Chapter 22 #4
“Mozambique. I picked it up in South Africa after our last game.”
I hit him with a hard stare, just so he knows I’m not impressed that he’s been walking around with fifty grand worth of ring and still managed to lose something far more valuable.
Jake stares back, like a puppy pleading for approval.
I notice the ruby is held in place with a dozen or so platinum talons instead of the standard four prongs, each sharpened to a vicious point.
“I like the claws,” I say.
He gives me a small smile. “Me too. They remind me of her.”
“How do you know so much about jewellery?” Davis asks.
I wiggle my eyebrows at him. “Another life, love. Another life.”
Des is eyeing me closely. “You, uh, you wouldn’t be expecting something like that if you ever got married again, would you, Aggie?”
“Am I not worth it, O’Malley?”
“I didn’t say that. It’s just, ah, a lot of ring, is all. Especially if a bloke’s on a fixed income.”
I laugh. “I’m just having you on, Des. I haven’t taken you up on a date in years, let alone asked for a ring. But that’s a lovely bit of flash you picked out, Golden Boots. Shame you didn’t hold onto the girl long enough to give it to her.”
Jake snaps the box closed. “You’re not wrong. Well, that’s my fuckin’ sob story. Ada’s gone. I fucked it. End of.”
Silence falls over the booth again, and Jake lets out a breath. “Look, anyone want a refill?”
“Nah,” Davis says, as Des and I shake our heads. I’ve got a feeling Davis has something to ask Jake, and I’m not wrong.
“You think she’ll do it? Cece? Hook up with that prick at the reunion?”
“I dunno, mate,” Jake says, pouring himself another whiskey. “I’m probably the last guy to ask if high school crushes can go the distance. Ada reckons Cece will, though.”
Davis drops his chin to his chest. “Don’t suppose you can stop it?”
“Can’t even stop my own trainwreck. Besides, I’m not going down there this weekend. Fuck the reunion.”
Nerves flick inside me. “You’re not?”
He holds up his glass. “Couldn’t if I wanted to now. No way to get there.”
“I didn’t know that,” I say, louder than I intended. “What about Ada and Cece? They might need someone looking out for them.”
“Ada doesn’t want me there, and after what she told me happened to her, the school can get fucked. I’m only there to be a mascot.”
I turn to Davis. “Are you going?”
He shakes his head. “Why would I?”
“Because someone bloody should.”
“Hang on,” Davis says. “You’ve spent this whole time telling us to respect what the girls want. And what they want is for us to piss off and leave them alone.”
“There’s a difference between smothering and support! I thought one of you would be there to keep an eye on them.”
The men all stare at me like I’ve lost the plot.
“It’s just a reunion,” Jake says. “A stupid high school dance. There’s nothing to worry about.”
But there’s plenty to worry about. I’ve been worrying about it. For weeks. And Ada might be a firecracker, but the revenge plans she’s been cooking up since the invite landed are far from a few school hijinks. I know because she left her little notebook in the kitchen a week ago, and I peeked.
I figured it was more of a welfare check than snooping, but what I found made my blood run cold.
The girl wasn’t plotting to put cling film over the toilet seats or set off any fire alarms. Instead, she had pages of notes on a place called Thompson Farms, the place owned by that sleazy Thrasher dickhead who came in here and tried to take her home before Jake swooped her away.
The Kingpin Ada labelled him before scribbling: Come up with a worse name. Cunt doesn’t deserve Kingpin.
If Ada’s right about this Thrasher guy, he is some kind of small-town kingpin.
His farm seems to fund most of Pukekohe, and the way he runs things is rotten.
Illegal labour, wage theft, and things I couldn’t quite understand, but sounded even worse.
There was a section called Push-Out Parties where Ada wrote unanswered questions that made my guts churn.
Are the migrant workers pressured to attend?
Are they coerced into sex?
Have they tried to report it?
Are they underage?
I told myself she was going overboard. Fixated on something more fantasy than fact.
I was also counting on Jake being glued to her side at the reunion, broken up or not.
I also thought Davis would be there. If not for Cece then to watch Ada’s back.
She labelled him as her ‘body man’ on the first page of her notebook, something I thought was sweet at the time but seems bloody terrifying now.
“Fucking hell,” I mutter. “How do none of you blokes see how crazy it is that the girls are in Pukekohe by themselves?”
“Wait,” Davis says. “Is this about Ada’s… revenge stuff?”
I exhale with relief. “You know about that? The Thompson Farms thing?”
“No, she just told me …” He casts a sheepish look at Jake.
