“It’s no big deal. My girl has her eighteenth birthday coming up; I want to get her something good.

Besides, it’s Christmas in a few weeks, I’m gonna need money to get her something then too,” I lied.

“Demanding little thing is she?” he asked, looking at me like I was crazy for letting a girl drag me back into a life I was desperate to leave.

I shook my head and laughed. The idea of Ellie being demanding was actually really funny. She was happy with just hanging out; she never needed anything materialistic at all. I’d actually never met a girl like her in my life.

“No she’s not,” I replied.

He sighed, looking a little annoyed about it. “Is she really worth dragging you into all this again, Kid? I thought you wanted out. If she’s not satisfied with a little present that you can afford, then is she worth having anyway?” he countered, looking a little sceptical about it.

I laughed. Ellie was sure as hell worth me getting involved in all of this again, but it wasn’t her anyway. “Yeah, she is. Ellie’s perfect,” I confirmed, slinging my arm around his shoulder.

“Uh-oh. I sense a guy in love,” he gasped, shaking his head as if this were a bad thing. “I bet this is nothing to do with a good Christmas present. I bet you want some money to buy her a ring, am I right?”

I laughed and rolled my eyes. “She’s still in high school, Ray.”

He grinned. “Ah, but you didn’t deny the love thing. Kid Cole, in love, never thought I’d see the day. You were never interested in girls before this one. I always thought maybe you batted for the other team,” he joked, winking at me and punching me in the ribs playfully. “Wait, you haven’t but a bun in her oven, have you?” he asked, raising one eyebrow at me.

I immediately wished that I had. There had been several moments over the last couple of months that I wished she got pregnant by accident, just so I could always be in her life. Not that I was ready to be a dad or anything, I just kind of liked the idea of us being linked permanently. Then I would always share something with her. If she turned around and told me that she was pregnant, I honestly think that the selfish, needy part of me, would jump for joy. But in truth I hoped I never got her pregnant, I knew she deserved better than me, I would never be able to give her what she deserved from life. That thought didn’t stop me wishing for it sometimes though.

“No, Ray,” I confirmed, pretending to be exasperated with all of his questions. I decided to change the subject. I loved Ray and everything, but I didn’t really want to be getting into all of this when I had more pressing things to deal with. “Why are you here on a Sunday anyway? Shouldn’t you be spending time with your wife and baby?”

He nodded, looking a little annoyed. “Yeah, but we just finished a boost last night, I’m still repairing a few paintjobs from the stupid pricks that can’t manage to steal a car without smashing, or scratching something,” he grumbled.

I smiled, I guess that was a good sign that Brett’s boys were screwing up a little, he’d be more grateful to have me back for a few jobs. Based on my old nightly fee, I’d only need three boosts and then I’d have enough to pay off Tony anyway.

We made our way into the familiar building; I flicked my eyes to the silver Jaguar XK that was sitting on Ray’s ramp ready to be fixed. There was a slight dent on the side of the driver’s door. I shook my head and snorted. Freaking armatures! That was obviously from the bar where they were trying to flip the lock.

“Who the hell did that?” I scoffed.

Ray sighed. He hated when beautiful cars got damaged, I bet that was really hard to see a car with superficial damage like that on it. “Enzo,” he replied, shaking his head sadly.

I rolled my eyes and nodded to the stairs. “I’d better go see Brett.”

He slapped me on the back and nodded, heading over to his workbench to fix the car up before it could be shipped to the buyer. I forced myself to walk even though every muscle in my body was screaming at me to turn around and run and not get myself into this again. But I didn’t have a choice.

Ed was sitting at the desk outside of Brett’s office. He smiled up at me as I walked up the stairs.

“Hey, Kid. Boss said you were coming down here,” he chirped, gripping my hand and slapping my shoulder at the same time.

“Yeah. Is it okay to go in?” I asked, nodding at the door.

He grinned wickedly. “I’d wait a few minutes if I were you,” he said, nodding to a chair at the side of his desk. “He’s in with Michael Torrent at the moment. I think they’re working on some sort of deal,” he added, grinning wickedly.

I frowned. “Isn’t Michael Torrent the guy who owns all of those strip clubs?”

He nodded, settling back into his chair, putting his feet on the desk and leaning back happily. “Yep, and I sure as hell hope it comes through. If he makes a deal with Mr Torrent then I’m betting we get free memberships and dances at the clubs whenever we want,” he confirmed, his eyes sparkling with excitement.

I shook my head at him. “I’m guessing your wife will love that then,” I shot back sarcastically.

He shrugged. “What she doesn’t know, won’t hurt her,” he confirmed, interlacing his fingers behind his head, looking the picture of ease. I had the strong urge to kick the leg of his chair so he fell off backwards. I’d never met the guy’s wife, but from what I remember of Ed, he was never faithful to her. It was disgusting really. I don’t know why guys like him bothered to commit to someone if they couldn’t stick to it. If you were lucky enough to have a girl fall in love with you and want to marry you, then you should do everything in your power to make it work. That’s the way I saw it anyway.