Born in the Shadows (In the Shadows Series Book 1)

by Courtney McPhail

  “Good. And I mean it, you call me right away.”

  With that, he left the trailer and she sighed with relief when the door clicked shut. Finally, she had her space back.

  Maybe now was the time to ask Mitch if he would consider letting her work from home. Despite Gabe’s warning to him, she suspected that Sampson wouldn’t leave her alone. He was a high school bully who hadn’t realized that high school had ended years ago.

  Why in the hell had she gotten into a field that was dominated by men with excess testosterone and a tendency towards sexism? Oh yeah, because this job paid twice as much as the job at the hospital, where she entered patient records into their database.

  And this job had put her on the path to daily interactions with the most gorgeous man she had ever seen. Talk about torture. Right there in front of her, yet still out of reach. She was so not his type; hell, she wasn’t anyone’s type. She was too boyish, too plain, too flabby, too awkward, too…everything.

  There was no reason to dwell on her faults though. Thinking about them wasn’t going to change anything. It was better to focus on the things she could change. Like getting rid of the mess of papers on her desk.

  ***

  Gabe scanned the people on the job site when he returned and his eyes finally landed on the back of Sampson’s ugly-ass head. The guy was a fucking bastard and Gabe wanted to wring his fat neck. The things he said to Cordelia were beyond over the line, especially the slur about her sexuality. Nobody deserved that kind of shit thrown at them and Sampson was damned lucky that Cordelia hated stirring the pot and wouldn’t file a complaint against him with Mitch.

  He deserved it though for trying to hurt her. While she didn’t let anyone push her around, Cordelia was a sweet girl who was kind to a fault and completely genuine. It was one of the things that he had immediately liked about her when they had first met. Most of the other guys at the company felt the same. It probably also helped that, with her being a lesbian, she was saved from the guys trying to hit on her.

  He knew it had saved her from him. His first week at the company when the crew had clocked out on Friday, a couple of the boys had invited him to join them for beers and he’d happily obliged. He’d been even happier to find out that Cordelia would be joining them. When he’d met her his first day, he had fallen for her eyes, the color reminding him of the sky on the first day of spring. Those big blues did something to him; when he locked eyes with her, he felt a tug in his gut, like a magnet trying to pull him to her. It also didn’t hurt that she had a nice curvy body hidden underneath the baggy clothes. He loved a woman with a little mystery.

  So he had done his best to find some one on one time with her at the bar. He’d turned on the charm but she had been oblivious to his flirting and when it had been her turn to order another pitcher from the bar, one of the foremen had taken pity on him.

  “Barking up the wrong tree there, Gabe. In case the clothes don’t give it away, she bats for the other team.”

  “She’s a lesbian? Seriously?”

  “Yep. Not too long after she started working here, she took time off to fly out to San Francisco. Said it was for her ex-girlfriend’s wedding.”

  It had been disappointing to find out the woman he was very much attracted to would never give him a chance. Still, he wasn’t going to blow her off now just because she was into girls. They could still be friends and Gabe had tried his best to be a good one to her since that night.

  And being a good friend meant he wanted to protect her, especially from fuckers like Sampson.

  “Sampson, let me talk to you for a second,” Gabe called out to the man.

  “Me first,” Sampson said and shoved a stubby finger in Gabe’s face. “You ever lay a fucking hand on me again and we’re gonna have a fucking problem.”

  Gabe took a step forward, not at all intimidated. “You ever so much as fucking look at Cordelia again and you fucking bet we’ve got a problem.”

  Sampson crossed his arms over his chest and bounced on the balls of feet, as a smirk spread over his ugly mug. “Why do you care about her? She’s a muff diver, she ain’t ever going to screw you.”

  Gabe clenched his fists tighter, his short nails digging into his palms. “Shut your fucking mouth.”

  “Shit dude, there are way better looking bitches out there you could stick it in,” Sampson said on a bark of laughter. “Or you just in it for the challenge of converting fat, ugly rug munchers?”

