Jake stared across the table at Cole Woods, feeling an overwhelming urge to knock the mobile out of his hand and punch him in the face. Cole had him by the balls with this one. He knew about Jake’s affair in London, knew about how Jake had put a stop to it. Cole had all the cards to play with the new venture and his insistence on involving Roxanne. Jake couldn’t exactly put a stop to it or Cole would reveal his secret to everyone and he’d lose everything. He’d warned as much at the time. A direct threat.
‘We’ll be seeing each other again, Jakey boy. And when I come looking for you, you’d better make yourself available for me or I’ll make sure that every police station from London to the fucking Shetlands receives a copy of what you did. Do you get me?’
‘That woman of yours sure is something, ain’t she?’ Cole said, pulling out a pack of cigarettes and lighting one inside the pub. Jake kept his mouth shut. He wasn’t going to challenge Cole on anything.
‘Aye, she is that,’ he replied blandly.
‘So, you two been together long?’
Jake blinked, holding his eyes closed for a second longer than normal. Cole was playing with him, trying to back him into a corner to intimidate him. It was working.
‘Since long before she went to prison. We met not long after she came back from living in Spain. Two thousand and one, something like that.’
‘And she’s been away ten years? So you’ve been with her twenty odd years? Fucking hell, Jakey boy. That’s like a life sentence mate,’ Cole laughed, taking a long drag on the cigarette and eyeing the barman, who did his best to ignore the fact that the law was being broken, as did everyone else in the bar. It appeared that they either knew who Cole was, or they simply didn’t want to challenge him.
‘Why do people always say that? If I’d killed her, I’d be out by now? Bollocks. If you kill someone in this country, you’d get at least twenty-five years up your arse.’ A menacing smile crept across Cole’s face as his eyes fell on Jake again. ‘If you get found out, that is.’
Jake swallowed the angry lump in his throat. It was like being held to ransom being in Cole’s company. In truth, that was exactly what was happening here. He was being forced into a situation with a guy he wanted nothing to do with, even though it would make him some serious cash. But the risk of Rox finding out what happened when she was inside was too great. He ran the risk either way. If he refused Cole’s proposal then he would tell Roxanne what Jake had done. And if Cole was feeling like a bigger prick than usual then he would tell her anyway.
‘So then,’ Cole said, blowing smoke into the air above them. ‘You think this woman of yours will find us a hub for our operations?’
Jake nodded. ‘She will. And she’ll do it quickly. Once she has an idea in her head she will go with it until it runs out of steam.’
‘Ah, I like the sound of that, Jake,’ Cole said, sucking air through his teeth. ‘Good business is the result of someone who goes after what they want. She sounds like the type to get what she wants.’
Jake gritted his teeth. He didn’t like the sound of that. It wasn’t the words themselves, it was the way Cole put it. As if he was insinuating that Rox wanted someone, rather than something.