‘Give him the parcel, Marcus, for fuck’s sake.’ Marlon looked impatient as Marcus held out a Tupperware box for Tony to take. ‘That from my mama,’ he said, ‘she makes the best jerk chicken around. Thought you might like some. You can warm that up and eat it later. Now, pour me some rum.’

Tony took the box from Marcus. He could already smell the garlic, chilli and onions in the spicy food, even though it had a lid on. Phew! He was hoping to get laid tonight, but it wouldn’t happen if he was stinking of that stuff.

With all the enthusiasm he could muster, he said, ‘Thanks, Marlon, I bet it tastes great. I’ll have it later, thank you.’ He put the Tupperware box on the bar and told the bar staff to bring a bottle of rum over.

‘Fancy some of this, Tony?’ Marlon tapped the breast pocket of his jacket. ‘Can I use your office?’

Tony nodded and led the way, and Marlon followed along behind. He had brought his little packets of cocaine with him and Tony didn’t like it. He didn’t want that stuff on the premises, just in case.

Marlon sat at Tony’s desk and chopped the white powder into lines, then began snorting it up his nose. He laughed as he wiped away the dust. ‘It’s a shame that girlfriend of yours isn’t here, she would be licking that stuff up.’ He laughed at his own joke.

Tony was confused for a moment, then the penny dropped and he realised what Marlon was talking about. A few weeks earlier, Tony had seen Roxy with some powder on her top lip and nose. When he had pointed it out, she had told him it was special face powder the models used to hide blemishes. The lying cow! he thought to himself. She was a cocaine sniffer, and he hadn’t realised it.

Marlon seemed to know her well, so she had obviously been to him or one of his dealers for her supply. Now, it all made sense. She always seemed to be full of life and never tired. Her sexual fantasies were a little off the wall, sometimes, and she quite liked a threesome, with one of her friends and Tony. This, he thought to himself, is because she’s completely off her head. No, she definitely wasn’t girlfriend material.

Tony and Marlon smiled at each other like old friends, but they both knew there was a lot of resentment behind those smiles.

They went out to the bar and Tony gritted his teeth as he watched Marlon wander off back to his men with his bottle of rum. No doubt he had a stash of fifty-pound notes to tip the strippers with. He didn’t like anyone fooling around with the girls, but he felt tonight he had to make an exception.

‘What’s he doing here, and what the fuck is that?’ said Jake as he eyed up the plastic box on the bar top.