Chapter 17

Toms Trist.

Another new venture Mazza now added to his diverse list of activities, came when an upmarket night club on Walsall’s Broadway now opened called the ‘Kensington’. There they had on offer, cabaret style shows including some high-class striptease acts on some nights, together with hotel conference facilities made available with overnight stays in plush suites. How Mazza fitted into this operation was that the owners, a couple in their mid-thirties, named Dean and Jenny Rossi borrowed a substantial amount of money off Mazza to renovate the place. Also, they needed a discrete limo service to be available on some nights to pick up or drop off their clients to various parts of the Midlands, so Mazza quickly obtained a couple of decent up market motors then supplied these with smartly dressed drivers to carry out whatever Dean and his wife wanted.

Dean was a sharp operator who Mazza had had dealings with for several years, and was as Mazza once put it, ‘As slippery as an eel in a bucket of hot snot’. To this end Mazza always kept an eye on him, specially to make sure that he paid on the last night of each month in cash, as agreed, for the services rendered.

And this turned out to be where Danny and Tom came into the picture so to speak, as Mazza instructed them both to put on a decent suit, then use his Jaguar now resprayed after its recent encounter with paint stripper, to visit the ‘Kensington’ and collect his dues. On one of these nights a Friday as it happened, they pulled into the club’s car park, feeling that they had made it in life, driving a gleaming white Jaguar, wearing a half decent Mod style suite, with money in your pocket - could life get any better? Once inside the club they moved to the bar area and sat on two of the high-top stools before ordering two Irish Whiskies from the bar man, who happened to be Danny’s old school friend Jim Degville, who on seeing them called out,

“Look at you two flash gits.”

Danny leaned across the bar to shake his old friend’s hand before asking, “Is the boss about Jim?”

His friend looked about him before answering. “No, he left about an hour ago in a filthy mood. I think he had a row with his wife, the delightful Jenny.”

Tom was looking around the club admiring the classy set up when he turned to watch the cabaret singer, who was doing a decent job at taking on Shirley Bassey singing ‘Diamonds are for ever.’

Jim followed his eyes then commented, “She is good, is our Masie. But she is older than your mother I would bet.”

Tom now looking her way once more said, “Never.”

The singer had by now finished on stage and was about to take a break as Jim called her over to join them. When she arrived, you could see that Jim was correct and attractive as she was, she would never see forty years old again. Jim told her that she had two new fans in the boys who both complimented her on her singing.

She mentioned in conversation that she came from Watling St, Brownhills. Later in the conversation on hearing his name was Tom Aston, she surprised him by saying, “Then you must be one of Emily and Fred Aston’s grandsons, am I right?”

A look of surprise now came to Tom’s face but before he could reply, laughing, she added,

“If so, I sat you on my lap when you were but two months old.”

Tom thought this hilarious, when he pointed out that it must have been Danny as he was the grandson that had once lived with their gran. Danny now went bright red. Maisie left them to, as she put it, powder her nose before returning onto the stage. As both Jim the barman and Tom continued to rib Danny about what Maisie had said suddenly this came to an end, as Jenny Rossi made an appearance as the door marked private opened to allow this stunning looking woman dressed in a simple black cocktail dress to emerge.

On seeing the boys at the bar, she came directly across to where they stood greeting them with “Well, hello boys, and what can we do for you?”

For just a moment both were stuck for words. Tom with a grin on his face just stared at this image of beauty until Danny finally spoke, “Good evening, Mrs Rossi, we were hoping to see Mr Rossi to pick up the usual package for Mr Mazzon.”

She smiled and after instructing Jim the barman to mix her usual drink she turned to them and exclaimed, “Well, I am sorry to disappoint you boys, but Dean is not here. So can I be of any help?”

Danny was not sure how to answer this. On seeing him lost for words, she bid them both to follow her into her private apartment, where she said they could discuss the matter further.

Once inside the apartment they could see it was furnished beautifully, the seats all upholstered in a dark blue soft Italian leather, while the carpet pile was so deep it felt like you were walking on freshly mowed grass. She asked them to sit while she made them more drinks from an extensively stocked drinks cabinet, after which she sat facing them revealing a generous view of her
suntanned thigh.

