“Never in a rush, me. The world is my oyster.”
Davie covered the distance between him and his older brother and took a deep breath. The fresh air of approaching winter was invigorating and chased away the fringes of his hangover.
“That kid’s really hurt,” he told Frankie. “You’re going to go straight back inside for this.”
Frankie spat on the floor. “I ain’t ever going back inside. I’ll die first.”
“Then what the hell are you playing at, pulling shit like this? Kid you burned is going to go straight to the pigs.”
Frankie laughed, apparently not bothered. “No way, little bro. You want me to tell you why that little piss-ant is going to keep his mouth shut?”
Davie shrugged.
“Going to keep his mouth shut for two reasons. Number one: I’ve already made sure I have a dozen people ready to swear-down that I weren’t anywhere near this house when the kid got hurt. Number two: Dom and Jordan are about to go back inside and tell the kid that if he says one word to the pigs about me, they will visit him in the middle of the night and cut his fucking face off! Then they’ll do the same to his family.”
Davie rubbed at his forehead. “Fuck man. This is messed up.”
“Stop being such a whiny little *,” said Dom.
Frankie turned around and pointed a finger in the twin’s face. “Don’t be talking shit to Davie. That’s my blood, man. You get me?”
Dom nodded and stepped backwards as if to yield to Frankie’s authority. Sometimes the respect his brother gained so easily from people left Davie in awe. It wasn’t a skill-set he himself had at all, or was ever likely to have. Frankie was the strong one. Frankie was the one that people would always follow.
Even if it’s straight to a prison cell.
Dom and Jordan went back inside to deliver their threat. Frankie pulled his brother aside and the two of them started walking. “You got to chill out, little bro,” he said. “I know you’re just trying to watch my back, but things are sound, man. I ain’t going nowhere, you get me?”
Davie let out a sigh and kicked at a loose pebble on the ground. It hit the curb before scuttling into a drain. “I just want you to be careful. Things were hard while you were gone. You know, with mum and everything.”
“Let that drunken bitch rot. I’m looking after you again now and this time it’s for good. I learned a lot while I was banged up; stuff about how to keep the pigs off your back while bringing in the big dollar.”
“By selling drugs?”
Frankie stopped and looked at Davie. His expression was one of understanding and it reminded Davie of how kind-hearted his brother used to be – when they were both much younger. It seemed like an age ago now.
“Yes, by selling drugs,” Frankie said matter-of-factly. “You and I are going to live the good life. Get ourselves out of the shit we grew up in. I got it all covered, little bro.”
“If you go down for dealing, you go down hard.”
Frankie put his arm around Davie and pushed him back into walking. “Enough, man. Just chill out about it and leave the worrying to me. Got other things to be getting on with for now.”
“Like what?” Davie asked.
Frankie clapped his hands together and put on a big smile, stretching the scar across his lip. “We’re going to go and have ourselves some fun.”
Davie smiled back, but secretly his empty stomach was churning anxiously. Davie was beginning to not like his big brother’s idea of fun.
Chapter Five
At twelve-o-clock Andrew entered the chip shop and looked for Charlie. To his relief, she was there, standing alone behind the counter as she had been the previous evening. As always, she smiled at him as he entered, but this time there was something apprehensive about her expression.
“Hey,” Andrew said to her. “Working again?”
The girl nodded. “Need the money. Saving for my sister’s hen party in Magaluf.”
“Nice,” said Andrew, thinking he couldn’t imagine anywhere worse for a holiday.