“I’m not looking for a permanent man.” Jena resumed her pacing. “I only date because I can’t say no. I never go on a second date, because I don’t want a relationship. I just got out of a relationship. It was awful. I don’t need another one.” She stopped dead, bent over double and groaned. “I live in a dump that will take a century to fix. I’m fast running out of money and my only option for making more is to hold illegal dance classes. My ex-boyfriend abducted me from beside a Dumpster to tell me he wants me to strip in his club and that he won’t take no for an answer. My mother has come to visit for the first time ever and she isn’t even here to see me—no, she’s chasing Josh sightings all over Scotland, and when she has free time she stops off to tell me Frank is the man for me because I’m too fat to get another one. I’m so freaking accident-prone the town calls me Calamity Jena and runs a betting pool on what my next accident will be.” Her head was spinning. She took a deep breath. “And the local cop wants to keep me!”
She felt a hand on her back, rubbing soothing circles. “Okay, sweetie,” Abby said in her mom voice. “It’s time to calm down now. You’ve had a lot to deal with today. How about some nice hot chocolate? I can get Dougal to bring some. Doesn’t that sound lovely? Pete can call, can’t you, Pete?”
Jena groaned loudly. She was still standing in the middle of the room, bent dou
ble, facing the floor and wondering how her life had managed to implode without her even noticing.
“Tell Dougal to bring chocolate cake and ice cream,” Abby told Pete. “Lots of ice cream.”
Abby grabbed Jena’s arm and pulled her towards the wall. “Let’s sit on the floor. We’ll have a little picnic when the food comes, won’t that be nice?”
Jena slid down the wall to sit on the floor. She wasn’t sure her legs could hold her up much longer anyway.
“My life is a mess,” she told Abby.
“Everything will be okay,” Abby said. She seemed perfectly calm, but there was a hint of panic in her eyes.
“Yeah, right,” Jena scoffed.
They sat side by side against the wall. Jena stared into nothing. Her life wasn’t just a mess. It was a disaster zone. The best solution was probably to wipe it clean and start again.
“Do you love him?” Abby said softly.
Jena looked at her friend. “I don’t know,” she whispered. “There’s so much going on. My brain is overloaded. I don’t know how I feel about him.”
Abby wrapped an arm around Jena and tugged her so that she rested her head against Abby’s shoulder.
“Don’t worry,” Abby said. “It will all work out.”
Jena appreciated the sentiment, but she wasn’t so sure. In her experience, when things went to the dogs, the only thing that happened was you got bit in the ass. And she felt like she was standing with her ass hanging out, waiting for that agonising chomp.
29
“Start talking,” Matt said as he entered his office. “Don’t stop until I tell you.”
The men were cuffed with their hands behind their backs. They sat on metal-framed chairs in the centre of the room. Lake, Jason and Rusty stood at different points around the room, their focus on the Americans.
“We’re happy to cooperate,” Joe said.
“Aye, I got that from the way you abducted my woman.”
“There was no other choice. We’re trying to work with you here.”
“Don’t know if you noticed, but we aren’t partners in this. You’re the one in cuffs.”
Joe sat lazily in his chair. He smiled. It was deadly. “That wouldn’t have stopped us if we wanted out of here. We’re here through choice.”
Matt was about to roll his eyes when Joe went from lazy to deadly in the blink of an eye. One second the cuffs were behind his back, the next they were in front of him and he was brandishing a chair. Every man in the room, except for Grunt, who was still stretched out in his chair, took a step back.
Joe cocked his eyebrow at Matt. “Did I make my point?”
“Sit your arse back down, Rambo.” Matt pointed at the chair.
With a grin, Joe did as he was told. Making it clear with his relaxed acquiescence that he had chosen to comply instead of doing as he was ordered.
“We know all about your time in the service.” Matt perched on the edge of his desk and folded his arms over his stab vest. “What we don’t know is why two ex-marines are working for the New Jersey mob.”
“We’re not working for the mob. We’re working for Frank Di Marco. He wanted two guys to come with him to Scotland. As far as we were aware, it was nothing more than a show of strength. Intimidate by presence. He wanted to look like the big man for his ex-girlfriend.”