Even Angels Fall (24 page)

“I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing…” Sophie smiles, meekly.

“Me neither…”

“Gemma’s been texting me every ten minutes for the last hour, she’s driving me crazy…”

“You should try sitting with Lucy…” Abbey laughs, “She’s in a Zen like state and it’s annoying as hell!”

“She’s as nervous as us; she just doesn’t like to show it…” Sophie shrugs.

“God, I can’t take much more of this…” Abbey pulls her phone out of her pocket and is checking it for the millionth time when the front door clicks open and the lads stride in.

“Oh thank god…” Sophie gasps, as she rushes over to Darren.

“Now then…” Liam greets them cheerfully, “God I could murder a beer!” He kisses Abbey’s forehead as he moves past her to the fridge and Nathan follows, running his hands through his hair, exhaustedly.

“Lucy?”

“She’s in the living room…” Abbey replies, without looking away from Alex. He is staring back at her with a slight smile playing on his lips as he saunters forward, his mask well and truly in place.

“For you…” He produces the flowers from behind his back and holds them out to her.

“Are you OK?” She whispers.

“Fine. It went fine, we’re all OK…” Abbey reluctantly takes the flowers and Alex pulls her into a hug, embracing her tightly, surprised by how much he has genuinely missed her, “It’s alright now, I promise, it’s over…” Whether it’s his comforting words or the effect of being in his arms, Abbey isn’t sure, but she relaxes instantly, so grateful and relieved that they are all back in one piece.

“You’re squashing my roses…” She mumbles into Alex’s chest and he releases her, smiling, “Thank you, they’re beautiful…”

“You’re welcome…” He croons, lifting her chin and tilting her head back while holding her gaze and everything else around them seems to fade into the background.

“Are we doing this now?” Tom asks, interrupting the moment.

“Yeah. Let’s get it sorted…” Alex leans down and kisses Abbey tenderly, “We won’t be long. We have to count up…”

“OK…” She answers quietly, unable to think of anything else to say.

Alex leaves the room and she stares blankly after him, still clutching the bouquet of flowers to her chest. The incredibly warped humour of the situation is not lost on her. Plenty of girls have flowers given to them by their boyfriends; it is a perfectly sweet gesture, it’s just not usually in the early hours of the morning after he has robbed a seven-eleven at gun point. How can Abbey possibly rationalize that? It is two sides of an extremely disturbing coin.

“I should go help…” Darren gives Sophie a quick kiss and smiles apologetically, as he lets go of her hand and follows them out of the room.

“Well?” She asks, and Liam, who is sitting far too casually at the kitchen table glances up from the spliff he is rolling and frowns at Sophie.

“Well, what?”

“How did it go? Everyone seems to be in a pretty sombre mood…”

“Well, you know, no one really wanted to do the raid so they aren’t exactly bouncing of the walls, but it went fine…”

“I wish people would stop saying ‘fine’…” Abbey sighs.

“There’s nothing else to say. Besides I wasn’t there remember, all I can tell you is Nathan’s shit at rock, paper, scissors…!”

Despite her worries, Abbey can’t stop herself from laughing at Liam’s obvious disappointment and she decides that it is probably best to let the subject go. It won’t be long until everyone hears all about it anyway when it hits the local news headlines tomorrow. She shudders at the thought.

Liam and Sophie join Nathan and Lucy in the living room and Abbey absentmindedly arranges her roses in a vase, or rather a large water jug, as it is the only thing she can find that will hold them.

It isn’t exactly a time consuming task but it is a brief and pleasant distraction for which she is grateful. She needs a few minutes alone and it keeps her occupied enough so that her thoughts do not drift towards the events of the evening, and the dark, disturbing reality of what is now her life.

During the next few days, avoiding that reality becomes altogether impossible. The local news keep running the same story, appealing for witnesses and for anyone with any information concerning the raid to come forward. The headlines in the local paper jump off the page and everyone breathes a sigh of relief when each article states that there are ‘still no leads in the case’. Alex is tense, so tense that his cool, calm and collected nature is faltering. The money is still sitting in a black leather holdall underneath his bed and is practically burning a hole in the floor. It is the only evidence that remains linking them to the crime and he is desperate to get rid of it, but it isn’t until the following Friday afternoon when he finally gets the call he has been waiting for. He answers after just one ring.

