Die Tryin' (25 page)

Nick glanced at them. They were laughing and being all touchy feely with each other. ‘Oh,’ said Nick. ‘I see.’

‘Makes me fucking sick!’ Tony added.

He looked at Carla; at her black skin and the way it contrasted with her white dress; at her smile; at her laughter; at her obvious happiness, and something brewed in his heart. It was hatred. Pure, unadulterated hatred.

‘You seen Charlie?’ Nick then asked.

‘Charlie? He
was
here…’ Tony replied, his eyes never leaving Nick Black and Carla. ‘Now he’s gone.’

‘He’s back on the shit,’ Nick said.

‘So what’s new?’ Tony asked.

‘I’m just saying. When Charlie’s bang on the speed, it means something’s going on in his head.
You know…?’

‘The shit he sees and hears, like he told us back at the church that night,’ Tony said.

‘Exactly. We gotta keep an eye on him…’

‘Well, he can do what he likes,’ Tony declared, and took another swig of whisky. ‘Makes no difference to me. All I’m interested in is getting my money. Wish you’d just sell the fuck up to whoever wants ’em, I’m sick of fixing people’s cars.’

Nick sighed. ‘I told you, Tone. We gotta play it right. These things take time. I mean I’ve only just managed to convince Taki’s mum he’s done a runner and ain’t coming back…’

‘Yeah, whatever,’ Tony said, flipping his hand on the air. ‘I’ve just had enough of all this shit…’

Nick nodded. ‘I understand, Tone,’ he said.

He took a final glance at Mario and Maria and shook his head in disappointment, before walking away, giving Tony a sympathetic pat on the shoulder as he went past him.

Tony meanwhile just stared at the Mavro and his bird, downing whisky like it was water, the jealousy and hatred growing in his heart by the second, while underneath it all like a bout of tinnitus, little Costa declaring that
Marco’s gonna kill him
buzzing feverishly in his mind.

Charlie grabbed his cue and sized up the break.

He bent over, lined up the cue, and then pulled it back. He stopped and licked his dry lips in anticipation, concentrating on the pack of balls, aiming to hit them full on, dead centre, spread them round the table, maybe pot one or two if he was lucky.

He took in a deep breath and held it.

And then pushed the cue forwards.

His head twitched hard just before he made contact, causing him to miscue. He sent the cue ball flying over the pack of balls he was aiming for and off the table entirely. It smacked into the far wall, leaving a neat round dent.

Tony ripped into a torrent of laughter, Stella spilling out of the pint glass in his hand and splashing all over his Nike Airs. Nick XR2—who was watching on from his seat—joined in.

‘Nice shot,
re
Charlie!’ Tony said out loud between fits of laughter.

Charlie spun round and gave Tony daggers. ‘You know I can’t play this fucking game!’ he said, and his shoulder twitched, which looked to Nick like a shrug of indifference.

‘No fucking shit,’ Tony said, leaning his head in towards Charlie’s personal space. ‘Ronnie O’Sullivan you ain’t, boy.’

‘What’s the point anyway?’ Charlie asked forcefully, holding his cue tight with both hands and shaking it. ‘Hitting these stupid balls with these stupid sticks, trying to get them in the fucking hole,
only to take them back out again?
Why bother with all the bloody effort to get them in there in the first place?’

‘Because it’s fun, you miserable prick!’ Tony answered.

‘Fun for you. Not for me!’

Tony leant back and stared darkly at Charlie. ‘You gonna get the fucking ball or not?’ he asked.

Charlie chucked his cue down on the table. ‘No I ain’t,’ he replied in a tetchy voice. ‘You two play.’ He then stormed off towards the other side of the pub.

‘Good. Nick’ll give me a proper game anyway,’ Tony said after him.

Charlie didn’t turn round, but instead just held up a hand, his middle finger erect.

Tony laughed, then turned to Nick. ‘See that?’

‘Yeah,’ Nick replied. ‘He’s whizzing off his nut, you know? He’s lost
a lot
of weight as well.’

Tony gulped more of his lager. ‘Yeah, you said that at the wedding…’

‘Something’s up with him,’ Nick said grimly. ‘But, we need to keep an eye on him.’

Tony nodded in agreement. ‘You think it’s because of what happened,
you know
?’

‘Marco?’ Nick replied in a quiet voice.

Tony took a sip of his drink. ‘Yeah. He still…
sees
him.’

‘You don’t believe that shit do you, Tone?’ Nick scoffed.

