‘Better get your best clobber out then, hadn’t you?’ Grace said to him.

‘Yeah, about that. Any chance of a few quid to buy something new, Mum?’ he asked her, tilting his head slightly, knowing she would never refuse him.

‘Of course, son. Marcus is upstairs in the office. Go and tell him how much you need.’

Before Jake could move from the bar, Nathan stepped up behind him. Grace hadn’t even seen him come in. But then he’d become like a part of the bloody furniture lately. Always skulking around the place. Lingering like a rotten smell.

‘Hello, son,’ he said as he put his arm around Jake’s shoulder. ‘What are you doing home?’

‘Hiya, Dad. I’m going to a party. Remember that bird I was telling you about.’

‘Jake,’ Grace snapped. ‘Do not call women birds.’

‘Sorry, Mum,’ he said sheepishly.

‘For fuck’s sake,’ Nathan muttered, and Grace glared at him. It was bad enough that Jake looked up to his dad so much, without Nathan’s terrible attitude to women rubbing off on him as well.

‘So, you might get lucky then?’ Nathan smirked.

Jake shrugged. ‘It’s just a party.’

‘How’s uni then, son?’ Nathan said as Grace continued to glare at him.

‘Great, the lads I’m living with are a good laugh.’

‘Well I hope you’re staying out of trouble,’ Nathan said. Then looking directly at Grace, he gave Jake’s shoulder a squeeze and went on. ‘It would be a shame if things got screwed up for you, wouldn’t it?’

‘Of course I am, Dad,’ Jake said, oblivious to the menacing undertone in his father’s words.

‘You’d better go and see Marcus before he locks the safe,’ Grace said to Jake.

‘Oh yeah. I’ll get straight off when I’ve seen him, Mum. See youse later,’ he said before heading off to Grace’s office upstairs.

Once he was out of earshot, Grace leaned over the bar towards Nathan. ‘If you ever threaten my son again, I will fucking end you, Nathan Conlon,’ she snarled.

‘Don’t forget who you’re talking to, Grace,’ he snapped back. ‘Don’t forget I still have that gun. Be careful, love,’ he grinned. ‘Don’t forget our little agreement.’

‘If you ever do anything to harm him. If you ever use him to intimidate me again, then all bets are off.’

To her fury and annoyance, he laughed. ‘I’ll see you later, babe,’ he winked. Then, still laughing, he walked out of the pub.

Grace realized she was wringing the bar towel in her hands. She hated that man with a burning passion. The sooner he was out of hers and Jake’s lives for good, the better. It was time to put the next stage of her plan into action.

Chapter Sixty