Tom asked how she knew what drinks they were drinking. She just pointed towards a mirror that stood on the wall adjacent to the bar. On looking at this they could see it was in fact a two-way mirror. She was enjoying the look of surprise on both of their faces but put them at ease by saying, “Don’t worry boys there is nothing else here to surprise you, the mirror is so that we can keep an eye on what is going on in the club at all times. In fact, I have been watching the both of you since you first came in.”

Tom without taking his eyes off the generous amount of thigh Jenny was still showing asked, “And did you like what you saw?”

Jenny, knowing he was trying to flirt with her was quick with her reply, “Well, I could not possibly comment on that after only seeing you at a quick glance.”

Danny seeing the way this conversation was heading tried to change the subject by asking when they could expect Dean to return.

Jenny turned to face him before saying, “He will not be back here until after 10.30, this I can assure you.”

As this was 2 hours away, after taking in the way Tom was looking at Jenny, Danny decided to leave them alone, so he announced, “Well, if you two do not mind, I will return to the bar while we are waiting, and chat to my old mate, Jim.”

Tom looked towards Jenny wondering what her reaction to this was going to be. But she just smiled and commented that she would keep Tom amused while Danny chatted to his friend, if, she added, Tom had no objection.

Tom not knowing exactly what to say just nodded saying, “That is fine by me.”

Once they were alone Tom ventured to sit next to Jenny and after loosening his tie he commented on how hot it was in there. Jenny moved closer and after encouraging him to remove his jacket she began to undo his shirt buttons. On completion of this she then kissed him. That was enough to light Tom’s touch paper and before long they were both naked as the day that they were born.

Meanwhile at the bar Jim commented as to whether Danny’s friend would be joining him.

Danny’s answer was to just raise his eyebrows.

Jenny, after, shall we say? - her lust had been sated, began to ask Tom all about himself. She was surprised to find that he was younger than Danny, but this fact did not seem to put her off in continuing to get to know him. She now took him by surprise saying that she had never been on the back of a powerful motorcycle, so when discovering that Tom owned one, she asked if one night he would like to take her for a ride. After another hour had passed, Tom did finally make an appearance in the bar.

Danny looked at his cousin who had a sheepish look on his face before asking, “Everything okay then, old son?”

Tom nodded his head with, “More than okay, believe you me, mate.”

Danny left it at that as after another 30 minutes Dean Rossi finally arrived, who after visiting his apartment, returned arm in arm with his wife, before apologising to the boys for not being there to meet them, but said he hoped that Jenny had looked after them in his absence. After passing across a thick brown envelope for the attention of Mr Ray Mazzon he left them, and with his wife he went across to join a group of wealthy looking customers, who, Jim, the barman, informed them included the Mayor of Walsall.

One night the following week when Danny came home from the workshop for his tea, he was surprised to find out from his aunt that his cousin had already eaten and was now upstairs taking a bath before getting ready to go out.

Danny entered the bedroom to find Tom generously splashing after shave on his face and pulling his new white polo neck jumper over his head. He turned to his cousin before asking,

“How do I look then?”

Danny looking him up and down answered, “You look and smell great. In fact I could fancy you myself. But who, I wonder, is the lucky girl this is all in aid of?’

Then the penny finally dropped as he added, “Tonight, is a Tuesday night, so let me guess that is the night that a certain Mrs Rossi informed you that her husband was away, am I correct?”

Later that evening in a dark deserted side street near the ‘Kensington night club’ the silence was broken by the sound of a Rocket Gold Star’s twin exhausts, after which dressed in a fashionable leather jacket and a short skirt a woman climbed on to its pillion seat before the exhaust noise increased dramatically as the bike roared off along the Broadway before turning in the direction of Barr Beacon. As the bike accelerated along a straight stretch of the Sutton Road the needle on the speedometer now read 80 miles per hour. While hanging on to the back of Tom’s leather jacket for dear life, Jenny squealed with delight.