AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Night, luvie.”
Once I’m through the door, I open my phone and can’t hold back the smile. Excitement rushes through me as I stare at the multiple missed calls and a message from him, asking me to call him back.
I’ve never been in a relationship I didn’t see ending. Never met a man who felt likethe one. So why shouldn’t I enjoy this? Why should I take it any differently than face value?
He obviously cares for me. Oherwise, he wouldn’t always be there. So why should I be so scared it’s going to go wrong, when he’s given me no indication it will? At the end of the day, that’s not fair to him.
Maybe I really do deserve this?
CHAPTER2
JOSEPH
The sky darkensas the sun sets. With most of the businesses shutting, the cobbled street the pub sits on has taken a far more sinister look. The old town of Hastings has been a hive of both locals and tourists enjoying the sun, having ice cream after their fish and chips, and buying worthless junk out of the multiple shops that sell nothing and everything. Pirate Day is taken very seriously down here in this seaside town. The locals stroll around, dressed up in triangular hats, pirate attire, and prop weapons.
It’s a stark contrast to London, and I can’t tell if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.
“Excuse me, love? We are getting ready to close.”
Turning my back on the pub I know Alice is working in, I focus on the kind, middle-aged waitress who has been bringing me an endless supply of cappuccinos. I’ve been staked out here all day, hoping Tony would make an appearance and give me the chance to settle this outside of tomorrow’s wedding. This isn’t to save his marriage, but to save what I have with Alice. I don’t want to lose her.
Taking out my wallet, I pull enough pound notes to cover my bill and give a hefty tip. “Keep the change and have a nice evening.”
She accepts the money, fluttering at me like she has all day. “You too.” With one last wink, she begrudgingly leaves the table and goes back inside to start closing.
I’ve run out of time. I’m going to have to go along with the original plan. There’s no other choice. If I don’t find the lost shipment, Walter is going to assume I’m part of the betrayal or deem me useless. He only calls me when he’s not sure who to trust, and I always follow through with whatever it is he needs from me. I can’t let a short, raven-haired beauty be the reason I fail.
I’ve almost been able to pretend she’s just some girl I’ve been talking to, but going into that pub starts the deception. Of pretending my motives are to get to know her, and not interrogate her so-called best friend.
It’s hard to believe what she says. How can a ruthless, bloody, and murderous man like Tony be best friend’s with her? But the file on her checks out. She went to school with him, her mother worked in this very pub before Alice did, and they became under the Hasting’s Hounds’ protection. Alice started working there as soon as she was legal, but that’s where it ends. Anyone as close to Tony as she is would surely be involved in the gang business, but there’s not a single piece of evidence indicating she’s a member. She literally just works there.
The scraping of cheap metal chairs brings me out of my head. The waitresses have come outside to start packing the outdoor tables. I suppose I’m really left no other choice.
Ignoring their sideways glances and ghosts of giggles, I check I’ve not left anything behind before walking around the café’s partition and across the street to the pub entrance. A gaggle of men are outside smoking, the logo of Hasting’s Hounds proudly tattooed on the sides of their necks.
My own gang tattoos are not visible, with my long-sleeved top and the thin cotton scarf looped around my neck. The Reaper’s logo sits proudly on my inner forearm, but everyone tends to notice the one on the back of my head and neck first. It’s chilly enough that no one is giving my long sleeves, hat, and scarf a second glance. If anyone sees my tattoos, I could ruin my chances of seeing Tony, which can’t happen. He and I need to have a chat, no matter what, this weekend. I’d prefer not being the one tied to a chair, but we make do with what we have to work with.
I’ve been fantasising about Alice for months: I’ve listened to her laugh, I’ve caught her crying over the phone when she’s watching a movie, I’ve listened to her breath stutter when she’s turned on, and her moans have sung down the phone to me when she’s gotten herself off and let me listen. I feel like I’ve been holding my breath until the moment I get to meet her, but I’d rather go on that way and not see her than come face to face in this moment. When she finds out my intentions, the woman who detests violence is going to want to wrap her hands around my throat so hard her palms clap. Dying at her hands is far more preferable than the many other possibilities, but I’ve got a lot more work to do before I’m happy for hell to gain my broken soul.
The pub is busier on the inside than it looks. My eyes scan the simple layout. It’s a large, open plan—probably so there’s no nasty surprises—which means I have a clear view of the bar and Alice, chatting away to the blond girl next to her. The idea of finding a dark corner, sitting and staring some more, is out the window. I plod straight between the tables, past the booths, pool table, dart board, and multiple TV’s, and plant myself at her end of the bar.
My arse hits the bar stool heavily as I take her in. Alice’s photos just didn’t do her justice. Her long, dark hair looks fuller in person, her heart-shaped face sweeter, her body’s curves more enticing. I know her…I’ve gotten to know her over the last few months. Seeing her with my eyes makes her real, and me even more of an arsehole than I already thought I was.
She’s too enraptured in the conversation with the patron she’s serving to notice me gawking at her, but when the customer walks away and she looks for who to serve next, her eyes pass over me, going to the man on my left and bouncing back to me.
Shock and doubt pass over her feminine features before giving way to hesitant excitement. “No way…”
Her familiar Southern English accent draws a grin out of me I can’t stop. Looking at her, I could almost pretend she’s some random girl, forget the pictures I’ve seen of the person who takes up every spare minute of my day. Hearing her voice, however, brings the two pieces I wish could stay separate together. I can’t keep one and destroy the other.
“Well, if you’re going to be disappointed to see me…I can just come tomorrow, like we planned.”
She glides down the bar to stand directly across from me, both of us blatantly absorbing one another. I’m going to be drinking in the sight of her for as long as I have her. She is more than I thought she would be, which only makes it harder.
“You came early.” Alice’s voice is just as sweet and gentle as it is on the phone, and this seems to make any hope I’m clinging to of her having catfished me start to fade.
“Well, tomorrow just seemed a really long way away, and I finished work early, so…” I lean my body towards her, inching to get closer. How have I stayed away so long? Why didn’t I come and see her sooner?
Because it would have made everything worse.
