Human Conditioning (12 page)

When
Aiden stepped back, no one moved a muscle. Unlike the others, he was hardly affected.
He wasn’t breathless or crying. His adrenaline was pumping, but he wasn’t
frightened or shaken; he was eager, up for it. He could quite easily put his
father into unconsciousness right now and he knew that he was capable of doing
so. It was the greatest feeling in the world to finally know that he could
fight back. For so many years he had been frightened of his father. But
something had changed; something had clicked. In just a matter of weeks, he had
matured. He had grown stronger. Through Reggie, he’d already fought much
tougher men than the likes of Duggie Foster. He grew stronger every day, fought
smarter, and his confidence was through the roof. He was game and he was ready
to take on any cunt that upset him or attempted to stand in his way.

Aiden
stormed from the room. Passing Kate, he grabbed his Adidas jacket from the coat
peg in the hallway and slipped it on, hearing his mother attempting to help Duggie
off the floor and his father’s nasty rebuff, but he couldn’t care less about
either of them.

Kate
was watching from the step at the bottom of the stairs, melancholy etched into her
pretty face. He leant down and pressed a rough kiss on her forehead. “I’m
sorry,” he whispered before slamming the front door on them all.

************

It was 2am by the time Aiden
returned home that night. He lay in bed staring at the ceiling, his arms
resting beneath his head as he absorbed the rare silence of the dead of night.
Downstairs, there had been evidence of an argument – smashed plates on the
kitchen floor – but for now, the flat was still, giving an alien sense of
peace, contrary to the storm rolling inside his head.

As
he reflected on the evening past, sorting out the gang in Shoreditch, he was
satisfied that he had shown what he was capable of and certain that word would
spread about his performance. He and Reggie wouldn’t have any trouble from Nathan
Cheery and his crew in the future. Mission accomplished. Yet one thing was
niggling at him.

Reggie
had praised him tonight, for his ability to control his attack and not murder
each and every one of the cunts. Yet in reality, it hadn’t been
control
at
all: it had been
fear
. He hadn’t enlightened Reggie of that fact, of
course. He was embarrassed and annoyed at himself for his weakness.
Kill or
be killed
was a mantra he’d heard repeatedly growing up under the
guardianship of Grant O’Donoghue, and he wholly believed it. If he didn’t have
the bottle to take another man’s life, how the hell was he ever going to be at
the top of his game?

He
closed his eyes. It was food for a lot of thought and he thought on it until
the sun marked a new day.

“Oi, Aiden, a dicky-bird tells me you can get motors on
the cheap,” Roy Watson called over the square abutting the Carlton estate. The
square consisted of what a council estate was commonly assumed to require: an off-licence,
newsagents, fish and chip shop, laundrette and a betting shop.

Roy had just been in the
latter. He’d put a twenty-pound bet on Forever Blowing Bubbles, the favourite
horse to win that afternoon. Roy’s tone was derogatory, as it always was when
he spoke to Aiden Foster. He had never made it a secret that he wasn’t a fan of
the young lad who seemed to hold everyone’s attention.

Roy was well known on the
estate, frequenting the local pub and betting shop on a regular basis, so of
course he knew Aiden’s father, but Duggie didn’t like Roy and the feeling was
mutual as far as Roy was concerned. Yet like so many who enjoyed a few too many
drinks, the men tolerated each other in order to secure a drinking buddy
whenever they needed one and, in their inebriated state, they frequently
complained about their kids with mutual distaste.  

Aiden stopped in his tracks
and turned to face the child-beating fuck who he would love to kick two shits
out of, thinking that maybe today was the day. Roy was watching him with a
quivering smirk on his lips. He didn’t believe for one second that Aiden Foster
would have the intelligence or the will to steal cars and sell them on. That
game took guts and diligence. Roy had known a fair few thieves in his life. It
was one thing stealing something with your mates and dumping it when the fun
was over, but it was quite another to actually make a business out of it. 

Despite his reservations, Roy
had been told by Marvin Price in the betting shop just ten minutes ago that
he’d bought a shiny new Astra for a third of the market value, thanks to Aiden
Foster. Roy had laughed and told him the kid probably had fuck-all to do with
it and was just running his mouth to make him look the big man. Marvin hadn’t
answered Roy, who he thought had the biggest chip on his shoulder, and had left
in his new car with a smile on his face.

