I hate cunts that hurt women!”

  “Wanker!” Ben shouted again, whilst Shelley cringingly pulled him from the pub and slammed the door behind them.

  Finishing his pint, Seth grinned at Digger and raised his eyebrow questioningly. “Shall we?”

  Digger laughed, knowing what was coming and followed his friend out of the door.

  CHANTAL HAD HER OWN reasons for accepting Charlie’s request for entertainment. Charlie knew Jim, so if she pleased Charlie enough then it would be more likely he’d put in a word for her with Jim. That way she’d get another session with him.

  Running her tongue teasingly around Eliza’s erect nipple, Chantal peered up from under her heavy false eyelashes at the woman she was on her knees over. She was wasted this one, she thought seeing a flash of dilated vacant pupils when Eliza momentarily opened her eyes.

  Charlie’s gaze was locked on Chantal’s backside deftly positioned in front of them as she seductively made her way down Eliza’s naked body, her tongue tracing circles teasingly on her skin.

  He smiled. Eliza was putting on a good show even though she was completely blitzed from the gear he’d slipped her without her knowledge. He’d had to do something. He was stressed to the eyeballs with her and everything else and desperately needed some non-hassle R and R. Being as he was still saddled with the stupid cow he may as well get some proper use out of her.