‘Nah, nah,’ Tony replied nervously, shrugging. ‘It’s just
he
really believes it, doesn’t he?’

‘He just still hasn’t come to terms with what happened,’ Nick then said, and Tony turned to face him. ‘And so he makes this paranoid stuff up in his mind about ghosts.’

Tony nodded slowly, absorbing what he was hearing. ‘And you think that paranoid shit was what told him to knock off Taki.’

‘Without doubt,’ Nick replied.

Tony looked across the pub. Charlie was standing by the jukebox flipping through the tunes, just staring at them like he was hypnotised. Tony wondered what the hell was going on in his mind. What could he see? What could he hear?
What did he know…?

‘You gonna get the ball?’ Nick asked, snapping Tony out of his train of thought.

‘Yeah, yeah,’
Tony said briskly. He polished off his pint, immediately wanting another one, a chaser, and a line of coke on the side. He went over to where the ball was, which took him past another Pool table where two fit birds were making Charlie look like Jimmy White.

Tony straightened his cap and sniffed hard. ‘Excuse me, ladies,’ he said.

One of the girls—a shoulder length blonde, wearing a black Gio Goi vest—looked up at him as she was about to take her shot. Tony got a great view of her cleavage. He licked his bottom lip.

‘What do you want?’ Gio Goi asked.

‘I do believe my ball entered your space,’ Tony said and smiled, giving her a sly wink for good measure.

The blonde looked quizzically round to her friend—a cute brunette in tight jeans and peach blouse—who was standing by the table, cue in hand, waiting for her shot. She looked back at
Gio Goi
and shrugged.

Would love a fucking threesome with these two,
Tony’s mind perved.

Gio Goi looked back at Tony again, her face scrunched up in confusion. ‘You what?’ she asked.

Tony moved to his right, bent down, picked up his cue ball, and held it up between his thumb and index finger for them to see.

The brunette rolled her eyes.

‘Right,’
Gio Goi said slowly. ‘Now, you’ve got your ball, go back to your table and play with it.’

The brunette giggled.

Tony felt a bolt of anger rush up into his chest.
Are these
putanes
laughing at me?

‘Don’t just stand there staring,’ Gio Goi said as she took her shot, missing the pot by about a mile. She stood upright. ‘Hop along,’ she added, and strode off to get her drink.

Tony’s anger suddenly intensified. ‘Hey! I’m just talking! What’s the problem?’

‘Go talk to someone else,’ Gio Goi said and sipped her Smirnoff Ice.

‘No. I wanna talk to
you
, what’s the problem?’ Tony replied, now getting very tetchy.

‘Just leave us alone will you?’ the brunette said. There was a look of scorn on her face that made Tony hate her. She didn’t even know him, and he didn’t know her, but he hated her, hated her more than anyone he could think of.

Gio Goi put her drink back down, and went and stood next to her friend. Now the bitches were teaming up on him. Somewhere deep down inside him Tony thought:
I could break every fucking bone in both their skinny little bodies, and there’s nothing either of them could do to stop me…

He looked them both up and down, a look of contempt etched into his face. ‘Fucking lesbians!’ he snarled and turned away, straightening his cap again. He clocked Nick watching and laughing from his seat. Tony began grinning in return as he headed back for their table, throwing the cue ball up in the air and catching it again.

‘Nice going, Romeo,’ Nick said.

‘Fucking dykes are everywhere these days!’ Tony stated. ‘I swear, if I don’t get any soon, I’m gonna rape someone.’ He glanced back at the girls, who were now both giving him daggers while they continued with their ‘game’ of Pool. Tony gave them an aggressive shrug.
‘What?’
he asked obnoxiously.

‘Easy, easy,’
Nick said, patting his hand on the air ahead of him.

Tony turned back to face him. ‘Listen,
re
. I’m this close to the brink, believe me. I gotta get some soon.’

‘With the amount of coke you’re doing lately, I’ll be majorly surprised if you can even get it up!’ Nick retorted.

‘Well, you don’t mind selling it to me, do you?’ Tony replied sharply.

Nick gave him an indifferent shrug. There was no way he could deny that statement. He sighed and took out his wallet. ‘Here,’ he said to Tony, handing him a score from inside it. ‘Get yourself another drink; me another juice; Charlie another Guinness; and whatever Nick wants.’

Tony stared blankly at him, confused. ‘Eh?’

Nick nodded his head and stared to Tony’s right.

