AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He gives me a slight nod, but I don’t speak or return the gesture.
“I thought you were in Chicago,” I say softly. All the anger is gone from my voice. Just looking at this guy is giving me the creeps and making me want to back away slowly.
“Chicago came here instead.” He stares at me, and his look dares me to ask anything else. “I’ll be back late tonight. Don’t wait up.”
His words are clearly a brush off, and my ire returns. He’s sitting here having a drink with some dude I’ve never seen before instead of being with me on my birthday.
I forget about the man across from him as the alcohol begins to talk.
“You know, if you just didn’t want to see me this weekend, you could have said so.”
The man across from Deklan smirks and raises an eyebrow. Deklan doesn’t smile in the slightest. In fact, his eyes have gone almost as cold as his companion’s. He stands abruptly, grabbing my arm.
“Give me a sec,” he says as he drags me away from the table and out the front door.
I’m mad.
I’m so mad, I don’t watch where I’m going and trip on the small step at the door. Though Deklan has me by the arm, he doesn’t have me in a tight enough grip to keep me from falling, and I skin my knees on the pavement before he can get me upright again.
“Jesus Christ, Kera. You’re drunk.”
“So?” I try to wheel around to face him, and he has to catch me again. “It’s my fucking birthday, and I’m having a fucking drink or two!”
“Or ten, it seems.” He grabs both my arms despite my protesting and hauls me away from the door. He stops near the end of the building and turns my back to the concrete wall, holding me in place so I don’t fall. “What the fuck are you doing in a place like this?”
“Shots.” I glare at him.
Deklan’s eyes narrow, and I realize I might have crossed a line.
“Even drunk, I would think you’d know better than to interrupt me when I’m on business,” Deklan says. “Jesus Christ, he’s seen your face. He may try to find out who you are. This shit is dangerous, Kera! Don’t you understand that?”
“Who is he?”
“No one you need to think about. I certainly don’t want him thinking about you.”
“I don’t like him.”
“Good. You shouldn’t. What the fuck were you thinking, coming up to me in there?”
“You aren’t even supposed to be here!” I yell back. My anger peaks. “What am I supposed to think when you’ve obviously lied to me? Now you won’t even tell me why you’re here or who the hell you’re with!”
“He’ll be on his way back to Chicago soon,” Deklan says. “I don’t think we’ll end up working with him. Not now, anyway.”
“Am I supposed t
o believe that?” I try to take a step forward and immediately lose my balance again. Deklan grabs me by both arms and holds me up against the wall.
“I am not discussing this shit with you.” Deklan stands tall and glares down at me. “You are getting into a fucking cab and going home. Now.”
“I’m out with my friend for my birthday,” I yell back into his face. “I’m not even going home tonight!”
“What the everloving fuck, Kera?”
“Get your hands off her!” I startle and look to my left. Kathy is approaching quickly with something in her hands. She raises an arm and points it in Deklan’s direction.
In my inebriated state, I can’t quite make sense of what’s happening. I recognize the .22-caliber pistol in Kathy’s hands as mine, but I don’t understand where she got it or why she is pointing it at my husband.
Deklan understands before I do, and I see him reaching into his jacket for his own gun. I realize he intends to point it at Kathy and quickly grab his arm.
