BooksBarbecue
Back The Jump
Chapters (52)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Page
  3. Dedication
  4. Acknowledgements
  5. BOOK ONE
  6. Chapter One
  7. Chapter Two
  8. Chapter Three
  9. Chapter Four
  10. Chapter Five
  11. Chapter Six
  12. Chapter Seven
  13. Chapter Eight
  14. Chapter Nine
  15. Chapter Ten
  16. Chapter Eleven
  17. Chapter Twelve
  18. Chapter Thirteen
  19. Chapter Fourteen
  20. Chapter Fifteen
  21. Chapter Sixteen
  22. Chapter Seventeen
  23. Chapter Eighteen
  24. Chapter Nineteen
  25. Chapter Twenty
  26. Chapter Twenty-One
  27. Chapter Twenty-Two
  28. Chapter Twenty-Three
  29. Chapter Twenty-Four
  30. Chapter Twenty-Five
  31. BOOK TWO
  32. Chapter Twenty-Six
  33. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  34. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  35. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  36. Chapter Thirty
  37. Chapter Thirty-One
  38. Chapter Thirty-Two
  39. Chapter Thirty-Three
  40. Chapter Thirty-Four
  41. Chapter Thirty-Five
  42. Chapter Thirty-Six
  43. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  44. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  45. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  46. BOOK THREE
  47. Chapter Forty
  48. Chapter Forty-One
  49. Chapter Forty-Two
  50. Chapter Forty-Three
  51. Chapter Forty-Four
  52. Epilogue

Soaked to the skin, he sat back in his seat and shook his head slowly before saying through gritted teeth: ‘If you was anyone else, Donna, I’d smash that glass into your boat without a second’s thought. Now I’m going to the toilet to sort myself out and calm down, because I’m fucking annoyed, woman. If you’re still here when I come back, I want an apology, and then we’ll see if we can go on from there. But if you ever pull a stunt like this again, I’ll give you the hiding of your fucking life!’

Stunned at what she had done, her face devoid of colour, Donna watched him as he pulled out his handkerchief and wiped at his face. As he stormed across the restaurant towards the toilets she realised exactly what she had let herself in for.

Alan Cox was dangerous, and so was her husband.

The drink she had consumed was weighing heavily on her stomach and she looked at the empty glass with a feeling of shocked triumph.

She didn’t trust her husband. That new insight continued to shock and sadden her. Her involvement in all this was a blind. What she had really wanted to know all along was how far up the scale of villainy her husband really stood.

She refilled her glass from the large bottle on the table and sipped the water slowly. The knowledge that Georgio was involved with the likes of Annie, Jonnie H. and Nick Carvello had shocked her. But even with Alan Cox threatening her, she realised she still didn’t want out from it all. All she wanted was the truth.

She reasoned that eventually she would get it - and that she would probably find it a bitter pill.

As Alan Cox walked back towards her she rehearsed her apology in her mind.

She hadn’t wanted to throw the water at him; she had wanted to throw it in her husband’s face.

She had a strange feeling that Alan Cox had realised that before she did.

BOOK TWO

BOOK TWO

Odi et amo; quare id faciam,
fortasse requiris.
Nescio, sed fieri sentio et excrucior
I hate and I love; why do I so you may well ask.
I do not know, but I feel it happen and am in agony—

Carmina No. 85, Catullus, c.84-54 BC

At twenty years of age, the will reigns;
at thirty, the wit;
and at forty, the judgement—

Poor Richard’s Almanac (1741 June), Benjamin Franklin, 1706-90

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Six

Jack Coyne was a thick-necked Liverpudlian of almost pure Irish ancestry. The name was Irish, the deep blue eyes were Irish . . . but Jack’s mother had been a Vietnamese woman of uncertain age and even more uncertain virtue. He grew up in an atmosphere of suppressed violence, strong maternal love, and hardship.