The Story of Me (Carnage #2)(110)
“You went behind my back and offered less than the asking price so you could check out who owned the house and see what you could dig up on them. Get off me.”
“What?”
“You heard what I said. Don’t say ‘what’, so I repeat myself and give you time to think of some bullshit excuse. Now get the f*ck off me.” He rolls onto his back and I sit up.
“I don’t understand why you’ve got the hump.” I look at him with raised eyebrows and reach to the side of the sofa and pull the big thick fur throw over myself.
“I’ve got the hump because you went behind my back, Cam. I spent the last two years of my marriage weighed down by the guilt of what you and I did behind my husband’s back. I don’t want that for us. I don’t want lies or secrets.” I let out a long breath. “I’m a big grown up girl. I’ve lived a life. I don’t need protecting from your dodgy dealings.” He sits up, moves closer to me and pulls the throw over his lap, obviously feeling at a disadvantage sitting and arguing with me while naked and at half-mast.
“My dealings aren’t dodgy.” I look at him and roll my eyes. I’d heard him on the phone just yesterday negotiating a price on a whole container load of Wild Turkey, Rare Breed Bourbon, so I know that’s not true.
“So the container that arrives in Tilbury next Thursday is all legal and above board is it?”
“Well, no, I mean. How’d you know about that?” he asks with a frown.
“Doesn’t matter how I know, Cam. I know. I’m not stupid, and you don’t have the quietest of voices.” He crawls over, rests his back against the sofa and pulls me into his lap.
“Sometimes a deal comes along that’s too good to turn down, but mostly, everything I do is legit. I’m sorry I went behind your back. I honestly didn’t see it that way, but I’m sorry I didn’t try and see it how you would.” He tilts his head so he can see my face. “This is all new ground for me, Kitten. I’m forty-two, and despite being married before, I’ve never shared my life with anyone. I’ve never taken anyone else and their feelings into consideration. I’ve never been in love, except with you and just as I was starting to get used to the concept back then, you f*cking left me, so give me a break here, will ya.”
“Did anyone get hurt?”
“What? What are you talking about?” He frowns even more as he asks the question, causing a deep ridge between his eyebrows.
“Did my dad, my brother or my live-in lover, arrange for anyone to get hurt so we can buy that house at a ridiculously reduced price?” He lets out a huff, like it’s an incomprehensible notion. I know different.
“No, Kitten, no one got hurt or was threatened with… Well, no, it’s like this…”
“Did anyone get hurt, Cam? Just answer me.”
“No, no one got hurt. Trever Blows, the bloke who owns the house, is in debt up to his eyeballs. The people he owes money to are associates of mine and of your family. Trevor owes about three hundred grand. We offered the people he owes a hundred K to clear the debt; they accepted. The rest is just what they added on as interest. Trevor lets us buy the house for two hundred and fifty less than he’s asking because he thinks he’s saving his self fifty grand as he owes three hundred. Are you following?” Barely, but I’m not going to let him know that so I nod. “He’s happy. We’re happy. Everyone’s happy. No one gets hurt and we get a house for a hundred and fifty grand below market value.”
I’m silent for a few moments as I try to work all of that out.
“Don’t lie or go behind my back again.”
“I won’t. I promise. Now come here and f*ck me.”
So I do.
Chapter Twenty-Five
My brother’s house is spectacular. It’s the kind of house when you’re little and you imagine being rich and living in your dream house, this would be it.
I don’t know what Lennon is actually worth these days, but it’s a lot. From his days of being the only one with a licence and in charge of the van he drove Carnage around in, he had gone on to become their manager and then to setting up his own agency, which now represented musicians, actors, models and sports stars. He had invested his money wisely, executively producing up and coming bands that had gone on to make it big and also a number of films that had been hugely successful.
It’s funny really. Lennon hadn’t actually been a member of Carnage to the outside world, but backstage, they would’ve folded long before they did without his guidance and input. He had made a lot of money from the band, and rightly so, he had worked bloody hard to make them the success they became.
Lennon had also helped Sean and Marley out with investing their money in the right places, and even though Sean wasn’t around to make money anymore, his songs still earned royalties and his investments still drew a profit, all of which I entrusted Lennon to deal with on my behalf.
I sit watching him now as he tells a story about Marley chatting up a transvestite one drunken night in Hamburg. Marley’s pulling his usual sulky teenager face he wears whenever the joke’s on him, but the rest of us are laughing.
It’s been heart-warming tonight to watch my brothers interact with and be accepting of Cam. But the room suddenly falls silent as Sean’s name is mentioned by Len telling his story.