The Boss. Caz Finlay

He grinned before he took a sip of his whisky. ‘Anyway, tell me, why is Patrick Carter always hanging around here? Every time I come in here, he’s skulking around.’

      ‘He is not skulking around. He’s a paying customer. He’s very welcome here. Unlike you.’

      ‘You’re not fucking him, are you?’ he asked, his face contorted in disgust.

      ‘Not that it’s any of your business,’ she hissed. ‘But no, I am not fucking him. He’s a friend of mine, and besides, he’s old enough to be my dad.’ She glared at him. If he registered the veiled insult about his relationship with Kayleigh, then he didn’t show it.

      ‘Who are you fucking then?’ he asked, his tone suddenly serious.

      She stared at him. Who the hell did he think he was? ‘None of your damn business, that’s who,’ she snapped.

      ‘It will always be my business, Grace. You’re my wife.’

      ‘I’m your ex-wife, Nathan.’

      He ignored her correcting him. ‘So, there is someone then?’

      She leaned in close to him and said quietly in his ear: ‘You were enough to put me off men for life, sunshine.’

      Turning her back on him, Grace went to serve another customer. She smiled and made polite conversation, but her stomach churned and her heart pounded in her ears. Nathan knew exactly how to push her buttons. The way he treated her like she was his property made her skin crawl. There was a time, when she was an idiotic, love-struck teenager, that she’d thought his possessiveness was quite endearing and his jealousy simply an outward display that he loved her just as much as she loved him. What a fool she’d been.

       Chapter Twelve

       Twenty Years Earlier

      Nathan brought out the heavy tray of freshly washed glasses from the kitchen and placed them on the bar. He’d decided to work at the pub for the night. He liked to keep an eye on the place sometimes and make sure no one was taking the piss. It gave him a chance to keep an eye on Grace too, and he was glad he’d decided to tonight. There was a young lad who’d been sitting at the bar for a while. He’d been fucking about with the same beer for about half an hour and the cheeky prick had spent most of his time staring at Grace’s arse. Nathan looked at her. Wearing trousers and a shirt, her usual pub attire, nothing was on show as per his instructions. But there was no hiding her figure. She just had something about her.

      He started to get hard thinking about what he was going to do to her later, and the way she was always so eager to please him. For her part, Grace seemed oblivious to the lad drooling over her. But that meant she was as friendly to him as she was any other customer, and that just encouraged the poor bastard. Fortunately, for them both, Nathan was in a good mood. He saw the lad signal to Grace to serve him. As she reached him, Nathan came up beside her and slipped an arm around her waist.

      ‘I’ll get this, babe,’ he said against her ear.

      Nathan pulled the young lad’s pint. ‘Not seen you here before, mate, what’s the name?’

      ‘Liam. I’ve been coming here the past couple of weeks.’

      ‘Yes, I bet you have,’ he mumbled. Handing him his pint, Nathan leaned down, his elbows on the bar and his face just a few inches from Liam’s. He smiled for appearance’s sake, but he knew with certainty, that it did not disguise the menace in his voice. ‘You do know that’s my girlfriend whose arse you’ve been staring at all night, don’t you?’

      Liam swallowed hard. ‘I wasn’t staring, mate. Honest,’ he stuttered.

      ‘If I ever catch you looking at her again, I will rip your fucking nuts off, and stuff them down your throat. Do you hear me?’

      Liam nodded and scuttled off out of the pub. Nathan laughed to himself, sure that would be the last they’d see of him.

      The pub had been so busy; Grace had barely had time to think. It always seemed busier when Nathan was there. So many people stopped in to see him, to discuss something or other. He was so at ease behind the bar and the customers loved him too. He always kept them all in good humour, with his constant jokes and easy charm, making sure that they stayed all night to spend their hard-earned money. She, on the other hand, always felt a bit uneasy when he was there, like he was always watching her, waiting for her to say or do the wrong thing, to laugh a little too much at one of the customer’s awful jokes. It was probably just her imagination, but it was a feeling she couldn’t shake. Liam had left after Nathan spoke to him. Grace hoped he hadn’t scared him off; Liam had become a regular and he was harmless.

      Once they had seen the last punter out and locked the doors, Grace started to climb the stairs to the flat, with Nathan at her heels. If he were any closer, she would have fallen over his feet. As always, she felt his presence so acutely and wondered what sort of mood he was in. He’d been in good spirits all night, but she knew better than most how quickly his moods could change. As soon as they were inside the flat he grabbed her by the waist and pushed her up against the wall, the full weight of his body pressing into hers, his erection pressing into her hip. He put one hand on her throat, just holding it there.

      ‘I saw the way that Liam kid was looking at you tonight, Grace. He wants you.’

      ‘Don’t be daft, Nate. He’s just a kid.’

      Nathan shook his head. ‘Trust me, he wants you. I can tell by the way he looks at you, wondering at what lies beneath,’ he said as he started to unbutton her trousers with his free hand. ‘Do you know how hard it makes me when I see other men looking at you, Grace?’ He growled as he pushed his groin into hers as if to prove his point. ‘When I know they’re thinking about fucking you, about touching you the way I do.’

      Conscious of his fingers on her throat, she flinched, but his grip didn’t tighten, and he began to caress her neck with his thumb.

      ‘But I’m yours, Nathan, only yours,’ she said, her voice barely more than a whisper. Hoping that he would stop talking about other men wanting her, as it was a subject which was sure to enrage him sooner or later.

      He laughed. ‘Oh, I know you are, and don’t you ever forget it!’

      Pushing his tongue into her mouth, he kissed her in that way that made her forget her own name before making love to her right there in the hallway.

       Chapter Thirteen

       Present Day

      Nathan sat at his usual table in a quiet corner of the Rose and Crown, waiting for his best mate, Ben McKinley, to talk over a business proposition Nathan had for him. Ben had been semi-legit for a long time, and owned his own garage, but he could still be persuaded to get his hands dirty when the occasion called for it. And Nathan was about to pull off a big takeover; he needed people he trusted around him – and there was no one he trusted more than Ben.

      Jake had turned up and was sitting at the bar watching Everton getting slaughtered, as usual. Grace pottered about around him. Nathan watched them both from his vantage point. The closeness they shared was clear enough for a blind man to see. The way Jake looked at his mum every time someone scored – either to convey his joy or dismay. And the way Grace smiled at him, reassuring him everything would always be okay. Nathan had always been envious of their bond. He’d sometimes felt like a voyeur intruding on their happiness. Always standing on the side-lines and never truly one of them. He’d wanted to be. He’d tried to be one of them. Especially after Jake was born; he’d really tried to change. But the pull of his other life had always been too strong. He missed the adulation, the respect, the