Always For You (Books 1-3) (20 page)

“Bizarre,” said Ellen. “But how
did he know who you were?”

Dad looked down slightly uncomfortably
as he started talking. “Well, he had this picture. It was of me and
his mother. It was all he had of her, from before he was born. He
recognized me from it.”

Ellen went quiet, biting her tongue. I
could tell she was still finding it hard to forgive dad for it, to
let it go.

Dad changed the subject,
diverting the attention away from him. “So, Chase, any further news
about your boss?”
Fuck, this was the last
thing I wanted us to talk about.

Chase shook his head. “None I'm
afraid to say. They're convinced it was a botched robbery, but no one
knew why he was there. John, my boss, that is. It was very unlike him
to go there alone, to the mansion. He only ever used it for big
parties and things like that. I suppose that's the mystery.

“God I am sorry about it all Chase.
Were you close, with your boss?”

Shut up, please shut up. I should have
told him not to mention it.

“Yes Trevor, as it happens. He was a
close family friend, very close actually.”

“Oh, I had no idea. I'm so sorry I
brought it up.”

“No, it's really OK,” Chase
continued. “It's been long enough now, I've had time to deal with
it all.”

The table went silent for a moment as
everyone gathered their thoughts. The conversation had turned
extremely serious, unlike the previous couple of hours of jovial chit
chat that we'd been enjoying before dinner.

A weight was now hanging over us all,
issues that I was right at the center of. Try as I might to move past
it all, it kept catching back up with me. I needed to change the
subject, needed to get it all out of my head.

“Um dad, do we have dessert?”

“We do yes, I'll just go fetch it.”
He walked out of the room into the kitchen, clearly happy to get out
of there.

“I'm sorry about that Chase,” I
said as he left. “I should have told him about it, that he
shouldn't bring it up.”

“
Baby it's fine. Look,
I've got to deal with this, don't worry about it.” I felt relieved
by his tone, remaining more upbeat and enthusiastic, like the guy I
met, the guy I fell in love with.
Maybe he
really has turned a corner?

Cain

That's what I want. Right there. That's
what my life's always been missing.

I looked through the window of the
house from across the street, my bike invisible from view in the
darkness. The curtains were still open into the dining room and I
could see a family having dinner, happy and content, chatting away as
families do.

I watched them as the dinner went on,
fetching more food and wine, taking it in turns to speak. Some spoke
more than others, but I guess that was natural. I wondered how much
I'd be speaking if I was in there, if I was sat there with them.
Maybe one day I'd find out.

It was such a normal scene, a scene
being played out in millions of homes around the country right now.
But to me, it was so different, a picture that I'd almost never been
a part of. Perhaps I should go knock on the door, join in. How would
they welcome me? With open arms? How would I affect the conversation,
the mood? Would they want me there?

I looked at Grace, sitting next to a
young man. He looked so clean cut, so smart. I knew who he was – he
was Chase, the guy she'd been seeing for a while now. But he was more
than that, it was his boss in the mansion. That man, John Avery,
who'd almost killed me, was his boss. And Grace was seeing him. I
didn't know about that until recently. I didn't know what to think of
it.

Then I saw Ellen, my other sister. She
really did look like Grace. She was beautiful, just like her sister.
That's all I knew about her. And Trevor, my dad. I knew next to
nothing about him either.

There I was, staring at
this family having dinner – my family – and I knew nothing about
them. Nothing but a few superficial details. How could I possibly fit
in with them? Their worlds were so different from mine.
Would
they ever accept me as one of their own?

I watched on for a few more moments
before gunning the engine and zipping back off down the road. I'd
been back in a town for a couple of days now, back trying to get
things straight. I had gone over to speak to Trevor, continue to find
out more about what had happened in the past, try to put the jigsaw
together. Then I saw them all, the whole family having dinner. It was
more than I could deal with right now.

I rode back to my flat and parked up my
bike on the side of the road.
Thank God the rent was so cheap on
this place, otherwise I'd never have been able to hang onto it.
I
had to thank Brad for that. He'd been covering things on my end while
I was away, keeping my landlord off my back. He told him I had needed
to go off on some business for a few months.
Business. Like he'd
believe that!

I owed that guy a lot. Not just money,
more than that. Without him I don't know where I'd be. I'd have had
to go to the hospital to get fixed up, or would have passed out and
died of blood loss on the side of the street. The staff in ER would
have alerted the police, I was sure of that. A suspicious knife wound
to the abdomen – that would always attract negative attention.
They'd ask me questions, uncomfortable questions. Maybe they'd have
put it all together, linked me to the John Avery murder somehow. I
don't know. But I do know that I owed Brad more than I could ever
repay. And since then? He'd been keeping tabs on everything for me,
still helping me while I was away.
Legend
.

I'd gone over to see Brad first thing
when I came back. I got back late at night, crashed, and then went to
see him the next morning. Found him kicking a chick out of his bed
from the night before.
Not much has changed there then.

He told me my job at the bar was gone,
not much of a surprise. I'd passed him most of the money I had,
paying for the rent I owed him, and then some. I'd owed him so much
more, but I had nothing left right now. I had to start earning, and
fast.

December 6
^th
2013

Cain

“Another whiskey mate?” Brad asked
as I sat at the bar at
Foz
, a side of the bar that I wasn't
used to.

“Sure, fill her up.”

He picked up the bottle and filled my
glass towards the top as I reached into my pocket and searched for a
note. “Nah bro, your money's no good here. It's always been on the
house.”

I nodded my thanks as I took another
sip. “So what you gonna do for money now,” he asked as he wiped
down the bar. It was closing time and the remaining punters were
drifting out into the cold night one by one, leaving us alone.

“I don't know, guess I'll look for
another bar job somewhere.”

