21. Liam
Ithrow back another drink, still fuming over Elena’s rejection. I’m wasted so badly I can’t even stand up without swaying, and I am ready to take my anger out on someone. But Slick’s hand in the center of my chest steadies me. My father may not have been a father to me growing up, but Slick has been like a brother. He’s the only one who can keep me in check when I’m feeling like this and three sheets to the wind.
Pushing his hand away, I lean on the bar and tap it. “Bartender, another!” I shout, but the man lingers at the end of the bar, leaning on it while chatting with a busty woman who wears too much makeup.
“Liam, I don’t think you need to be drinking any more. You’re really wasted.” Slick puts his hand back on my chest and tries to hold me back, but honestly, tonight, there is no calming me down. I’ll probably drink until I pass out somewhere very inappropriate, and probably not before harming someone physically. Hell has no fury like a rejected man.
“Get the fuck off me, Slick, or I’ll cut you.” I push him hard, and he stumbles backward but comes back at me with all of his strength, pinning me against the bar.
“I won’t back off, Liam. I’m tryin’ to save your ass. Don’t you get it? You’re gonna go to jail. Nothing Kraus or any of your buddies at the station can do if you murder someone in cold blood with witnesses.” He is strong, but while drunk, I’m stronger. And I’m angry, and I’m not thinking clearly.
“Get off me,” I snap again, and this time he backs off, letting me walk down to where the bartender stands ignoring me. But I feel him follow on my heels. He’s only doing his job, and he’s right, I won’t cut him. I’ll threaten it, but Slick is the one person I’d never hurt unless he openly double-crossed me.
The bar is busy as usual for a Saturday night. I should be with Elena right now, using her body as my personal sex toy the way she begs me to. But someone interfered with my perfect relationship and my perfect plan.
“Think about what you’re doing before you make any bad choices.” Slick’s words of caution only make me more upset. I ignore him and continue pushing past the line of folks vying for attention at the bar. They want drinks. I want to unleash my rage on someone, and the lazy bartender will do just fine.
And thinking is all I’ve done for hours now. Thinking about Elena and how if I”d just showed her my true self, she’d have no choice but to obey me or have consequences like everyone else. But something inside me doesn’t want that. I don’t want another loyal servant. I want someone who chooses me on purpose despite my horrible nature. And while the apology I gave that bastard at the theater wasn’t real, the one I gave her was.
“Hey,” I shout, slamming my fist onto the bar. The bartender rolls his eyes and scowls at me. He’s interacted with me enough to know I’m the owner’s son, and he knows who the owner is. He should jump when I say something, not roll his eyes and continue talking. “I want another drink.”
Slick is right here beside me, always playing the hovering babysitter. He’ll try to stop me from drinking more, but I won’t listen. As many times as this happens, he ought to know better. No matter how many times I try to do the right thing or turn over a new leaf, it all comes down to this. I get what I want or people get hurt. It’s all I’ll ever be, which means unlike my father, I will need to invest in a lot more friends on the police force and really excellent lawyers.
I guess you really can’t teach an old dog new tricks.
“Hello!” I shout again. I slam my fist onto the bar and the bartender finally takes notice.
He turns and says something to his friend and pushes off the bar where he’s standing, then strolls over to me nonchalantly. As I prepare to order my next drink, Slick is suddenly gone. I don’t care. I’m just glad the bartender is finally paying attention. He meets me with a glare and a pair of fists resting on the smooth wood between us.
“I need a vodka martini, dry with two olives.” Fuck drinking beer. I need heavier stuff. I need something to make this anger in my chest shut up.
“I think you need to calm down and pace yourself, Dominic. I’ve already called your father.” The man’s beady little eyes bore into me, and I almost climb over the bar to pound him, but Slick returns, grabbing me by my waistband and yanking me back.
“Easy, buddy,” he says, waving the bartender off. He drags me until my feet are on the ground again and I’m back to swaying on my feet, and I turn around to cuss him out when I see he has two strippers standing here. Their tits are out, dollar bills dangling from their G-strings.
“The fuck do you want? I was tryin’ to get a drink.” I’m so drunk even I can tell my words are slurred.
“These two ladies would like to give you a lap dance.” He smirks at me and pulls me away from the bar and my drink, and I push him away again.
“I don’t want a lap dance. I want a drink.” In the process of stumbling away again, he bumps into one of the women, who bumps into a man at the bar, and that turns into a bit of a pushing match between Slick and the man.
