Isle of Waves (24 page)

Wig raised an eyebrow. “This is Paul we’re talking about. Do you think he’ll really care if you’re there or not?”

“He won’t, but Olaf will. The straight man wins!”

N
IBS
PREDICTABLY
grumbled when Wig informed him of the additional guest. “Jesus, why don’t we just open a bloody bed and breakfast for all the Owens clan? Why can’t he find somewhere else to stay?”

“Because he’s a friend, and we look after friends.”

Viciously, Nibs chopped up an onion. “Friendship can be tested.”

“Oh, stop whinging.” Ignoring the cleaver, Wig patted him on the cheek and went off to tell Paul and Skandik they had an extra bed guest.

“Tell me you’re joking.” Paul scowled at Wig. “Can’t he find somewhere else to sleep?”

“I’ve invited him here,” Wig said. “Suck it up, buttercup.”

“It’s not like he’s sharing the bed,” Skandik said. “And he’s well on the way to being drunk.”

Wig gave Skandik a grateful look. “I couldn’t let him drive home drunk.”

“Can’t Col take him home?” Paul said.

“Then Dan hasn’t got his car.”

Paul growled under his breath, but Skandik tucked Paul into his side, whispering something in his ear.

Wig rolled his eyes. He didn’t need Paul’s excited response to know what Skandik had said. He didn’t care who did what where and with whom. As long as he and Nibs had their bed—alone—the world could do what it liked.

I
T
WAS
hard to believe that it was the beginning of November. Wig basked in the sunshine as he walked along the beach hand in hand with Nibs. The school half term over with, the beach was back to its usual weekday emptiness, and they took the opportunity to enjoy some quiet time together. Liam, Ben, and Steve took care of the Lagoon. Liam and Sam had agreed to stay until the end of the season.

Wig was conscious that the time had arrived, the time they said they’d make a decision on their future, but between the storm and the death of Rose Owens, he and Nibs hadn’t done any hard talking.

Nibs rapped on his forehead. “Earth to Toby.”

Wig scowled at him. “Don’t call me that.”

“Well, I needed something to bring you back from la-la-land. What were you thinking about?”

“You, me, us. What we’re going to do next.”

“I thought you might.”

Wig sighed. “We need to make some decisions.”

“I have one question for you. Do you want to leave the Lagoon, where we are now?”

“Honestly?”

“No, I want you to lie to me. Of course I want you to be honest, dumbarse.”

“You’re so kind.”

“Well?” Nibs asked impatiently.

Wig held on to Nibs’s hand tightly. “I’ve always said that it didn’t matter where I lived as long as I was with you. You are my home.”

“I’m sensing a
but
here.”

“I never wanted to manage a restaurant. I just wanted to be with you, and I still do.”

“But?”

“But it wasn’t until my home was threatened that I realized how much I loved it here.”

“So you don’t want to leave?”

“That’s not what I’m saying.”

Nibs made a sound that was a cross between a snort and a laugh. “What are you saying, darlin’, because at the moment I’m really confused.”

Wig stopped and pulled Nibs around to look at him. “I’m saying that I can’t go through another year like this, and that if peace of mind and security with you comes with moving somewhere else, then I agree, let’s pack the hell up and move.”

“You amaze me, Wig Tobias.” Nibs tucked a lock of Wig’s hair back behind his ear.

“I amaze myself sometimes. Now, shall we get back to the Lagoon and enjoy it whilst we’ve still got it?”

“In a minute.” Nibs pulled Wig up against him and kissed him, tenderly at first but becoming more passionate as the kiss went on.

“Fucking faggots!”

Wig looked over at the teenagers scowling at them. “What gave it away?”

“Get a fucking room,” yelled the taller one with a shaved head and a nose stud.

The shorter one, with almost pretty features went deathly pale. “Oh Jesus, it’s you, Mr. Tyler. I’m sorry.”

Nibs gave him a cold look, not letting go of Wig. “I’m disappointed in you, Tim. I thought you were better than that.”

“I am. It was him. We were being dicks. Don’t tell my mum; she’ll kill me.”