“Marcus…” His tone is clipped.

“Alex, how are you? Feeling nice and flush I hope and ready to offload some of that wealth onto me?”

“I have your money…” There is a brief pause and Alex knows that despite Marcus genuinely wanting the cash, he is disappointed. This was always about hurting him more than the actual debt itself.

“Good. I will be seeing you shortly then. ‘The Dog and Bells’. One hour.” And with that, he hangs up. Alex holds his face in his hands and exhales sharply, before standing up straight and marching into his bedroom with his cold, matter of fact business like demeanour firmly back in place.

He hates ‘The Dog and Bells’ pub. Marcus’s home from home. It is where he conducts all of his dodgy dealings and is constantly occupied by his burly henchmen, none of whom have a single brain cell to share between them. Despite spending the majority of his time at the strip club Marcus never does any other business there, as it is far too much of an earner. He can’t run the risk of it being brought into disrepute and shut down due to his other extra curricula activities.

‘The Dog’ is his unofficial office, and it is also the place where several years ago, Alex told Marcus he was done with his games and walked away. Marcus has never let it go, and there is no doubt in Alex’s mind that he will get an extra little buzz today, getting one over on him in the same place that Alex embarrassed and disrespected him back in the day. Hopefully though, this chapter will soon be over for good.

The pub is exactly how Alex remembers it. In fact he is surprised by how little it has changed in all this time, with the same smoke stained paint and dark, stale carpets. Old fashioned pictures of Leeds hang in various sized frames along the walls and the large bell above the dark panelled bar is still cracked on one side.

Marcus and his cronies occupy their usual spot at the left of the room, where there are several seats, a few slot machines and a worn out pool table. He sits in the middle of a small group, with two women who are young enough to be his daughters flanking him on either side, despite his self-proclaimed ‘devotion’ to his wife.

“ALEX!” He smiles when he sees him, greeting him like an old friend. It is incredibly unnerving, which is exactly why he does it. A sudden hush falls across the pub as Alex drops the bag on the table in front of Marcus, without saying a word.

“So glad you could make it. Will you have a drink with us?”

“I have somewhere to be…” Alex answers through gritted teeth.

“Well that’s a shame isn’t it boys. I know a few of my men are keen to catch up with you, to reminisce about old times…” He laughs menacingly and the others join in on cue as his two top dogs, Gazza and Tommo, leer at him from their defensive positions at the edge of the group.

Back when Alex was part of this crowd they were the most feared of Marcus’s men. Complete thugs with absolutely no remorse. They got a huge amount of pleasure from intimidating people and inflicting a serious amount of pain and by the looks of things, they haven’t changed.

“It’s all there…”

“I’m sure it is. But you won’t mind waiting patiently while we check, will you?” On command Tommo steps forward and retrieves the bag, zipping it open and hauling out the cash. Three others join him and they flick through the notes, quickly counting it up. Alex and Marcus stare at each other in silence and the animosity between them is almost tangible. Eventually Tommo grunts and nods, confirming that the debt is paid.

“Well Alex, thank you for your cooperation. It has been a pleasure doing business with you…”

“Me and you…” Alex snarls, “We’re done. This is over…”

“Your debt is paid. You won’t be hearing from me again. But you know how small this city can be son, I’m sure this won’t be the last we see of each other…”

Alex turns without hesitation and struts back towards the door, ignoring the angry stares and unspoken threats that are radiating off Marcus’s men. They are dying to hurt him, to teach the traitor a lesson, but they are far too loyal - like dumb, obedient pit bulls – to attack without their master’s command.

“I’m sure I’ll see you soon, kid…” Marcus shouts after him, “I’ll be seeing you again real soon…”

Alex clenches his fists tightly and concentrates on counting his steps, controlling his anger and managing to keep it together until he is outside in the cold, mist filled air. He refuses to look back, and with each step, he finally leaves Marcus and his past behind him.

