Fighting to be Free by Kirsty Moseley (25 page)

He frowned. “I thought you were going clean. That you were happy being out of this all. I thought you didn’t want your girl to know what you used to be. Why do you need it now?” he asked, looking concerned.

“It’s no big deal. My girl has her eighteenth birthday coming up; I want to get her something good.

Besides, it’s Christmas in a few weeks, I’m gonna need money to get her something then too,” I lied.

“Demanding little thing is she?” he asked, looking at me like I was crazy for letting a girl drag me back into a life I was desperate to leave.

I shook my head and laughed. The idea of Ellie being demanding was actually really funny. She was happy with just hanging out; she never needed anything materialistic at all. I’d actually never met a girl like her in my life.

“No she’s not,” I replied.

He sighed, looking a little annoyed about it. “Is she really worth dragging you into all this again, Kid? I thought you wanted out. If she’s not satisfied with a little present that you can afford, then is she worth having anyway?” he countered, looking a little sceptical about it.

I laughed. Ellie was sure as hell worth me getting involved in all of this again, but it wasn’t her anyway. “Yeah, she is. Ellie’s perfect,” I confirmed, slinging my arm around his shoulder.

“Uh-oh. I sense a guy in love,” he gasped, shaking his head as if this were a bad thing. “I bet this is nothing to do with a good Christmas present. I bet you want some money to buy her a ring, am I right?”

I laughed and rolled my eyes. “She’s still in high school, Ray.”

He grinned. “Ah, but you didn’t deny the love thing. Kid Cole, in love, never thought I’d see the day. You were never interested in girls before this one. I always thought maybe you batted for the other team,” he joked, winking at me and punching me in the ribs playfully. “Wait, you haven’t but a bun in her oven, have you?” he asked, raising one eyebrow at me.

I immediately wished that I had. There had been several moments over the last couple of months that I wished she got pregnant by accident, just so I could always be in her life. Not that I was ready to be a dad or anything, I just kind of liked the idea of us being linked permanently. Then I would always share something with her. If she turned around and told me that she was pregnant, I honestly think that the selfish, needy part of me, would jump for joy. But in truth I hoped I never got her pregnant, I knew she deserved better than me, I would never be able to give her what she deserved from life. That thought didn’t stop me wishing for it sometimes though.

“No, Ray,” I confirmed, pretending to be exasperated with all of his questions. I decided to change the subject. I loved Ray and everything, but I didn’t really want to be getting into all of this when I had more pressing things to deal with. “Why are you here on a Sunday anyway? Shouldn’t you be spending time with your wife and baby?”

He nodded, looking a little annoyed. “Yeah, but we just finished a boost last night, I’m still repairing a few paintjobs from the stupid pricks that can’t manage to steal a car without smashing, or scratching something,” he grumbled.

I smiled, I guess that was a good sign that Brett’s boys were screwing up a little, he’d be more grateful to have me back for a few jobs. Based on my old nightly fee, I’d only need three boosts and then I’d have enough to pay off Tony anyway.

We made our way into the familiar building; I flicked my eyes to the silver Jaguar XK that was sitting on Ray’s ramp ready to be fixed. There was a slight dent on the side of the driver’s door. I shook my head and snorted. Freaking armatures! That was obviously from the bar where they were trying to flip the lock.

“Who the hell did that?” I scoffed.

Ray sighed. He hated when beautiful cars got damaged, I bet that was really hard to see a car with superficial damage like that on it. “Enzo,” he replied, shaking his head sadly.

I rolled my eyes and nodded to the stairs. “I’d better go see Brett.”

He slapped me on the back and nodded, heading over to his workbench to fix the car up before it could be shipped to the buyer. I forced myself to walk even though every muscle in my body was screaming at me to turn around and run and not get myself into this again. But I didn’t have a choice.

Ed was sitting at the desk outside of Brett’s office. He smiled up at me as I walked up the stairs.

“Hey, Kid. Boss said you were coming down here,” he chirped, gripping my hand and slapping my shoulder at the same time.

“Yeah. Is it okay to go in?” I asked, nodding at the door.

He grinned wickedly. “I’d wait a few minutes if I were you,” he said, nodding to a chair at the side of his desk. “He’s in with Michael Torrent at the moment. I think they’re working on some sort of deal,” he added, grinning wickedly.

