Page 64 of Thick as Thieves
“You lot staying in?” Levi asks. “Or maybe you ought to come out, Evie. Get off with both of them, in a booth, with full table service, in full view of the whole club. That would be a fuck you all bitches.” He’s chuckling sardonically. “Oh God, please do that, it would be the best,” he says, hugging her and looking down into her face. “It’ll be fine, Kitten.”
He must be worried. He never calls her that. Marcus and I look at each other and she tries to smile at him.
”Maybe that will be next week’s tactics,” she says. “Keeping my options open.” She kisses his cheek. “Have fun and watch my boy. He might get it into his head to be a distraction, and he doesn’t need to. They’ll just say what a bigger debacle I’ve made of my life and James is going off the rails due to it.”
I close my eyes. My heart is hurting for her. We all know she’ll take a lot of the flack for this misogynistic reporting. Always the woman who would be at fault, the one who dragged us into it. I take her hand. “Do you want a drink? Something stronger? I’ve brought some of Marshall’s for you.”
She smiles. “No. As much as I would love to, I’m still doing morning and night feeds, so I can't have any.”
She moves to the window, sitting down and looking through the blinds. “There are still a lot of reporters here. Will they stay?” She turns to us both, and we nod at her. “I wanted to go to have a look at the ruins of the pyramid in the city square tomorrow. I suppose that’ll be out now?” She looks at Tommy who has come back into the room.
“We can go,” he says, “but we’ll arrange a time with them, and the police will come as well. Jackson must know Miguel really well.” He smiles confidently at her.
“He was in the army with him,” says Evie, nodding. “I’ve spoken to him in the past, just didn’t know he’d come home. I'd still like to go, if that’s workable. Are you going to the venue and everything tomorrow? Is it a flight away?” She’s trying to distract us, and herself.
“Yeah, it’s about an hour’s flight. We leave tomorrow, gig that night, stay over, come back the next day. Why don’t you come?” Marcus asks her. “Then we can keep everyone together.”
“I’ll think about it,” she says, sipping her water. “I’m going to call Marshall.” She gets up with purpose and walks out.
“Fuck, Marcus, she’s well spooked,” I say. “What should we do?” My breathing is starting to accelerate. I think I might have a panic attack, I’m so fucking worried about her, them.
“I don’t know. Tommy, do you think that will be okay, her going out? Where’s Mick?”
With his perfect timing as ever, Mick arrives with Jase and we cover the plan for us and Evie. Mick’s on board either way. He says the police will sort Evie out. She’ll be able to go anywhere in the city, no one will get within six feet of her. I feel fucking relieved. I don’t want her pushed and shoved with the kids in tow. And she’s stubborn enough not to be put off and keep going out. She’s not letting this slow her down or stop her. Now I need to get myself under control. For all of them.
26
Evie
MexicoCity
This is a nightmare.All my fears are coming in one go, and I’m not sure what the rules are for the foreign press when dealing with kids. Maybe they’re not as respectful as the British and American press appear to be. Will they try to get a really close up shot of the twins to prove who’s children they are? Maybe I ought not be so stubborn and confirm who the dad is. Take a test. But we’re married, nobody else I know has to do paternity tests for every baby they have. But part of me is irrationally annoyed at everyone, myself included. I need Marshall.
“Midarlin’.” His cool voice comes down the line.
I start to cry. “Marsh?—”
I can’t get anything else out, he just sits and listens to me cry.
“FaceTime me, midarlin’,” he says. I hang up and call him. “There you are. Now I can see what’s wrong.”
I look into the face of the man who’s been there for me since the age of three. Moved into my home when I was fourteen years old and my dad did not come home, so no one could move me out. Helped me hatch a plan to get me to the Greystones without the authorities knowing I was on my own at fifteen, after my dad’s death. And there I stayed. They adopted me at sixteen just to be sure I could stay. An odd age, but still, I was a Greystone, always had been. All except the part that belonged to Marshall, a very big part.
We say nothing, just look at each other, trying to give comfort and support telepathically, but I keep sobbing.
“Where are my babies?” he asks me.
“In bed, and in a nightclub,” I choke out. The ridiculousness of that hits me. He grins at me. “Eating like horses,” I tell him, through my tears. “They’d give Crockett a run for his money. They’re going to be big boys. Two already are.”
“I miss them, I miss you. Are you coming home? I’ll be there at the end of June. Come here if you have to, to Ireland. Everyone is well here. Seamus is getting better every day.”
I smile. “I’m glad it’s getting sorted. Is Jonno okay? I miss him as well.”
“Yes. He’ll come home, but then I think he might come back over. He’s got a bit obsessed by some numbers. Things aren’t right, he says.”
“Oh dear, he’ll be like a dog with a bone then. I hope it doesn’t cause a problem for you.” I know what Jonno’s like when he gets a bee in his bonnet.
“I’ve told him to report to me first. I can decide if I want to do anything with it or not.” He pauses, watching my face. “What have you decided to do?” he asks as my head is spinning.
