Standing outside the salon and peering through the window, Eddie watched as Arabella danced around the salon floor, with a prosecco glass in one hand and the bottle in the other. The rest of the stylists had left for the evening except for Scarlett and another girl who was in the process of getting ready to leave. Arabella belted out the words to ‘Starships’ by Nicki Minaj in between gulps of fizz and Eddie felt his frustration building. Did she think the place was her own personal nightclub?
Pushing the door open, Eddie stepped inside and Arabella met his eye. She was pretty hammered by the looks of it. Having fun without him, it would seem, after he’d waited on her while she was in prison. After he’d bought her this place. Eddie swallowed down the bitterness on his tongue and tried to remind himself that all he ever wanted was for Arabella to be happy.
‘You’re here.’ Arabella smiled widely and moved across the floor before placing the bottle on the counter at the front desk. As she hugged him tightly, Eddie wrapped an arm around her and took in her scent. ‘I want to introduce you to someone.’
Pulling away, Arabella took hold of Eddie’s hand and led him across the salon towards the kitchen. A woman appeared from the doorway. Tall with auburn hair and fiery eyes to match, Eddie knew exactly who she was, even though she looked a little different from the news report he’d found on Google.
‘This is Roxanne, my friend from Kirktonhill. Roxanne, this is my Eddie.’ Arabella kept hold of Eddie’s hand, and squeezed it a little.
Eddie nodded at Roxanne and noted her expression. A sarcastic smile parted her lips as she raised a brow.
‘Ah, the famous Eddie. It’s good to finally meet you. I wish I had a man who’d buy me a salon.’ Roxanne held out her hand and Eddie shook it.
‘Always good to have a plan when you get back to the real world,’ Eddie replied firmly. ‘It’s nice to finally meet you too. I hear you kept my girl in check while she was inside?’
‘Erm, I’m standing right here, you know,’ Arabella giggled, taking another sip from her glass. ‘Oh by the way, Jake’s just in the bathroom. You’ll get to meet him in a minute. He’s Roxanne’s man.’
Eddie nodded, but he said nothing, unsure how to react.
‘In all honesty, I don’t know how I’d have got through the last ten months of my sentence without this girl. I’m glad you broke the law, Arabella.’ Roxanne laughed.
Arabella leaned into Eddie’s shoulder and smiled. ‘Every crime has a silver lining, eh?’
Movement to his left caught Eddie’s eye and he glanced in the direction of the salon manager getting ready to leave. Scarlett was putting on her coat.
‘Mr Corrigan,’ she said. ‘Arabella, I’m heading now. You’ve got keys, haven’t you?’
‘Yes, yes,’ Arabella replied chirpily. ‘You get off. I’ll make sure things are fine here. Well, Eddie will since I’m half scooped.’
Scarlett laughed and made her way across the salon towards the door. Arabella followed her, grabbed the bottle from the reception desk and turned the music up. He watched as she danced her way back to Roxanne. The pair were laughing and drinking and Eddie admitted to himself that he was proud of what he’d done for Arabella. No one else had seemed to care about her when she went to prison last year. No one had seemed to care about her at any part of her life, from what he knew of her before they’d met. He wanted to be the person who changed that, the person she could depend on.
‘Scarlett?’ Eddie called out. With one hand on the door, Scarlett turned.
‘Yes?’
‘Everything okay here, at the salon? Arabella is doing good?’
Scarlett parted her lips slightly but paused for a moment before replying. ‘Yes, Mr Corrigan, she’s doing fine. But what does it matter what I think? She’s the boss. You’re both my employers.’
Eddie took a short breath. ‘And you’re both getting on okay?’
‘Yes, we’re getting on fine. You have nothing to worry about. Honestly.’ Her voice was low.
Relief flooded his veins. ‘Thank you, Scarlett. I appreciate it must be hard having a new boss. But this means a lot to her and I need things to work.’
