Page 58 of Fury

Nothing. That was half the fucking problem.

*****

I spotted her sitting alone in the corner when I got there, her hands clutching the mug, the thumb of her right hand sliding over the lip, again and again. Her blonde hair was scooped up onto her head. She wasn’t dressed the way I was used to seeing her. A pair of jeans, flat beige shoes and a too-large beige jumper that slipped down one side, the creamy bulbs of a shoulder peeking out, the skin of her slender neck, the angle of her shoulder blade all on show. And I was as mesmerised by her as ever, even though I’d seen that delicious body entirely naked. And I’d touched and kissed and sucked it. It was still like I’d seen her skin for the very first time.

“Don’t stand there getting a hard-on,” Magnet grumbled into my ear, “go fucking talk to her.”

“What are you doing here?” I asked the man with the beard that hung nearly six inches off his chin.

“Bringing breakfast,” he held the tray of covered plates up in the air and still I stood staring at him quizzically. “Mamma Dot,” he shrugged, “wanted to make sure everyone eats this morning. She said she knew we’d all be hanging.”

Behind him, the twins wandered in, looking as fresh as if they’d had a week’s worth of sleep. Fucking youngsters.

“Gan on. And see if she wants a bacon sarnie while you’re at it.”

Heidi looked up, but not until I was right in front of her, casting even more darkness into the booth.

“You ok, doll?”

And even though she’d seen me, knew that I was there, my voice still seemed to startle her.

“I need those cameras putting in at the other office, Fury. Please,” she added quickly, as if she was worried I was going to say no.

“Aye sure. But I need you to tell me what’s going on?”

“Nothing. Just not much sleep.”

I slid into the booth beside her, reaching for her face as I sat down, and guiding her cheek so that I could gaze into those blue eyes. But today there was something else there, something I’d only really seen a hint of before. Today there was genuine fear, no taste of her usual stubbornness, but real vulnerability. And fuck me if that wasn’t even more sexy than the homicidal stare of hers that usually made me want to fuck her all over.

“I know you’re lying to me, doll. So, we can sit here and pretend everything is ok, or you can tell me what’s going on?”

Heidi tried to look away, tried to pull her face from mine. I pushed my hand against the other side, pulling it back to look at me, her teeth raking at the fleshy bottom lip. My bottom lip. Pushing my face to hers, I kissed her, sucking in that bottom lip, and then inserting my tongue in the space she made when she gasped. Her body slumped slightly, the tiniest note of relaxation, of distraction. Good. And then I pulled away again.

She looked up, her eyes wandering over my face.

“You want a sandwich, lass?” Magnet’s voice broke the connection. “Looks like you two are hungry.” He pushed a plate of buns onto the table and walked away.

“I’ll ask again, Heidi,” I said, my voice low this time, my tone a warning.

“Something Father Leverett said yesterday,” she started.

“Aye, we know all about yesterday,” Chaos announced loudly, sitting on the edge of the booth next to us. “I had to be bait for that old bastard just to get your fucking footage off that CCTV system. I want paying for being pimped out. Carnage told me he was wanking over me as I was confessing. Fucking violated I was.”

I sighed.

“Ignore the Kray twins. I got the CCTV. Me and you never happened.”

She sighed, and I wondered whether that was because the evidence was destroyed, or whether it was because I’d been a mistake, and she wanted it acknowledged. In truth, she had never been a mistake, no matter what she thought I was. She, us, was every bit intentional. And not once did I have regrets.

“Tell me what’s happened, Heidi?” I coaxed, pushing those intrusive thoughts away.

“Father Leverett mentioned another business Gordon and my dad had. There was no other business listed in all the accounts I’d gone through, nothing that has my dad’s name against it. So, I went to the other office. The one I know Gordon works out of.”

She paused, taking a steadying sip of her coffee like it was a whisky.

“The filing cabinets were all locked,” she continued.

“That’s a good thing, right? Cos you’d want them locked.”