Wig arched an eyebrow. “You know these morons?”

“You should know one of them. He did work experience in the kitchen two years ago.”

He did? Wig squinted at the kid who was almost shaking in fear. My, the lad had grown—in all ways except his brain. “Tim Stevens? Is that you?”

The taller kid gaped. “You know these queers?”

“Shut up, Brian,” Tim muttered, and to Wig’s surprise, Brian did as he was told.

Wig’s lips twitched. He didn’t look like a Brian.

“We’re going,” Tim said. “Sorry, Mr. Tobias, Mr. Tyler.” He dragged Brian away from the two men. “Come
on
!”

Nibs snorted and started laughing. “I thought Tim was going to kack in his pants, he looked so scared.”

“Poor Tim, being friends with a turd like Brian.” Wig smirked. “Are you going to tell his mum?”

“Hell no, he wasn’t the one being a dick. He doesn’t need to know that, though.”

“You’re so mean.”

Nibs wrapped his arm around Wig’s shoulder, and Wig leant into him contentedly. “I don’t care what people say to me, but no one yells at us for showing our love for each other.”

“You’re such a softie.”

“Don’t say it out loud. I have a reputation to maintain.”

Wig patted his stomach. “Course you do, babe.”

“Cheeky brat.” Nibs sighed and pulled Wig in tighter. “Whatever happens, babe, you and me, we’re a team. We’ll see it through.”

Wig tilted his head to look at him. “Promise?”

“Always.” And the kiss Nibs gave him left him in no doubt that he meant it.

A
S
W
IG
spotted the figure sitting on the balcony, he realized that the close of the season had been on someone else’s mind.

“Mr. Sawar, good to see you again,” Nibs said cheerfully.

Wig wasn’t sure that “good” was quite the word he was thinking of, but he managed a smile, which he hoped didn’t look like a grimace.

Ghuram Sawar stood to shake hands. “I was taking advantage of the morning sunshine.”

“It’s glorious,” Nibs said. “What can we do for you?”

“I thought we ought to follow up on our discussion about plans for the future. I was hoping my brother would be here. Ah, here he is.”

“Wig, do you want to get drinks for us all?”

Wig glared at Nibs for treating him like the little wife, but Ghuram shook his head.

“One of your staff has already taken my order. I ordered you a coffee, Khalil.”

“Excellent. I need one after a morning of tedious meetings.” He was wearing a pinstripe suit, and Wig caught himself staring, because the man was very handsome. And straight. And married. Wig did not need to make the man uncomfortable by being inappropriate.

As if on cue, Liam came out with four mugs. “Hi, guys. Good walk?”

“Yes, thanks,” Wig said snippily.

Liam gave him a questioning look and served the drinks.

“Is everything okay?” Nibs asked Liam.

“It’s fine. Take your time. Steve is teaching Sam to cook whilst it’s quiet. It was either that or strangle him.”

Wig grinned and Liam smiled back. For the first time in months, Liam looked healthy. Even with the trauma of the loss of Rose, Liam was looking better than he had done for months.

Nibs coughed, and Wig dragged his attention back to the matter at hand.

“We haven’t seen you since the storm,” Nibs said, as the Sawar brothers seemed reluctant to start the conversation.

“The damage was greater than we feared. It will take a long time to repair the two floors above the restaurant,” Ghuram said. He stopped again, and he looked at his brother.

“We have decided to start again somewhere else. There are some purpose-built large commercial properties in Portsmouth suitable for a restaurant. We will pursue that whilst this place is repaired.”

Wig stared at them.

“You’re moving?” Nibs spoke very slowly as if he was having trouble processing what they’d just said.

Khalil beamed. “To Portsmouth. My brother has big plans.”

“And what are you doing with your restaurant?”

“Once it’s repaired, we will rent it out.”

“You nearly drove our business into the ground, our restaurant was broken into and trashed, and someone decided to burn the place to the ground,
and you are moving
? Just like that?” Wig stood up so violently he knocked over his tea.

