I love you, Josh. Hurry back.

He crumpled the note, an expression of disgust on his face, and tossed it into the bin.

98

98

Josh went straight to Sylvester’s to see Claire. All the girls were in, working hard in their saucy corseted costumes. Spiro and Nikos Constantinou were in too, at their usual table by the stage. No act on yet, just the sound system on and Cher hollering ‘Believe’. The Greek boys stood up and grinned when he appeared. They greeted him like an old friend, slapping him on the back, calling for champagne to celebrate.

‘Where you been? Yassou, Josh. We’ve missed you,’ said Spiro.

‘Yamas,’ said Nikos, and they all clinked glasses and drank.

‘In England. Daughter’s wedding. Had a few fights. Time goes. You know how it is,’ said Josh, sitting down, glancing over at the bar, looking for blonde hair and that sweet smile. He drank their champagne and they said they could have some more fights coming up soon, was he interested?

‘Of course,’ he said, although he wasn’t, not really.

More and more he was getting tired of the fight game. The poundings he took were telling on his body; he didn’t recover so fast from them these days. He liked the fitness regime and he kept to that, although it was punishing. But fighting now? Maybe he’d lost his edge. His ribs had been broken and strapped up over and over. His knuckles were scarred. His nose was crooked, broken long ago by a pile-driving right-hander.

Maybe he’d finally had enough. Everything had changed since the old days. He had money to burn, he had offshore accounts in fake names – the Greeks had told him how it was all done – and he had cash tied up in property and shares, also under false identities, quite a few that Shauna didn’t know about, so sod Shauna and her grasping ways. If what he allowed her to know about wasn’t enough for her, then she could go fuck herself.

He drank, and listened without interest to the female act who came on to the stage to enthusiastic applause. All the time, he was looking for Claire or even Suki. But neither seemed to be here. Later in the evening, he went up to the bar and he saw another girl, a tall brunette, that he’d once before seen Suki chatting with.

‘I’m Vicky, sir,’ she said, smiling. ‘Can I help you?’

‘Remember me? Josh Flynn? You seen Suki?’ he asked.

Her eyes took on a guarded look. ‘Who?’

‘Suki. Pretty blonde. Is she coming in tonight?’

‘I can’t discuss that with you, sir. Club rules. If there’s anything I can get you . . . ?’

‘Yeah, you can tell me if the owner is in. Claire Milo.’ What was Vicky playing at? Of course she recognized him, he’d been in and out of the club many times with Claire and Suki.