After his girlfriend leaves and takes their young son with her, Joey Hidalgo is left alone in the trailer they formerly called home with nothing to do but get drunk and contemplate her reasons. Is he really as angry, as volatile, so close to constant violence, as she claims he is? With no one to confide in save for Lynne, his hooker friend who does the rounds in the bar where he works, and suffering a clientele that includes the eponymous racist bully, as well as a boss with whom he’s on thin ice due to his recent alcoholic indiscretions, things are looking bleak for Joey. There’s only one thing on his mind – he needs to get his family back. 

Then Lynne lets it drop – the fatboy is a regular customer. A very regular customer – she’s been to his house, they’ve talked, she knows things about him and his family. She knows he sleeps on a mattress stuffed with cash. She knows his parents have a safe. Joey gets an idea. Joey formulates a plan. Together, they’re going to rob the fatboy, kidnap him, and ransom him back to his parents. Joey will have the cash he needs to move his family into some nicer digs, the kind of place where they’re not going to be treading on each other’s toes and snapping at each other’s throats. And for Lynne, she’ll finally be off the streets. Simple! 

But the fatboy isn’t going to make it easy for them. Neither is Joey’s temper. Things are going to get messy, and it’s gonna be one hell of a long night.

Paul Heatley’s stories have appeared online and in print for a variety of publications including Thuglit, Crime Syndicate, Shotgun Honey, Spelk, Flash Fiction Offensive, and Crime Factory, among others. He is the author of six novellas published via Amazon, and An Eye For An Eye, available for Kindle, published by Near To The Knuckle. He is also a regular contributor to R2 magazine, and lives in the north east of England.