Dirty Game

 Max drove them in his big black Jag. He parked the car near the Embankment and they walked along by the Thames. The Houses of Parliament loomed across the black, glittering river. Big Ben chimed out eleven. Annie sat down on a bench, shaking with cold and still trying to get over the night’s events. After a moment Max sat down, but at the other end of the bench. There was a large space between them.

‘I’m calling in the debt,’ he said. ‘I sorted the Pat Delaney problem for you, now it’s time to pay up.’

Annie looked at him. So that was it. He wanted her to sleep with him again.

‘Don’t look at me like that,’ said Max. ‘All right. I’ll admit it. You drive me crazy. Most of the time I don’t know whether I want to fuck you bandy or wring your bloody neck. But all I want right now is the truth. I want to know what happened on the day of your mother’s funeral. Something changed for you that day. I want to know what it was.’

Annie looked at the ground. She hated herself for feeling a twinge of disappointment.

‘All right,’ she said. ‘I met Celia.’

‘Celia? I thought she took off somewhere a long time ago.’

‘She did.’ Annie glanced at Max. ‘She was frightened of what you’d do. Because of Eddie. One day, she was gone. There was a note, nothing else.’

‘Go on.’

‘She showed up at Mum’s funeral.’ Annie’s mouth dried as she remembered that fateful day. ‘She didn’t mean anyone to see her there, but I was waiting outside because I didn’t want to upset Ruthie. I didn’t want a scene. So it was by pure accident that I saw Celia out by the gate and went to speak to her – not that she wanted to speak to me. She was trying to get away, but I stopped her.’

‘And?’ prompted Max when she hesitated.

Annie gulped. ‘She had no right hand. A present from you, those who did it told her.’

Max paused, taking it in. Annie could almost see his mind ticking over. She didn’t know, or even want to know, what was going on in his head.

‘I told you once, Annie. What happened with Celia had nothing to do with me or my boys. Whoever said otherwise is trying to fit me up.’

Annie drew a breath. These were the words she wanted to hear, but it was so much easier to hate him than to love him.

‘I know it wasn’t you. I know it now, anyway. I didn’t know it then. Then, I just couldn’t face you. I hated the very thought of you. I had to leave. But now I know it was Pat Delaney who did it. Something he said before he died. It was him, the rotten, sick bastard. He did it to cause trouble for you, you’re right.’

Max gazed out over the river. A barge passed by, slipping silently through the water like a snake through oil.

‘Then you left me for nothing,’ he said. ‘You lied to me and told me it was because of Ruthie.’

Annie turned her head and glared at him. ‘It is about Ruthie. It always has been and it always will be! It was just …’ she paused, feeling hopelessly confused. ‘It was just easier to lose you if I could believe that you were the one responsible for Celia.’

‘You’re still in love with me.’

Annie looked directly at him. She quickly looked away. ‘Do you still have the apartment?’ she asked. ‘Not that it matters.’

‘No,’ said Max. ‘I hated the fucking place without you.’

Annie shook her head. ‘I loved it there,’ she said sadly.

‘We could be there again,’ said Max.

‘No. No going back.’ She felt as if her heart was bleeding. He was right, she was still in love with him. Totally and hopelessly in love. But it could never be.

‘Why?’

Annie leapt to her feet and started to pace around in agitation.

‘You fucking-well know why, Max,’ she burst out. ‘Because it’s still about Ruthie. My blood. My kin. All right, I didn’t tell you the full story when I told you I was leaving you because of her. I didn’t tell you about Celia and I should have done. Maybe I should have trusted you more and doubted you less, but you made it hard for me.’

‘So what are you saying?’

‘I’m saying I did the right thing that day, for the wrong reason.’

‘You’re saying it’s over.’

‘Yes.’

‘Is there another layer to this?’

‘What?’ Annie frowned. Now what the hell was he talking about?

‘Kieron Delaney?’

Annie sighed. There had always been trouble between the two families, trouble from way back, and she knew it wasn’t over yet.

‘You and the sodding Delaneys. You’re like a dog with a bone, Max.’

‘It’s my fucking bone.’

‘There’s nothing between Kieron and me.’

‘He’d like there to be.’

‘Oh, for fuck’s sake!’ Annie threw her arms wide in exasperation. She was shaking with nervous exhaustion. ‘Make this easy for me, will you? I can’t do this to Ruthie any more. It’s making me sick. Let me go, Max.’

‘I can’t.’

‘You have to.’

‘Telling me what to do?’

‘I have free will, Max. Like Kieron, I’m not afraid of you. Go back to your boys, and leave me to live my life again.’

Max stood up and came very close to her. They locked eyes.

‘It’s Kieron Delaney,’ he said again.

‘No. It’s not.’ Annie stared straight back at him.

‘It fucking is.’ Sudden rage flicked on in Max’s eyes. ‘I’m going to do that rotten little fucker.’

Now Annie was getting riled up too. ‘What, like you did his brother Tory?’

‘For Christ’s sake, Annie, you can’t get on your high horse, now can you? Or have you forgotten what happened to Pat?’ spat Max.

Annie went pale. He was right, she was no better than he was.

Max was furious now, coming in close to her and glaring into her eyes.

‘Listen,’ he growled. ‘I didn’t touch Tory Delaney, but right now I could wipe every Delaney there is right off the face of the earth. Why the fucking hell you feel you have to defend the bastards I just don’t know. Perhaps you could explain that to me?’

‘I don’t have to explain anything to you, Max,’ yelled Annie. ‘It seems to have escaped your notice, but you don’t fucking own me, okay?’

Max leaned forward, breathing hard. He was going to kiss her. Annie braced herself for it, told herself that she would be strong, she wouldn’t weaken. But he hesitated, then drew back.

‘If I find out you’re lying over that ponce Kieron Delaney, I’ll kill the bastard, Annie. You hear me? I’ll kill him.’

He turned away and started walking back towards the car.

Annie stood there staring after him. Fuck it, she had wanted him to kiss her. He could still get to her, just like he always could.

‘Home’s in a different place now,’ she called after him.

‘I know,’ Max threw back over his shoulder. ‘It’s in Upper Brook Street. You’re running a business there.’

‘Is there anything you don’t know?’ asked Annie, her voice sad and low.

Max stopped walking and turned back to face her. ‘I don’t know how to get you, Annie Bailey,’ he said. ‘But I tell you this – if I can’t have you, no one else is going to have you either. Particularly not a fucking Delaney.’