Aiden strode up to Roy and
puffed a cloud of smoke into his green eyes. “Say it a bit louder, Roy. I don’t
think Scotland Yard heard you,” he growled quietly.

Aiden towered over him, but
Roy merely smirked. “You ain’t got the sense to pull something like that off...”

“Really?” Aiden stepped back and
pulled hard on his cigarette. “If you don’t believe it, Roy, then why the fuck
are you asking me about it?” he replied, shrugging his shoulders imperturbably.

Roy’s eyes narrowed as he
wracked his brain for a decent response, but he wasn’t that smart. Instead, he
used his typical line of attack. He got angry and changed the subject. “You
seen my Gina?”

Aiden attempted, though
failed, to hide his amusement. To his constant pleasure, Roy had never been as
arrogant or quick-tongued as he. He made no effort to answer Roy. He didn’t
know where Gina was and, at that moment, he didn’t really care. He flicked his
cigarette onto the pavement and made to leave, but Roy gripped his arm. “You
shaggin’ my daughter, Foster?” he asked gravely.

Aiden’s eyes fell to Roy’s
hand. He stared at it for a moment then he glared at him as if he was about to
commit his first murder. He shrugged him off. “Touch me again...” he began,
dangerously.

“Hiya!”

Gina’s voiced sliced through
their altercation. She sauntered sexily across the square and both men stepped
away from each other. Roy’s lips pressed into a hard line and he exhaled a
quiet sigh of relief, too quiet for Aiden to notice. Aiden turned and watched
Gina’s approach impassively, though he couldn’t prevent himself from glancing
at her long legs, bare and exposed beneath a very short black skirt. She
bounced as she walked in her Adidas trainers, her hands inside the pockets of
her fake leather jacket.

It was clear that her
enthusiasm was generated by Aiden’s presence rather than her father’s. When she
approached him, she wanted nothing more than to grab his beautiful face and
plant her lips on his, but in the presence of her father, Aiden would not see
it as appropriate. 

“What you up to?” she asked
apprehensively, as her eyes flitted between the two most influential men in her
life.

“Aiden reckons he can get me a
motor...” Roy announced, derision returning to his voice.

Gina smiled, neglecting to notice
her father’s attempt to ridicule her man.

She peered up at Aiden
expectantly. He couldn’t deny the beseeching in her large green eyes. He pursed
his lips in thought and for some unfathomable reason, he said, not taking his
eyes from her, “Alright, what do you want, Roy?”

Gina’s eyes twinkled with
affection and, he thought, a glint of surprise. Roy remained unconvinced, and
he didn’t like the way his daughter was gazing at Aiden all doe-eyed and
desirous, but for sheer amusement he replied, “I fancy a Corsa, for the right
price...”

Aiden turned back to Roy. “How
much you got to spend?”

“Get me something for about a
grand and you’ve got a deal...”

Gina shot her father a look of
panic. “Dad, we ain’t got
that
kind of money! I was thinking a couple of
hundred!”

Aiden smiled to himself. He
knew Roy was playing him, and didn’t think he could pull it off, but he
would
pull it off. He would show the condescending prick just how much he’d
underestimated him. He would take the opportunity to teach the old cunt a
lesson, once and for all.

Gina watched her father stroll up the street with
narrowed eyes then turning back to Aiden she pleaded, “Don’t get him nothing,
Aiden. He won’t have the money to pay for it.”

“Well, he’ll have to find it
then, won’t he?” He made to leave.

She took his arm. “Please,
Aiden!”

He shook her off immediately
and scowled. “What is it with you Watsons, thinking you can fucking touch me
whenever you like!”