Tony followed his eye line to be met with Nick Black, who had just walked into the pub and was heading their way. ‘Look what the fucking cat dragged in,’ he said. ‘Did you know he was coming?’

‘Yeah,’ Nick XR2 replied. ‘He wants some puff.’

Nick Black noticed them, and sombrely held up his hand. Nick XR2 returned the gesture, except with a smile. Tony just stared at him hard.

‘Nick. Tony,’ Nick Black said impassively once he reached their table.

Nick XR2 returned the greeting with a touch more emotion. ‘All right, Nick?’

Tony said nothing, just stared.

‘Where’s Charlie?’ Nick Black asked. There was a look of slight concern on his face as he asked, and Tony knew why. They were all wary of Charlie right then for more than one reason.

‘He’s around here somewhere,’ Nick XR2 answered.

‘Is he…
all right?’
Nick Black asked, leaning in closer, making his eyes two patches of shadow.

‘Are you asking in terms of his general health and well being, or in terms of his mental state?’ Nick XR2 asked back.

‘Both I suppose.’

‘He’s doing okay on both scores,’ Nick XR2 said, nodding.

‘That’s good to hear,’ Nick Black said.

A few seconds of silence ensued. Nick Black broke it. ‘You, er…
got that thing for me
?’ he asked Nick XR2, scratching the back of his head nervously.

Nick XR2 nodded. ‘Sit down.’

Nick Black went and sat down next to him. After a second or two, he felt something being prodded into his hand. He closed his hand around it. It felt big; nice. He pocketed it, looking around him to make sure no one was watching. No one was, but he couldn’t help thinking that the two girls playing Pool were staring over now and then, a look of disgust in their eyes.
Tony’s probably been doing his ‘thing’ on them,
he thought to himself.
Or maybe they’re looking in disgust because they think you’re a lowlife junkie…

That’s just paranoia,
he said to himself and grabbed a score from his pocket and placed it on the table. Nick XR2 pocketed it.

‘Right. Get the drinks in, Tone,’ Nick XR2 said.

Tony stood up. ‘What are you drinking?’ he asked Nick Black in a flat voice.

‘Er, I gotta go…’ Nick Black said, looking from Tony to Nick XR2. ‘Carla’s waiting for me.’

‘What? You ain’t even got time for a drink with your friends?’ Tony asked.

Nick Black looked down at the wooden table they were sitting at. It was covered in empty pint glasses. Not a good sign.
‘Look
. She’s waiting for me, man,’ he said, and glanced round at Nick XR2 for some kind of support.
He
was on the orange juice, Tony was on the Stella. It was a no brainer.

‘You’ve got time for one,’ Nick XR2 replied, and Nick Black could feel him performing one of his Jedi mind tricks. He was telling him he had time for a drink, not asking, nor advising, but telling. And for a second, Nick Black felt his mind and tongue working in sync, wanting nothing more than to reply:
yes, I’ve got time for one…

But, he managed to resist the temptation, to override the conditioning. ‘Look,’ he said instead, with a little more force. ‘I told her I wouldn’t be long, and she’s waiting for me. I better go.’

Tony started shaking his head. ‘Since when did a fucking bitch come between us,
re
? After all we’ve been through.’

‘She’s not a bitch, Tone,’ Nick Black replied in a neutral voice. He didn’t like him calling her that, but knew what Tony was all about, especially after a few pints, so tried his best not to take what he said to heart.

‘Yeah, she fucking is,’ Tony replied resolutely.
‘They all are,’
he then said out loud, turning his head to face the two girls playing Pool, and staring at them with hot, angry eyes.

Nick Black looked past him, to see the blonde respond to what Tony said by pointing to the brunette’s coat, who duly went and picked it up.

So, Tony
had
worked his stuff on them…
Nick Black thought to himself.

They quickly picked up their belongings and made for the exit sharpish.

Wise, very wise…

Tony didn’t notice them leave because he was staring at Nick Black with those blank, flat eyes. Tony was morphing into that thing that skulks in the caves somewhere deep inside him, and for the first time ever, his target was Nick Mavro.

Nick Black felt his stomach tighten and release some body chemical that felt like a wave of squirming electric eels.
Stay cool,
he told himself.
Don’t say anything out of order, let him say what he likes, and it will all be okay.

‘Never did I think I would see the day when some black bitch would fucking twist your head so much that she’d make you forget your friends,’ Tony told him, pointing an accusatory finger at him. ‘You’re a fucking disgrace! You
malaka
! Fucking prick cocksucking shit eating motherfucker!’