‘So what I’m thinking is this: he’s gone. Forget all this business with the Milo cunt, she don’t matter any more. What matters is, there’s nothing standing between you and me now, is there. Nothing at all.’

‘You what?’ Shauna was staring at him.

‘It’s a goer, ain’t it? You, me? What do you say?’

Shauna picked up her gin and tonic and flung it in his face. Then she stood and hurried out of the pub while he spluttered and swore behind her. She got out her car keys. Jeb caught up with her and dragged her to a halt with a rough hand on her arm.

‘Get the fuck off me,’ said Shauna, rounding on him in icy rage.

‘Too high and mighty for me, are you? That what you think?’ He was wet through with gin and his face was screwed up with anger.

Shauna wrenched herself free of his grip.

‘Just fuck off, will you, Jeb?’ she snarled. ‘You’ve let me down badly. You’ve screwed up. And I’m sick of seeing your ugly mug hanging around me. As for me cosying up to you now Josh is gone? The idea is laughable. So why don’t you just fuck off!’

She went to her car and got in while he stood there staring after her. She roared away and still Jeb stood there. Years, he’d been Shauna Flynn’s puppet, doing her dirty work, cleaning up her messes. And still she treated him like he was rubbish. Like he wasn’t good enough for her.

Well fuck it, he thought in fury. If she thought she could treat him this way then she was wrong. Josh Flynn might be gone, out of his reach, but she still had her kids, didn’t she.

Her precious kids.

132

132

‘What the fuck do you want? How d’you know where I live?’ Aysha demanded when she found Joey on the doorstep.

Joey was still the Byronic dark-haired charmer even if he was dishevelled, his clothes creased and dirty. Looked like he’d been hiding out somewhere, maybe on the streets. He pushed himself to his feet and gave her that same old smile, the one that said, Hey, you’ll forgive me because I’m so cute, you know it. It was the fail-safe Joey Minghella charm offensive smile, the one that always made her drop her drawers in the past even if she was a frigid bitch, according to him.

‘I followed you a couple of days ago, from your mum’s place,’ he said. ‘She still the same mardy old cow she always was? Jeez, what a ball-breaker that woman is.’ He gave her a pitiful look. ‘It’s the Christmas holidays, Aysh. Thought I’d come see you.’