Page 68 of Fool Me Twice
Okay, he was probably still bigger and heavier—and meaner—than Zig; prison wasn’t likely to have changed that.But he couldn’t make Zig do anything, could he?Not now he wasn’t a kid anymore, living in Dad’s house.Dependent on him.
Zig had a new life now.A better one, with Si in it.I’m never going back to London, he found himself thinking, and blinked.Did he really mean that?Teenage Zig would have hated this place, he was pretty sure—too quiet, too rural, too limited.
Adult Zig appreciated the quiet.He liked Glastonbury, tiny as it was compared to where he’d grown up.There was still stuff going on, and more than that, there was a sense of permanence he’d always missed out on before.Like, while people moved on, the tor would still be here, like it had for thousands of years before.London had old bits, yeah, but it was always changing despite that.People moved on; businesses changed owners or were knocked down and rebuilt.It was all bland and commercial.
He’d made a decision.Whatever came, he was going to weather it.If Dad turned up here, for whatever reason, Zig would tell him to sod off back to London.If Trent came with him...Well, in the best-case scenario, Zig would take care only to come within a mile of the bloke if there were half a dozen witnesses.Even if the worst came to the worst, what was Trent going to do to him?Zig could take a beating if he had to.Probably.If that was the price of staying here, with Si.The price of happiness.
And then I’ll have the feds on ’em so fast they won’t know what’s hit ’em, he thought with vicious satisfaction.
There was a chill wind blowing, and he’d started to shiver, so Zig rose, reluctantly, and headed back down the slope.Without his phone, he wasn’t sure how late it was, but it was probably time to grab something to eat before he was due at work.
Not wanting to face Esme again until he’d had some more time to think about her offer, Zig ate his dinner at a vegan café instead of heading back to the flat.He’d picked up a book calledNormal for Glastonburyin one of the shops in town, which kept him entertained while waiting for his order.After a bowl of soup so thick and full of rough-cut veg it probably ought to be called stew, coupled with some bread made of spelt, whatever that was, Zig felt ready to face anything.
For a Monday night, the pub was pretty busy, probably due to people getting into the Yuletide spirit with less than a week to go to the twenty-fifth.No wonder Ange had wanted him in for an extra shift.Women were dressed in sparkly tops or warm shades of red and green, with novelty earrings shaped like holly or gingerbread men.A couple of blokes had ugly Christmas sweaters on, and one wore a Santa hat that looked weird with the resolutely drab and normal clothes he had on.
Ange was done up like a Christmas present, in a tartan dress with a bow at her waist.Zig was grateful she didn’t insist on festive wear for her staff, just the usual black polo shirts.Although, he noticed Finn had accessorised with a Christmas tree earring.It didn’t look that bad, actually.
Finn noticed him looking and turned away with a flush.
Damn it.Zig had thought they’d got over the awkwardness.“Hey, nice earring,” he said quickly.“Think I ought to get more festive?”
Finn smiled wryly.“Thought you were too cool for Yule.Won’t it mess with the image?”
“Ah, sod that.”Zig decided it was possible to worry too much about looking naff.Also, that Finn really didn’t know him all that well if he thought Zig wascool.“Gotta get into the spirit, yeah?”
After that, the orders came nonstop, and Zig barely had time for a bit of banter with the customers.Everyone was in a festive mood, drinking a little more than usual.Letting their hair down.Tipping more too.It was a good night.
Until Zig turned to face the next customer.“What can I get—” He broke off, his mouth suddenly dry.
His dad gazed at him, a sneer twisting his lips.“How about a word?”
Christ.Zig had forgotten how much bigger than him Dad was.How much meaner, and the way he made Zig feel like a fag-end only fit to be stamped out on the street.It’d seemed so easy to dismiss him when he was sitting in the Chalice Well gardens.So easy to imagine telling him to piss off.
Zig’s guts twisted.“I’m working,” he said, his voice coming out a lot less firm and confident than he’d wanted it to.
“You can take a break to catch up with your old man.That’s all right, ain’t it, love?”Dad smiled at Ange, who with some kind of sixth sense for trouble had appeared at Zig’s shoulder.“You won’t mind giving my boy five minutes with his dad who ain’t seen him for years.”
Ange looked sharply at Zig.“Is that what you want?”
Zig was tempted to sayNo, Christ, bar the bastard, but it wasn’t like Dad would simply disappear.Best to get it over with now.“Five minutes?”he asked hoarsely.
She nodded.Then she sent Dad an insincere smile.“We’re a bit busy tonight, so I can’t spare him any longer, my lover.”
He looked smug.“I’ll find us a table.”
No doubt by evicting its present occupants with menaces.Zig couldn’t stand the thought of that, and he didn’t want anyone overhearing whatever Dad had to say to him, either.“No.Outside.”
With a depressing irony, Zig found himself in the same alleyway he’d stood in a week earlier, telling Si he loved him.It was dark, with a bitter wind blowing, and Zig shivered in his polo shirt.Dad, in his thick wool coat, loomed larger than ever in the silhouette cast by the streetlight.
Christ, had it been a mistake coming out here, where there was no one around to see what Dad might do?
“What do you want?”he asked brusquely, trying to keep the fear out of his voice.
“Is that any way to greet your old man, when he’s travelled all this way to see you?”
“I didn’t ask you to come.”
“Maybe I wanted to see my only flesh and blood.Wasn’t easy tracking you down, you know.Almost like you wanted to hide, imagine that?It was Trent what first got on your trail.Remember him?He remembers you, all right.He had a word with that young lady you used to work with—management said you and her was in tight.”Dad laughed nastily.“And we both know it wasn’t like you’d be trying to shag her.Not unless she had a dick hiding under them short skirts.She told him you said you were going down Peckham for afamily emergency.”
