I’m stunned and put my hand over my nose. “Hey, I thought ‘nobody touches McNab.’”
“Nobody did, I touched you.” He starts back up the dock. “Let’s go, kid. I’ve got work to do and you have quite the brouhaha back at your hotel.”
“Brouhaha? What do you mean?” I question, following him up the dock.
“You’ll see.” His pocket lights up. He pulls phone out and looks at the screen, then me. “Hey kid, I gotta take this. Can you get back on your own?” He surveys the distance across the street to the hotel.
“Yeah I’m fine; you go.” I wave him off.
He answers the phone while walking away with his Gary Cooper stride. “You’ve got McNab. What’s got you?”
McNab disappears into the darkness. I look back out onto the water, feeling very vulnerable. But I’m not up for the brouhaha just yet. I don’t think I will be. Can’t I just stay here forever, fall into the Gulf of Mexico? Maybe then the people I care about will stop dying.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Brouhaha
Aiden
There’s a knock on the door. Oh please let that be her. I need to fix this and clean up the mess I made with my ridiculous proposal. “Shay, I’m so...” Fuck. Eli.
“You’re so what? So stupid? So insensitive?” Eli pushes past me into the room, hammering me verbally. The worst part is, he’s right about everything.
That doesn’t mean I have any intention of letting the shoulder bump he just gave me slide. “Don’t start with me, Eli.”
“You are an idiot, Aiden. I thought we had an agreement. I thought we were going to do what was best for her.” He runs his fingers through his hair and the tremor in his hands is visible. “I can’t believe what a moron you are. Asking her to marry you? Did you really think she was going to say yes?”
Eli looks like shit. I know that look. I’ve seen Eli wear it like a mask many times. What does he expect me to say? “Um, yeah. She always does.”
“You know you only had to do one thing, one fucking thing, Aiden. All you had to do was stay with her.” He pauses, standing with his hands pressed against the bar with his head down. Yup, he’s jonesin’ bad. “Maybe I’m the fool here, asking you to stay by her side when we all know you’ve never been able to do it before.” He cuts me a hard look.
This is bullshit, but of course I have no ground to stand on so I’m going to just stay quiet. He’s totally right and it pisses me off. I pace the floor like a caged tiger, not locking eyes with him but watching his movements. He’s staring long and hard at the mini-fridge. He takes a deep breath and walks away from it, heading straight for me. Why do I have the feeling I’m about to be the recipient of beating, courtesy of a serious withdrawal anxiety attack?
“Do you have any idea where she might have gone? What’s the name of the club in Ybor?” Eli is in emergency mode; weighing options, coming up with ideas, and solving problems.
“It’s the Castle and it’s closed tonight.” I already called them and every other club in Ybor where she might go.
Eli’s stride quickens as he paces the room. “Did you even try to go after her?”
“No.” I had done enough damage. Chasing her down would have only made things worse.
Eli stops in front of me, looking down at me with his shoulders thrown back. I really fucking hate when he does that. “You didn’t even try to go after her? Don’t you realize how serious this is?”
“Look, I’m sure she just needed a little time, to process things. She’s coming back; she always does.” My chest expands as a warning that he’s standing too fucking close and he needs to back off. I don’t want to have to hurt him.
“She’s not the same, Aiden; she’s changed. She doesn’t let you consume her every thought, she doesn’t crumble at every disappointment, every broken promise, every abandonment you think you can just get away with like she means nothing. Hell, I don’t even know if she gives a fuck about you anymore.” Eli’s voice is booming through the room. Worse, his words go booming through my being.
I stand my ground, holding Eli’s threatening gaze. “You need to back off.”
“Or what? You’re gonna hurt me? You’re going beat the shit out of me? There is nothing you can do to me that can hurt worse than what you’ve already done.” Eli steps in closer.
“Fuck you man, I haven’t done shit to you.” I push him back.
Eli rebounds right back into my face “You fucking lost her. You. Lost. Her. She could be hurt. People want to kill her.”
“I said get out of my face.” I push him again, but the little fucker barely moves.
He digs in his heels, bracing himself. “If she’s been hurt, it’s on you. Just like always.”
