Page 8 of Thick as Thieves
“It’s not her, it’s those brothers. I’ve been checking into them. Darker than dark, they are. Murky worlds they wander into and out of for different assignments. No wonder they have security on her and the boy. The older one got his hands dirty in the forces, security and intelligence work. The younger one does all the tech. But for an incredibly high profile tech company, there’s so little about him. He’s a ghost. Had I not met him in person, I would swear he didn’t exist.”
“Yep that sounds about right for Jonno.” I nod sagely.
Mick gives me the once over. “You have a good night?” he asks me. “Jase said the place was ridiculous.”
I laugh out. “Yep, it sure was. Bit like CAshO in LA, only better.” He knows the club. Well, he knows the sort of club, that is.
“Might need a bit of food then?” he asks with genuine concern in his voice. “You look pale, Xan. No sleep yet?”
I grin ruefully. “No, not yet. It’ll come.” I shrug. “More hours for fun,” I say and smirk at him. But he doesn’t smile back, he just looks more worried. “You worry too much Mick. But on a brighter note, I’ve found the perfect entertainment for Marcus’s birthday in March. I’m getting it all set up.”
He goes from worried to terrified, and I laugh at him.
I mull over the things Jonno said to me over the course of the night, he never tells you anything for nothing. You just have to listen between the words. I learned that about him a long time ago.
Sitting in Mick’s room, waiting for the dawn to come with my breakfast, I look out over London and remember the first time I got a good look at the younger Greystones, Jude and Jonno. And Evie
Xander aged 9
Yorkshire, England
We’ve seenthem around the fields, running wild, and generally being a nuisance. In other words being where we want to be. Rope swings, hidden dens, mud slopes with sledges when it rained, the lake—wherever we decide to go, they seem to get there first. All we could do was stand there in the background, hidden from sight, watching them from a distance. I know Marcus won’t keep doing it, he’s too proud, and stubborn. If I hear the phrase ‘it’s my land, they work for me’ again I’ll hit him myself. Clearly his mother’s been talking to him, building up his part.
I know, even from this distance, they don’t give two shits about whose land it is and who works for whom. If they want to do it, they do. And no one, even at ages eight or nine, is going to change that fact.
I don’t get a close up look at her, or them, until we’re standing literally nose to nose at the top of Broadridge. Right next to the big ditch running alongside it. Jude found Marcus’s old bike and is busy stripping it for parts. To be honest it’s been up here out in the elements for a year already, forgotten by Marcus, his mother of course getting him a new one.
Marcus, however, touches my arm and crows, “Now we’ve got them.”
He marches over to confront the biggest one—Jude. “You’re stealing that,” Marcus states in his most haughty voice, his stance grand and imperious, clearly channelling his mother. “I’m going to have you arrested for theft.”
Three pairs of eyes all look at him, two brown and one the most amazing colour grey I’ve ever seen. Like a summer storm rolling in, with long black lashes sweeping onto her cheeks. I can’t look away.
They don’t look away either, but all stand tall in a total fuck you move, just staring at him.
“Move away from that now, otherwise I’ll call the police.”
“Fuck off,” puts in the smaller boy, lazily. We know his name is Jonno. “Possession is nine-tenths of the law, so call away, mummy’s boy.” They all grin at that.
Marcus does not.
“That’s my bike. You took it and hid it up here.” He points at Jude. “Waited until I got a new one and then came back for it. You’re a thief.”
“He is not!” the girl shouts, stepping forwards, going from laughing to shouting in a nanosecond.
We both step back. Girls did not shout like that at our house.
Evie. We’d heard them calling her that, although Rowena, Marcus’s mother, always referred to her as Everett or ‘the Parker girl.’
She senses our retreat and goes in for the kill. “You fell off it. We saw you. Wimp. Cried like a baby, and dumped it. Oh poor, poor, baby Marcus, should have got your mummy to come get it for you.” She’s got her hands near her eyes pretending to wipe away tears. Totally taking the piss.
Marcus has had enough of being nice. He steps forwards and shouts at her, “He fucking did, and I’m going to get you arrested for it.”
Evie picks up the bike, and with all her might, throws it back into the ditch. “Go fetch it now,” she shouts in his face as they’re stood nose to nose. Her two bouncers start to howl with laughter.
“Well done, E. Fetch boy, fetch,” laughs Jude.
“Get off my land, you bastards. This is my land and I want you off. You work for me,” Marcus shouts at them.