“Not much going on on that front I
don't think. All the college kids have come in and taken all the
spare work over Christmas while they're back home. We've even got one
in working part time here for the next few weeks.”

I sighed.
Fucking college kids. They
take all the good jobs and all the shit ones too.

“I reckon things will open up again
after New Year though. I can help you out until then if you need it.”

I couldn't take any more money from
Brad. I'd taken enough already, too much in fact, and owed him so
much more than I could ever pay back. I wasn't going to add to that
bill.

“Dude, thanks for the offer, but I
can't take any more out of your pocket.” I sat and thought for a
while, lightly rubbing my fingers over a small scar above my eyebrow.

“You know people here, right?” I
asked.

“Sure. What sort of people?” he
said, flicking a towel over his shoulder like a walking cliché of a
bartender.

“You know, underground types. I was
thinking, maybe underground fighting. Bare-knuckle stuff.”

“Ah mate, right up your street,” he
said. “I know a guy, yeah. Owns a club.” His voice turned
inquisitive. “Did you do any of that while you were away?”

“Gave it a go, yeah.”

“Ah, I can see it now. Thought you
had picked up a few extra scars,” he said laughing. “That one on
your eyebrow, the on you're stroking, how did you get that?”

I retracted my hand from my face. “Just
a good hit, you know how it is mate. I was staying at this little
town out west, where truckers and bikers stop by on their way through
the state. There was an underground fighting cage under the bar I was
working in, got caught into that. Won all my fights mate, well worth
it, money was good.”

I could see the cogs turning over in
Brad's mind. “Really?” he said, thinking. “Maybe I should have
a go.”

“Yeah mate as long as we don't have
to fight each other. I'd feel bad having to take it easy on you. It
would be embarrassing.” In truth the idea of fighting Brad wouldn't
be a nice one, we were pretty evenly matched.

He laughed sarcastically. “Sure mate,
that's exactly how it would go down. Look, I'll put in a call, see
what I can find out.”

“Great bro, cheers.”

I sat and took another sip of my
whiskey, my mind turning to other things. “So tell me about Emily,
this new boyfriend of hers.”

I'd actually gone to see her when I got
back a couple of days ago, went over to her house to talk to her,
explain what had happened. She wasn't there though. I sat outside for
a while, but just figured she was still at college. Or maybe at her
new boyfriends place. The thought left a bad taste in my mouth.

“Ah he's nothing mate. Some college
jock, football player. Typical prick, you know.” Brad was prone to
telling me what I wanted to hear, rather than the plain truth.

I knew the type though. He probably had
money too, a fast car, good family, stuff that I couldn't give her. I
guess she deserved all that, a nice guy, a nice life. Maybe she was
better off without me.

“Look bro, you'll get her back, don't
worry.” He could clearly see the look on my face.

“Nah, fuck that,” I said, slightly
defensively. “She can do what she wants. You know me, when have I
ever cared about that shit?”

“Yeah I know. It's alright if you
want her back though man. I dunno, you just seemed happier when you
were with her, I reckon she was good for you.”

“Yeah well, we'll see what happens.”
I was quick to shut the conversation down. I didn't exactly enjoy
letting people in on my feelings. Give me another few whiskeys and
then maybe I'll spill my heart out.

Yeah right, like that would happen.

December 20
^th
2013

Grace

The Swanson Ball was an annual event
that Chase went to every year around Christmas time. It was a charity
thing, something that Avery Ash, the company he worked for,
sponsored, and he'd been going ever since he started working there.
Each year he turned up with a different girl on his arm, usually some
fling he was seeing at the time. This year, however, he had me with
him.

It was less than a week until Christmas
and Chase was continuing to grow back into his old self again. I
think it was all those experiences he'd had dealing with his old
alcohol and drug addiction. It gave him this raw level of self
control, an ability to put things to one side, to manage them in the
background and make everything appear fine on the surface.

I sensed from time to time that he was
still struggling a bit with what had happened, but he'd turned a
corner for the most part. He had returned to his charming and
confident self, smiling and chatting away jovially to everyone who
crossed his path. Even when questions were raised about John by those
who weren't privy to their close bond, he answered them without so
much as a hiccup. I supposed that over the course of the last few
months he'd become extremely well versed in dealing with such
queries.

The Swanson Ball was an extremely
festive event, as would be expected at this time of year, and was set
up to raise money for various charitable causes. The original founder
of the event, George Swanson, a wealthy philanthropist who'd made
billions in the banking industry, was there to make his annual speech
and to open the event.

Chase spoke to him later on in the
evening, the two of them seemingly on a first name basis. I guess it
shouldn't have surprised me that Chase rolled in such circles. After
all, he was now in a fairly prominent position at Avery Ash and had
probably met Mr Swanson through John in the past. Now he had his
money too, so his own personal wealth would automatically make him
one of the gang.

“Chase, dear boy, I've been meaning
to tell you how sorry I was to hear about John. I know it must have
been very difficult for you recently.”

“Thank you George, yes it was a
terrible shock.”

“And they say that he was there, at
the house, alone? That seems awfully odd to me. I'd been to that
house on many occasions and he always made it so clear that he never
went there alone.” He chuckled slightly as he continued. “He used
to tell me that the place gave him the creeps, that he'd never set
foot there unless he was with company.”

Chase was nodding. “Yes, he told me
the same. I suppose that's what's been so baffling about the entire
thing. If only I knew what had happened, I think it would make it a
bit easier.”

“Yes, of course, it must be a real
nightmare all of this. You will let me know if you hear anything –
from the police? I assume they're still working day and night on it?”

“I believe they are, yes. I'm sure
they're doing everything they can.” I knew he didn't believe that.
“If I hear anything George, I'll let you know straight away.”