  Gabe saw red and his right fist shot out, slamming into Sampson’s face. The man stumbled back, roaring a string of curses as he clapped his hands over his nose, blood dripping between his fingers.

  “Fucking asshole!” he said, before getting to his feet and wiping his nose on the back of his hand. He stared at the blood for a moment before dropping his hands and taking a run at Gabe. Sampson’s shoulder slammed into his gut and the two of them went down on the ground, Gabe groaning as the weight of the other man came crashing down on top of him.

  They grappled with each other, each trying to get leverage over the other but before they could get in more swings, the other crewmembers were hauling them apart. Gabe let them pull him away easily but Sampson fought their hold, his burning eyes still locked on Gabe.

  Bill, the head foreman, glared at both of them. “You guys want to throw down, that’s fine but you don’t do it while we’re on the clock and you sure as hell don’t do it on site. Take it to the parking lot after we’re done for the day.”

  Gabe could see Sampson’s nose swelling and he knew that by the end of the day he would be sporting matching shiners. Meanwhile, aside from some dirt on his clothes, he was unmarked. The winner in this one was clear.

  Bill looked around at everyone who had gathered to watch the fight. “Quit scratching your asses and get back to work!”

  The small crowd quickly dispersed and the sound of power tools began to fill the air again. Sampson was ushered away to be looked at by the site safety guy, while Bill approached Gabe and gave him a once over.

  “You hurt yourself?” Gabe shook his head. “Good, you can get your ass back to work. You start shit like that again and you’re off my site. Permanently.”

  Gabe was smart enough to keep his mouth shut and just nod. He knew that trying to defend his actions would just get him in more shit with Bill. As far as Bill was concerned, when they clocked in, all they were allowed to do was work. Anything else could wait until after the whistle blew, punching some asshole in the nose included.

  Gabe quickly lost track of time as he joined his crew and got back to work. He was surprised when Mitch showed up to call it a day, the sun having tracked its way across the sky. Gabe kept glancing at the trailer as he cleaned up, keeping an eye out for Cordelia leaving. He wanted to make sure that she was okay and to see if maybe she would still be up for joining them at Corner Pockets.

  He cursed when he saw Mitch carting a shit load of papers from his truck to the trailer. That meant that Cordelia would be working late tonight. So much for asking her for drinks. Then again, it was a Friday so maybe she would let it wait until Monday. Maybe he should just go in there and find out. He could use the excuse that he wanted to walk her to the car to make sure that Sampson didn’t bother her.

  As if the universe was against him rationalizing his need to see her, Sampson and a few of the guys walked by him.

  “Gary, can you give me a lift to the bar? I’m going to leave my truck here and take a cab home. I want to get shit faced tonight.”

  Well, there went that excuse. The two of them going to the bar where Sampson was going to get drunk would just end in a shit show. He could suggest they go somewhere else, just the two of them. Problem with that was it got him thinking about what it would be like to be on a date with her and that was just barking up the wrong tree, not to mention pathetic.

  Instead, he gathered up his tools and headed to the parking lot, taking one last glance back at the trailer. Mitch came out empty handed and headed towards the parking lot and
Gabe waited to see if Cordelia would follow but the door didn’t move and the lights stayed on.

  “Hey there Gabe, what are you waiting for?” Mitch said when he came abreast of him. “You need to get out of here. You’re young and it’s a Friday night, go get wild and have some fun.”

  “Yeah, you’re right.”

  He followed Mitch to the parking lot and tossed his tools in the back of his truck. There was no use pining for someone who wasn’t interested in him. They were friends and would never be anything more.

  Chapter 2

  The hours passed by as Cordelia worked well beyond her normal quitting time. She had wanted to hug Mitch when he had brought the piles of new invoices into the trailer. He had told her that she could leave them until Monday but she lied that it wouldn’t take long for her to log them into the system.