“... That she was gonna cocktease every bloke in our year into having a massive brawl at the reunion?” Jake says drily. “Yeah, I knew about that. She told me she packed it in, but I s’pose there’s no reason not for her to try it again now.”
Davis winces. “Sorry, man.”
“S’all right.” Jake drains his whiskey. “All the more reason not to be there.”
I gape at Golden Boots. “That’s what you’re worried about? Ada screwing some other bloke?”
“What else would I have to be worried about?”
“How about her being involved in things that have a lot less to do with rooting your mates and a lot more to do with actual bloody crimes?”
“Like?”
“What about that prick who came in here pulling for her? Thrasher something? The one who owns the farm. He’ll be there, won’t he? What if he goes after Ada?”
“He won’t.” Jake grimaces. “I mean, I don’t think he will.”
“Oh, well, I won’t worry then,” I snarl. “I mean, if Jake Graves-Holland thinks that prick’s gonna play nice, that’s more than good enough for me.”
Jake closes his eyes, the light picking up the gold at the end of his dark lashes. “Ada doesn’t want me around, and I have to respect that.”
“Bullshit.”
His eyes fly open. “Sorry?”
“Only looking out for women when they’ve got their legs open for you isn’t respecting women.”
His pretty boy face darkens. “That’s not fair.”
I round on Davis. “What about you? You were helping Ada, weren’t you? Making sure no one hassled her?”
He shifts uncomfortably in his seat. “Only in the bar.”
“Oh, only in the bar.” I throw up my hands. “I can’t believe the pair of you. You both deserve to be alone if that’s the attitude you’re bringing to the table.”
They stare at me, startled.
Des clears his throat. “If you’re sitting on something, love, I think it’ll be best to just come out with it.”
I glare at him for the pet-name, but it’s undercut by the tears prickling the backs of my eyes. “She’s in trouble,” I say, scrubbing my face with my knuckles. “Ada. She’s been looking into that Thrasher bloke’s farm. She’s gonna go poking around on her own while she’s down there.”
Jake and Davis exchange glances.
“Ada’s actually been looking into Thompson Farms? Like a journalist?” Jake asks.
I feel like screaming. “Yes, and from what I read in her notebook, she’s knee-deep in trouble, so anything you know about what goes on at that place would be very fucking helpful, Golden Boots.”
“I dunno.” Jake gets a faraway look in his eyes. “Everyone who works there is… weird about it.”
“How?”
“I dunno. They just don’t talk about it much. Nan says you’d think they were burying bodies out there.”
My stomach knots so hard I almost double over. “You need to find Ada. Now. Tonight.”
“Can’t,” Jake and Davis say at the same time.
“Then you’re a couple of cowards,” I screech, hating how my voice cracks on the last word. Too high. Too womanly.
“Aggie,” Des warns.
“Stay out of it, Desmond!” I jab a finger right at Golden Boots. “Don’t you have some charity shit to do at this reunion? Isn’t that why you met up for coffee with that troll and dragged all our lives into the fucking mud?”
“Yeah,” Jake spits back. “But it’s too late. It starts today, and by the time we get down there, I’ve already missed half the shit I said I’d be at—”
“I don’t give a flying fuck! Ada needs you!”
“No, she fucking doesn’t!” Jake slams his hands on the bar top so hard the bottles rattle. “She doesn’t need anyone! She was like that at school, and she’s like that now. I’m not going back home just to make a cock of myself trying to prove any different!”
The silence that follows could knock a man out. Davis’s jaw is working on nothing, and Des looks like he’d rather be anywhere else. But I’m too angry to care. I give Jake the filthiest look I can muster.
“So, it was all bullshit, was it? You having a change of heart about your old mates and wanting to stick your neck out for Ada?”
I see a flash of the same fury I’ve seen bursting through the telly whenever the All Blacks are losing. “No.”
“Yes. Because here you are, sitting on your ass, telling me you’d let her get hurt again just so you don’t have to feel uncomfortable. Because you’re scared she won’t like you for it. Scared she’ll tell you to piss off. And you’d rather abandon her again than risk her hating you for trying.”
Jake’s face crumples.
“Aggie,” Des urges. “Maybe—”
“You’ve got a reason to show up,” I cut in. “Go to the reunion. Give your silly presentation. Take Davis. Make sure nothing happens to Ada and Cece, because if something does and you’re not there—”
My throat closes, and I turn my back on all of them, pressing my hands to my face. My palms are rough from years of bleach and hot water. There was supposed to be time to get them soft again, just like there was supposed to be time to turn this bar around.
“Bloody men,” I choke. “Why can’t you ever be where we need you when it fuckin’ counts? Just once?”