to do that because inside he was falling apart. ‘Lily… she’s asleep and you’re in here…’
‘Vince, listen, we can explain…’
Without even looking at Kenny Vince held up his hand, silencing him before he launched into that “there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation to all of this” speech. Something Vince couldn’t be bothered to listen to. ‘Can you just leave. Please. I’d like to talk to my wife – alone.’ His eyes never left Charley as he spoke, but Kenny got the message loud and clear.
He glanced over at Charley, who didn’t meet his eyes, she was still staring at Vince. But Kenny didn’t like the idea of just leaving her there, by herself. ‘Charley… do you want me to…?’
‘I said, can you just leave!’ Vince’s voice was raised slightly, but still he didn’t turn to face Kenny, still he kept his eyes very firmly on his wife. ‘Now!’
Charley heard the door close behind Kenny as he left the bedroom, but Vince said nothing for a few seconds, which only served to make her more nervous and scared than she already was. She’d never seen Vince this way before, but then, she’d never cheated on him before, had she?
‘I won’t ask what’s been going on, because it’s more than obvious,’ Vince began, not moving from where he was stood, his face still an image of calm control.
‘Please, Vince…’
He held his hand up to silence her, just as he’d done with Kenny. ‘Don’t say anything, okay? Not yet. I’m not ready to hear it.’
Charley pushed a hand through her dark curls, finally moving off the bed, scrabbling around for her discarded clothes. Vince stayed silent. She felt sick, but what could she do? What the hell did she expect?
‘Why, Charley?’ Vince finally asked the one question – the only question – that needed to be asked.
Pulling her shirt over her head she sat down on the edge of the bed, an almost defeated air about her. She couldn’t lie her way out of this one. She’d known what she was getting into from the minute she and Kenny had started this – whatever it had been. And they should never have started it in the first place. Two weak people, one huge mistake.
‘Well?’ Vince asked again, his voice carrying a slightly harder edge than it had done before.
Charley looked up at him, tears starting to burn the back of her eyes. ‘Jimmy Cash he’s… he’s a dangerous man, Vince.’
‘What the hell has Jimmy got to do with you fucking Kenny Ross?’
Charley threw her head back, sighing heavily. ‘I could talk to him, y’know? Kenny. I could tell him how I was feeling, what was going on in my head…’
‘And you couldn’t talk to me? I’m your fucking husband, Charley. We had no secrets, nothing, everything was freakin’ perfect, honey! So why the fuck is this happening, huh? Why couldn’t you just talk to me? I thought we were handling this, I thought we were dealing with it… I assumed you could talk to me now it’s all out in the open… Shit! How stupid was I?’
Charley looked at him again, the guilt she was feeling at what she’d done so overwhelming it took her breath away. ‘He killed Terry, don’t you remember? Jimmy, he… he punishes those I love to get back at me. That’s what he does, because he doesn’t care. But I do. I care about what happens to you, Vince. Jesus, I love you so much…’
‘Well, you’ve got a real weird way of showing that, sweetheart.’
She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, hot, frustrated tears now spilling down her face. ‘If I’d told you everything from the beginning, everything that was going on with Jimmy, you would’ve shot off and done something… I don’t know what, but you might have got yourself involved in… in… oh, Jesus, I don’t know. All I know is that I love you too much to put you in danger, to put you in Jimmy’s firing line.’
Vince looked at her for a second, part of him still so angry with her he just wanted her out of there, and part of him wanting to hold her tight and make all the pain go away. Which part he listened to he still wasn’t yet sure.
‘I’m not that kind of person, Charley. And I thought you knew that.’