by Mary Abshire
She finished the roll. “What’s bothering you?”
“I just—”
A knock at the door interrupted him. They stared at each other. Emily could think of only one person who knew where to find her, but Troy had said they would chat in the morning. On second thought, the police knew her address. Her pulse accelerated with the fear they’d come to take her back.
“I’ll answer it,” Andrew said as he rose.
She set the carton on the ground and the roll on top. As Andrew opened the door, she stepped away from her chair. Troy stood outside.
“Is she still awake?” Troy asked.
Andrew stepped aside and gestured for Troy to enter. Her anxiety lessened, but only a little. Troy didn’t make unexpected visits.
He strode into the studio carrying his purse and dressed in the same outfit she’d seen him wearing earlier. “Good, I’m not interrupting anything.”
“What are you doing here?” she asked. “I thought you were coming by tomorrow.”
He came to stop in front of her. “We need to talk. Alone.”
The seriousness in his tone and expression worried her. What was so important that it couldn’t wait until the morning? She looked at Andrew.
“I’ll wait in the hall,” Andrew said before he left.
Emily crossed her arms. “What’s going on?”
Troy walked over to the blue chair and placed his bag in it. “I thought I could wait until morning, but I can’t.”
She inhaled a deep breath in an effort to calm her rattled nerves. “What’s wrong?”
He met her gaze head on. “This mistake he made cost you a lot.”
She lowered her arms. Had he come to visit her so soon after her release because he was concerned about getting paid back? It didn’t seem like his normal response, but since he didn’t know how much money she had perhaps he needed to make sure she would reimburse him. “I have funds in various accounts. Send me an invoice and I’ll pay you.”
“I’m not worried about that. I’m worried about you. If the police had found your real prints you would be spending the rest of your life in a fucking prison cell.” He emphasized the last part of the sentence.
“I realize that.”
“He is a loaded gun ready to go off and take you down.”
“The mistake wasn’t entirely his fault. I didn’t have to talk to the men, but I did. I didn’t have to portray a hooker, but I did.”
“We all make choices we have to live with. Are you prepared to spend your life behind bars or end up six feet in the ground if you choose to continue helping your angel?”
“There is a risk to everything. I seem to recall risking my life when I helped you on occasions.”
“Yes, but I know how to shoot a fucking gun.”
“It doesn’t matter if I’m helping you or him, anything could happen to me. I know this. And I love how you want to protect me. I’d do the same for you. But you have to let me live my life as I choose.”
He put his hands on his hips and stomped his foot on the hardwood floor. His boot clacked. “What happens if I’m not around to save your fucking ass?”
“I don’t expect you to save me. Will I ask for help here and there? Yes, but I don’t rely on you to bail me out of trouble every time I get knee deep into it.”
“You were head-fucking deep into it this time.”
“I understand the chances I take. I do.”
He dropped his arms to his sides and meandered around the studio. His gaze lowered to the beds and then the windows. His moment of silence led her to believe he hadn’t finished clearing his mind.
“I’m not going back to Chicago for a while,” he said.
“Oh?” Now this was news. “Are you staying here?”
He stopped near the window, then spun to face her. “I have business I can attend to here. I could use your help. I’d pay you.”
“Does this business involve questionable actions?” Meaning, did it involve illegal activity?
He ambled back toward her. “You are more than aware about the type of work I do.”
In other words, he would be involved in criminal mischief. The news didn’t surprise her.
“Troy—”
“I can set you up in a much nicer apartment.”
So he did want her to leave Andrew. He hadn’t offered her a million dollars. He’d offered her more in terms of job and housing.
“Are you asking me to make a choice between the two of you? I won’t do it. And it’s not fair for you to ask that of me,” she said, her tone hinting at her irritation with him. “At this point, I’m tempted to go my own way since both of you seem to think I’m a damsel in distress who needs help.”
He stood a few feet from her. “You’d go out on your own after what I just offered you?”
“Your offer is to get me to leave Andrew. You don’t need me. You never have.”
“I can use you.”
“So can he.”
“He can’t pay you.”
“It’s not about the money, Troy.”
“Then what is it about?”
“Me. Life. What I want to do,” she said with a shrug.
“What do you want to do?”
She sighed heavily. “I want to live the way that I want to. I want to decide my fate.”
“Do you honestly think you will have much of a future if you decide to keep helping him?”
He sounded so much like a parent scolding a child or an envious boyfriend.
“Are you jealous of him?” she asked.
He rolled his eyes. “Bitch, please.”
“That’s good, because whatever I decide is my choice. If I want to go alone, then let me go. If I choose to stick with Andrew, then respect my decision.”
He stepped closer until he was inches from her. “I love you more than a sister. But if you choose to work with him, it will lead to your death.”
The calmness of his tone gave her a slight chill. She knew he was right. Working with Andrew brought her close to demons. Each one was evil and cared little for human life other than taking or destroying it. But she risked her life countless times when she’d helped Troy. One way or another, death waited for her. It waited for everyone. But death was only the end to a mortal life. She’d learned a lot since she’d met Andrew. Death wasn’t the final end. Troy would never understand that. He didn’t believe in any afterlife.
