Reggie smiled and nodded, and went back inside the pub. Lenny stood there and lit another cigarette. His hands were shaking. He had never felt such a powerful pull towards anyone before in his life. He shook his head, as if trying to clear it. That could not have just happened. But he knew that something had happened and he didn’t know what to do about it. He wasn’t a fucking shirt-lifter. It was the drink – he was never good with alcohol. It was just a misunderstanding. All the same, his mind was asking him why was he sorry that Reggie Dornan had gone back inside the pub? Why did he still want to feel his touch on his skin? What the fuck was wrong with him? He had a wife and a child, that should tell him everything he needed to know.

He went back inside, so shaken he decided to order a large brandy. He noticed that Reggie was nowhere to be seen. Swallowing the burning liquid down quickly, he stood and cheered with the other men as the strippers started their routines. He loved his wife and he was just drunk. That was all it could be.

He kept his eye out for Reggie all the same, but he had clearly gone home. Lenny was disappointed, and that bothered him more than anything.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

‘Let me do that, darling. You will have the baby up with this racket!’

Sharon was happy enough to cook her husband a bacon sandwich when he got in. After all, she was his wife, and it meant less clearing up as well! He was one messy fucker, and the place would look like a pikey camp if she didn’t take over.

Lenny sat at the kitchen table and watched as Sharon made his sandwiches and a pot of tea. He loved her; he loved her with all his being. So what had happened to him to make him feel like he had earlier in the evening?

‘Did you have a good night, Len?’

He nodded. ‘Rather have been at home with you, darling.’

She smiled happily at his words.

‘How was the little man?’

Sharon sat at the table. Now she had cleared the kitchen, she could relax. ‘He was as good as gold, Len. We are lucky with him, you know. Some of the horror stories I hear about babies not sleeping!’

He listened to her prattle on, but all the time he was thinking about Reggie Dornan. About his face, his eyes, his physique. Even his hands, feeling the thrill once more as their skin had touched briefly. What he couldn’t understand was why he had not beaten the man to within an inch of his life. Surely that is what he should have done?