Human Conditioning (16 page)

The atmosphere inside the
garage had quickly descended into something thick and impenetrable, and Jason
could almost taste Aiden’s contempt. Aiden’s hand moved to his back pocket.
Jason didn’t miss the gesture but he assumed that he was merely locating a
packet of cigarettes. He wouldn’t have guessed that Aiden had a knife hidden
there, and only in his nightmares would he have imagined that he would actually
use it. As he lay on the cold stone floor, his head bathing in a pool of his
own blood, he realised in his semi-conscious state that Aiden Foster was a
lunatic, like many had said before, which he had been just too arrogant to
believe.

Aiden jumped the fence at the back of the garages and
walked briskly down the alleyway. Pulling off his jacket, he wiped his blade on
it and dropped it back into his pocket. Stopping halfway, he kicked dead
leaves, shrubs, and a couple of takeaway chip wrappers he’d located close by
into a mound on top of the grass boarder lining the pathway. He crouched down
and lit the wrappers and watched as they burned, taking the leaves and shrubs
with them to create a small fire. He glanced around him, and when he was
satisfied that no one was there, he held his jacket over the flames until it
caught alight and began to burn enough for him to drop it onto the fire. He
stood for what seemed like a lifetime and watched the flames lick the bloodied
material until the whole jacket had been burned into tiny ash particles, which blew
away on the slight breeze that drifted down the secluded alleyway. Satisfied
that there was no trace of material left, he turned and continued down the
path.

Back out on the street, he
headed towards the estate. When he got to the first tower, he entered it and double-stepped
his way up to the eleventh floor. He knocked at flat number thirty-two.

When the door opened, he was
greeted with a wondrous stare. “Who are you?” the young woman breathed, clearly
affected by the vision on her doorstep.

Aiden grinned knowingly. “Aiden
Foster. I’m delivering for Reggie Driscoll.”

He eyed the girl before him with interest. She was around
his age, but he didn’t recognise her. She was petite with mousy brown hair and
grey eyes. She wasn’t bad-looking, though her face was caked in make-up, and he
idly wondered whether, once you’d scraped off the inch layer of foundation and
got to the flesh of her boat race, she would be as ugly as an old boot, as his
Nana used to say.

The girl nodded shyly, and stepping
aside, she gestured for him to go inside. He didn’t miss the fact that she eyed
him up as he passed her. “Craig in?” he asked confidently.

“Yeah, he’s upstairs...” she
replied. Now she was almost batting her eyelids at him.

“Craig your fella?”

The girl smiled bashfully. “No,
’course not. He’s me dad.”

‘Who’s that, Chrissie?’ A
voice came from above.

“Special delivery,” she called
up the stairs. 

‘Money’s on top of the
television...’ the voice confirmed.

Chrissie flicked her head
towards the living room and Aiden followed closely behind her. She swiped the
money off of the top of the television set and handed it to him. Aiden reached
out and rather than take the money, he grasped her hand and wouldn’t let go.
“What you doin’?” she gasped.

Aiden shot her a salacious
grin and she was unable to prevent her cheeks from blushing. He pursed his full
lips and regarded her intently, as if she was something delicious to eat. “Fancy
a walk?”

She pulled her hand away
slowly, allowing Aiden to take the money from her. “Yeah, alright...”

They had got to the street and a couple of hundred yards
away from the tower block before Aiden pulled Chrissie into a nearby underpass,
hitched up her skirt and took her against the graffiti sprayed wall.

Gina burst into The Stag
and stormed up to the
bar. “Is he in?” Damien, who was behind the bar, stared at her blankly. He
wasn’t about to get involved with whatever Gina had beef with now. “
Is he in
?”
she snapped, her voice unbearably loud to Damien, who liked to attempt to keep
the peace in his own pub, even if it was filled with villains on a daily basis.

“You looking for me by any
chance, G? Just I don’t think the driver of the fucking underground heard you?”

Gina turned and glared at
Aiden, who had appeared from the other side of the bar with a pint of Stella in
one hand and a cigarette in the other. He looked smarter than usual, in a white
shirt over smart jeans – new jeans, new shirt. As he strolled over, she craned
her head to see if there was a girl sitting in the corner with him. There
wasn’t.