  She was just happy to have an excuse to avoid seeing Sampson or Gabe. By the time she was done, they would be long gone, eager to start their weekends. She knew she could text Gabe when she finished up and meet up with him but she didn’t feel like having to rehash the nasty incident with Sampson. And if Gabe had gone out there to pick up chicks with the other guys, she definitely didn’t want to be around to watch it.

  By the time she had finished her work and was locking up the trailer, the sun had completely set. She headed slowly towards her car, not in any particular rush to get home tonight. It was Friday night but all she had to go home to was a bottle of merlot and her cat.

  She had never had a large social circle, most likely due to the damage her mother had caused. Her mother’s constant criticism had convinced her that all women thought that way and it wasn’t until she met her college roommate, Claudia, that she had finally forged a friendship with a woman. Unfortunately, Claudia had moved out to California five years ago, originally for a short internship with a Silicon Valley start-up but then she met her future husband and that all changed. Now they had settled into a comfortable life out in San Francisco and Cordelia couldn’t be happier for her. Of course, it had cut her social circle down to the people she worked with but she wasn’t about to blame her friend for that.

  As for going out on a date, well, she never had much luck in the men department. She had usually been considered one of the guys or like a little sister which meant she might as well be asexual to men. She never blamed them. Attraction was not something you could control. After all, she had ended things with her last boyfriend because she just couldn’t muster up enough attraction for him to keep the relationship going. After that had ended a couple years back, she had stopped looking for a relationship altogether. Sure, it left her alone a lot of the time but she didn’t mind that much.

  So a bath, a glass of wine and a good book had become her standard Friday night activity. It wasn’t glamorous and it wasn’t exciting but it was relaxing and after today, it was just what she needed.

  She had expected to find her car the only one left in the parking lot so she was surprised to see a pickup truck still parked in the far corner. The streetlamps had yet to come on so she struggled to decipher the color of the truck to figure out its owner.

  “Cordelia!”

  No need to check the Ford’s paint job, she recognized Sampson’s voice and his silhouette as he came around one side of the truck. She stopped walking towards her car, eyeing him suspiciously. What the hell did he want?

  “I was just doing some clean up in my office here,” he said, jerking a thumb back at his truck. “I got a couple invoices for you.”

  She hesitated. With anyone else, she would go and grab the invoices but with Sampson, there was something that scared her about the idea of walking over to that shadowed corner to get the papers from his hand. Something was off about him tonight. Getting herself within striking distance of that man felt like a really Bad Idea, capital letters and all.

  “Can’t you just bring them to the office on Monday?”

  “No, come get them.”

  “Look, I just want to go home--”

  “What the fuck is the big deal? Do your cats get worried if you get home too late? I found myself a hot date so I’m cleaning this shit heap out. We both know that you don’t have anything better to do tonight.”

  The fact that he was right should have made her sad but it just pissed her the hell off. What a fucking asshole. She stomped across the parking lot and tried to grab the papers from his hand but he wouldn’t let them go. She glared at him, for the first time noticing purple bruising around both his eyes. There was something lurking there in his eyes, something that set her internal warning bell ringing but she shook it off. She was just being paranoid because she didn’t like the man.

  “You like my shiner? You must be fucking pleased with yourself, huh?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Pretty boy Gabe got it in his head to defend your honour,” Sampson fingered the cut on the bridge of his nose. “Good thing he hits like a pussy.”

  Judging by the deep color of the bruising on his face that was a lie.

  “The thing I don’t understand is why he did it. He didn’t do it to get in your pants. He must think you are one sad case. What, was he worried that you’d off yourself tonight because I called you fat?”

  That was enough to deafen the warning bell as she stepped forward and glared at him.

  “Why don’t you go fuck yourself, Sampson.”

  She should have listened to her instincts judging by the way his eyes darkened and he closed in on her. She could smell the booze on him when he reached out to grab her wrist, his fat fingers squeezing hard.

