“Tell me I’ve died and gone to porn heaven,” Tommy mumbled as he stood incredulously beside me.

“You have any thoughts about my wife that even feature a dildo, you’re gonna wish you were dead,” I responded.

“Okay. No dildo,” he said, still looking pretty happy with himself.

“Just to be clear. No sexual fantasies about my wife whatsoever. In fact, the only time you need to be thinking about my wife is when you’re where her husband is. And more importantly where his fist is in relation to your face.

“You suck all the fun out of life,” Tommy said.

Our tiny flat was full of women passing around lingerie and sex toys. I coughed to clear my throat as I locked eyes on my wife.

“So what’s going on, Sunshine?” I asked, trying to sound casual. She was holding a black lace bra up against herself and talking to Nikki’s housemate.

“Sorry, love. I didn’t know you’d be home this early. Nikki’s friend Helen is helping us host an Ann Summers’ party.”

“I thought it would take her mind off tomorrow,” Nikki told me.

“Good call,” I said with a smile.

“I’m gonna head over to Kieran’s and grab some dinner. Give you ladies some peace and quiet.”

“Sorry. I feel like I’m pushing you out. I forgot to mention that the girls were coming by,” Em said as she squeezed past the women, who were mainly sprawled over the bed comparing toys.

“It’s fine, baby. Go and have a good time, and I’ll see you later.”

“I won’t spend too much money, I promise!” I looked down again at that black lace underwear and imagined Em wearing it.

“Spend as much as you like,” I told her. My voice full of conviction.

“Mine’s bigger and a prettier color. Do you want to see?” Em and I both turned around just in time to catch Tommy’s generous offer to the ladies. Most of them giggled and looked at Tom lovingly. How the fuck did he do that? He said something crude or danced like a woman, and girls thought he was cute. But if Kier or I ever did it, we’d just come off as being dicks.

“They think he’s gay,” Kier said, reading my mind, “that’s why they think he’s cute.”

“No they don’t,” Tommy called back. “I’m not saying men don’t want me,” he told Nikki matter-of-factly, “but there’s not enough of me to share with the ladies as it is.”

“You know it really is purple,” I told the girls, as I nodded my head toward Tommy’s junk.

“STDs,” Kieran whispered conspiratorially to a captive audience.

“Jealousy is an ugly thing, my friend,” Tommy said to Kieran, as he tried to rise above all Kieran’s insults.

“I’m not jealous of your STDs,” Kieran said.

“You’re such a dick,” Tommy told him.

“Do you want to hold my dick?” Nikki offered to Tommy as Em laughed. I spotted a bottle of white wine on the table and figured they’d all had a few drinks to unwind.

“It’s a mood cock,” Nikki told him. “It vibrates and changes color depending on your mood.”

“Okay,” he agreed without hesitation.

“Go, Tommy!” Em encouraged him.

“It’s all right,” he said. “I’m man enough to hold a fucking dildo.”

Nikki handed it to him and he held it out like it was plutonium. Within seconds it turned blue. Sunshine was holding her side from laughing so hard. After last night, I’d be happy to stay here all night listening to Tommy talk up a storm just to see her smile.

“Seriously, ladies! How can you possibly think this could replace the real thing?” Tom asked curiously.

“Do you think you could get yours to vibrate and change color?” Nikki asked him through her laughter. Tommy looked her up and down suggestively.

“For you Nik, I could make it stand at attention and dance to the national anthem.” The women erupted as they considered what Tommy’s dancing cock looked like.

Hauling my girl in for a hug. I called over to Kieran. “I think that’s our cue to leave,” I told him. He didn’t hear me. Smiles all gone, he’d locked eyes on the girl who’d just walked out of the bathroom.

“Hey, Marie,” he said softly. “It’s good to see you again.”

“It’s good to see you too,” she replied.

I looked from one to the other and felt like I was missing something. She was the girl who’d designed Em’s wedding dress, and since the wedding she, Em, Nikki, and a few of their university and waitressing friends had spent a lot more time together. Sunshine had been denied friendship for most of her life by that evil fuck Frank so I loved that she was building her own circle of friends, especially with me out training so much.

Then I spotted someone I never expected to see in our flat. “What’s Katrina doing here?” I asked Em. I spoke quietly but Katrina obviously overheard me as she turned to see me looking at her.

“We’re friends now, remember,” Em told me.

“No, we’re not,” Katrina replied. “We just don’t hate each other anymore. Apparently your wife has a bit of a guilt complex about how things went down between us and making me shop for sex toys and drink wine with her is going to make us BFFs,” she told me sarcastically.

“Making you?” I asked her.

“Have you ever said no to your wife when she’s made up her mind about something? She’s being nice to me now, and it’s even more fucking annoying than when she hated me,” Katrina said grumpily. Em turned to me with a grin, and I knew Katrina had a point. My girl had a real bee in her bonnet about her relationship with this chick. She wanted to make things right between them, and she was more stubborn than I was when she got it in her head to do something.

“Well, have fun,” I told them all and bent to kiss Sunshine on the lips.

“Especially you,” I whispered.

Turning to leave, I bumped Kieran to get his attention but what I found made me pause. His eyes followed Marie, who’d gone back into the fray, and I realized that I’d seen the look on his face in the mirror over a year ago. Kieran Doherty, joker, pussy magnet, corner man, and friend, had found his girl.

Chapter 14

For the first three days of Frank’s trial, it rained endlessly. It was winter in London so it rained pretty much every day. Those three days were different though. The black clouds were foreboding, like the bad weather was an omen for things to come. I was dog tired from training and worried sick the whole time about what was happening in that courtroom. The more of each day that passed, the worse I trained. My feet were slow and sluggish on the bounce, and my punches were hitting the mark but that was probably the best you could say about them.