Gina couldn’t conceal her
initial shock. She stared at him, wide-eyed, her mouth a perfect ‘o’ shape. In
the next moment, her nostrils flared and her top lip curled under the weight of
her spiked temper. Pushing him away from her, she spat, “Where have you been
the past few weeks, eh?” Aiden walked away. “Oh, off you go then, crawl back
into your fucking hiding place!” she yelled after him. But she wasn’t going to
let him go this time. For weeks she’d longed to see him. She jogged up the
street and stopped in front of him. Aiden sighed with irritation. “Don’t
walk
away from me!” she cried. Her face was flushed with anger but her eyes betrayed
her. She gazed at his handsome face, longing for his attention.

“I’m busy, G...” he sighed. He
attempted to sidestep her, but she pushed him back with all of her strength;
angrily, desperately.

Aiden didn’t allow
anyone
to manhandle him the way Gina often did. His father had been the first and last
person to do so. But in some sick way, he enjoyed watching Gina lose control of
herself because of him. He knew that, deep down, she hated him, even if she
hadn’t quite figured that out herself yet, and in some twisted act of self-hatred,
he felt safe in that reality. In fact, he loved it, and he was certain it was
the same for her. She thrived on the pain he caused her. Both of them were
drunk on hate. It was all they knew, all they had been convinced they deserved,
and consequently it was all they craved.

As well as he knew how to vex
Gina, he knew how to appease her also. Swaggering up to her, he grabbed the
back of her head, fisting her dark hair, and pressed his lips to hers. He slid
his tongue into her mouth forcefully, making the kiss unbearably erotic. He
waited for her to yield, continuing to explore her mouth with his tongue until
she finally submitted. He stepped back and watched her battle with her
emotions. He had realised a long time ago that he had a great power over this
girl, and like anything he felt could be used to his advantage, he would
utilise his power over her for his own gain.

Gina stood outside The Stag waiting for Aiden. He’d
called her at home an hour ago and arranged to meet. It was a typically freezing
February afternoon and Aiden was, as always, late. She was just about to
retreat inside when Jason Ryan came strolling up the road in jeans and an
American sports bomber jacket that he’d purchased in the summer of ’86 when
holidaying in Orlando with his parents.

Jason Ryan was the antithesis
of all the other young men who lived on or around the estate. The girls likened
him to an ‘American jock’, but the boys just thought he was a jumped-up prick,
which he was. Considering Jason lived only five minutes’ walk from the estate,
he prided himself on being above everyone because he’d had trials for West Ham
and his parents
owned
their house.

He was a sturdy lad, with
blonde hair, cropped neatly around his large forehead, green eyes and a long
nose. He smiled when he spotted Gina and immediately pulled her into a long
kiss. Gina pushed him away abruptly. “Not here, Jay!”

Jason frowned. He wasn’t used
to a girl being so secretive about their sporadic affair and he was growing
tired of it. Gina
was
the hottest girl on the estate, but any other
would run over hot coals to earn his notice. Pulling her roughly to him once
more, he planted yet another kiss on her lips then pushed her away abruptly to
make his point.       

It was during that second kiss
that Aiden pulled up in front of the pub in a navy Ford Fiesta. Skidding to a
halt, he wound down the window. “Get in...” he instructed coldly, his piercing
blue eyes glaring at Gina. He didn’t acknowledge Jason.

“Thanks a bunch!” she sneered,
then slipped her slender body into Aiden’s car. Despite his anger, Aiden copped
an eyeful of her long shiny legs as she swung them round in her seat. She was
wearing a black Lycra mini skirt, trainers and an Adidas jacket. Even when
casual, she looked ten times hotter than the other girls on the estate. Aiden
didn’t value this, mind. As far as he was concerned, she was privileged to be
of interest to him, especially right now. He slammed his foot on the
accelerator and sped away from the kerb. A suffocating silence grew between the
pair as Aiden drove the car towards Haggerston.

Gina spoke first, as usual.
“Where d’you get the car?” she asked, timidly. Aiden didn’t answer, which she was
expecting. She knew this game all too well and so waited for a long moment to
allow him to stew before saying, “He approached me. I told him to piss off.”

Aiden replied rather too
casually, “Well, if I see him bothering you again, I’ll kill him.” He took a
deep breath and to her delight he added conversationally, “I picked the car up
from Alex this morning. Alright, innit? With Ricky on board, we’re knocking out
two a week and Alex reckons he might be able to up that to three soon.”