I’ve had all I’m going to take; it’s time to put Eli in his place. I know what this is all really about, and I’m going to set him straight. “This isn’t about Shay, this is about me. You’ve always wanted what I have: money, Shay, my father and his law firm. This about you being jealous of me, how you were always being everything to him that I didn’t want to. Just like when we were kids.” I’m on a roll and can’t stop, I don’t even recognize what’s coming out of my mouth. It’s like I’m trying to incite him, to push him over the edge. Truth is I want him to punch me, hurt me. I did lose her, in so many ways, and I just want to feel a different kind of pain even if it’s temporary. “This is all over a piece of ass; sloppy seconds that could never really be yours.”
Eli snaps and lands a left hook square on my jaw. We tumble over the small dining table, grappling and throwing punches. Eli gains leverage and flattens me on my back. Straddling me, he punches me in the face three or four times. “She is not a piece of ass. I love her, I’ve always loved her. I’ve had to watch while you broke her to bits over and over again. You never really loved her; she was just a plaything to you. A conquest.”
I’m covering my face to defend from the assault. Eli stops. He balls my shirt into his fists, pulls me up close to his face, and says with a quiet seriousness that resonates with the truth behind it, “And if she’s been hurt, I’ll fucking kill you.”
“Stop It!” Shay’s voice shatters the eerie silence that had blanketed the room with Eli’s threat. I don’t know how long she was standing there. I don’t know how much she heard. But I do know that she is good and pissed, and I’m so fucking happy to see her. I want to just grab her and hold on to her forever. Lose myself in her aquamarine eyes, stroke her silky dark hair that always smells like flowers, and love her, just love her.
I buck under Eli to get him off of me so I can go to Shay. He sits back on the floor with his legs still making it hard for me to get up, that lanky motherfucker. “Get off me.”
She’s just standing there, her eyes a tempest surveying the room. The dining table is in pieces, a broken lamp on the floor. She shakes her head when she looks at Eli and me. Our faces are both bloodied. Eli’s shirt is torn and stained. My fucking eye is swelling shut.
I do my best to brush myself off and go to her, but she’s gone into the bedroom. She reemerges loaded down with two of my bags. Her gaze is on fire; she’s staring at Eli and me unblinking. I half expect smoke to start streaming from her ears or her head to start spinning around. God, she’s beautiful when she’s angry. She proceeds to perfunctorily toss my bags into the hallway. Then she does the same with Eli and me. “Get out!”
“Me?” we both ask at the same time.
“Both of you get out.” Her arm is rigid from her shoulder to the tip of her pretty little finger, pointing to the hallway.
Eli takes two steps toward her, eyes welling with tears; what a douche. She isn’t going to fall for that bullshit. She matches his steps away from him while he’s begging for forgiveness. “Shay, I’m so sorry. Please.”
She glowers at Eli with as much bitter anger as she can summon. “I want your lying face out of my room now.”
I’m not the liar, I’m the leaver, so I get to stay. I take a few slow steps toward her, like you would
a wild animal you’re trying to soothe. She turns quickly to me. “You too, get out.”
Stunned, Eli and I both hang our heads in shame as we walk out the door. I turn around to tell her I’m sorry and that I’m glad she’s back but she slams the door in my face. And that was the sound of the latch being dragged across the metal. I will not be getting back in there tonight.
Chapter Thirty
Licking Wounds
Eli
Aiden and I stand stunned in the hallway, staring at each other. We’re both in pretty rough shape. My white dress shirt is half untucked, bloodied and torn, my lip is swelling and the blood is starting to dry. Aiden’s left eye is swollen shut and he has new cuts on both cheeks. His t-shirt is wrinkled and ripped.
After a few moments of awkward silence Aiden looks at me. “I’m glad she’s okay.”
I smile while wincing, immediately putting my finger to my lips to staunch the pain. “Yeah, I’m glad she’s back. I think I broke a tooth.”
Aiden slides down the wall, giving a little laugh. “Good.”
“Do you think she’s pissed?” I say with a gruff laugh rattling from my chest. I sit opposite from him.