‘Goodnight, Mr Corrigan.’ Scarlett opened the door and went out to the street. He watched her go, disappearing around the corner. The slow-closing door clicked shut but Eddie didn’t move. He simply continued to stare out to the street.
He heard the door to the bathroom open at the end of the salon and when he turned, he saw a man step onto the salon floor. Jake.
‘Eddie?’ The guy said.
‘Aye, that’s right. You must be Jake? Arabella was telling me about you.’
He knew who Jake was; the news report back from when Roxanne was sentenced had captured an image of him too.
‘Seems they had a right laugh with each other while they were banged up together.’ Jake smiled and held out his hand. Eddie shook it, applying enough strength to show that he was the alpha here. It was a bit pathetic, Eddie knew that, but he couldn’t help it.
‘Aye, so it seems.’
There was an awkward silence, as though everyone clocked on to the fact that Eddie was acting a little off.
‘I think you two will get on.’ Roxanne peered at Eddie as he sat down on one of the salon chairs. ‘Aye, he likes those… oh what are they called again?’ She raised her eyes and glanced up at Jake. ‘Nissan GT-Rs. Got one in the garage back at the house. It’s an old rust bucket but he likes it.’
Eddie laughed loudly as did Jake. ‘An old rust bucket? You’re clearly not into your classic cars then. What year is it?’ He directed the question at Jake.
Arabella rolled her eyes. ‘Car chat? Really? How boring.’
‘Two thousand and one, mate. Love a GT-R,’ Jake said. He pulled two beers from a bag on the counter to his left and handed one to Eddie. ‘Bud?’
‘Thanks,’ Eddie said, taking the bottle in his hand and twisting off the cap.
Roxanne and Arabella looked as though they were pretending to listen but Eddie knew that Arabella would want to go out to a club later and that was fine. He didn’t mind going out and getting smashed with her. And even though he didn’t know Roxanne and Jake, it might be a laugh to go out with another couple. He couldn’t deny too that part of him was attracted by their criminal links, wondering if this might bring him the buzz he’d been missing.
The four sat chatting for a few hours. Roxanne and Arabella spoke a little of their time together at Kirktonhill and Roxanne explained why she had ended up there for ten years. Eddie was surprised at how open she was being, and how brutal her crime had been. She had a classy look about her and certainly didn’t appear as though she would be so violent. He supposed that was the kind of trait a gangster needed in order to operate: charm and class. Being female would also work in her favour.
‘So, what’s changed?’ Eddie asked her, taking a drink from his bottle.
‘Not much. I’d do it again if I had to. I don’t let folk get away with something like that, Eddie. He owed me money, took the piss out of me for long enough. It’s a shame I got caught, but then I wouldn’t have met Arabella here if I hadn’t.’
Arabella’s eyes fell onto Eddie and he saw her shift in her seat.
‘That’s true,’ Arabella replied. ‘And our friendship has nothing to do with either of our pasts. Right?’
‘Definitely,’ Roxanne smiled and raised her glass.
The evening continued and the girls danced and chatted while Jake showed Eddie some classic cars on the internet that he was interested in. Eddie spoke about his van business and how he’d love nothing more than to be able to get his hands on a GT-R and do some work on one.
‘You’re a mechanic by trade?’ Jake asked.
‘Aye, although I mainly just sit behind a desk now. It’s boring as hell running your own business, but I wouldn’t have the bank balance I do if I was still just a mechanic.’
Jake laughed and Eddie smiled.
‘Why don’t I bring you my GT-R? It needs a new exhaust system fitted. I’ve got it sitting in the garage ready to go but I’ve not got around to booking it in yet,’ Jake said.
‘That would be brilliant. I’d love to see how she handles. But to be honest, I wouldn’t want to touch her. You’d be better taking her to a specialist, Jake.’
‘Fair enough. We’ll give her a run once I get her fixed up?’
‘Aye,’ Eddie said. ‘Sounds like a plan.’
Just as Eddie was about to crack open another beer, Arabella and Roxanne announced that they wanted to go to the new club that was opening in the Merchant City. Just as Eddie had suspected.
