Disclaimer: The characters belong to Guy Ritchie and the setting is an imitation of the one in "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels". I might borrow an idea or two from "Snatch."

There is a good reason the story is included in the "Fantasy" genre. It bears less and less resemblance to the source. Sadly.

Part three

"Hei, kid, you're still here!" Bacon sounded surprised.

"Yeah, we were cooking"

"Something exploded in her' or what happened?"

"The blender" Soap stepped in to help. "Why d'you come?"

"I need your van tomorrow. Do you need it?"

"No. All yours"

Soap threw Bacon the keys, wishing to find a topic of conversation.

"Do you need a ride home?" Bacon asked her, helping himself to a sandwich.

"Err.. I should stay and clean this mess. Wait for me. It won't take long"

She didn't want to be alone with him and he couldn't blame her. He wasn't sure what to make of what had just happened.

"It's OK. I'll clean up in no time"

That spelled rejection in any language. Addie thanked him, waved good bye and rushed out. Bacon didn't seem to notice anything out of order. He just mistook her silence for fatigue.

She was staring blankly to the city lights running outside the window. This made her feel dizzy, so she moved her glance inside the car. Soap's van had hundreds of clues of his presence. A pair of sunglasses forgotten carelessly between the seats, an old issue of "The Sun" with drawn moustaches on celebrities' faces, a broken Beatles tape. She picked it up, the first song was "Yesterday".

"How appropriate", she thought. "My troubles were not as much away as they were different. Yesterday. I wonder what is Ed doing now?"

The last question popped into her head out of habit. But she fought the "I wonder what is Soap doing now?" question. She looked at Bacon. She couldn't talk to him. What good would that do?

The most unbearable of all the mementoes of Soap's existence was the scent. The van had his aroma ingrained in every fibre. Not as much as the nice artificial smell of his after-shave, but the more intimate smell she discerned on his neck and on his hands. The smell of fine, plain English soap and the Mediterranean herbs. She couldn't stop the sigh, but she coughed over it.

"You ok? You're awfully quiet"

"I'm just tired" she smiled.

Last week she thought that her friends seemed to have implicitly handed out the parts they wanted to play in her life: Bacon was the father figure, Tom was the uncle, Ed was the romantic ideal and Soap was the substitute brother. Things change.

~~~~~ The night passed ~~~~~~~

The first semiconscious thought was "Mmmm" and the memory of Soap's lips.

The first conscious thought was "Oh my Lord, what have I done?"

It all came back to her. The unbelievable passion stirred by his kiss, the urge to have him, completely… She moaned, recollecting the sensations.

"What's wrong with me? He's gay! He is not attracted to women. He probably washed his mouth with soap after that. They don't like women! He doesn't! God, how am I ever going to face him again!"

Why couldn't she feel that about any of her boyfriends? Some of them were quite inappropriate, but none of them was such a huge taboo.

The cold shower could hardly make her feel better.

~~~~~

Soap was collecting his thoughts. What the hell had happened? He couldn't sleep that night. He reached for the cell phone several times. Calling Ed in aid of this problem was not an option. Addie was their kid. He could only harm her. That's how they were all going to see it. That was just how he'd see things if something like that had happened to another one of them.

Life is funny that way. Before last night, he imagined Ed would be the one to hurt her. Not him. The fact that Addie was the one that caused his reaction took the joy out of the event itself. Soap hadn't reacted that strongly to a woman's touch in the last five years. He was getting over it. The doctor had told him it was all in his head, but Soap stopped trying shortly before Addie came along. He contended himself to monthly visits to a professional establishment and that was that.

~~~~~~

"What happened to Addie?"

Ed's question felt personally addressed to him.

"I don't know. Why?"

"I haven't seen her in a week or so"

"She's very taken with her new boyfriend. Apparently this one doesn't ask how high when she tells him jump" Bacon informed them. "But she doesn't want to introduce him to us. She said we freak them out."

What was that Soap was feeling? Relief? Jealousy? He couldn't tell.

"I heard about this place" Ed started wavering. "Some people I know are going to some illegal boxing matches. The bets are very impressive. I think"

"Illegal?" Soap cut his words short. "I thought I were out of that shite"

"Let's hear him out" Tom pleaded.

Soap looked at him appalled. It was happening again. He could remember the casual way Ed mentioned about this "game of cards" he heard of. Heavy betting and everything. He never breathed a word about Hatchet Harry until the shit had hit the ceiling.

Ed's story seemed fine on the surface. They had heard of some of the darker figures in it, but the bets seemed cosher. They felt they needed to make one last score, one last big hit before leaving the "shadowlands".

That had disaster written all over it. Soap felt the attraction of the old ways almost as strongly as his friends. He made a last attempt to be the voice of reason anyway.

"There are a million things that can go wrong. Why might not be as lucky as the last time"

Three pairs of eyes pierced him. They had an unspoken agreement never to mention the trouble with Harry. It was a jinx.

"So, are you in?" Bacon dotted the i.

"Yeah, I'm in!"

~~~~~~~

In the following weeks, they became regulars of the betting circles again. They played safe, like the respectable businessmen they were. This was not in nature, so the restraint wore off pretty soon.

The summer holiday arrived and Addie decided to spend it with her parents, as far from Soap as she could afford. With their Jiminy Cricket out of the way, the boys jumped to heavier bets. Up to late August, lady luck stood by them.

Addie came back in September and with her the misfortune hit the bunch.

~~~~~~