Alex does his best to keep a low profile for the next few weeks, operating below radar as the heat from the raid dies down. The papers are no longer writing about the robbery and there are far more recent, newsworthy stories taking up the pages of the Yorkshire Post. It almost seems to be good to be true; but they might have actually pulled it off. He hasn’t heard a thing from Marcus since he squared his debt - which he is more than happy about - and it looks like things are finally starting to settle down and return to normal. The dark cloud that has been hovering over him has finally lifted and it reminds him of the tattoo his uncle had inscribed across his chest, ‘Post Nubila Sole’. Latin, for ‘after the clouds, sunshine’.

Once Alex had cleared his debt with Marcus there was a fair bit of money left over from the raid and it is money that the group have absolutely no reservations about spending. Darren describes it as ‘getting rid of the evidence’, while Tom argues that they all deserve a big party, as there is cause for celebration now Alex is no longer under threat. He doesn’t argue. They do deserve a good time after everything they have done for him. For their unwavering support and for the massive risk they took. He is more than ready to put it all behind him now and get back to business as usual… making money, living it up and having a good time with his friends.

It is almost 4am on Saturday morning and the ‘few drinks down the pub’ have escalated - as usual - into a full blown party that is still on-going. Abbey can hear Lucy’s ridiculously loud cackle over the beat of the music and she shakes her head, smiling to herself. She has quite a presence for such a small person and the more she drinks the louder she gets. Abbey is debating whether or not she should get dressed and re-join the fun when Alex stirs in bed next to her, rubbing his eyes as he looks up from under his hair.

“Did I fall asleep?”

“You did. I didn’t want to disturb you, seen as sleep is something of a novelty…” Alex props himself up on his elbow and leans over Abbey, kissing her softly on the lips.

“I see the party hasn’t wound down yet …” He notes, looking at the clock.

The CD player in the front room changes track and the three second pause in between is filled with Liam and Nathan shouting insults at each other from across the room.

“Don’t your neighbours ever complain…?” Abbey laughs.

“No. Not so far anyway…” He frowns, raising an eyebrow irritably as there is a loud cheer, more laughter and a round of applause from the living room.

“I was thinking about getting up…” She confesses.

“Oh really? Is there anything I can do to change your mind on that?” He smirks.

“Maybe…”

“Maybe…?” Alex rolls over and lies on top of Abbey, pinning her beneath his body as she giggles. He kisses her passionately and any urge to leave the bedroom vanishes in an instant as she grasps his hair and kisses him back with force.

“It’s good to see you smiling again…” She whispers softly as they break apart to catch their breath.

“Well I have a lot to smile about…” He replies, kissing the tip of her nose, “I know things have been pretty tense lately, but it really is over now… I promise…”

“I know…” She smiles up at him, “I’m glad you’re OK…”

“What about you?” Alex asks sincerely, before rolling back onto his side and resting his head on his arm.

“I’m fine…” Abbey answers, unconvincingly as she turns to face him.

“Have you spoken to your sister?”

“No.”

“You should really call her, Abbey…”

“And say what?” She asks, sadly, “’How’s my niece who I haven’t even met yet despite the fact she’s almost a month old because I’m a terrible fucking person’…?”

“You could just start with ‘Hi, How are you?’…” He smiles.

“I still think it’s best to keep my distance right now…”

“I get that you need space, but I see how unhappy it’s making you, not talking to her. It’s just a phone call…”

“It isn’t that simple…” Abbey shakes her head, “If I thought that talking to my family would help the situation then I’d go and see them tomorrow, but it won’t, I know it won’t. They aren’t going to talk to me, not properly….”

“How do you know?”

“Because they don’t talk about Ryan…” She shrugs. “That’s what started all this in the first place. I won’t just forget about him and they refuse to acknowledge him. We just go round and round in circles and that will keep happening, until they open up…”

“You’re obviously a lot stronger than they are…” He muses.

“How do you mean?”

“By acknowledging your pain and trying to work through it. Hiding from your grief instead of facing it head on is a big mistake. It builds up…”

“I know. That’s exactly what happened to my Mum…”

“What is?” Alex asks, intrigued. He waits patiently for Abbey to answer, careful not to pressure her into a conversation that she doesn’t want to have.