“We all die eventually,” she said. “Isn’t that what you preach?”
His lips twitched on one side. “If you want to get yourself killed, fine, I won’t stop you.” He walked to the chair, claimed his purse, and then headed for the door.
She’d seen him angry plenty of times and he was never as calm as he appeared now.
“Troy?” she asked, bringing him to a halt. “Please tell me this doesn’t change our friendship.”
“Never. You’re still my girl.”
She strode up to him and gave him a hug. “If you need my help, I’ll stay. I’ve known you twenty years and I can count only a handful of times when you truly needed me.”
He didn’t return the embrace, but he didn’t back away from her either. She suspected he was upset, but he cared too much to end their relationship.
“You decide,” he said after she released him.
He walked out the door without another word.
Emily returned to her seat and rubbed her eyes. Exhaustion had settled upon her and it weighed more than a rhino. She lifted the beer bottle and drank from it. If she decided to stay with either one of them, she was going to need a lot more liquor.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Andrew sat on the steps at the top of the staircase, waiting for Troy’s conversation to be over and for him to walk out. The trepidation consuming Andrew made him feel ill. He already knew the outcome of Troy’s meeting with Emily. She was going to leave. She’d hinted at her choice earlier. Andrew could’ve tipped off Troy, but why bother. Troy was going to speak his mind about Andrew regardless.
Voices from a television in one of the apartments spilled into the hallway. The male host spoke to two women about their involvement with a man. The person asking the questions sounded like a doctor or psychiatrist based on the way he spoke. Andrew couldn’t hear one of the women well enough, but from what he’d heard, the two had sex with the man and were arguing over him. The situation reminded Andrew of the one he was in with Emily except neither him or Troy had taken their relationships past being friends with Emily. The doctor or person in charge had asked each woman to let the man decide who he wanted to be with. Of course, each gal thought she was better than the other. They quarreled loudly. Andrew disagreed with Troy and vice versa, but Andrew knew better than to get in the middle of a twenty-year relationship. He wouldn’t fight Troy unless the man tried to hurt Emily.
The clacking of shoes on the floor shifted Andrew’s attention. Troy strode from the apartment and was heading toward him. Andrew stood and waited by the staircase. Troy didn’t bother to look at him. In fact, he passed Andrew as if he were a ghost.
“That’s it?” Andrew had expected Troy to threaten him or wish him luck at the very least.
“Until we meet again,” Troy mumbled on his way down.
Andrew drew his brows together as he watched Troy leave. What had Emily told him? Troy seemed as much down in the dumps as Andrew. Curious to know what had happened, he returned to the apartment.
Emily sat in the chair with her head tilted back and the beer bottle pressed to her lips. After she finished the beverage, she set it on the floor.
“Do you want me to get more?” he asked on the way to his seat.
“No, I’ve had enough.”
She lifted the food she’d set on the ground. “Hungry yet?”
“No.”
She set the carton between her legs again. “I guess I’ll put this in the fridge. I can finish the egg roll, but that’s it. I’m too tired to eat the rest.” She removed the roll from the wrapper and took a bite.
“Troy didn’t look too happy when he left.”
“He’ll get over it,” she said while she chewed.
“Over what?”
She swallowed. “He asked me to work for him here in New York. He has some business to take care of and could use my help. He’d pay me and set me up in a nice apartment. I turned him down.”
Andrew stared at her as she continued to eat. Why would she refuse him? She wasn’t making sense.
“I don’t understand,” Andrew said.
“He doesn’t need me. He only made the offer so I wouldn’t help you.”
Andrew’s suspicions had been on target. He was a little surprised by Troy’s method, but more stunned she’d declined his offer.
“I’m tired of people trying to tell me what I should and shouldn’t do,” she said. “I’m going to make my own choices. I am in charge of my future. Not you and not Troy. Let me decide what to do. Is that too much to ask for?” She finished the rest of the roll.
Andrew recognized she needed to make her own decisions. She was a strong and independent woman who preferred to be in charge. Take away her right to choose and it would tear her down. That’s why she wouldn’t be able to survive long in prison. Without the ability to be in control and make her own choices, she would go insane.
“You’re right. You should decide what’s best for you. I get it,” he said.
“Glad to hear you agree,” she said as she rose with the carton of lo mien in hand. “I’m going to bed after I brush my teeth. Don’t even try to wake me up in the morning.”
Andrew watched her walk from the fridge to the bathroom. She barely lifted her feet with each step. Head tilted a slight downward angle, she looked exhausted through and through. The beer probably encouraged her lethargy.
He wanted to ask her if she had decided to go her own way. Although she’d hinted at it, she had yet to come out and say what she planned to do. Given her state of mind, he thought it best to wait until morning. His gut told him if he asked now, the answer would not be what he hoped to hear.
