Chapter 22 #2
In confirmation, there are a few low chuckles, but they fall silent as soon as Maddock’s lip curls.
He cocks his gun, still aimed right at Cypress’s chest, and it’s all the provocation Cypress should need to pull the trigger.
But he doesn’t. He only stares at me. And though his guns are raised, I see that expression in his eyes again.
The one he’d worn in the alley when I’d put a knife to his throat.
Like it’s not really death he’s afraid of, because there’s something else he fears more.
I shouldn’t care. I’ve seen plenty of men afraid. I’ve seen plenty killed. Innocent men killed for far less, and I doubt there is a single definition of the word that would apply to Cypress.
All week he’s been playing these men. Letting them win, tricking them into thinking he’s not a threat, only to finally turn the tables on them now. This is his game, and he ought to have planned for when it would end.
He is a thief, and I…
My left hand strays to my coat pocket, to the watch that’s still there wrapped in black fabric, to the bribe that I still haven’t bothered to give back because…maybe we both have things we fear more than death.
“Any last words?” I hear Maddock ask, and even though Cypress says nothing, I hear him in my head.
I’ll have to kill you.
You know, wolf, I think I’d let you.
Is he really…is he really not going to put up a fight?
I glance around for something that will prevent this, for someone, but of course, not one of them moves.
Not one of the people that were cheering and lifting their drinks to him only the night prior lifts a finger for him now. No one speaks for him. He has no one.
No one else he’s looking to but me. Goddammit.
“Maddock,” I bark, stepping forward without fully knowing what I intend to do beyond carefully studying my employer for any ideas he might have about turning his gun on me.
He warily watches me approach, and I wait until we are side by side and I’ve turned my back on Cypress before I drop my voice and say the only thing I can think of that might get Maddock to hold.
“You’ll never get your money back if you shoot him.
Not right away. The law will get involved.
And when they do, you’ll wind up stuck here until things are resolved. ”
He regards me with contempt. “You can’t be suggesting that I let him—”
“What I’m suggesting is you take this out of here like the man said. And that you let me handle it when you do.”
“You?” he asks as his eyebrows rise, clearly not expecting the offer but also interested by it. “Why? You decide to finally do your job?”
I bite my tongue, nearly in two, but I get the next words out. The ones I’m sure he needs to hear. “I protect your interests. That was our deal, right?”
Maddock barely removes his gaze from Cypress for more than a second, but I still see it when he flicks his eyes to the floor, appearing slightly nervous before he shakes it off and nods. “It was. You planning on holding up your end of it?”
“Outside.” I turn, choosing not to acknowledge that last part before letting myself brave Cypress, letting him search my face in that all-seeing way he seems to have. “We take this discussion outside.”
There’s no real reason for him to agree. He’s better off in here where there are witnesses, even if none of them appear ready to come to his defense. But I trusted him last night when he silently told me to stand down. And I’m hoping that might be enough to convince him to at least consider—
Both of Cypress’s arms drop without hesitation, both guns returning to their holsters as he nods in my direction, then waits for his former opponent to do the same.
“Don’t,” I tell Maddock again when he hesitates, his finger still hovering near the trigger. “You’ll get your chance. But not here.”
A minute that feels like an hour passes before he finally nods, too. His arm falls in much the same way Cypress’s had, though far slower, and even if he doesn’t reholster his pistol, I feel like I’m able to start breathing once more.
“He goes out first,” Maddock says, gesturing toward Cypress and then his men. “You follow him. And you…” He addresses the older man. “You best stay out of it this time if you know what’s good for you.”
The man opens his mouth as if to reply, but thankfully looks to me before he does, sees me shake my head, and falls silent right as Maddock steps forward.
On reflex, I grab his arm before he can get far, and when I do, his eyebrows shoot up again, this time in anger as well as shock, but I don’t care. “Don’t do anything until I get there.”
“And where are you—”
“Need to check my weapon over.” I say, not entirely having to lie about the excuse. “Before.”
“Really are prudent, aren’t you?” Maddock rolls his eyes, jerking his arm away. “Fine. Do whatever it is you need to do so long as he gets what he deserves. This is your chance to prove yourself, you understand?”
“I do,” I assure him, looking past his shoulder just in time to see Cypress hesitate by the door, his eyes finding mine as they’d done that first night I’d seen him. Before the first time I’d followed him.
How fitting for him to do it again before the last.