Grunting, I walk past them and hunt the bartender up the way a little. He seems to see me coming and signals at someone. Before I know it, a bouncer is on me, grabbing me by the scruff of the neck and dragging me toward the door. I fight him, balling up my hands into fists and striking him again and again in the side and back, but he’s a big guy, all of three hundred pounds.
“Get off me!” I resort to tripping him, and he goes down hard, taking me with him.
In an exchange of cursing and spitting, I manage to land several hard blows to his face and chest, and he pins me on the ground for a few seconds too, bashing me in the face. Then I flip him over again, this time with my knife in hand. We’re out back and no one is around, except Slick, who grabs me by the left arm and tries to pull me away, but not before I sink the knife into the man’s chest, burying it to the hilt.
“Fuck’s sake, man. This guy ain’t your problem,” Slick screams at me. “We gotta get outta here.” He pulls me so hard I’m stumbling after him, and despite wanting to have that fucking drink, I’m coherent enough to know I need to bolt.
“My knife!” I screech, and he runs back to pull the knife out of the man, which only seems to make him bleed more. I’m out of control. I ram my hands through my hair and back away, staring at the mess I’ve made this time. I was doing so well, getting better. Elena was making me better, and now this.
“Let’s get the fuck out of here.” Slick’s words fall against the soundtrack of sirens in the distance growing closer. Not a soul in this place saw me stab that man, and there are no cameras out here, but the bartender knows it was me. No one else was probably paying any attention, but if that man squeals, I’m fucked.
“You gotta go make sure he don’t talk.” I jog after Slick and realize how heavy my breathing is. I’m not out of shape. I’m just that drunk.
“Would you listen to yourself? You’re not even making sense. You think that man’s gonna talk? You know who your father is, right?” Slick runs alongside me now, trying to get away as fast as I am. It’s dark, light rain is falling, and I have a compulsive need to either see her or drink more to shut up the need to see her.
“Take me to Elena’s apartment,” I huff, and Slick picks up the pace.
“No way, man. You’re going home before you kill someone.” Nearing the car, we turn down the alley and duck out of sight just as two cop cars pass by. Then we step back onto the sidewalk and try to catch our breath as we take the final few strides to the car.
Once inside and on our way to wherever Slick is driving me, I finally start to calm down. No amount of alcohol on this planet is going to calm me down or make her believe me that I’m not stalking her. But there is something that will. If I figure out who is stalking her, then she’ll have to believe it isn’t me. And I have enough resources to get to the bottom of this once for all.
“We gotta find the guy…” My slurred words make Slick glance at me.
“Who?” he asks, turning away from the bar and zipping as quickly as he can onto the highway.
“The stalker. The guy who’s threatening Elena.” I’m still seething mad, but I’m starting to understand the way forward. Everything my father told me about unearthing a serpent still rings true, even in my drunken state. Whoever this is, he isn’t afraid to show his true colors to her. She has probably even interacted with him, maybe seen his face. She might know him personally, which makes sense that she would fear it was me.
“How you figure we’ll do that? Now you’re gonna have police knocking on your door again. Or at the very least, your father.”
“Isn’t that what I pay you for?” I grumble and stare out the window at the blur of city lights passing by. “We call Kraus. We tell him everything, like every fucking detail. He’ll have some ideas on what to do.” Trusting a dirty cop to do my work is risky, but I have to trust someone or I’m on my own. And God knows I can’t do this alone.
“Then what?” Slick pulls into the exit lane and slows abruptly, turning north toward my home. “You think she’ll believe you and trust you when you catch the stalker? Buddy, you lied to her face. She ain’t no New York City hoe. She’s good people. She’s from the Midwest where they bake pies and shit. Probably grew up in Sunday school and plans to meet Jesus someday. You ain’t got a fucking chance with her.”
I ignore his disbelief and pull my phone out, dialing Detective Kraus’s number. It’s late, so I don’t expect him to answer, but he does.
“Dominic… It’s three a.m. What the hell do you want?”
I love how he thinks he can talk to me like this. What a piece of work. Someday, I’ll be his boss and not my father, and then he’ll learn how to use manners.
“I need help tracking someone down, and I need it now. I’ll give you five minutes to wake up and I’ll call back. Get to your computer.” I hang up and stare at the city skyline in the distance. Kraus is going to help me find Elena’s stalker if it’s the last thing he does.
She belongs to me even if she doesn’t think she belongs to me. I intend to prove that to her, and I intend to make sure no one else touches my property or harms it in any way. And if they think I’m the type to show mercy, they’re wrong. I’m ruthless and lethal, and no one gets in my way.