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Stepping into the lounge, Maddox has taken the armchair, elbows on his knees and hands dangling between his parted legs looking somewhat agitated, while Rox has taken residence in the far corner of the sofa and leaving me no option but to sit on the other end from her.
I hold out Maddox’s beer to him then hand one to Rox before sitting.
Maddox wastes no time in throwing the ball firmly in her court. “What do you want to know?” It’s a good tactic.
Rox sips her beer, watching him carefully. “How about you start with the real reason why I’m here, Maddox?”
“Already given you a reason. We need your help to bring Rogers down.”
“Yeah, I’d believe that if it wasn’t for the fact since I agreed to help you’ve not mentioned Rogers once. I don’t appreciate being taken for a ride, Maddox. You’re not telling me everything. Correction, you’re not telling me fuck all.”
Maddox twirls the bottle loosely hanging from his fingertips as he watches her. I see the cogs turning and determining how much to tell her.
“How much do you know about Rogers.”
Rox shakes her head. “No, Maddox, you tell me what you have and how you think it’s going to bring down a family that’s ruled parts of these streets since Madonna tried to convince us all she was a fucking virgin.” There’s a heavy silence before Rox speaks again. “Look, until you tell me what’s going on, I can’t help you. Or was Rogers just a rouse so you could mess with my life and fuck me?”
Maddox lets out a low growl. “If that was true, it’s a lot of fucking trouble to go to just for a taste of your pussy. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good pussy, but I don’t need some elaborate story to fuck you.” Rox rolls her eyes at Maddox and his giant ego, not letting his words bother her in the slightest. “Rogers murdered his father, and, no, I don’t have evidence, but he’s trying to frame us for it.”
“Yes, yes, tell me something I don’t already know, Maddox. Like how the fuck the gun that killed Theo looks just like yours and how the cops have it? Tell me that.” Rox looks between us, but neither of us looks at the other. “Did you do it?”
Both of us snap our heads up to look at her, but Maddox answers her before me.
“Fuck no! Regardless of who Theo was or what he did, he was like a damn father to us. We fell out, yes, but murder him? No, Roxanne, not even if my life depended on it.” I watch him closely, knowing what he daren’t say. But I know Rox’s next words even before she opens her mouth.
“How about Zak’s life or mine?”
Maddox leans further forward, shuffling to the edge of the seat. Face a mask of indifference and truth, but I know better.
“Not even then.” His voice doesn’t waiver, and his tone is void of any emotion. This is what my brother does with so much ease. He is an empty vessel when the time calls for it. I can’t imagine how bitter the words taste on his tongue because they scorch a path through my mind just hearing them. And we both know that there’s no truth in them. He would rip the world apart for me, so for Rox? Hell would be a safer place to be if her life was in danger.
If she’s affected by his lack of emotion, she doesn’t show it. I didn’t expect anything else. If there’s one thing Maddox and I have learnt about Rox over the last ten years, it’s that she can switch her emotions off too and to great effect.
“Why would he murder his own father? And why would he frame you two?”
“Aside from the most obvious answer, that’s a long story, and one I don’t have time to go into at the moment. If the police have the murder weapon, then Rogers is upping the ante.”
“Okay, hold on, what does any of this have to do with me? Aside from the fact I’m no longer a cop, and even if I was, I’m not sure what you thought I’d be able to do, I don’t have anything to do with this. Like I’ve not seen Rogers for almost as long as you two, and I’ve gone out of my way to avoid the guy.” Rox’s demeanour flickers, and I catch the tail end of a tremor through her body.
She’s hiding something. At least she thinks she is. Unfortunately, the very thing she’s keeping to herself is, in part, what instigated this long running feud between us and Rogers. Rox has no idea that we already know what happened between her and Rogers, and we are even more aware of the fallout of their confrontation.
My eyes catch Maddox’s as I see him battling with what to say. Whatever answer he gives her now will be a half truth, and one that will come back around like a damn boomerang later, or it could change the next course of events before we are ready.
Fuck! I hate lying to her, but I give Maddox a look that without words perfectly expresses my answer.
“We think he’s after you.” Maddox doesn’t sugar coat it in any way.
Her head jolts back in surprise. “What? Why? I don’t understand.”
“We don’t know, Rox. We are as surprised as you and trying to figure this out,” I tell her.
She turns to look at me, eyes assessing and wary, as they should be. I’d swear on my own life she knows we aren’t telling her the whole truth. But she’s not ready for the fucked up, twisted truth that explains Rogers reasons for marking her, and us, with a target in this war he’s waging on London.
“Bullshit!” she snaps. “You know, or you have an idea, so why keep it from me?”
I shake my head but hold her stare. “It’s not that simple. You just have to—”
“Trust you, right?” I nod, aware that she doesn’t and isn’t likely to any time soon. But if we are going to stop Rogers and keep Rox alive then she needs to, which is why, for now, she has to remain in the dark. “You want me to trust you, yeah?” I nod again. “Then you’re going to do something for me that will go some way to earning you that trust.”
