Page 74 of Inflict

His laughter only grew, drawing in the attention of several people seated at the tables around them in the pizzeria. He didn’t care that people were watching, because he was too amused by the confusion lighting up Evelyn’s features.

“What?” she asked.

It was funny.

And it wasn’t funny at the same time.

“You’ve only eaten pizza with a fork, really?”

She shrugged. “The one or two times I’ve had it.”

Aye, feck.

He should have kept feeding her the damn food himself, because now, he just hated the world and the people in it a bit more. It was pizza, not something more serious like others things she had told him, or even things she had gone into depth explaining. It wasn’t as though pizza equaled things like being forced to please a man, or being beaten just for breathing.

It was pizza.

It was a simple, stupid thing.

Something she didn’t understand, because why would she?

“Nobody who knows how to properly eat a pizza does so with a fork,” Connor said. “You use your hands, lass.”

“Oh, okay.”

Evelyn picked up the slice, and went to town. He chuckled to himself, watching her eat while he chowed down on his own food and drink. It wasn’t long before their plates were empty, and Evelyn looked to Connor, expectantly.

“What?” he asked.

“I want another piece of that heaven.”

His laughter rung out loudly in the restaurant again. “I told you the cheese was good.”

“Yeah, yeah. You know it all. I get it.”

Connor shrugged. “Not all, Evelyn. I’m still learning things about you.”

She’d gone back to staring out the window, and he wondered if she had even heard a thing he said. Apparently, she had. “Give it time.”

How much time did they have?

That was the real question.

“Connor?”

“What, Evelyn?”

“Could we go listen to some music somewhere? I love music.”

How was he supposed to say no to that?

“Here, a drink,” Connor said, holding out the glass for Evelyn to take. She did, sniffing the red liquid and looking up at him curiously. “A red wine. More sweet than sour.”

“Trying to get me drunk?”

“No, but if I were, we wouldn’t be using wine.”

“Whiskey is the Irish way, isn’t it?”