‘Oh come on, it’ll be a laugh. I’ve not been to a club in years,’ Roxanne said.
‘Actually, I know the owner,’ Jake said. ‘He told me he expects the place to be bursting at the seams on opening weekend. Why don’t I give him a bell and see if he can get us on the VIP list?’
Eddie smiled as Arabella did a little happy dance.
‘Jake, that would be amazing. I can’t believe you know the guy who owns that club. Who is he?’
Eddie swallowed hard at that one. What was the difference between owning a club and owning a van hire company? A business was a business. He couldn’t let it bother him that Arabella was impressed.
‘Just an old business associate. Give me two minutes and I’ll phone him now.’
A little over two hours later, Eddie and Jake were sitting in a VIP booth in Club Silver, while Arabella and Roxanne were up dancing. They’d been up on the dance floor for the best part of an hour, since they’d arrived. Eddie knew he wasn’t going to get Arabella’s dancing shoes off anytime soon, so he left her to it while he chatted some more with Jake about cars. This guy seemed all right and by the sounds of it had a bit of wealth behind him.
The music blared around them, the light sequences flashing in time with the beat. Jake had been right, the place was packed. People kept waving hello at Jake and Roxanne as they passed.
‘So, you got a GT-R yourself?’ Jake asked Eddie, calling over the music.
‘I wish. Never quite found the right one though. Either the price or the timing wasn’t right,’ Eddie replied, keeping one eye on Arabella.
‘Or maybe buying a salon for your girlfriend got in the way,’ Jake remarked with a smile on his face.
‘Had to mate, I didn’t want her coming out of that shit hole to nothing. It was bad enough she had to serve time in the first place. I had to make sure that she had something to keep her focus.’
Jake seemed surprised. Not that Eddie blamed him. Buying a business for a convicted partner didn’t seem like the everyday scenario.
‘What I mean is, I wanted her to be able to support herself so that she didn’t fall back into her old ways.’
‘And what were those?’
Eddie sighed. Did he really want to talk about that with this guy? He was a stranger, someone he’d only known for a couple of hours. And anyway, if he wanted to know, then surely Roxanne would fill him in. She would be in the know if she’d spent ten months with Arabella.
‘It doesn’t matter now. It’s in the past, hopefully,’ Eddie said, hoping that Jake would sense his tone and end this line of conversation.
‘Jakey Boy!’
Eddie looked up in response to the loud, London accent. A man stood by the booth, holding an ice bucket with a bottle of Grey Goose inside. Eddie could tell this guy thought a lot of himself. His stance, the way he loomed over the top of them told Eddie all he needed to know. He was the type who thought he was better than everyone, from how he dressed to how much money he had in the bank. The guy seemed like an arsehole.
‘Cole. What are you doing here?’ Jake replied, getting to his feet. Eddie saw how Jake gritted his teeth but tried to disguise it as a smile.
‘Fancied a night on the town. Can’t come to Glasgow and not try out the newest club on launch night, can I? I know the owner.’
Jake nodded and Eddie got up from his seat. ‘Aw’right mate.’
‘Cole,’ Jake said. ‘This is Eddie. Eddie, Cole.’
Cole put the ice bucket on the table and held out his hand. ‘Good to meet you, Eddie. Mind if I join you? All my mates are back in London, you know how it is. My only mucker up here is Jakey Boy, ain’t that right?’
Jake nodded and moved aside. Cole slid into the booth and the men all sat down. Eddie glanced over at Arabella again, but she wasn’t paying attention. Roxanne, however, was staring over at the booth. Eddie detected a hint of concern in her expression and just as he did, she stopped dancing and headed towards them. Whatever the reason, it was clear both Roxanne and Jake were wary of this Cole character.
‘Your missus don’t look too happy, bud,’ Cole said, taking the Grey Goose out of the bucket and placing it on the table.
Roxanne reached the table and smiled at Eddie before her eyes rested on Cole. ‘Didn’t expect to see you here, Cole.’