“Wig….” Nibs held on to his arm.

Shaking off Nibs’s hand, Wig glared at Ghuram. “I am sorry for the loss of your business, I really am. I know what it’s like to have something ripped from under your feet by something outside your control, but you seem to have no idea what you did to us.”

“Wig, it was business—” Nibs began.

Wig turned on him and Nibs flinched. “Don’t you dare tell me it was ‘just’ business, Justin Tyler. Dirty, vicious tactics—and now they’ve done the damage, they just walk away?” He stabbed a finger at Khalil. “Is this how you do business on the island, Mr. Sawar? Do your businessmen in the Chamber of Commerce know this?”

Khalil coughed and glanced at his brother and then at him. “I didn’t know… what was going on until recently, but I agree that it was inappropriate behavior. Ghuram should not have tried to force you out.”

Wig snorted. If that was an apology, it wasn’t much of one, and Ghuram himself kept silent. “You used our sexual orientation to drive customers away. That’s a hate crime. We’ve been here over a decade, and yeah, we’ve been called every name you can think of by bigots and thugs, but you attacked our home and our livelihood, and now you just walk away as though nothing has happened.” Wig looked over to the closed Indian restaurant. “I felt sorry for you despite what you were doing to us, but now….” He shook his head. “I’m going inside, Nibs. I’ve got a job to do.”

He walked into the Lagoon and took a deep breath. Fuck, that had felt good.

“You look cheerful,” Liam said.

Wig grinned. “I’ve just told two arseholes to fuck off and die. Yep, life is good.”

“Uh… um… congratulations?”

“Thanks.” Wig looked around. “It’s still quiet. Do you want to take a break now?”

Liam nodded. “That’d be good. I’m aching today.” He moaned as he stretched his back.

Wig frowned. “I told you to go to the doctor’s.”

“Have you ever known Liam to actually do as he is told?” Sam joined them at the bar.

“I’ll get around to it,” Liam said. “You’re nagging me.”

“You’re in pain, dipshit. Of course I’m going to bloody nag you.”

Wig shook his head. “You two make me die. You’re like a pair of old women.”

“I know.” Sam grinned at his husband. “Isn’t it great?”

“Get out of here before you make me hurl.”

As Liam and Sam left, Nibs came into the shop and made his way to Wig. “Feeling better now you’ve got that off your chest?”

“Much, thanks.” Wig wasn’t going to be remotely apologetic about it.

“They were completely taken aback.”

“I know.”

“All that stuff before the break-in, it was just business tactics to them. They didn’t see it as a hate crime.”

“It doesn’t make it right, though.”

Nibs nodded. “It
doesn’t
make it right.”

“They took a year’s trade from us, and we still don’t know who tried to kill us.”

“They do,” Nibs said.

Wig frowned. “What do you mean, they do?”

“Before he left, Ghuram said he’d make it right.”

“They’re going to give us a year’s takings and pay for our extortionate insurance premiums?” Wig asked drily.

“Ha-ha. No, I don’t know what they meant, but I get the feeling it’s something to do with the break-in.”

Wig shrugged. “It’s too little, too late, babe. The damage is done.”

“You’re an unforgiving bitch, Wig Tobias.”

“I know.”

Nibs frowned as he looked outside to where a group of women were making their way across the decking. “Oh God, the bingo crowd are on their way in. I’m going into the kitchen where it’s safe.”

“Coward.” Wig found it hysterical that a bunch of women of all ages scared the living shit out of Nibs. Personally, he loved the bingo crowd. They’d been coming twice a week since Rose’s funeral and were a raucous addition to the Lagoon family. “They all want to get into your pants.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Nibs muttered and shot into the kitchen.

Wig sniggered and moved forward to greet the not remotely ladylike ladies. So his arse got the odd slap and his cheeks got pinched. What the hell—he could take a bit of rough treatment if they had a good time and it brought more business to the place.

“Bel, good to see you again.”

She looked past him with knowing eyes. “Was that your man running into the kitchen?”

He nodded. “Nibs is all ready for your orders, ladies.”