“Can I have a word?” she demanded,
exasperated and yet longing to see him in equal measure. 

Aiden sighed and made his way
to the back of the pub. It was a private room that Reggie frequented to discuss
business with his associates and, consequently, Damien allowed Aiden access to too.
Closing the door, Aiden turned to Gina with raised eyebrows. “What?” he asked
bluntly.

Gina placed her hands on her
hips and spat indignantly, “Christine Stuart?”

“Who?”

“The slag who lives in thirty-two
Barratt Place!”

“I haven’t got a fucking clue
what you’re on about, G,” Aiden replied impatiently. “But if you don’t stop talking
in riddles, I’m off!”

“Christine Stuart, the girl
you
fucked
last week in a fucking alleyway of all places!”

Aiden stared at her for a long
moment then smirked.
Oh, that was her name.
“It was an underpass,
actually,” he replied, shrugging nonchalantly.

Gina was stumped as to what to
say next. Aiden’s lack of interest in her feelings should be something she was
used to by now, but every time she fooled herself into thinking he cared, and
every time he made it clear that he didn’t, it crushed her all over again.

She was embarrassed now as she
stared at him with wide eyes, beseeching him to express a modicum of respect
for her. But she and Aiden had never been exclusive. She knew she wasn’t the
only girl in his life and she accepted that because she had to. But this
situation was different, or so she told herself. Christine had been a mate of
hers. They used to play
stuck in the mud
and
hopscotch
out in the
street together as kids. Admittedly, they’d drifted apart during their school
days but that wasn’t the point. She had been humiliated by his involvement with
her old friend and she didn’t hold her temper very well when she felt she had
been wronged.

Aiden’s eyebrows were raised,
waiting for Gina to explain why the fuck she should be getting on her high
horse about him being with someone else when he had just recently discovered
she had still been seeing Jason-fucking-Ryan. He had always made it clear to
her that he wasn’t the type to commit. He used his father as an excuse for his
frivolous attitude towards women.
‘Look at the way that cunt treats me mum.
What chance did I ever have?
’
he had expressed on more than one
occasion.

Aiden was never open about his
affairs. Gina understood that he didn’t believe he owed her that much, even
though he demanded that she towed the line and was faithful to him. She was
meant to be
his
only, but only when
he
desired her. It hadn’t
taken her long to realise that Aiden was never going to take her in his arms
and promise her an eternity of devotion, but as ever she deluded herself into
the fantasy that he
was
hers
. 

She asked herself, as the silence grew between them: if
she understood all this, if she had always known what Aiden got up to when he
wasn’t sharing her bed, why she was getting so upset this time?  

The answer, she knew, was
because she had fallen in love
with him. She needed him like a baby
needed its mother: a deep yearning that was present from the moment she woke up
in the morning to the moment she dropped into a deep sleep. And then he was
there, penetrating her dreams with lies of love and kindness. Loving Aiden was
exhausting. It was like an illness.

Honesty had never been either
of their specialities. If she ever plucked up the courage to tell him straight,
tell him that she adored him and wanted him to be hers, she would lose him for
sure. Because only with her being the weak and he being the dominant could they
continue this little game they played. An ultimatum from her would certainly
destroy their perverted relationship. So, with nothing of consequence to say,
she only glared at his handsome face, trying to contain the mixed emotions of
love and resentment that bubbled at the surface of her temper.

“Are we done, then?” he asked
dispassionately.

Gina fought all instincts not
to launch herself at him and scratch his beautiful face to pieces. She had a
temper. Anyone who had come to blows with Gina Watson knew this much about her.
Gina did not know how to express herself in any other way than to use malice,
and now she was wild with anger, because however much she cared for this
man-boy before her, it didn’t make a blind bit of difference to him.

Her nose flared and she clenched
her fists as she used all her will not to lose it. But Gina Watson didn’t hold
her temper easily, and grabbing a glass ashtray from the table beside her, she
lobbed it across the room. The glass shattered against the back of the door,
missing Aiden by a couple of feet.

