Page 12 of Wounded Soul
“What if the police had come by?” Cate was like a dog with a bone. But Ian agreed with her. Blake could be needlessly reckless at times, not something you’d expect given his job.
“I’d already checked who was on patrol, and they never tour the clubs until kicking-out time.” He suddenly sat forward, an excited glint to his eyes. “And talking of work...” He clapped his hands together and grinned. “I got promoted.”
“Congratulations!” Cate leaned over to give him a hug.
“Yeah, congrats, mate.” Ian slapped him on the shoulder. “That’s great.” He returned Blake’s grin, happy for him and also relieved to be off the topic of last night. “What does that make you now?”
Blake shifted in his seat, looking oddly uneasy for someone who’d just announced a promotion. “I didn’t go up in rank as such. I mean my job title’s changed, and I get more money...”
Cate frowned and shot a glance at Ian. “What does that mean exactly, then? What’s your new title?”
Blake clasped his hands together and bit at his bottom lip. Ian recognised the signs. Blake was nervous. “It’s a different department. I’m not supposed to tell anyone—”
“Oh my God, have you joined the VLCD? Is that really a thing?” Ian was almost off his seat.
“Keep your voice down, for fuck’s sake.”
“Why?” Ian looked at the door, then the windows. “Is someone listening?”
“No, but—”
“What the hell is the VLCD?” Cate butted in, and they both turned to look at her. “And how do you two know about it and I don’t?” She looked a mix of confused and put out.
Bollocks. Ian wanted to quiz Blake some more, find out if it was all true, but he turned to face Cate. “You remember when Blake’s uncle came to stay with him?” At her blank expression he added, “The hot one who came over from London, who spoke a bit like Michael Caine.” They’d both had a crush on him.
“That was about fifteen years ago!” When Ian continued to stare expectantly at her, she huffed. “Yes, fine, I remember him.”
“Ian.” The warning tone in Blake’s voice stopped him.
“So itistrue?” His mouth fell open as he struggled to comprehend the fucking magnitude of it all. “Fuck me.”
“Oh my God, you two!” Cate hissed. “Will someone please tell me what the fuck’s going on?”
“I can’t.” Blake looked torn, and Ian kind of felt bad for him. But they were his best friends, for fuck’s sake, and besides, Ian already knew. It wasn’t like he had anyone telling him to keep quiet.
Except Blake, who was now staring daggers at him, but he didn’t count.
Purposely facing Cate and turning his back on Blake, he said, “We overheard Blake’s dad and his uncle talking one night. They’d gone in his dad’s office, closed the door and everything, but we could still hear if we got close enough. They got loud after a few whiskies.”
Blake groaned and dropped his head into his hands. “You’re gonna get me in so much trouble if they find out.”
“How are they going to find out?”
Blake didn’t answer, but he didn’t try to stop him again either.
“Anyway, we heard them mention something about a new secret police branch, the VLCD.” He winced as he remembered what happened after that. “After hearing the wordsecret, of course we googled it on his dad’s laptop but found nothing. Unfortunately we were stupid and didn’t clear the browser history. His dad went mental. Told us to leave it alone and forget we’d ever heard the term.”
Cate raised her eyebrows. “So what did you do?”
“Naturally we agreed to do as we were told.”
She smirked, knowing them both far too well. “And then?”
“We waited for them to go out the next day, skipped PE, and raced back to Blake’s house to search his uncle’s room.”
“God, you were so bad at school.” She motioned for Ian to go on. “What did you find?”
Ian spared Blake another glance, but he was still sat with his head in hands.Fuck. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything.Blake’s dad had been so angry at them when he’d found out about the laptop...
