The Star We Sail By by Quigley Glenn

Author:Quigley, Glenn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Cornish Coast, clockpunk, spec fiction, panic disorder, bears, ex-sailors, playhouse, theft, family issues, law enforcement, petty theft, historical, non-explicit, redemption, revenge, tattoos, daddybear
Publisher: NineStar Press
Published: 2024-02-20T00:00:00+00:00

WITH THE STAR We Sail By locked up tight and Dahlia retired to her bed, Vince and Felix sat in the tiny parlour on the top floor. Nestled at the back of the building, through a large, half-moon window it offered a view of the cemetery and the moonlight falling on the gravestone globes within. A bucket had been left in the middle of the room to catch drips coming from the ceiling. In one corner, a patch of black mould grew with gay abandon.

Felix set a bottle of cheap whiskey on the table between them. “I thought we should have a drink, settle our nerves. Or my nerves, at least.” He poured two glasses and pushed one over to Vince.

Vince shifted about on the worn tawny settee. “Wanted to…” The words caught in his throat. “To say…sorry about what happened with the key.” He took a swig of whiskey from his glass.

“I have to say, I’m surprised it happened at all.” Felix leaned back in the ratty brown armchair, arms splayed outwards, glass held between two fingertips and his thumb. “I would have thought you’d be a bit too long in the tooth to fall victim to a pickpocket.” He never once took his eyes from Vince.

Vince’s left hand reflexively touched his eyepatch. “Must have come up on my blindside.” His ears reddened and burned, just a touch. He wasn’t used to being the victim of crime.

“You’re going soft,” Felix said. “I heard the stories about you, growing up. There was a time when no one would dare steal from you.”

“Times change.”

“So I keep hearing.”

There was something in Felix’s voice, a sharpness that wasn’t present when he spoke to anyone else. Vince could hardly blame him. Felix was a Diamond and the Diamonds had plenty of stories about Vince, he was certain.

“Big lad, you are,” Vince said. “Probably do a lot of fighting at sea? Heard there’s always a scrap to be had on a long voyage. All those people, locked up together for weeks and months. Plenty of bad blood to be stirred.”

Felix sucked in his own bottom lip. “There is but I try my best to avoid it.” He paused there and Vince knew he was struggling with how much to say. Felix seemed to Vince to be the guarded type. He knew it well, the need to protect oneself, the urge to push away people and not reveal too much. The more people knew, the easier it became for them to hurt you.

“Already a boxer by the time I was your age,” Vince said. “Worked as an enforcer too. Bigger you are, more fights other people find for you.”

Felix sighed. “I feel the same. I could see how Uncle Gregory was feeding me up. A Diamond who can fight it worth a dozen who can’t.”

“Didn’t want that life?” Vince asked.

Felix shook his head and refilled their glasses.

“Probably shouldn’t take too much more,” Vince said. “Need our wits about us in case the thief comes back.”

“You have the bearing of a coach horse,” Felix said.

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