He stared at her, for a split
second not knowing how to play this, then he charged at her. “You dozy bitch!”
Grabbing her arms, he pushed her against the wall. 

Gina fought him with all her
strength. “I hate you! I hate you!” she screamed, though even
she
couldn’t hear much conviction in her words.

Holding her body flush against
the wall with his hips, Aiden released one of her arms and clasped his hand
over her mouth. “
Fucking hate me, do ya?
” he bellowed into her face. She
continued to fight against him, all the pain and frustration he had caused her
from day one bursting like a dam as she began elbowing the side of his head,
over and over. Aiden merely restrained her as she assaulted him and screamed
profanities into his palm. “
Shut it
!” He bellowed into her face, pulling
her body to him and once more pushing her aggressively against the wall and
holding her there.

Gina eventually began to tire
and, finally, her free arm dropped to her side. She fought for breath through
her nose as Aiden’s hand remained firmly over her mouth. “You’ve got some nerve
lecturing me, G. What about Jason, eh?” Aiden added in a spitting whisper, his
face close to hers, his hand still cupping her mouth. “What did I tell you
about seeing him again? What did I say would happen?”

He slammed her hard against
the wall again, but Gina had suddenly given up the fight, her stare fixated on
his flushed face. Aiden watched her changing expression warily, then slowly
moved his hand away from her mouth. He stepped back a touch, wiping her spittle
from his palm onto his jeans. 

Gina continued to stare at his
red face in disbelief. She gulped. “You did it, didn’t you?”

“Did what?” he asked. 

His resolute expression told
her all she needed to know. She wasn’t to force the subject, but she knew it to
be true: Jason had been found in his father’s garage six days ago. It was
reported that his throat had been slashed. As a result, the police were
investigating a murder, although there was, so far, no news of any suspects and
no evidence found to arrest anyone. But Gina knew now that Aiden had murdered
Jason Ryan.

Had it been because of her?
Her heart swelled at the thought. It was so inexplicably wrong, totally insane,
but she couldn’t help the feeling of hope that coursed through her heart as she
allowed herself to believe this to be a sign that he did care for her. She
quavered, “Bit of a step up from debt collecting, don’t you think?”

Aiden didn’t answer right
away. He pulled a packet of cigarettes from his jeans and lit one up. “You
can’t say nothing, G,” he said, taking a long drag and exhaling between pursed
lips. “You know that, don’t you? This is between you, me and the Lord Almighty,
understand?”

Her mind was reeling and suddenly
she grinned. Aiden grinned back at her and shook his head. His large hand took
her cheek and his eyebrows rose as he stared intently at her. She felt the heat
of her melting heart and enjoyed the feel of his thumb as it brushed against
her cheek. “Fucking as mad as each other, aren’t we, G?” he said with a
fondness that he didn’t show very often. His smile grew wider, to
mouth-watering standards. “Come ’ere.”

Gina stepped into him and
wrapped her arms around his lean waist, her head resting on his hard chest. His
large arms engulfed her. His warm embrace brought her to tears, but she gulped
them down, quickly wiping her eyes with the back of her index finger before he
noticed.

After a long silence, he
released her and stepped back. “You couldn’t do me a favour, could you, babe?”
he asked.

Gina nodded, without question.
All was forgiven. He sunk his hand into his jeans pocket and pulled out a block
of white powder wrapped in cling film. “Take this down to our block, number fifty-four.
He’s paid. You just need to drop it off.” He placed the wrap in Gina’s palm and
she peered up into his handsome face. Oh, how she loved him, but his warm
affection had already vanished and, she knew, she had lost him again. “Cheers,
babe,” he added with a weak smile, his eyes darting to the door.

Swiftly pressing his lips
against her forehead, he made his way back to the bar, alone.

Sid and Aiden were lurking outside Billy Wyatt’s end-of-terrace
house at midnight. The front porch light was on and the curtains in the window
at the front of the house were closed. Sid held his favourite machete in his
hand and Aiden was tooled up with one of the KA-BAR knives Reggie had given him
a while back, a pair of knuckle-dusters and a hammer.