Page 44 of The Redemption of Alex Cade
“There was money to be made in really learning the ropes to running a club, I was certain of it, and I don’t mean by swilling out the toilets. Rob, who was the owner, took rather a liking to Alex and that gave us our way in. It was touch and go for a while because I had one hell of a job persuading Alex that he was pivotal to adding a lot more bricks to the wall. Especially as Rob had certain tastes. But I told Alex I’d bethere to make sure things didn’t get out of hand, just like I always had been. Still took some persuading, though.”
“You’re a fucking animal, do you know that? You call yourself his friend, yet you made him?—”
“I didn’t force him. I didn’t lock him in a room with Rob. I convinced him it was for our greater good. Oh, Kitten, you overestimate the influence I have over him. He might not have liked it, but he knew what he had to do to get us to the next stage. And he owed me, you could say.”
“What are you talking about?” I was hating what Kelvin was feeding me, but like an addict I was demanding another taste.
“Well, to put it bluntly, Kitten, I told Alex he had to pull his weight. I’d been the one who’d recruited the boys, I’d been the one who’d had the full and frank discussions with our competitors, I was the one who was organising the business with the help of some recruits, trusted men who are still with us. And what was Alex doing? Sod all. It pains me to say it, but it’s the truth. Alex had stopped taking an active role in the business but was more than happy to benefit from the hard work of others. He liked to spend the cash that was filling the coffers.”
I rubbed my hands down my face. Alex’s life when he fled the foster home, no way could I condemn him for it; he’d done what he had to in order to survive. But afterwards? Exploiting and feeding on others?
“I don’t want to hear any more. I want you to go,” I rasped.
“Tough titties, on both counts. Now, where was I? Oh yes, we were moving up in our chosen career. Rob was besotted, and it was easy to see why. Alex could play the innocent sweet virgin role to perfection. But by that stage a role was all it was.
“Poor Rob. Alex used to tease him something terrible, offering up all his very juicy fruit before snatching it away. It was a carefully thought out and choreographed game, and Alex was the master of it. I think in some ways he rather enjoyed it, once he got the bit between his teeth. In more ways than one.” Kelvin grinned, daring me to put the pieces together, daring me to ask. I said nothing as I stared back at him.
“Ah, Rob. A drunk, no family, slobbering over Alex. Pathetic, really. And there he was, sitting on a potential gold mine and all he did was piss it up the wall, and beg Alex to give him a little taste of his very forbidden fruit. Alex played his part well because he’d got used to having lots of ready cash in his pocket, and you know what, Kitten? The more you have, the more you want, and the way to get more was to carry on diversifying. Then it hit us, like a bolt from the blue. Why we hadn’t thought about it before I’ll never know.”
“What do you mean?” My brain was numb with overload, and I struggled to keep up.
“It was staring us in the face. Come on, Kitten, pay attention! Gay club culture. Sex. Drugs. It’s the perfect trifecta, the holy trinity. Soon, we were flying. And the money!” Kelvin threw his hands in the air, a wide grin slashing his face. “I’ve jumped ahead again, Kitten, haven’t I? My bad. Hmm, perhaps I’ve not painted Rob entirely accurately. You see, when he wasn’t pissed or begging Alex for scraps, he had a lot of knowledge and experience about the sector. He became a mentor of sorts. Plus, we were forming contacts and learning from more successful places, seeing what they were doing and how we could apply it to Euphoria.
“We thought we were doing well before, with the boys, but we hadn’t had a clue. Euphoria was going from strengthto strength, and that was down to me and Alex. But the problem was we weren’t the owners.
“Me and Alex, we needed to be properly in charge, to have our own place, so we started to look around for somewhere, but the costs involved.” Kelvin shook his head. “Astronomical, they were. We’d pulled Euphoria out of the shit and we were confident we could take the trade we’d built up with us, but the stumbling block was that we couldn’t afford to make that leap. I’ve got to say, we were both pretty pissed off by it. We had plenty of cash, and why shouldn’t we because we’d implemented the changes that had made Euphoria a goldmine. But the fact remained that unless we had our own place we couldn’t take the next step up, and add more bricks to the wall.
“We paid Rob a wage, even though he was the legal owner. He was happy but to be honest he’d really and truly gone downhill. Most of the time he didn’t know what day it was because he’d got a taste for all the sweeties being passed around, along with the booze. Tragic, when you think about it.”