‘Nah, I was just telling Jakey Boy and Eddie that I fancied a night out in Glasgow. Plus, I know the owner of Club Silver, so how could I miss launch night?’
Was this guy trying to impress, Eddie thought but he was distracted by Arabella as she danced her way over to the table and sat down on his lap.
‘Let’s get another drink,’ she said. ‘Oh, I’ve not met you before, have I?’
Cole’s eyes fell upon Arabella and his smile lit up his face. ‘Cole. And you must be Arabella. Roxanne has said a lot of good things about you.’
Roxanne’s expression was soft, but her eyes gave away the lie. It seemed she wasn’t happy about Cole’s presence.
‘Girls, why don’t you get stuck into that vodka and I’ll get us another from the bar,’ Cole said.
Getting up, he squeezed out from the booth and disappeared into the crowd that was lining the bar. Roxanne glared at Jake, who said nothing.
‘How’d you two meet then?’ Eddie asked Jake.
‘I worked with him for a bit down in London when Rox was inside.’
‘Yeah,’ Roxanne said as she sat down next to Jake. Taking a sip from Jake’s beer bottle, she said, ‘he’s got some business coming his way up here and he’s asked us if we want in on it.’
‘Oh, that’s exciting,’ Arabella squealed, wriggling on Eddie’s knee before leaning across the table and reaching for the vodka. ‘Babe, pass me that bottle would you?’
Eddie handed the bottle to Arabella and watched as she held it close to her. ‘What are you doing?’
‘Why don’t we take this back to our place? We could all go, grab some food on the way home and carry the party on there? I can’t really chat to Rox in here with the noise and to be honest, I’m pissed and my feet are killing me. Not used to wearing heels.’
Roxanne nodded. ‘Yeah, let’s go.’
‘Aye, clubbing’s not really my thing these days. Rox will tell you, I can’t dance to save myself,’ Jake said.
Soon, they were all standing on the street outside and Arabella had put the vodka inside her jacket. They stood waiting for a taxi and Eddie was beginning to feel pissed himself. He’d not had a lot but then he hadn’t eaten anything, with the garage being so busy today.
‘Oi!’ Cole shouted. ‘Where you lot off to then?’
They turned and Roxanne muttered something Eddie didn’t quite catch.
‘Calling it a night, mate. We’re all a bit old for this now,’ Eddie said, sensing that whatever it was that Roxanne had said, she didn’t want Cole with them.
‘Right then, where we off to?’
‘We haven’t decided yet.’ Roxanne said. ‘But you’d be a spare part, tagging along with us couples.’ Her sarcasm was hard to miss.
‘Tagging along? Nice. Seems as though the only thing tagging along here is that bottle of vodka I paid for that your mate here seems to have nicked.’ Cole nodded in Arabella’s direction and raised a brow. ‘So, like I asked, where we off to?’
Eddie stood still next to Arabella, straightened his back and glared at Cole. Who did this guy think he was, speaking about his girlfriend as if he wasn’t there?
‘Oi, she didn’t nick it. You left it on the table and said you were going to get another. It was fair game,’ Eddie replied.
‘Right,’ Jake interjected and Eddie could tell he didn’t want things to kick off. ‘Why don’t we head to the casino?’
Cole’s eyes lit up and the suggestion seemed to tear him from the brewing fight Eddie was ready for.
‘Yes. Excellent idea, Jake, just excellent. Although, is the casino a place for the ladies here?’
‘Well, prison is no place for a lady and we both managed to get through that fine. So I think we’ll manage,’ Arabella sneered, holding the bottle of vodka at arm’s length and staring Cole dead in the eye.
Roxanne laughed loudly and linked arms with Arabella. ‘Since we’re just little women who can’t do anything without you men, why don’t you get us a taxi and we’ll wait to be told what to do next.’
Eddie couldn’t help but smile. He felt proud that Arabella had stuck up for herself. Yet he knew just by the look of him that Cole was bad news, a dodgy character. And the only way to keep an eye on those types was to stay close.