Toxic: The addictive new crime thriller from the best selling author that will have you gripped in 2018. Jacqui Rose

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СКАЧАТЬ on the cream lounger by the side of the blue tiled indoor pool.

      Vaughn, lying next to her, stared up at the glass retractable roof. He sighed, irritated. ‘Turn it in darlin’, you sound like a bleedin’ billy goat … Janine! Janine!’

      Not getting a response, and resisting the temptation to poke her hard, Vaughn stood up, walking across to the French doors which looked out over the garden and terrace and onto the wide-open countryside beyond, surrounding the village of Wimbish. He watched the sun shining down on the sandstone paving as he thought about Casey.

      He missed her. Waking up to her. Joking with her. Confiding in her. She was his best friend. Though ironically, when they’d got together, he hadn’t known if it was even going to last more than a day. She had her demons, drinking to blot out her pain and he had a problem with getting close to anyone at all.

      But somehow, they’d made it work, and they’d built their relationship on love and trust, which meant no lies. Ever. And although he wasn’t entirely sure if not telling Casey about selling his house right from under her nose constituted a lie rather than just an omission, within a week of her finding out she’d got up and left, telling him she needed space to think.

      So, whatever happened, he needed this deal with Reenie Reynolds to go through as quickly and as smoothly as possible, so he could explain to Casey that although he was wrong not to tell her, it’d been worth it. That risking the home they shared together hadn’t been some reckless, fruitless venture, but security for their future, not to mention being able to get back to the life he’d missed.

      But the problem was he couldn’t get out of his mind what Alfie had said. That Casey had just used this situation as an excuse to leave him. In fact, the thought wasn’t so much in his mind as eating him up inside.

      ‘Alright Vaughnie.’ Alfie, looking tense, strolled in from the main house. He stopped in front of Janine who now lay with her mouth wide open. He gave a wry smile. ‘I see sleeping beauty is getting her kip, waiting for her prince, but for fuck’s sake, don’t kiss her, I could do with Janine not waking up for a hundred years.’

      ‘I heard that, Alfred!’

      ‘Yeah, well, you need to hear this too …’ He stopped, wondering quite how to say it, quite how to make it sound as casual as possible.

      Sitting up, Janine, her hair in large yellow Velcro rollers, scowled. ‘You look suspicious.’

      Alfie stared at her. He opened his mouth, then closed it again, then quickly said, ‘There’s no easy way of saying this, so I’ll just come straight out with it … It doesn’t look like Franny’s coming back with the money.’

      The scream from Janine was followed by a huge splash, as Vaughn ran over, catching Alfie hard on the chin with his fist before pushing him into the pool.

      Spitting out a mouthful of water, Alfie yelled up at Vaughn, ‘I’ll sort it, okay?’

      Standing above him on the side of the pool, Vaughn, his face twisted in anger, shouted back, ‘How? How the fuck are you going to get two bloody quid, let alone two million?’

      Janine, struggling to push herself up from the sun lounger, butted in. ‘And what am I supposed to do? I rely on the money you give me and now we’ll all end up on the bleedin’ streets because of you!’

      Pushing his hair away from his eyes, Alfie growled at Janine. ‘Just shut up, Janine, I’ll do a job, okay.’

      Vaughn stared at Alfie. ‘A job? Are you having a laugh? Just the two of us?’

      ‘We can get a small crew then.’

      ‘Get real Alf, cos no matter how much we say please, ain’t nobody I know who’s going to work for us for nothing.’

      ‘Then we do it ourselves. I’ve already started putting me feelers out about …’

      ‘Hold up, so how long have you known about Franny and the money?’

      ‘Only a few days.’

      Vaughn could hardly speak from rage. ‘And you’re only telling us now?’

      ‘Well I didn’t want to believe it, did I? I thought she’d come to her senses. I dunno, I thought she wouldn’t do this to me.’

      ‘Well she did and it’s not just you, is it? It was two million fucking pounds of my money as well!’

      ‘I know, and that’s why I tried to line up a job to sort this shit out. I thought if we could give Reenie a down payment—’

      Vaughn interrupted. ‘A down payment! We ain’t buying a bleedin’ car you know!’

      ‘Look, I ain’t giving up without a fight. If this job comes off it’s a start … We’ll be jacking some coke from a lorry. It’s not great, but it’s better than nothing.’

      Vaughn let out a loud, rueful laugh. ‘Not great? It’s a mug’s game! I never came back to England to start sticking people up and maybe getting a bullet in me head.’

      ‘But it’s money Vaughn, and that’s what we need. And nobody is going to get a bullet in their head. We can do this. I know we can. Look at us. This is me, Alfie Jennings, once Soho’s number one face, and fuck me, you’re Vaughn Sadler, the Vaughn Sadler. Come on pal, don’t look like that!’

      ‘You turned us over again! I came back home to take over a multi-million-pound business, a future for me and Casey, and you’ve messed that up.’

      Angry himself now, Alfie shouted, ‘You need to knock that idea out of your head. Your bird’s well and truly flitted.’

      ‘You bastard!’

      Seething, Vaughn jumped into the pool, grabbing hold of Alfie and pushing him under the water, holding him down as Alfie splashed his arms about trying to come up for air.

      ‘I’m going to kill you! I’m going to fucking kill you, Alf!’

      Lola, who’d just walked into the pool house, yelled as she ran over, kneeling down at the side of the swimming pool. She swung at Vaughn’s back, hitting him hard. ‘Vaughnie, leave him alone! Let go! You’re going to drown him! It ain’t his fault! Stop!’

      Vaughn swivelled round, glaring with contempt at Lola. ‘You knew? You were in on it?’

      ‘I weren’t in on anything, but yes, I knew.’

      ‘By heck, this is cosy, I’m missing out. Pool parties during the day, this is what they must mean about swinging in the suburbs.’ Lloyd Page’s voice boomed out as he stood laughing behind Lola.

      Standing chest-deep in the pool with a gasping, red-faced Alfie next to him, Vaughn’s expression was a picture of puzzlement and anger. ‘What the fuck is he doing here?’

      ‘I let him in,’ Lola muttered, looking upset.

      ‘I can see that, but I want to know why.’

      ‘Hello to you too, Vaughn, always a pleasure, though I take it Alfie hasn’t told you about our arrangement … about the job he begged me to give СКАЧАТЬ