I frowned. “Isn’t Michael Torrent the guy who owns all of those strip clubs?”

He nodded, settling back into his chair, putting his feet on the desk and leaning back happily. “Yep, and I sure as hell hope it comes through. If he makes a deal with Mr Torrent then I’m betting we get free memberships and dances at the clubs whenever we want,” he confirmed, his eyes sparkling with excitement.

I shook my head at him. “I’m guessing your wife will love that then,” I shot back sarcastically.

He shrugged. “What she doesn’t know, won’t hurt her,” he confirmed, interlacing his fingers behind his head, looking the picture of ease. I had the strong urge to kick the leg of his chair so he fell off backwards. I’d never met the guy’s wife, but from what I remember of Ed, he was never faithful to her. It was disgusting really. I don’t know why guys like him bothered to commit to someone if they couldn’t stick to it. If you were lucky enough to have a girl fall in love with you and want to marry you, then you should do everything in your power to make it work. That’s the way I saw it anyway.

I guess that’s because I just never expected to have a girl even look at me, so I always viewed people in relationships as the lucky ones.

I didn’t say anything in response, just sat there mulling over what I was going to say to Brett, how much I should tell him about my situation.

After half an hour of polite conversation with Ed, Brett’s office door opened. A guy stepped out, laughing and shaking his head as Brett clapped him on the shoulder. The meeting had obviously gone well.

Brett’s eyes landed on me and he smiled. “Hey, Kid. Good to see you,” he chirped. He turned back to the guy he was with. “This is the Jamie Cole. Kid, this Michael Torrent,” he introduced, waving a hand at us both in turn.

I stood up and smiled politely, shaking his hand. “Nice to meet you, Sir.”

He smiled and nodded. “You too. I’ve heard a lot about you,” he replied. His eyes raked over me from my head to my toes. “From the things I’ve heard about you over the years, I always thought you’d be bigger,” he added.

I laughed and shrugged. “Everybody does. I like to keep an air of mystery about me. It works to my advantage when people underestimate me,” I agreed.

He laughed and nodded. “I’m sure it does.” He turned back to Brett. “Nice doing business with you, Mr Mason. We’ll speak soon.” He turned on his heel and headed off down the stairs.

I turned back to Brett, smiling as he slung his arm around my shoulder and led me into his office.

“So then, Kid. What kind of trouble are we talking here?”

I sighed and plopped down into the chair opposite his desk, putting my head in my hands. “My idiot mother borrowed from a loan shark and has got herself in a little debt,” I started. I looked up to see him frowning angrily and I knew what he was going to say before he even said it. “I told her she should have come to you,” I said, before he could blow up about it.

He shook his head angrily and raked a hand through his hair. “I always look after my boys’ families, she knows that! Why would she go to someone else?”

I shrugged. “It’s done now, there’s no point in stressing about it. Anyway, I just need a couple of boosts or something to pay it off.” I looked at him hopefully. If he refused to let me back in then I was done for. It was usually really hard to get out of an organisation like Brett’s, usually you were here for life and worked your way out, or you died. Once you were out though, you didn’t come back. This was highly irregular and I just prayed that he accepted it – the alternative, working for Tony Grier, really didn’t appeal to me, especially since Brett would see that as a betrayal and I would wind up dead because of it.

He sighed and sat back in his chair, sucking on his teeth as he looked me over. “I thought you wanted out,” he said finally.

I nodded. “I do. I just need some money to pay off her debt because I’ve taken it over,” I replied.

He rolled his eyes and pushed himself up, heading over to the side wall and moving a picture out of the way to get to his safe. “How much you need?”

I gulped; this was where it got tricky. “Brett, I would rather leave the debt and just take a few jobs to pay it off. I don’t want to borrow from you,” I said quickly. I knew it was disrespectful to turn down his help, but being in his debt was worse than being in Tony’s, it would certainly last longer that’s for sure. If I was in debt to Brett, I would probably never get out of the organisation again.

He turned back to me and frowned. “Don’t be a prick, Kid. Tell me how much she borrowed. She should have just come to me in the first place. I bet there’s been interest and all sorts of shit added to it, right?”

I nodded and scowled, trying not to think about it. “Yeah. But really, Brett, I just want to work it off and earn the money if that’s okay. Three boosts are all I need,” I said, looking at him hopefully.

