Chapter Fifty Seven

Stephen

We drifted back to sleep for another hour until Jayden’s cries woke us. I felt Trinity start to stir, ready to get up and tend to him.

“Stay put, baby. I’ll get him,” I told her.

“Thanks, babe,” she replied.

I walked into the other room and picked up my little man. The twins were still fast asleep, hugging each other in a way that melted my heart.

I returned to our room and climbed back into bed with my wife. She took our son from me and began to feed him.

“I think we should share your idea with the others today. It’s a good one, babe, and I think we can make it work,” I suggested.

“The most important thing is that we don’t implicate you or Clint,” she warned. “If we’re going to take this to the Chief of Police, we need to make sure Benji is involved and that there’s a deal in place to protect you both. Given how corrupt we know they are now, you can understand why I’m concerned.”

“Of course, babe. And Benji will be able to help with all of that. If he voices concerns over whether it will work or not, then we’ll simply look for another way,” I reassured her.

“Okay, baby. What time is it?” she asked.

“It’s 7:45 a.m., babe.”

“Hmm, that’s strange. The twins are still asleep; they must be exhausted.”

“While you finish feeding Jay, let me go make some coffee and bring it up while we wait for them. I don’t want to head downstairs in case they wake up and get disoriented.”

“Okay, baby. And add an extra shot to mine, please.”

“Why’s that? Did I wear you out, baby?”

“Don’t push your luck, Mister, after yesterday’s antics.”

“I love you.”

“I bet you do.”

I leaned over to give her a long kiss before planting a kiss on my son’s head and heading downstairs.

I made my way to the kitchen and started the coffee. I grabbed some cups for us and prepared some weetbix and sultanas for the twins. As I waited for the coffee machine to heat up, Clint walked in.

“Thank God you have that thing on. I’m so fucking tired today,” he said.

“You’re like a beacon to coffee, mate. Every time I turn the coffee machine on, you magically appear,” I joked.

“Haha, I could smell it from our room, so I decided to get up so I wouldn’t disturb Mia and Willie. How’d you get on last night, mate? Sort everything out with the missus?”

“Yeah, bro, all good. I wasn’t opposed to groveling when I needed to.”

“Hahaha, I bet it wasn’t groveling you did when you were down there, more like growling,” he teased.

“Hahaha, you’re fucked, mate, dead set.”

“Yeah, I know, but I still don’t hear you denying it.”

“Why would I?”

“Hahaha, I knew it. Well, that’s always a good sign you’re out of the doghouse when they open their legs again for you.”

“Don’t I know it, although she did send me to sleep last night with blue balls.”

“Ouch! Tough break.”

“Oh, I know, I felt it.”

“So where is she this morning? You give her a bit of daddy and send her back to sleep?”

“Hahaha, no, mate. She’s feeding Jay now and waiting for the twins to wake up. But yeah, I did give her a bit this morning. Oh, that reminds me too—I think she’s come up with an idea on what we can do about this shit mess.”

“Nice! Take Trin her coffee then come back and have a smoke with me and fill me in.”

“Okay, mat—”

“Hang on, how does talking about getting a load off remind you that Trin came up with a plan?”

“Of course you picked up on that.”

I ignored him and continued back to our room.

“Mmmm, that smells good, babe. God, I missed coffee. This last month drinking it again has been like heaven,” Trinity said.

“You sure that wasn’t me?”

“What, that made me feel like heaven?”

“Mmhmm.”

I lay down across the bed, kissing up her thigh and resting my head in her lap.

“What are you up to? I’m trying to feed your son here. I don’t need your distractions right now.”

“See, I told you my kids were going to steal all my play toys one day, and what did you do? Just laughed at me.”

“Says the guy who keeps whining he wants more; you reap what you sow, baby.”

“Hahaha, knew that one would come back to bite me in the ass one day.”

She reached down and gently stroked my face and ran her fingers through my hair.

“I’m just going to have a chat with Clint outside, babe, and fill him in on your idea, okay? I’ll take my phone, so just buzz me when the twins wake up, and I’ll come give you a hand, okay? I’ve put their breakfast out downstairs, ready to go.”

“Okay, baby, no stress. See you soon.”

“Love you.”

“You too.”

I shut the door as I left, giving her some privacy while she finished feeding Jay, and headed down to see Clint already sitting outside.

“Here, mate,” he said, tossing me a blunt.

“Thanks, mate.”

“So you gonna answer my question now?”

“Hmmm, what’s that?”

“How did talking about you getting some this morning remind you of the idea you two discussed?”

I shook my head, smirking at him.

“You seriously don’t miss a trick, do you?”

“Not when it comes to that,” he said, grinning widely at me and winking.

“Dirty fucker. Ha! Look, we were having it out last night, okay, and she was giving me a mouthful for my antics yesterday.”

“Which you deserved, by the way.”

“Yeah, I know I did, mate. I’m not arguing that. Anyway, cheeky woman used me last night.”

“She what?”

“She refused to come to bed with me last night.”

“Ouch! That’s when you know you fucked up bad.”

“She went and slept with the kids, didn’t she? I couldn’t sleep, so when I heard her get up and use the bathroom, I waited and threw her over my shoulder and made her come back to bed with me.”

“Hahaha, fuck yeah, you did. That’s my boy.”

“Hahaha, anyway, after a few choice words, let’s just say she used me to get what she needed, then rolled over and went to sleep, leaving me with blue balls.”

He threw his head back in hysterical laughter as I took a draw on my blunt, looking at him, not impressed at all.

“Bahahahaha, that’s the best! Go, Trin!”

“Fucking prick, you’re supposed to be on my side.”

Clint chuckled, “That’s too good, man. Go on, tell me more.”

Stephen grinned, “I got my revenge around four in the morning. But let’s just say the idea was born while we were doing what we do best.”

“And what’s that?” Clint asked, playing along.

“Fucking each other’s brains out,” Stephen replied, a wicked glint in his eyes.

Clint burst into laughter, “Ah, man, you kill me!”

Stephen joined in, and for a few minutes, they were both doubled over, laughing their asses off while finishing their blunts.

“So, what’s this brilliant plan of yours?” Clint asked, still chuckling. “And yes, the pun was intended.”

Stephen laughed, “Trinity thinks we should give them what they want.”

“Explain,” Clint said, leaning back.

“Peter’s main issue has been the loss of income, right?” Stephen asked.

“Yeah, bro,” Clint agreed.

“So, Trinity thinks we should get Chad to do one last deal for him. A big one. Enough to keep him going,” Stephen explained.

“And she’s okay with you getting back into that?” Clint asked, raising an eyebrow.

“She is, as long as we get Benj to talk to the Chief of Police first. Set it up as a sting to catch them,” Stephen said.

Clint thought about it for a moment, “That’s fucking genius, actually.”

“Right? And like we said this morning, if Benj doesn’t think it’ll work, we’ll come up with something else. We won’t risk our families or give them a reason to arrest us,” Stephen added.

“But do you think Chad will agree?” Clint asked.

“Does he have a choice? He’s already scared shitless. Seeing a ghost will only mess him up more,” Stephen said.

“Yeah, but getting him to agree is another thing,” Clint pointed out.

“Unless we get Benj to negotiate a better deal for him. A reduced sentence or something. He has to know there’s no win for him in this situation,” Stephen suggested.

“I like this, mate. We should discuss it with Phil, Eddie, and Sergio, of course. But I think you’re right, this could work,” Clint said.

“I thought so too when she told me,” Stephen said.

“Maybe you should fuck her more often if this is the outcome,” Clint joked.

“Hey, that’s my wife you’re talking about,” Stephen retorted.

They both burst out laughing again.