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“Who I am is no concern of yours.”
Turning her anger on Evie, she shrieks, “You think you know best when you’re bringing a strange man around Thomas? You’ve not been out of prison a month!”
Evie flinches. I’m about to step in and end this when she straightens her shoulders, lifts her chin, and says, “Thank you for all your help, Mum, but you don’t get to judge me or my friend. I’m a good mother and you know it. One mistake doesn’t erase that.”
The kid starts to cry, and Evie turns her back on the bitch as I open the back door for her.
Her mother scowls, shooting daggers at my back, but I couldn’t give a fuck what her mother thinks of me. Climbing in behind the wheel, I start the engine and look over my shoulder, making sure they’re both belted in before I pull away from her mother’s incessant shouting.
“I’ll be checking in on you, Evie!”
That’s the last we hear from her as I roll up the window and turn the corner, listening to Evie tell the boy how much she’s missed him, and how she’s so happy he’s coming home. I leave them to their reunion and stay quiet until we pull up to her house.
I’m slow to get out, and when I round the car, she’s unlocking the front door and ushering him inside. From where I’m standing, I see him run up to his room. I had a peek inside the other day. The room is filled with toys he’s probably missed as much as his mum. Once he’s out of sight, she turns around and walks toward me with the brightest smile I’ve ever seen.
“Thank you. You don’t know how much it means to me to have him home.”
Pulling her against me, I smooth the loose strands of hair away from her face.
“Go be with your boy. I’ll come by tomorrow and see you.”
Brushing my lips gently across hers, I kiss her once, twice, and force myself to step back.
She needs this time with her son, and it’s going to take a lot for me to walk away from her.
I check the address I’ve been given to the house at the end of the street. I have the right place. It’s a modest detached house. The front garden looks well-maintained with its crisp green lawn and heavily pruned flower beds.
All I’ve been told about the guy who kept borrowing cash from the wrong man, then made up excuses as to why he couldn’t pay it back, is that he has a wife and two kids. Apparently, he’s a banker who commutes to London, where he has a mistress tucked away.
When the front door opens, I lean farther back in my seat. The windows are tinted, but you can still see through if you come close enough.
The fucker opens the car door for his wife and places a kiss on her over-injected lips. The two small kids run around each other before he calls for them to get into the car, then I watch on as he waves them off and heads back into the house. Satisfied with what I see, I turn the key in the ignition and slowly pull away, taking note of the layout. There are three windows and a side gate to get around the back. I’ll return when it’s dark and check that out. I don’t see any cameras or an alarm system, which works best for me.
I head for the club and look for Chaos, but it’s Mayhem who clocks me and walks over. Lighting a cigarette, I slide onto the boot of the car.
“I heard whispers you’ve been hired to sort out a certain banker,” he says, keeping his voice low.
“Funny enough, I’ve just come from laying eyes on him.” While I’ve got him here, I ask, “What’s it like being a dad?”
I’ve seen him with his son, Logan, and he makes fatherhood look so easy. His kid adores him. He’s everything my father wasn’t.
Raising his brow, he stares at me, and I start to regret asking. I can understand his shock, seeing as I’ve never once enquired about this sort of thing.
“Have you knocked someone up?”
“Evie has a six-year-old son.”
“And you don’t know how to be around him?” he hedges.
It’s not that, exactly. I know how people are meant to be around kids, but I know if the kid isn’t comfortable around me, it’ll be the end of Evie and me. Any mother worth her salt never puts a man before her child, and I know Evie wouldn’t, no matter how much she likes me.
“How do you get them to like you?”
His deep laugh fills the air around us, and I wait impatiently for him to get his shit together. He has ten seconds left to sober up before I start throwing punches.
“You must really like this woman.”
“I do,” I respond matter-of-factly. “So, do you have any advice?”
Grinning, he rubs his chin. “I never thought I’d see the day that you would ask me for advice on kids.”
Shrugging, I inhale deeply on my cigarette. My pride gets me into trouble on occasion, but when it comes to her, I have none, and I’m not afraid to admit it.
“You’re not normal, brother. But under that tough exterior, you’re a good guy, and the kid would be lucky to have you around. Just don’t talk about killing anyone, or lighting anyone on fire, or anything down that path. Refrain from that and you’ll be fine. Stick to toys, sweets, and computer games, and you’ll have nothing to worry about.”
He did have a lot of toys in his room, but I didn’t see any computer games. The more I think about it, and for the first time in my life, I’m fucking nervous.