He sighed and slammed the safe door shut, heading back over to his desk. He pursed his lips and sat on the edge of it looking at me with his head cocked to the side. “I haven’t had that many since you left. The clients don’t come to me as much because the people I have aren’t as reliable as you. I lost a lot of jobs once you left,” he said, raising one eyebrow at me. I gulped. Was he going to tell me no? What the hell do I do if he tells me no? “I have a small one lined up for Friday night; you could run that for me. Once I spread the word out that the kid Cole is back on my team, the orders will come flooding back in. No one boosts like you can. They’ll be throwing orders at me,” he said, a smile creeping onto his face. He was obviously thinking about the money I would earn him.

“I just want three jobs, Brett,” I said quickly, wanting him to know that I wasn’t back for good.

He laughed and shook his head. “It doesn’t work like that, Kid, and you know it. If you want to come back then you come back, but I don’t just hand out jobs freelance. You want back on the team then you’re back on the team. Take it or leave it,” he offered shrugging and heading back around his desk, sitting down.

I swallowed loudly. I really didn’t have another choice. I needed the money badly. Now that I’d taken over the debt, if I couldn’t pay then Tony would come after me. If I still couldn’t pay after that, then he’d look for other ways to hurt me – Ellie would be prime target because of how much I cared about her. I couldn’t let that happen.

“How about we strike a deal?” I offered, trying not to beg him with my eyes.

He looked at me curiously. “What kind of a deal?”

I ran my hand through my hair trying to think of something he would go for. Something that would be to his advantage, but that wouldn’t tie me in to his organisation too much. Time. I could give him a certain amount of time. “I only need three boosts and then I’m clear of my debt. How about instead of just joining back up, I give you a month of my time. I’ll do as many boosts as you want within that month, but after that I’m gone,” I suggested.

He frowned. “It’ll take me more than a month to spread the word around that you’re back. I won’t get that many lined up for a month,” he protested.

Shit.

“Two months then.”

He pursed his lips looking at me, thinking it over as he drummed his fingers together. “Six months,” he countered.

I shook my head forcefully. I would be sucked back in by then. Six months of boosting cars and I would be addicted to the rush again, I couldn’t do that. “Three. That’ll take us into the New Year, then I can have a fresh start next year.”

He nodded slowly. “Deal. But I want you on the team permanently. You’ll be at my beck and call, not just for boosts but for anything else that I need a good man for,” he replied, holding his hand out over the desk for me to shake.

I groaned at the thought of what that would entail. Protection. Violence. Drug running. Robberies.

Basically, it was everything that I hated the most about my old life. The only other choice I had was to go to Jensen, Ray’s cousin, and see if I could fight every night at his club. I would get pretty bashed up though and after a few nights I would be too messed up to win. There was just no other way out of this for me.

I put my hand in Brett’s and nodded. “Fine. Three months and then I’m done. No matter what, I’m out after three months,” I agreed.

A slow smile spread across his face as he nodded. “Excellent. Good to have you back, Kid.” He laughed and pumped his fist in celebration. “Speak to Ed about the boost on Friday night,” he said, nodding to the door, signalling the meeting was over with. “I’ll call you if I need anything in the meantime. Same rates as it used to be. I’ll pay you two grand a week for odd jobs, then five on top per boost.”

Friday night. Why did that ring alarm bells in my head? Suddenly, I realised. Ellie’s dance was Friday night. “Err, Brett, I can’t do Friday,” I muttered.

He laughed. “Yes, you can,” he said sarcastically.

I frowned. “Can’t you change it for another night? Any other night but Friday?” I begged.

“What do you have on that you can’t cancel?” he asked, looking at me like I was stupid. I had just agreed to be at his beck and call and now I was backing out of the first job, this was really something I shouldn’t be saying no to.

“My girl and I have plans on Friday,” I replied, praying he wouldn’t want me to elaborate.

He shrugged. “So, reschedule.”

I groaned and shook my head. Man, I really didn’t want to let Ellie down! I couldn’t go back and tell her I couldn’t take her to her dance, she’d hate me for it. “Brett, it’s my girl’s school dance on Friday night. I can’t reschedule. Please, can we just change the day for the boost?” I asked. I felt sick, the first damn job and it was already interfering with my relationship. Agreeing to do this for three months had to be the worst idea in the history of bad ideas. But there was no other way I could get my hands on that much cash to clear the debt.