Harry put his hands on his hips. ‘’Orrible, they are. Granddad Jimmy once put a dead longtail in Old Man Macca’s bed when he knocked him for a horsebox. Nanny Alice said the curse of the longtail would rub off on Old Man Macca and it did. A week later the old shitcunt crashed the horsebox and died.’
Eddie felt his complexion change colour. Given that Vinny Butler had more skeletons in his closet than a full-to-the-brim graveyard, he’d been sure the dead-rat delivery had been aimed at his partner. Now that seemed unlikely. Too much of a coincidence. Perhaps the remaining O’Haras had tracked him down and sent the rats to the casino?
‘You all right, Ed?’ Stuart asked. At thirty-four, Stuart often got mistaken for Eddie’s younger brother. Both were tall, dark and broad-shouldered. Eddie had taken Stuart under his wing in prison. A strong friendship had developed which had since resulted in Stuart becoming a part of Eddie’s firm.
Rubbing the stubble on his chin, Eddie nodded. ‘Yeah. I was just thinking about what Frankie said earlier. That home-tutoring lark might be a good idea after all. For now, at least.’
‘Why the sudden change of heart?’ Frankie snapped, her tone as cold as ice.
Not wanting to worry his daughter, Eddie casually replied, ‘I just want what’s best for the children. That’s what we all want, isn’t it?’
Gina Mitchell was awoken by her husband’s naked arm and leg entwining with her own. She rolled over. ‘Not again. I’m sure you have a sex addiction,’ she smiled.
Eddie Mitchell kissed Gina on her naturally luscious lips. ‘Never. I’m just more hot-blooded than most men. Don’t knock a good thing, darlin’. You don’t know how lucky you are. Women are queuing up to be in your position,’ he joked, tantalizingly circling Gina’s vaginal lips with his middle finger.
Gina chuckled, then sighed as Eddie’s finger finally made contact with her clitoris. He was a joker, her man, but as loyal as a guide dog. He’d never cheated on his previous wife Jessica, and Gina knew he would never betray her either. Eddie Mitchell was a one-woman man, that was his finest attribute, as well as being permanently horny, charming, funny and incredibly handsome.
Eddie entered Gina then allowed her to take charge by riding him. His wife was forty-two, seventeen years his junior, but nobody ever guessed there was such an age gap. Gina was of Irish origin, had a mass of dark wavy hair, the longest legs Ed had ever seen in the flesh, and was incredibly beautiful. He, however, did not look a day over forty-five. Many people told him so. He’d started training while serving time in prison and had kept the gym sessions up on the outside. His body was lean, and the only sign of Eddie’s true age were the grey hairs that now mingled with his dark-brown.
Gina quickened her movement and ran her hand down Eddie’s battle wound. The scar ran from the outside of her husband’s left eye to the corner of his mouth and Gina had always found it quite a turn-on. It was a reminder of what he’d once been. Before they’d got together, Ed had run a pub protection racket and been a loan shark, and this particular scar had been given to him back in the seventies by Jimmy O’Hara. There were few secrets between them. A lot of Ed’s past had come to light in court, and the rest he’d told her in person.
‘I love you,’ Ed whispered, his orgasm nearing.
‘I love you too,’ Gina responded, running her fingers through her man’s hair to smooth it down.
Eddie still had a full head of hair and wore it in a short-back-and-sides style. It was a standing joke between him and Gina that once it got to a certain length it would start to curl, and it was in desperate need of a cut at present.
‘I’m nearly there. You?’ Eddie mumbled, his face reddening with desire.
Before she could reply, a voice said, ‘Mum, why are you sitting on Daddy’s tummy? Get off, you’re hurting him.’
‘Rosie! You mustn’t creep about like that.’ Gina rolled off Eddie and was horrified to see Aaron standing next to his sister in the doorway. She pulled the cover over her body to hide her nakedness. Rosie was only two, but Aaron was six now and had already started to ask questions about the birds and the bees. ‘Why do boys have a winkle and girls don’t, Mum?’
Eddie sighed. ‘Talk about pick your moment.’ His own winkle had just shrunk.
‘Why don’t you knock first? I’ve always told you to, haven’t I?’ Gina scolded.
Rosie’s eyes filled up. ‘Because I thought you were hurting my daddy.’
Aaron put an arm around his little sister’s shoulders. ‘It’s OK, Rosie. They were making us a brother and sister.’
Eddie chuckled. ‘No chance of that, I’m afraid. You two are enough to put a sperm donor off having any more kids.’
When her children leapt on the bed, Gina couldn’t help but laugh. She turned to Eddie. ‘The wonders of bloody parenthood, eh?’
Vinny Butler breathed heavily as he threw Felicity Carter-Price on to the bed, then forcefully tied her legs and arms to the posts. She was face downwards, just the way he liked his women.
‘Get off me. Who are you?’ Felicity shrieked, while trying to wriggle out of Vinny’s grasp.
Lifting his hand, Vinny whacked it as hard as he could against Felicity’s bare buttocks. ‘You’ll find out soon enough, slut.’
Felicity begged for mercy until, unable to move, she lay on the bed defeated. Seconds later, she screamed in agony as the huge vibrator was shoved up her backside without as much as a smear of KY Jelly.
Vinny grunted and groaned when he replaced the vibrator with his pulsating penis. He’d met Felicity earlier that year when she’d started working at his Holborn Gentleman’s Club as an exotic dancer. He preferred to think of her as that rather than a stripper or plain old lap-dancer. Exotic had a certain ring to it, and she was certainly exotic in the sack. Fliss, as he called her, was as keen on wild sexual role-play as he was. Vinny liked her to pretend she was a stranger and he was a rapist. Not once had Fliss complained. Anything he suggested they try, she was up for.
Vinny’s orgasm was powerful and, once over, he untied Felicity and lay on his back, sweating. That was another thing he liked about this particular relationship. She wasn’t demanding. Vinny wasn’t one to go down on women, he didn’t even like kissing them, truth be known. Sex was all about what he got out of it. In Vinny’s eyes, a woman was born to please a man. Although that didn’t apply to his close female family members, of course. He always wanted the best for those. His mother had deserved far better than his drunken bum of a father. And one day he hoped Ava would meet a wealthy bloke who wasn’t cut from his cloth. He wanted his daughter to be with a man who had a decent, law-abiding career and who would treat her like a princess.
Felicity snuggled up to Vinny. He was a selfish lover, but so good to her in other ways; she was willing to overlook his faults. She was also seeing more and more of him, which pleased her immensely. She knew she was Vinny’s first proper girlfriend in years, and that he was a hard nut to crack because of his past. It was only recently he’d started opening up and Felicity could tell he was warming towards her. He’d even kissed her properly and passionately on a few occasions of late.
Feeling more relaxed around a woman than he could ever remember, Vinny planted a kiss on Felicity’s forehead. He’d had his heart broken as a teenager by Yvonne Summers and he’d never really recovered from that. The few relationships he’d had since were based solely on sex or payback. The only reason he’d snared Joanna Preston was to get even with her father. Johnny Preston had shot his brother Roy, and it appealed to Vinny’s warped mind to impregnate his daughter, especially as the bullet had been meant for him in the bloody first place. As for Little Vinny’s mother, Karen, she’d been a stripper at his