Aiden nods and laughs. “Yeah, I think she might be pissed.” He cradles his ribs.
“Ribs hurt?” They should—I pummeled your side, you piece of shit.
“Yeah.” Aiden sucks in a breath, closing his eyes.
“Good,” I say, a little preoccupied, tonguing along the inside of my upper lip.
“Eli?” Aiden asks, stretching his neck, testing that it still moves the same amount in all directions. “When did you learn to fight?”
“I’ve always known how to fight. I’ve been doing MMA for years,” I answer, dabbing my lip with my shirttail.
“Why haven’t you kicked my ass before?” He looks right at me, searching my face.
I drop my hand in my lap, lacking strength to hold it up. Why haven’t I beaten the shit out of him? “Because I never needed to before, I guess.”
Aiden nods and appears to be giving me props for the beating I doled out.
“Trouble with the little woman?” A man’s voice with a British accent invades the conversation.
We both look up at him. Aiden responds, “You could say that.”
“Yeah.” He says, sitting down next to me as if he knows us. For all I know, he does know Aiden.
“Who are you exactly?” I study him carefully.
“I’m Nigel. I also had a squabble with the wife. I have a six pack. You chaps interested? Seems we are all in the same boat here.” Nigel offers me a bottle.
Oh no, I’m nearly through the worst of the shakes and I’ll be damned if I’m going to have Shay catch me with a bottle in my hand on the off chance she decides to open that door. I hold my hand up. “No thanks. I’ve got get going.” I stand, trying to hide the pain movement is inflicting on me.
Aiden also refuses. “Thanks, but I don’t think that’s the answer tonight. If I have any hope of getting back into that room I should pass.”
I hope my keys didn’t fall out of my pocket during the scuffle. I’m relieved when I hear the tell-tale jingle. “Aiden, you stay here, I mean right here, until she lets you back in.” I point to the spot Aiden’s sitting in.
“You got it, boss.” Aiden salutes me sarcastically.
“I’ve got an eight o’clock; if I hurry I’ll be late. Call me when she lets you back in, and stick with her, for God’s sake.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Pulled Taffy
Shay
I feel like I’m falling forever when I finally land softly on the ground. I look around, in hopes of getting my bearings. His hands rest on my shoulders and I feel immediately at ease. Gabriel leans down in my ear and whispers, “Hey beautiful, you up for some fun?”
I turn around, full of excitement just to see him. “Always!”
“Good, it’s going to be special tonight.” He drops his hold to my waist and heat rushes through me. He’s sublime with his hotter-than-hell good looks. I can’t help but admire my imagination’s handiwork.
“Special, you say? What’s the plan? A continuation of the beach?” I run my hands up his arms, my fingertips dancing lightly on his skin. God I hope it is, I’m curious to know just how far I’m willing to go in my dream state.
“No, not tonight, the Specter is on the move.” Gabriel’s expression darkens with regret and his jaw tenses.
We’re in Palm Harbor and my heart fills with dread. That ups the chances that he’s going after someone I care about. It could be anyone, like McNab said—no one is safe. Gabriel takes notice of the fear running through me. “What’s the matter, love?”
My entire body is rigid. I can’t stop the slide show in my head of Gary and Alice’s murder. I shake my head, looking down. He puts his finger softly under my chin, guiding my eyes up to meet his worried gaze. “Talk to me.”
“It’s just that…” I hesitate in fear of the gravity of it all pulling me in deeper. “What we saw in the garage the other night…” The horror overwhelms me. The rest of the words get caught in my throat, tears free-fall down my face.
Gabriel glides his finger across my cheek, catching an overgrown teardrop. “I know it was awful. That’s why we have to stop him. But remember, this is just a dream. A way to tell a story.”
Sobs overwhelm me and I try to spit out the words between heavy gasps, “No, it isn’t just a dream.”
He takes me into his arms, holding me tight; his scent cradles me. “I know it seems so real.”
I push him away, looking into his stormy gray eyes. I’m still sobbing, still struggling to say the words, “Gabriel, it happened. It happened in real life. My neighbors, Iknew them and they are really dead, they were really there, we were really there. There’s something happening and I don’t know what it is.”
