'You let a fucking racist thug have credit?'
Cain shrugged arrogantly. 'Who cares what he thinks? He wanted to carry on playing and now he owes us more money.'
Patrick nodded at the cash he had thrown down on to the table. 'He owes you nothing. There is a two hundred for your trouble.'
'But he still owes me a grand.' It was said quickly, without thought for who he was addressing and with anger and disrespect.
Patrick looked at him with a cold and calculated contempt. 'You get what I give you, boy.'
The atmosphere was heavy with malice and Cain was surprised to find that his brother was obviously on the opposite side. For the first time ever, Cain was on his own and he didn't like it.
Spider was seriously angry. His dreadlocks were thick and wild and they seemed to take on a life of their own when he lost his temper.
Cain was quick to note that Patrick was not at all fazed, yet his brother was almost spitting feathers. He had never before experienced anything like this and he was not impressed. He was earning, that was supposed to be what they were all about, so why was he being singled out for it? He was being vilified for making a few quid off the skinheads he loathed? Taking the spend off the scum was what they were all about, surely?
'It won't happen again, Pat. I will guarantee it.' Spider spoke with respectful authority and this annoyed his younger brother even more. Spider was supposed to be someone; Spider and Patrick were supposed to be partners. Why was his brother acting like a fucking houseboy?
Patrick knew what was going through Cain's mind; he had expected it. The boy was young, eager and if what he had found out was true, which he suspected it was, then he was also in need of a swift kick up the jacksy.
'Oh have a day off will you!'
The laughter in the room hurt more than anything else.
Patrick was shaking his head in utter disbelief. The boy was a fucking brahma. He was off his tree if he thought they were cunt enough to think he was some kind of businessman. Who in their right mind allowed people like Parker to have credit? Parker was a strictly cash-only gambler. If he was asked to say what he had for breakfast he would lie, add a sausage and then accuse someone of stealing it. He was also a member of the ICF and they were not an organisation to meddle with. They were just out for the fight, nothing more and nothing less. Patrick had no intention of taking them out over a debt. He would have done if he had to; that went without saying. But he had no intention of bringing any kind of notice on himself or on anyone in his organisation because of something so trivial. If Cain thought he was going to make his mark by letting people like Parker scrounge a few bob then he was either a retard or in need of a serious talking-to.
Either way, it was now in Spider's domain and he was happy to let him sort it out. If Spider naused it up, he would step in without a second's thought. He saw Cain was still feeling the heat and he decided to put a block on him once and for all.
'You think this is out of order, don't you?'
Patrick and Spider could see that Cain was still annoyed and that he didn't see what the problem was. Like most youngsters, he had started a chain of events that could bring them all down and he couldn't see that fact. He was still too stupid to even ask why he was being singled out as he was. He was so fucking arrogant that he didn't even have the savvy to question his betters and learn something for the future.
Cain didn't answer him. His pride was hurt and his sensible head was finally telling him to keep his trap shut. The way Jimmy Brick was watching him was disconcerting, to say the least, and he decided he would be better off retreating on this occasion.
'You borrowed money to people who would see any kind of payment as anathema, especially to the likes of you. Tommy Williams ended up killing Colin Parker over a fucking grand. A grand. A fucking pittance and you were the cause of that death, boy. Parker's death could easily have led to us lot getting our fucking collars felt and for what, eh? A poxy grand? You lairy little cunt. We don't need anyone causing us that kind of aggro and the sooner you get your thick head around that, the better.'
Patrick looked at the handsome young man before him and wished he could have dealt with him in an easier manner, but he couldn't. Cain had to learn the hard way about their world and he had been cushioned by Spider for too long. Now they were all on tenterhooks over a fucking ice-cream like Parker. Parker was, after all was said and done, a fucking civilian and when they died people tended to ask questions.
Spider shook his head in desperation. Cain was going to get the rollicking of a lifetime and he was going to enjoy distributing it; the boy needed to understand about the boundaries and guidelines that made up their world. Now was as good a time as any for a lesson in reality.
Jimmy Brick was sorry he was not going to be called on to distribute his special brand of justice. He didn't like Cain, he never had, but Spider had been a personal hero of his since childhood. A diamond geezer, a legend in his own lunch-time. The man who had given him his first real job.
Now he saw Spider as nothing more than a man, someone who was frightened for his younger brother. Family was a fucking bind in their game, it was something to be used as a weapon. If a man stood alone, he was safe and he could be brave and honourable. As long as there was no one you cared for more than you cared for yourself, you had an edge. But families were a danger, families and children were the downfall of many a great man. Once you cared for someone, you had a chink in your armour; you had a fucking gaping big hole in your defences that would be used against you without a second's thought. Jimmy knew that because he would do the same tiling himself if it gained him what he wanted.
Spider was a touch, a fucking dynamo in Jimmy's eyes, but he would never be the same man again now that he had swallowed for his little brother. Mainly because his little brother was not worth his loyalty, was not worth Spider's deliberate disregard for the friendship that he and Brodie had enjoyed for so long. Cain was not going to let this go, he was too worried about how he was perceived by the people in his world.
That alone was always a cause for concern but Jimmy would sit it out, watch the main players and, when the time was right, he would decide what side he was on.
Until then, he would keep his own counsel.
But he knew one thing. This was not over, not by a long chalk.
'Is she still here?' Patrick's voice was loud and Lil, despite her anger at her husband's usual greeting to her mother, desperately wanted to laugh. Her mother had decided to take it in good spirit even though no one would believe he meant anything other than malice.
Annie sighed theatrically, her eyes rolling upwards and her bosom heaving, but she was masking a smile that was evident to anyone watching her.
The boys were amazed, as was their father. 'You feeling all the ticket, girl?'
Annie giggled like a schoolgirl and Patrick didn't know whether to laugh at the old bird's antics or be afraid. She had changed so dramatically over the last few months that he wondered if his old granny's tales of changelings did actually have some credence.
Pushing Lil into the kitchen, he whispered, 'She on fucking drugs, or what? I had just got used to her as an aggro merchant and now it's like she's a born-again Doris Day.'
Lil was laughing out loud now and Patrick was glad. It had been a while since she had been this happy, this carefree, and he sometimes felt guilty because he knew she worried about him.
'How you feeling, girl?'
She shrugged. 'Like shit. I tell you now, mate, I will be glad when I deliver this one. It's the hardest yet, and I ain't the type of person to make a drama out of nothing, as you know.'