I smile and squirm with excitement.
He smiles, too, giving me a look of promise, but his eyes don’t look right.
I let it go, though. I get into bed and curl up with the remote, deciding to binge on a rom com series. It’s been a long time since I’ve wanted to watch something with romance. Probably because my own love life was so lacking for a while.
57
Killian
I get to Exodus, ready to close for my manager, Paul, who has a black eye and keeps having dizzy spells. He got knocked in the back of the head in the parking lot when he went out to take out some trash. The dishwasher was off to the side, having a smoke and happened to see it and chase the guy, dressed in a balaclava with a crowbar in his hand. The guy in the balaclava was fast and gave him the slip. I’ve decided the dishwasher is getting promoted for that.
Paul tries to tell me he’s fine, but I get one of the bartenders to take him to the ER.
Alana was supposed to have the day off and I called her, but she’s got two puking kids and I’ve got people covering for her already at Genesis, so she’s no use tonight.
Tony, my head of security at Genesis and me are in the office at Exodus, going through security footage when I get a text from my manager at Law that a brick was thrown at one of our waitresses as she left. Hit her in the shoulder. She’s okay, but shaken up.
I call Craig over at Numbers to make sure everything’s good over there, but he’s not answering. Numbers closed an hour earlier so it’s not unheard of to not get ahold of my manager. He might be already home and in bed.
I get an alert from our security company. Someone tried to break into Numbers. I head over there and arrive to two broken windows. We comb the place to make sure nobody got in.
Someone has targeted me tonight. Who the fuck is it?
And why?
Things finally go quiet after that and there’s nothing to do but get the windows boarded, get extra security to watch the location until repairs can be made in the morning, and try to figure out who is responsible for this.
We’ve got nothing tonight, so I decide to head home but on the way, my brother calls me to tell me someone threw a brick through his front window with a note taped that said,
You fuck people over they’ll fuck you back.
My brother’s fine. And he’s got surveillance of the license plate of the car that pulled up, rolled down a window and tossed the brick so we have a make/model/license plate. Those turn up squat – other than that the plate doesn’t match the car and has been reported stolen.
I have logged into my own security system no less than two dozen times tonight to make sure Violet is okay and that my apartment isn’t part of whatever is going on tonight. I alerted the security guard in the building to be extra vigilant. Whoever is targeting me may think I still live at my old house where my brother lives. Or, they haven’t figured out how to get past security in my building yet.
***
By the time I climb into bed, I’ve also had a call that bricks got thrown through two windows at Genesis.
Climbing in with Violet in my bed settles me immediately. It takes the coldness out of my gut that’s been sitting there all night.
She snuggles in. “Hiya,” she whispers, sleepily.
“Hey,” I say, kissing the ridge of her ear.
“What time is it?”
“Almost five.”
“Oh shit. Long night.”
“Yeah, shit night. But coming home to you feels good.”
She turns over so she’s facing me and snuggles in, tucking her head under my chin.
She’s naked, as per my instructions. And fuck, this makes me happy. I reach into the nightstand for a condom and roll it on.
I fuck her slow, savoring every minute, loving every whimper I earn, wishing I’d had this for three years instead of the last three days.
I can’t think about that now, or I’ll either lose my hard on or I’ll be too rough. I’ll think on that later.
I make her come quickly and I’m not far behind her.
***
I pull her tight, the condom dealt with, her empty juice glass on the nightstand, and the sun beginning to rise.
“Move in with me. Please. I need you here when I get home. I need to know you’re safe. Shit happened tonight, someone sending strong messages that they’re targeting me. I won’t sleep if we’re not in the same place.”
She tenses.
Shit. I shouldn’t have done this right now. She’s already a little spooked.
She caresses my jaw. “Killian,” she says, and her word is my answer. She’s not ready.
I grind my teeth. “Forget I said that for now. We’ll talk later.”
She snuggles in. “I’ll drive myself to work. You need sleep.”
“No. Some shit happened tonight. Security problems. I’m concerned about safety. I’ve got Will coming and driving you.”
“Your brother?”
“Yeah. He’ll be here at eight, he’ll let himself in so you’re not even walking downstairs alone. Can you eat lunch in your office? Don’t go anywhere tomorrow? Today, I guess.”
“Okay. Wanna tell me what happened tonight?”
“Can I tell you after I get some sleep? Exhausted, baby. But someone’s targeted all four of my bars tonight and thrown a brick in the window of Will’s house. Two of my team members got hurt.”
“Oh no! Are they okay?”
“Yeah. They are, but this shit has me tweaked.”
“Of course it does.” She leans up and plants a kiss on my chin and then snuggles back in. “Do you have any idea who did this?”
I let out a sigh. At least she’s here now. At least I don’t have to wonder if she’s all right.
But if she thinks she’s gonna be out of my sight any time soon without security to watch her, she’s wrong.
“No. But I’ve got people working on figuring that out.”
“Good. Try to rest. Okay?”
I lay there for a while holding her, while she rubs my shoulder with affection, before her pace slows and finally, her hand flops as her breathing evens out and she’s fallen back to sleep.
I’m thinking about that shit she told me tonight about Fuckhead with his double-sided coins. I can’t think about it without feeling like a bull, ready to charge.
All tonight’s bullshit got in front of that temporarily, but back here, holding her in my arms, thinking that I could’ve had her in my bed every night the past thousand plus nights?
Or that maybe at the very least she wouldn’t have faced years of abuse with that shit stain?
I am not okay.
I’m so far from okay, it’s unreal.
58
Killian
Six Days Later – Dario Ferrano’s Wedding
I’ve known Dario Ferrano since we were teenagers. We didn’t go to school together, he was fourteen and I was sixteen when we met, plus I lived in a different neighborhood, but we met at the pizza place I worked at.
His father used to do business in the back room there and sometimes brought him along, sent him into the kitchen to help prep. He was a good fucking friend and wise beyond his years. He joked about his father giving him and his brother grunt jobs to build character.