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 table. He’d never liked the man in all the years he’d known him. He was a flash conman who happily served up heroin to kids, and certainly not someone he wanted to have dealings with. But it was beginning to dawn on him that Alfie and Franny might have given him no choice. And every fibre in his body hated them both for putting him in this position.

      ‘By heck Lola, that was some bacon sarnie, lass. Fancy coming round my gaff to be my cook.’

      Lola grinned a gummy smile, basking in praise as she scraped the burnt remnants off the large frying pan. Like a schoolgirl, she giggled. ‘There’s more where that came from.’

      ‘I shouldn’t. But what the heck … Pile it on cocker, but I’m telling you Lola, if I cack me pants, I’m blaming you.’

      This remark was followed by hooting laughter, which only served to further irritate Vaughn. The man was a prize prick.

      Banging his fist hard on the table, Vaughn snapped at Lola. ‘When you’ve quite finished playing The Great British Bake Off, I’d appreciate it if I could talk to Lloyd in private.’

      Lloyd glared at Vaughn. ‘Hold up, sunshine, there’s no need to talk to the lady like that. I think an apology is in order.’

      Lola, feeling the tension between the two men, tried to placate. ‘Oh, don’t worry about it Lloyd, I’m not offended. I’ve known Vaughnie too long to get upset about him giving me the alligator. I’m used to him snapping. I take no notice.’

      Lloyd Page’s blue eyes narrowed as his jaw visibly pulsated. He cracked his gold-sovereign-covered fingers as he leant forward, narrowly missing putting his elbow in the remains of the underdone fried egg. ‘You might not be offended pet, but that don’t mean I’m not. Manners maketh man in my book, so unless you apologise to Lola now, believe me Vaughn, it won’t be chuffing manners which’ll maketh you, it’ll be me.’

      Vaughn leapt up, sending the dishes crashing everywhere. He grabbed hold of Lloyd’s black silk shirt, hearing it rip as he bellowed over the table, his rugged handsome face screwed up in anger as his thick silver hair flopped over his eyes. ‘Don’t come in my fucking house and try to give out orders.’

      With a supercilious smile, Lloyd spoke dangerously evenly, not raising his voice at all.

      ‘But this ain’t your house, is it? From what I understand, you and Alf are a bit desperate at the moment, aren’t you? You should’ve seen the way he was begging me. It was shameful really.’

      Still holding onto Lloyd’s shirt, Vaughn hissed in his face. ‘Alfie would never beg the likes of you.’

      Lloyd’s tone was quietly menacing. ‘Are you sure about that? Desperate people do desperate things and I don’t think you’d want that getting out, otherwise people will be wondering how exactly you and Alf are going to take over Reggie Reynolds’ business … So that’s why you should be nice to me. You need me, Vaughn. So let’s start with you taking your hands off me, shall we?’

      As Vaughn opened his mouth to tell Lloyd exactly what he thought of him, the kitchen door flung open.

      The sight of Vaughn holding onto Lloyd stopped both Alfie and Janine in their tracks, but it was Janine who ran forward first, swiping Vaughn hard across his muscular back.

      ‘What the bleedin’ hell do you think you’re playing at? Let him go! We need him! Vaughn!’

      Lloyd winked. ‘You best do what the lady says. At least someone has a bit of sense round here, eh Janine.’

      Vaughn glared at Alfie, who was now dry from his dip in the pool and with fury running through him like the North winds. ‘You need to start talking, Alf. Otherwise I’m going to put him in the ground,’ he growled.

      ‘Look, Janine’s right, we do need him. This job I was talking about earlier, it was from Lloyd. We could do his job.’

      Vaughn shook his head vehemently. ‘Oh no. No fucking way. I will not have anything to do with this fucking snake.’

      Janine, munching on a king-size Mars bar, spoke angrily. ‘This ain’t the time to get choosy. Thanks to bleedin’ Alfie, it looks like you might not have a choice.’

      Lloyd shrugged his shoulders in amusement. ‘That’s exactly what I tried to tell him, Jan.’

      Going for a head-butt, Vaughn lurched forward but was pulled back by Alfie as Janine squawked shrilly at him in the background. ‘Vaughn, you ain’t listening, just swallow yer pride for once, like all of us have to.’

      Dropping hold of Lloyd, Vaughn raged. His face taking on several different shades of red. ‘Alfie, you need to sort your missus out. Shut her up!’

      Alfie, just as furious with Janine as Vaughn was, roared. He pointed at her, incensed. ‘Ex-missus! And believe me, over the years I’ve tried to get her to put a sock in it, but she ain’t stopped rabbiting from when I met her till now. My head’s done in! But she’s right, if we want to salvage this, we need to do this job.’ He stopped to glare at Lloyd, trying to calm down.

       13

       ‘Give me a kiss then.’

       Bree blushed, stifling a giggle. ‘And if I say no?’

       ‘Then I’ll love you anyway.’

       Chewing her lip, Bree thought for a moment before standing on her tiptoes, quickly landing a large, gentle kiss. ‘There, happy now?’

       ‘Won’t be happy until you marry me, and don’t say we’re too young, say yes.’

       Bree laughed but the sound of a door opening stopped her saying anything.

       ‘You better go, Bree. She won’t be happy if she finds you here.’

       ‘I hate this.’

       ‘I know, but once she gets to know you, she’ll love you … just like I do. It’ll take time, that’s all. Just give her a chance.’

       ‘I don’t think she’ll ever like me.’

       ‘She will. I promise. Now go on, get out of here … I’ll see you tomorrow.’

       She waved goodbye, running happily towards her push bike, which she’d hidden in the bracken down by the stream. An overwhelming sense of joy came over her, something she’d never experienced before and something she’d certainly never had in her miserable childhood spent being passed from one foster home to another.

       Humming quietly to herself, Bree’s thoughts came to an abrupt halt. Puzzled, she looked around. Damn, it wasn’t there. She must have left it further down the hill. The whole of the woods all looked the same.

       She sighed, annoyed with herself for being so stupid, and quickly headed for the winding, muddy path. Although it was dusk, the track and the woods СКАЧАТЬ