Chapter 14
CHAPTER 14
M ac
“So, what are you going to do?” Nolan asks, setting his pint down on the table. I sit in our usual booth in the Goat and sigh.
“There’s nothing I can do, and even if I wanted to, you know I can’t.”
I catch Nolan’s smirk and groan.
“I shouldn’t even be talking to you about him.”
“Yes, but I know all your deepest darkest secrets.” Nolan grins and I chuckle at the truth of it.
“Yeah, I just hope none of my enemies know that.”
“Just so you know, I’d be first to squeal under any sort of torture,” Nolan says as he takes another swig of his drink.
“Thankfully I haven’t pissed anyone off to that extent . . . yet,” I tease, picking up my own glass for a drink, and Nolan laughs.
“Not even loverboy?”
“Fuck!” I nearly choke on my drink, and spill some of it over my lap, which reduces Nolan to giggling. I give him the glare he deserves. “He’s not my loverboy!”
He’s not my anything. He’s not even someone I can be around.
“Oh yeah, then why have I had to listen to you whine on about how much he turns you on for the last half an hour?”
“I didn’t say that!” I protest. Well, not in those terms anyway, but Nolan just sniggers. It’s true, though, and that’s the problem. The fire in his eyes, even if it’s directed at me—especially if it is—is like touchpaper to my soul. It has my blood fizzing and it takes every ounce of self control to hold back.
“I have to talk to you. It’s the only way I can get it out of my system.”
Nolan raises an eyebrow at me. “The only way?”
“Yes,” I say sharply, because jerking off to the memory of Levi’s lean body hard against mine, and how soft his lips felt, definitely does not get it out of my system.
I know. I’ve tried. A lot.
I change the subject.
“I saw my Mum yesterday too.”
“Oh?” Nolan’s surprise is evident, as he knows that secret too, but he recovers quickly. “Did you talk to her?”
“No, but I think she wants us to.”
“Are you going to?” he asks and I shrug.
“I dunno. She caught me off guard and I said I would.” I release a long sigh, trying to alleviate the conflicting feelings I have whenever I think about my mum. “I guess I should, but I don’t know if I’ve left it too late, if there’s too much water under the bridge.”
“Well, you should only talk to her if you want to, but I will say that it’s never too late. It sounds positive if she wants to talk as well.”
“Yeah,” I agree noncommittally, using my drink as an excuse not to say anything more, but Nolan frowns at me and I know he’s not done with me yet.
“You’re very good at burying your head in the sand, and you’re more stubborn than a mule so I know you won’t listen to me if you don’t want to, but think about it, Mac. Seriously. Don’t let your stubbornness lead you to regret later that you didn’t take the opportunity when you had the chance. Because then it is too late.”
“I thought you said it was never too late,” I say, mostly to deflect from having to acknowledge the rest of his words.
“Asshole,” he replies. “For that, the next round is on you.”
I huff a laugh as I get up and go to the bar, as it was my round anyway, but it serves to break the tension. As I wait for the beers, I reflect on Nolan’s words. He’s right as usual, about all of it. I won’t deny I’m stubborn; it’s one of my better qualities.
When I return with the drinks, I turn the conversation onto him and away from me.
“How are you doing? Have you spotted any new talent recently?”
Nolan half laughs and half grimaces, and uses the tried and tested stalling method of taking a swig of his pint. I know how broken his heart was, but I didn’t think Cliff was the right guy for him—not that I ever told him that, nor will I. I’ll support my best friend in whatever choices he makes, and be there for him both in the good times and when I have to pick up the pieces, but it would be good for him to have someone. Nolan’s a romantic at heart, even if he doesn’t exude that most of the time. He’s never one to be long without a partner, though Cliff was the longest and the most serious. Nolan obviously thought it was forever which is why he proposed.
“I’m done with all that nonsense. I’m too old to go through all that again.”
“It’s never too late.” I can’t resist echoing his words back at him and he rolls his eyes.
“Remind me why we’re friends again?”
“Because no one else will have us as friends so we’re stuck with each other,” I quip back, and he laughs because he knew I would say that.
“I do question my life choices sometimes.” He gives his usual reply, but I still don’t give the subject up.
“Well, there’s plenty more fish in the sea.”
“For friends or life partners?” He gives a smirk and I flip him off. He knows there’s no better friend than me. I still think he’s happier when he has someone to love, though.
“Go out to a bar, a club, and meet new people. We live in a city where we have these options. Better than being stuck in a sucky little town with no one to meet up with other than your third cousin.”
“God, you sound just like Reece, saying that.”
“Well, he’s not wrong.”
Nolan frowns at me. “It’s uncanny, really. How you both hate small towns.”
“Well, obviously the man is right. They do suck,” I state.
I’ve met Reece, Nolan’s business partner, several times. They used to work together at a company managing infrastructure projects about a decade ago. Then three years ago they set up in business together, still project managing, and poaching some of their previous company’s clients. So far it’s been a success. Reece is an American, about our age, though he’s been in the UK for about twenty years. I’m pretty sure he came to Oxford to study engineering at the same time we studied, but neither of us knew him then. It wasn’t until they worked together that he and Nolan met. Whilst they get on well—obviously well enough to start a business together—they don’t, as far as I know, socialise with each other. I remember Nolan once saying that if they met up outside of work, they’d never stop talking about it, and it was good to have a break. I understand that; it makes sense. I’d like to say that about my own work colleagues, but really it’s because I can’t stand most of them. The few times I’ve met Reece, he seemed decent, and if Nolan rates him, that’s fine with me.
I ask him how work’s going, and he fills me in on the few latest project clients they’ve managed to get on board and how because of the increased work they were thinking of employing a junior project manager to help them. By the time we part, after one more drink, I’ve managed to not think about Levi for at least an hour, which is progress, and I will put some thought into visiting my mum and at least hearing what she has to say.
I can see Shari almost bubbling with excitement when I enter the office the following morning. As soon as I get to my room she bounces in behind me.
“I assume you have something,” I say as I put my coffee on my desk.
She gives me a smug grin and plucks a piece of paper from the file clutched to her chest. She places it on my desk and I peer down at it.
It’s a printout of an email. I scan it and look up at her.
“Is this for real?”
“Yes it is. This is a printout but we have the original, and tech has checked its authenticity, its IP address, everything.”
“Wow,” I say, sinking into my chair. The email is from Winstanton to one of the names on the list we developed from Levi’s testimony. It’s incriminating and backs up Levi’s statement. “I can’t believe he’d do something like this.”
“I guess he thought he was untouchable.” Shari produces two more printed sheets and places them next to the first. They’re similar and to different email addresses, but they’re both longer, emails exchanged back and forth. All of them have a similar tone.
“This is the evidence we’ve been looking for. This means we have a real chance of getting him convicted on this charge.”
We have a good case for the charge of organised crime and links to the drugs underworld, as that’s what I’ve been working on for years, as well as the attempted kidnapping of Josh and for the officers who were injured in that incident. But since I heard Levi’s story I’ve wanted to bring these charges against Winstanton too, for Levi. So he can have closure, and so he didn’t have to go through that for nothing. I read through the emails again, pleased we finally have some strong evidence. I can’t wait to see Winstanton go down for this.