“You manipulated him, both of you did. You took advantage of a man who was vulnerable. You were fleecing him.” It made me feel sick to say it. Alex might have started off as a victim, but under Kelvin’s tutelage he’d moved on to being a victimiser. This wasn’t the man I’d come to… I couldn’t say it, not even to myself, not then as I sat in a house that didn’t feel like home anymore. Yet, how much of this story was true that Kelvin was telling me? I wanted so hard to not believe him, to call him a liar, but…
But, this vile, monstrous man wanted me out of Alex’s life. He’d already told me that, so why wouldn’t he pull out every dirty trick he had to get what he wanted?
“It didn’t take much to get Rob to change his will. He’dwanted to leave the place to a local dogs’ home. Can you believe it? We’d made the acquaintance of a solicitor who used to come to the club. In exchange for certain somewhat grainy images not being released to his wife, the police, and the Law Society, he agreed to draft a new will for Rob to sign. I’ll be honest with you, Kitten, it did cross my mind to persuade him to make me the sole beneficiary, but Alex had by this time done his fair share in getting us to the point we were at, so it was fifty-fifty each, straight down the line.”
“You’re vile. You’re truly evil,” I whispered as I cowered in the chair. “And I don’t believe you. Not a word.”
Kelvin’s brows arched. “Not one single word? Not sure I believe you, Kitten. Maybe you think I’m exaggerating, but you’re not really sure, are you?” His smiled widened, cold and dark, and full of loathing, and I shrank back some more. “So, you’ll just have to ask him, won’t you? And when you do, watch him very, very carefully. Don’t know about you, Kitten, but I’m starving.”
“What?” I gasped, feeling like ice cold water had been thrown in my face.
“I saw you’ve got a nice bit of Cheddar in the fridge and some decent bread on the side,” he said, ignoring my confusion. “I’ll make a sandwich, if you don’t mind, because going over all this is hard work. You know, you should feel privileged because I’ve not told anybody before and I know Alex hasn’t either. Not even to you, or so it would seem. Very remiss of him, I’d say.” He sighed and looked at me with something akin to pity. “Maybe he doesn’t really trust you. Who knows? Do you have any pickle?”
Kelvin clattered around the kitchen. Slamming cupboard doors, wrenching open drawers. Plunging the knife into the tub of butter. Leaving the cheese or what was left of it discarded on the worktop along with crumbs from the loafhe’d sawed two massive slices from. The pickle with the lid left off, a lump of it dripping down the jar. All of it done to intimidate, as I stared, rigid with fear.
He sat back down again. “Now, where were we? Ah, yes. Rob, and changing his will. He had his accident a few months later. Terrible business, ” he said through a mouthful of sandwich. “Under new ownership, Euphoria really began to thrive. We were on a roll. More clubs, using the same business model. Bars. All set up and run using the same willing formula. We had quite the property and business portfolio, and we were getting a name in the industry. And there we were, still only in our twenties. You know, we should have got an award from the local Chamber of Commerce.” He laughed. “Wonder what category we’d have been placed in?” His laughter fell away as he looked at me. “But we were always looking to diversify.
“We moved into more upmarket areas. No more going back to running street boys for us. Select, invitee only parties where guests could really let their hair down. Private hotels where certain tastes could be indulged. Certain—what’s the word?” He snapped his fingers, fast and staccato. “Peccadillos.” He grinned, pleased with himself, and I looked away. “You really are a tight arsed little prude, aren’t you? Fuck knows what Alex sees in you.”
My neck snapped around hard, and I winced. He was smirking as his dark eyes drilled into me.
“No, Kelvin, I’m not a prude. I don’t condemn anybody for working in the sex industry.” My voice faltered as my throat dried. “But what I do condemn is the scum that feed on them.”
“Nobody’s forced, Kitten. We get very well paid for bringing certain parties together, and our ‘employees’,” he said, air quoting the words, “receive a very generous cut. Wepay well, they stay loyal. Everybody’s happy. Including you.”
I jumped. “What do you mean by that?”
“Every penny Alex’s spent on you, whether it’s been on drinks or dinner, whatever, it’s come from the business. I’m so, so sorry, Kitten. Do you feel tainted? Do you feel sleazy and grubby? Yes, you do. I can see it in your eyes. But you needed to know the truth about Alex, about who and what he is.” Kelvin sighed, and his lips curved downwards.
