Chapter Twenty

Brendan walked to work that morning feeling distinctly cheerful. He even smiled at the people he passed by who looked at him in alarm; unused to such kindness from Brendan Brady. Nothing could spoil his mood; everything was perfect.

He hopped up the stairs two at a time, kissed Cheryl on the cheek and grinned at Warren who looked at him in bemusement.

"What's gotten you so happy?" He asked, raising his eyebrows.

Brendan patted his nose and smirked.

"Ah… has rat-I mean Ste, been keeping you happy, mate?" Warren had the knack of saying anything remotely relating to sex sound a bit sleazy.

Brendan laughed in his usual manic way. "Funny, Foxy, very funny…Can't a guy just be happy, eh?"

"Well I think it's lovely" Cheryl said, her eyes shining. "My brother, in lo-"

"Now, now, Sis. None of that" Brendan warned, his smile slipping a little. "Ready to talk in my office, Foxy?" he added to Warren.

"Our office" Warren corrected him.

"Ye, whatever" Brendan said, waving a hand dismissively.

Warren closed the door after them and stood with his arms crossed. "Have ye spoken to ye contact then?"

"Yeah, did it before I came in" Brendan said, slipping a small package into Warren's hand.

"Is this it?" Warren asked, disgruntled.

"For now. Don't want to tempt fate by giving ye the whole lot, do I?"

"Well, thanks anyway" Warren said sulkily, putting the package in his jacket pocket.

"No problem" Brendan grinned but then his smile dropped. "But no dealing in here, right?"

"Oh I won't be dealing it myself, I'm not a mug"

"Hmm" Brendan replied as though contemplating the truth of this statement.

Warren frowned. "It's a shame your Stephen isn't up to much at the moment, I could have done with his help in this"

Brendan's expression darkened. He knew Warren was only saying it to get a rise out of him. "Stephen wouldn't have done it for ye anyway"

"Oh really? He was up for helping me with Kyle's money, until you convinced him otherwise. I turned a blind eye to that because you're a mate"

Brendan scoffed. "Ye, I'm sure that was the reason"

"Whatever the reason, I have a certain…influence with the lad, I'm sure he wouldn't say no. In fact, the fact that he's injured might add to the appeal, make him look less suspicious…"

Brendan stepped that little bit closer to Warren. "Ye seem to forget, Foxy" he said quietly, menacingly. "Stephen doesn't follow your orders, he follows mine"

"Oh is that what they're calling it these days?" Warren sneered. "Forget what I said" Warren said, opening the door and looking at Brendan with raised eyebrows. "I wouldn't want to mess with your Ste, Danny paid for that mistake…" Warren added quietly.

"What are you talking about?"

Warren stopped in his tracks, his eyes widening as he looked back at Brendan, who had stiffened in complete horror.

"Nothing, Brendan and Danny had a similar conversation that's all" Warren said to Stephen quickly. His lie was pretty obvious.

"That doesn't make any sense" Stephen said, looking into the office at Brendan, who still hadn't moved. "What's he really talking about, Bren?"

"I'll leave you to it" Warren muttered quietly, shutting the office door behind him when Stephen entered.

"What are ye doing here?" Brendan asked, finally finding his voice.

"You forgot your lunch" Stephen held up a paper bag. "Tell me, Brendan. What was Warren talking about?"

Brendan took the bag out of Stephen's hands. "Thanks for this, very kind of ye…" he trailed off, looking in the bag.

"Brendan!" Stephen almost shouted, trying to gain his attention.

Brendan looked up, dazed. "What?"

"Why did Warren say Danny paid for messing with me? I hardly spoke to the guy" Stephen looked confused, trying to put all the pieces together.

"Well, he's an idiot, isn't he?" Brendan said, his voice wavering slightly.

"Brendan" Stephen said seriously, stepping closer to Brendan and looking him in the eye directly. "Is there something you aren't telling me?"

Brendan averted his gaze. "Stephen…" He made to touch his face but Stephen jerked back.

"When you get home, we're going to talk about this" Stephen warned, turning round and starting to head for the door.

"Wait, isn't Amy back tonight with the kids?"

"No, they decided to stay another night. Mike managed to get another day off of work. So plenty of time for us to talk about this"

"Right…ye" Brendan replied evasively.

"See you later" Stephen warned, his eyes flashing as he walked out of the club.

Brendan followed him outside the door and gave Warren a look of pure loathing. Warren shrugged his shoulders, looking worried. Worried for his part in it I bet Brendan thought bitterly, slamming the office door behind him.

Brendan walked back to Stephen's flat as slowly as possible at the end of the day. He didn't have a clue what he was going to say, how he was going to explain. He cursed Warren and his big mouth, was it too much to ask to scan the room before he came out with things that could potentially send the both of them to jail?

He'd spent the whole day badgering Brendan about it, asking him what he was going to say, warning him to keep his mouth shut about his involvement. Brendan nearly punched him after hours of this but Cheryl held him back, looking alarmed and confused. Brendan had remained in the office for the rest of the day after that.

He took a deep breath when he arrived outside Stephen's door. Right now he was either going to get away with it, talk Stephen round and beg forgiveness or he was about to lose the only man he'd ever truly loved. Brendan wished he could say that to Stephen's face; say to anyone how he felt about him for that matter. Now wasn't the time for that though, now was the time to make things right, to bring everything out into the open, to leave himself completely bare so that Stephen could decide once and for all whether Brendan was worth it all. Brendan severely hoped that Stephen thought he was. The alternative was…unbearable.

Brendan pushed open the front door, confronted with Stephen sitting on the sofa, his arms crossed. Shutting the door behind him, Brendan awaited his fate.