“What?” Gabriel looks at me as if I’m crazy and all I can think is that he’s just like everyone else.
“It really happened!” Hysteria grips me and I start going on about what’s happening in my waking life. Explaining how we really do have to stop the Specter in a series of lip-quivering statements.
He puts his hands on my shoulders to quiet me and pulls me into a strong embrace. “We’ll stop him, together.”
We are startled back to our surroundings by a car door slamming shut. I look up to see Taffy riding away in a car with someone. I can’t see the driver.
“Oh my God, that’s Taffy.” I hiss a cloud of venom from my mouth.
“Who’s Taffy?” Gabriel asks.
“Eli’s... I’ll explain later.” I pull myself together, trying to think clearly. “Gabriel, we have to save her. My survival depends on it.”
He feels the urgency in my voice. He nods and pulls me close to him. He leans down, pressing his lips against mine. It feels wrong. The realization hits me that I don’t feel in control like I usually do when I’m with him. I don’t like how the tables feel turned. He can sense my hesitation and pushes in harder against my mouth, taunting my tongue with his. Teasing in and out forcefully, I succumb to the passion of the act but have a hard time letting myself melt into him. My feet feel like they aren’t touching the ground—like I’m floating through the air. The world is upside down and I don’t know what’s real or imaginary.
Gabriel pulls away slowly from our kiss. “Open your eyes, love. We’re here.”
Wrestling with my twisted emotions I try to push aside my conflicted feelings. Part of me can think of nothing better than watching the bitch that’s been warming Eli’s bed writhe in pain. Anger boils in me, and then my hands begin to shake. The thought of rationalizing all of this as being just a dream wins over for a moment, seeing her out of the picture if only for a night. Maybe for one night I won’t imagine her smashing her double-Ds in Eli’s face. Gabriel wraps himself around me. “Okay, pain it is.”
“No!” I yell out. “She can’t die.” There’s a warehouse to our left, I assume that’s where it’s going to
happen and run for it.
Gabriel catches me. Holding on to my wrists he smiles into me. “You’ve set things in motion. You are so full of power; that’s why I burn for you. I ache for you when we’re apart. I’ve missed you so much.” Gabriel’s breath is hot on my neck.
I look at him. Who is he? “Let me go.” As if having a spasm, I jerk myself free from his hold. “I have to save her. I have to stop this!”
It’s dark inside, but there’s a glow emanating from back corner of the huge empty room. The amber light illuminates the corner like a dying star that is sputtering out from behind sheets of plastic hanging from a makeshift frame. I move closer, trying to be quiet. There’s hazy movement on the other side from where I’m standing.
I stiffen as I feel, not just hear, the terrifying screams fill me and the room. I can’t see what’s happening; I can only hear the pleading, cries for mercy. Fear grips me and I remind myself that I have to figure out a way to stop this. My mind is racing for a way to bust through and stop a...stop a what? A ghost? An apparition? How do I stop something I can’t even touch?
“I’ll do anything, please stop, please I’m begging you, please.” Taffy pleads with the Specter, but I know it’s no use. From the sound of her cries subsiding I’m guessing she knows too. Her screams pull through my soul like a rusty hook. I’m drawn closer to the plastic. All I can see is the movement of the dark shadow on the other side. The room is flooded with the smell of blood and feces. Gabriel pulls me back, shaking his head.
The screaming finally stops and is replaced by hissing laughter. “You can come out now, my love. See what I’ve done. Just for you.”
I turn and look at Gabriel. He loosens the grip on my hand as though giving me permission to move forward into the scene.
Walking closer to the plastic, there is no movement. A red hue invades the room. The plastic is splattered with dark red drops moving at gravity’s will. I push the plastic aside, looking around the room for signs that the Specter is still there.
Gabriel hasn’t moved from where we stood a moment ago. I take in the scene. There is blood splattered purposefully all over the room, coating the plastic. My shock is interrupted by a gurgling sound, drawing my attention to Taffy. Oh God, she’s still alive.
INK: Fine Lines (Book 1) Page 14