  “You think I’m going to let you get uppity with me.”

  She tugged on her wrist but his steel grip didn’t budge. “Let go of me.”

  Her voice quivered slightly and she could feel tremors begin to wrack her body.

  “What, you going to cry again? You don’t have Gabe to come to your rescue this time.”

  The malice in his tone set her heart racing and panic began to claw its way up her throat. The self-defence training she had taken last year came back to her and she immediately brought her knee up, hoping to slam it between his legs. Unfortunately, her aim was lousy and her knee merely bounced off his hard thigh. Judging by the rage in his eyes, he knew where she had been aiming and he was not pleased.

  “You stupid bitch!”

  His meaty backhand had her head snapping back, stars bursting before her eyes. Her ears were ringing and she could taste blood in her mouth. Her vision finally cleared enough for her to see that Sampson’s thick fingers were still wrapped tightly around her wrist.

  She tugged furiously against his grip, panic and pain causing her to throw her whole weight into it, even if it felt like her arm was going to pop out of joint. Her flailing seemed to surprise him and his grip loosened.

  Panic, in combination with the mild concussion from his backhand, caused her to lose her balance and she went down hard on her back. When she hit the ground, all she felt was a fiery pain that lit through her chest. She tried to cry out but she couldn’t catch her breath and her mouth gaped in a silent scream.

  She opened her eyes and looked down to where the pain was centered. Terror filled her as she saw a piece of steel rebar protruding from her chest. She reached out with a shaky hand and touched the thin metal rod, her fingers becoming sticky with what she realized was her own blood.

  Sampson stood over her, hands on his head, eyes bugging out of his ashen face. He seemed to be shaking his head back and forth as if in disbelief but that could just be the double vision she had going on screwing with her perception.

  “Oh fuck, I didn’t mean to…it was an accident…oh shit, oh fuck.”

  Sampson disappeared from her view and, in the distance, she faintly heard the sound of a car door slamming and an engine starting. It was weird. It felt like her ears were stuffed with cotton, the world around her muted to a low murmur. It was kind of calming, like one of those relaxation CDs that used to be so
popular.

  A pleasant numbness filled her body and as the pain faded away, she almost smiled. Except in the clearer part of her mind she knew that wasn’t a good sign. It was the sign that her body was shutting down.

  She turned her head and saw her purse on the ground next to her. If she could get to her cell maybe she could call for help.

  She reached for it but the strap was just beyond her fingers. She tried to shift her body but searing pain replaced the numbness again and she immediately stilled.

  This was bad. Really bad. She wasn’t going to walk away from this. She couldn’t catch her breath, which meant her lung was probably punctured. No screaming for help. The site was deserted and would remain that way until Monday morning. She was going to die here.

  Well, hell, this definitely wasn’t what she had planned to do with her Friday night. She thought about bemoaning the unfairness of it all but she couldn’t muster up enough energy to care. It was funny. She had always expected to be terrified when the end came but instead she felt nothing. This wasn’t so bad. It was actually kind of peaceful.

  She stared up at the sky, the stars beginning to blink to life and she wondered if there were stars in the next life. A figure blocked her view of the sky and she smiled. She had always thought Death would be a terrifying skeletal spectre in a black robe. What a nice surprise to see that Death was actually a young boy with the most beautiful pale skin and golden eyes. She closed her eyes, the smile still on her face as she made peace with her own demise and waited to wake in the next life.

  ***

  Nicky gazed up at the bare bones structure that loomed in the sky before him. He had always been drawn to the construction of buildings. There was something mesmerizing about watching such a large structure come forth from such small beginnings. He found himself entranced by how the buildings were becoming bigger and taller as time passed.

  It was as if the human race had a need to master the world by ensuring that they constructed the largest and most powerful objects in it. As if it was a way to assure themselves that they were in control of this world. A driving need to master all of its dominions.