AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Taking a break, he clicked on the other window he had opened and pressed play on the video of Hannah’s news interview. The reporter stood next to her, introducing her while Hannah smiled nervously, her cheeks pink.
“What was going through your mind when that man held a gun to you?”
Hannah’s hazel eyes flicked to the camera and back to the reporter. “I just thought that this was it. That he was going to kill me as soon as he got away and I was never going to see the people I loved again.”
Blake’s eyes pricked at her words. He’d watched the video a dozen times today, at work and at home, but it still made his gut clench with sadness. Jenny had probably thoug
ht about the people she loved in her final moments. About him.
Maybe Hannah thought of me, too.
Blake stood up from the table, the tacos he’d eaten sitting like rocks in his stomach. Grabbing a bottle of whiskey from the cupboard, he poured a glass over ice and downed it. He should not be thinking about Jenny and Hannah in the same span of thought, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself.
There was a knock on his door, and after pouring another glass, he walked over to answer.
On his porch stood Best, Sparks, Martinez, Dalton, and Slater Vincent.
“Was there a party I don’t know about?” Blake asked.
Best slapped a deck of cards against his chest as he passed. “We decided you needed a poker night.”
“You decided? What if I had plans?” Sparks walked by with two twelve packs of beer.
Dalton patted his cheek like he was an amusing child. “You never have plans, buddy. That’s why poker is at your place.”
Slater nodded at him, the only one who actually looked abashed at barging in on him. “Sorry, man. I got food, though.”
When Slater disappeared behind him with sacks of groceries, Martinez was the last one left to come inside.
“So, what did you bring?” Blake asked.
“This.”
Martinez sent a fist into his stomach.
Blake bent over with a wheeze, trying to catch his breath.
“The fuck was that for?” Blake rasped.
“For disrespecting my woman.”
Martinez stepped over the threshold, patting his back as if to say, Sorry, buddy, but you deserved it.
Finally, able to stand straight again, he shut the door. “Sorry about the thing with Eve this morning.”
Martinez nodded at him. “I know Evie can be a pushy pain in the ass, but she’s my pushy pain in the ass. Nobody talks to her the way you did without a serious ass kicking, so be grateful I love you, ’cause you got off light, my friend.”
“You’re right. I’ll apologize to Eve, too.”
An awkward silence stretched across the room.
Well, except for the crunching sounds Best was making while he scarfed down one of Blake’s tacos.
“We good then?” Best asked around a mouthful.
“Dude, you are an animal.” Sparks picked up Blake’s laptop to move it out of the way, and Blake knew the moment he noticed the video on his screen. He paused, his eyebrows hiking up his forehead.
“What’s the look for? Kline watching porn or something?” Dalton walked over to stand next to Sparks’s shoulder, and he made a clicking sound. “Ah, Miss Hannah York. She definitely thinks the sun rises and shines out of your ass.”
