Scarlet Rose

Chapter 60

When he entered the Blind Beggar and met with the stench of sweat, cigarettes and ale, time slapped him hard on his sore cheek. A wave of goosebumps tickled his skin when the memory of him, 

 delinquent sixteen years old teenager with anger and regret running through his veins,

 materialised inside his mind. He'd been in this pub before. He had been dragged out from by Albert. He had found himself after that, bloodied and drunk, in Candy's room.

Fucking irony laughing in his face

He looked around him, at the punters having a good time. Most were men, hard grafters by their looks, all of them.

He sat on a stool by the bar, asked for a pint of Guinness and untied his tie. Took it off completely and shoved it in his pocket. The heat made his skin flush. He took his jacket off and rolled his sleeves up. He brought the pint of ale to his lips the moment the bartender served him. Savoured the bitterness of it on his tongue. A flash of nostalgic wickedness passed through his eyes. One thing was for sure. He wasn't going to be thrown out of that pub for drinking too much. Lit a cigarette, took a drag, wishing for the nicotine to calm down the storm raging inside him.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. 

The moment he had staggered out of her house, he came to realise it. He had taken too long to act. Open his heart to her. He had acted like an observer since he had entered her life again. So what if they had kissed three times? He never followed with something more meaningful. He waited till that damn party to give her 

A fucking ultimatum. 

And she turned him down. He had played the jealousy card. He even had tried to persuade himself that it wasn't meant to be. He could let himself have a good time with any other woman. But not with her...

Like a compass pointing to the North, he thought of his life always leading towards Candy.  When he abandoned all rationale and reason was left at the bottom of the glass, he let his ego smash that compass altogether. He loathed what he had become. What he had done only just a little while ago to the woman he was supposed to love with every inch of his being. He hated the power she had over him. The anger, still burned like a star in his eyes. It was that anger that led him to ask the taxi driver on his way to the Blind Beggar to take a detour.

**

Everything outside the car windows had become a continuous line, unravelling under his dark stare while the taxi was speeding towards the police station. He fell back to the car seat. Behind the closed eyes, he knew. He had hesitated going to the police, even if the thought had been carving circles in his mind. The only thing that had stopped him was Candy. It would destroy her to find out that Christian had been living another life, hidden from her. His breathing had turned heavy. Despite the slowness of his movements, inside his mind, the thoughts were gathering, following one after the other in quick succession.

**

The crushed cigarette butts inside the ashtray in front of Terry, had started resembling a cemetery made of ash and memories. Time was ticking away inside empty glasses of whiskey. The pub was getting busier and rowdier. 

Next to where Terry was sitting, a tall dark haired man with ice blue eyes and a voice sounding like the words were dragged on hard gravel, ordered a pint of lager. Terry had followed him with his stare when he seemed to appear from some stairs which came up from a basement hidden behind the bar. For some reason, this casual in all other circumstances appearance of the man, who he was sure he was unknown to him, felt like ticking a dark box in his mind. A shorter guy, lean like a beanstalk came, took a stool right next to the man.