Lustful Gaze (London Loves #6) Read Online Free PDF

slowly turned their attention away from the youngster and towards Paul. His feet melted into the grubby street. The brick walls on either side of him loomed inwards. The thugs didn’t look like the sort of men you could scare away by waving your arms about. One was dressed in a leather jacket and had scars all over his vexed face – he stunk of prison and corruption. The other guy was wiry and looked like a rat. He was dressed in a cheap nylon suit and had a glint in his eye that suggested he’d happily garrotte anyone who interrupted his work.
    Paul’s heart thrashed painfully in his ribcage. A future of suffering gripped his brain. The prospect of dying on Scott’s birthday made him feel treacherous – poor baby would be dealing with this every year from now on.
    Paul tried to maintain eye contact with the thugs, but his vision was blurring all over the place. He glanced at the young man who was slumped in a pile of trash bags. It was hard to see his face because his brown hair flopped in his eyes and his nose was streaming with blood. He was gasping for breath – either because the thugs had winded him or simply because he was terrified.
    Without taking his eyes off Paul, the leather-jacket thug reached behind his back. Paul’s bones zapped with fear as he saw the glimmer of a knife blade. The thug held the knife aloft. 
    He spoke with a thick Eastern European accent. “Turn around and leave now and no one will get hurted.”
    Paul rooted his boots firmly to the ground. With shaking hands, he reached around to his own back pocket and pulled out his mobile phone.
    “ You turn around and leave now, or I’ll call the police.”
    Rat-faced thug sniggered. “You are not serious, are you? You think they’d come running just because of you call?”
    Paul realised he had a valid point. The only thing to do was keep bluffing. “Yes, actually. I’m… married to the Chief Superintendent of the Metropolitan Police. If you leave now, I’ll be willing to turn a blind eye. Otherwise, it’s very easy for me to access the camera on this phone and email it to my husb… wife.”
    The thugs scrutinised Paul, and Paul stared back, reeling with terror inside.
    Rat-faced thug glanced down at the young man in the trash pile. “Lucky for you this time. You stay out of our turf, you get me?”
    The young man cowered and nodded.
    Rat-face turned to leave, but he collided with Leather-jacket. Leather-jacket pushed him, then Rat-faced shoved him back. They reminded Paul of Laurel and Hardy, which destroyed their credibility as hard-men. Finally, they managed to coordinate themselves and they jogged away towards the other end of the alley, then they disappeared around the corner.
    Paul’s tense body unwound and he rushed to help the young man. “You okay?”
    The young man’s fear turned to anger. “Do I fucking look okay?”
    His ingratitude stabbed Paul hard. “Sorry. Come on, I’ll take you to hospital.”
    “No, I can’t go to hospital. Just leave me alone!”             
    The young man tried to stand up, but he grappled with the slippery trash bags, then he staggered woozily. Paul thrust out his hand to grab the young man’s arm, and he clutched Paul’s jacket to steady himself, before squatting back down again – abandoning standing for now. His nose was dripping with blood and his eye was already puffing up. His long hair was matted at the front, and stuck together with congealing blood.
    Paul glanced away and grabbed a tissue from his pocket. “Here.”
    The young man pressed it against his nose. It became drenched with bright red blood immediately.
    “So what happened?” Paul asked. “You in trouble with the police?”
    “No!”
    “It’s okay, I’m not really anything to do with the police – I just said that to get rid of those two idiots.”
    The young man glared at Paul through his hair. “I can’t go to hospital. I need to get out of here before they come back and finish me