****
Andrew breathed through his nose as he finished the last mile of his morning jog. Sweat trickled down his head, neck, and back. He wore shorts and a long-sleeved white shirt. Even though his forearm remained bare, he didn’t want risk a new tattoo showing up and someone seeing it, so he’d opted for the long sleeves.
Ominous clouds blanketed the sky and a strong breeze carried the scent of rain. It was another day full of possibilities and while the outlook didn’t look good, weather wise or for his future, he held on to hope things would work out. They had to. And the sun had to come back out eventually. He stayed positive.
He hadn’t slept well during the night. He’d managed to get a few hours of sleep, but his thoughts continued to keep him awake. Emily had dozed off within minutes of lying down. She hadn’t moved much and had she slept quietly. He’d checked on her a couple times. The woman had been dead tired and needed the rest. Since he couldn’t sleep and was bored, he’d decided to jog.
A few drops of rain hit his head and shoulders. He was a half-mile away from the apartment. He’d hoped to make it back without getting soaked, but now he started to doubt he could. So much for positive thinking.
The light at the street turned red and he had to stop. Raindrops fell quicker and dotted the sidewalk. It seemed he was going to get a shower before stepping into the bathtub. The second the crosswalk signal changed, he darted across the street.
Rain showered from the sky before he reached the next intersection. He briefly considered stopping in a restaurant, but he’d already taken enough drops to soak his clothes. He continued jogging. When the strength of the rain intensified and the wind picked up, he decided to hurry through the remaining blocks.
Lightening flashed in the sky right before he reached the apartment building. He swung the door open as thunder roared outside. Dripping wet, he climbed the stairs two at a time. When he reached the top of the staircase, he removed his shirt. His shorts stuck to his skin, making it difficult for him to dig out the key from his pocket. Water pooled near his feet while he stood at the door and unlocked it. He definitely didn’t need to shower.
Shirt in hand, he entered the apartment. Emily stood in front of her inflatable mattress, stretching her arms above her head. She looked cute in her t-shirt and shorts. Her perky tits caught his attention. He tried not to stare.
“I almost made it back before the downpour,” he said.
She gazed at his chest as he passed her. He tossed his wet shirt into the corner to wash later.
“The thunder woke me up.” Her gaze never veered from him.
“Did you sleep well?” he asked before he strode into the bathroom. He grabbed his towel from the rack and then returned to face Emily.
“Yeah, but I’m still tired. I could probably sleep more if the thunder would go away.”
He ran the cloth over his head and then down his chest.
“When did it show up?” she asked.
He froze, holding the towel over his abdomen. “What?”
She pointed to his arm. “The tat. Did you wake up with it?”
He clenched his fist as he looked at his forearm. A new name and street address had appeared. His eyes widened. “I don’t know. It wasn’t there when I left.” The ink must have shown up while he was jogging. Wearing the long-sleeved shirt had been the right decision after all.
She moved closer and studied the writing. “Susan Williamson in Missouri.” She met his gaze. “A female demon.”
He swallowed hard. The guard hadn’t told him he would have to kill females. He’d presumed all demons would be in the bodies of male humans. Apparently he had been wrong.
“I guess I should start packing,” he said as he lowered his arm. Sadness began to fill him now that he’d have to leave to find the demon on his own. He’d hoped to spend a little time with Emily. Technically he could, but why stick around when he’d have to go eventually.
“We
don’t have to leave right away. I mean, it is raining out,” she said.
He jerked his head up. She’d used the word we.
“Are you coming with me?” he asked, trying not to sound too excited.
“Yeah,” she said with a lazy blink of her eyes. “We’re a team. Like you said, we complement each other.”
Elation fueled his heartbeat. He couldn’t believe she had decided to stay and help him. Overjoyed, he reached and took hold of her face. Before she could react, he pressed his mouth to hers. For far too long he’d sought to feel her lips against his. He couldn’t resist. But within seconds, his brain came alive and he’d realized his error. Heart thudding, he let go of her and stepped back.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.” He ran his hand through his hair and ambled away from her. Panic began to seize him. He’d screwed up big time. He’d worked so hard to keep her and now one kiss would likely cause her to walk away. How stupid could he be?
“Em,” he said as he turned to face her. “I—”
“Stop. Just stop.” She had one of her hands up midway. “I’m not mad. But I think you need to change and put on some dry clothes before you cover the entire floor with rain.”
He stared in disbelief. She didn’t want to kick him out. She didn’t plan to leave him. He’d kissed her and she hadn’t slapped his face. Had he entered an alternate universe? He shook his head to return to reality.
“Right. Clothes. Dry ones. Got it,” he said before he headed to the closet.
He opened the doors and scanned inside. His mind drew a blank. Too much had happened in the last few minutes. What was he supposed to be doing? Shit, he couldn’t remember.
He glanced over his shoulder at Emily. She had a smile on her face as she headed to the window. Although he couldn’t recall what he intended to do, he knew without any doubt he wanted to stay with her and make her happy. He could do it if he learned to control his emotions. Somehow he’d have to manage his raging hormones and become a better man, one she looked forward to being with. Determination filled him. He’d prove his value to her and please her, one way or another.