AllFreeNovel
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One of the guards, the one who’s been a quiet observer, slides out of my way. However, his counterpart doesn’t budge. “Sorry, ma’am, I can’t let you in.”
I look to the other guard; he’s watching the beefy one blocking the doorway like he’s looking at a stranger. “I’m assuming you have a gun on you somewhere, right?” I ask my newly appointed ally. He nods his head. “Good, I’m going to need to borrow it.” I hold out a palm. He hesitates slightly before he hands over what I’m assuming is a Glock. I don’t actually know the difference, but I do remember that T taught me how to use one that looks just like this.
Flipping the safety off, I aim at the beefcake’s shoe and press the trigger. It’s easier than I thought. I’m sure he won’t die from a bullet through the foot—at least, I hope he won’t. He screams out in pain. “What the fuck? Are you crazy?” he yells.
“You know, I think maybe I am a little unhinged right now. If you ever try to stop me from seeing my husband again, the next bullet will be between your bloody eyes, mate,” I seethe, right as the doors swing open.
T and Neo both exit with their guns drawn. “Fucking hell, that’s one way to make yourself known, Little Queen.” Neo laughs.
“Get him out of here,” T orders the guard who’s still standing. I watch as the man nods, then lifts his friend to his feet.
He’s about to walk off when I stop him. “Wait, here. This is yours. Thank you.” I hand him his gun back. “T, I thinkthat oneneeds a raise,” I say as they’re both walking away.
Theo doesn’t respond. He looks me over, silently assessing my body from head to toe. “Are you hurt anywhere?” he asks.
“No?” My reply comes out more as a question than a statement.
“Good. Care to explain why you’re running around shooting at our guards?”
“One guard, Theo. I shot one guard… not guards. And he wasn’t going to let me in. I wanted to see you.” I shrug as I walk past him and Neo to enter the office. I haven’t really spent much time in here, but it’s a nice room. The windows overlook a maze of winding hedges.
“I think you’ve created a fucking menace to society, coz.” Neo laughs.
I turn to look at him. “I’m not a menace. I just don’t like being told I can’t see my husband when I need to. What was so important that I couldn’tenter…” I use air quotes to emphasize the word. “…the office?”
“Nothing,” they both answer at the same time, which tells me it was definitely not nothing.
“Really? Nothing?” I walk to the desk and look over the scattered papers. They appear to be business reports, boring and full of terminology I don’t even understand. “Well, maybe let your guard dogs know that next time,” I tell them. They’re both staring at me, not saying a word. “What?” I’m getting frustrated with the silence.
“Who are you, and what did you do to Holly? Shit, do we need Father Thomas to come and do an exorcism? Are you possessed?” Neo asks, and I think he’s actually serious.
“Please tell me you don’t believe that could possibly happen?”
“Why couldn’t it? Spirits are all around us, Holly,” he counters.
“If that were the case, don’t you think you two would be having way worse lives? You know, with the spirits of all the people you’ve… you know… hanging around.”
“Okay, that’s enough of this conversation. Neo, stop being an idiot or I’ll hand her a gun and let her shoot you again. She seems to have developed a trigger-happy finger.” T smirks as he approaches to wrap his arm around me. “Are you sure you’re okay?” he whispers into my hair.
“I am now.” I lean into him, inhaling his scent. It’s soothing. I’m not going to tell him that I still feel nauseous as hell. I just need to get through the day. I’m sure it’s stress and grief. I haven’t processed that Sonnie is really gone. Today seems to make it much more tangible. I didn’t even know him for that long, but I liked him. I thought we’d be friends for years to come.
“Okay, let’s go.” T takes my hand and I follow him outside, where a convoy awaits our arrival. He opens the back door of the SUV smack-bang in the middle and helps me climb in. Neo gets in on the other side, and T slides in next to me. He twists his fingers around mine, bringing my hand to his mouth, then he kisses each knuckle. “It’s going to be okay,” he whispers, almost like a prayer. Is he trying to reassure me or himself?
* * *
The service was huge. It seems I wasn’t the only one who liked Sonnie. His mum came up and hugged me. She said her son had spoken very highly of me. I cried with her, apologizing for her loss, for everyone’s loss. The burial followed right after the service.
As I let T lead me back to the car, I can’t help but wonder how many times I’m going to have to watch a casket being lowered into the ground. “How many funerals have you been to?” I ask Theo. In just the few months I’ve known him, this was the third I’ve had to sit through. I’m counting his own, even if I knew it was fake at the time.
“Ah, a few.” He kisses the side of my head as he inspects our surroundings. He’s been on high alert ever since we left the house, and we seem to have twice as many men guarding us lately.
When he stops, all the men in suits move closer to us. “Is something wrong?” I press, looking around while trying to see if something feels off.
“No, it’s fine, dolcezza.” He smiles tightly before facing Neo and barking out a long string of Italian. They’re speaking back and forth so quickly that I have no chance of understanding what they’re saying.
The more I watch and listen to them, the angrier I’m getting. I try to pull away from Theo, only to have him tighten his grip on my arm. “Stop! You’re hurting me. And stop speaking in Italian. If something is going on, I want to bloody know about it,” I curse at him, yanking my arm away.
“Cazzo!” T sighs. “There’s been a change of plans. We’re going this way. Neo will meet us on the other side of the cemetery.”
