8. Tempest #3
"I said no such thing."
Sniper laughs. "Doesn't matter, we all heard it."
Savage joins in. "He's got it bad."
"Shut up," I grumble.
"Didn't deny it," Venom says.
"Twenty quid," Sniper says. "Pay up."
"Bastards," I grunt.
Ghost chuckles. "We'll fill you in after church."
"Appreciate it."
"Check in tonight," he tells me.
"Will do." I end the call.
Lilah looks at me. "Was that about me?"
"Partly."
One eyebrow lifts.
"The club's having church. Ghost wanted to know if I was coming."
"And?"
"I'm staying with you."
She looks away for a second. "You didn't have to do that."
"I know."
We walk another few steps. "They like winding you up," she says.
"Yeah."
"It's nice."
I look at her. "That they do?"
She shrugs. "Means they're not worried. If they were, nobody would've been laughing."
I smile. "You're catching on."
Dinner's finished and we’re in the living room where she's curled up on one end of the sofa with a mug between her hands. I'm in the armchair opposite. The television's on but neither of us is watching it.
"Lilah," I call out and she looks over. "Can I ask you something?" I ask and she nods instantly. "What was Lucy like?"
She goes still, not because she's upset, but I reckon it’s because nobody's asked her that in a long time.
She looks down into her mug. "I don't know where to start."
"Anywhere."
A smile tugs at the corner of her mouth. "She was chaos. Everything with her was loud, loud music, loud opinions, and a loud laugh." She shakes her head. "She couldn't whisper, oh, she'd try, but somehow it'd still sound like she was announcing something to the whole room."
"You were different," I surmise.
"So different." She laughs softly. "She used to tell people she got all the personality in the womb and left me whatever was left."
"Did you believe her?"
"When we were kids?" She smiles into her mug. "Sometimes."
"And when you grew up?"
"I realized she was just... Lucy." She falls quiet again. "She couldn't cook," she says after a moment. "Honestly, she was a danger to herself in a kitchen."
I grin. "That bad?"
"Worse." She laughs. "She once called me because she'd somehow burnt soup."
"Soup?"
"Tinned soup."
I shake my head. "I don't know how anyone burns soup."
"Neither do I." She smiles. "She blamed me."
I stare at her. "For what?"
"Telling her she should stop ordering takeaway and learn to cook."
"Seems fair."
"It really wasn't." She laughs again, and I find myself smiling with her.
"She'd get mad for about five minutes," Lilah says.
"Then she'd realize she was being ridiculous and start laughing at herself.
" She looks down at her mug. "She had a mug that said I'm Not Arguing, I'm Just Explaining Why I'm Right.
" Lilah smiles. "She bought it for me because she said I always had to have the last word. "
"Did you?"
She presses her lips together. "Probably."
"Probably?"
She laughs. "Definitely." Silence settles around us, and I don't rush to fill it. After a while, she speaks again. "Everyone always asks me what happened to her." She traces her thumb around the rim of the mug. "They never ask who she was."
I hold her gaze. "I wanted to know."
Lilah smiles into her mug. "She would've liked you."
I don't know what to say to that, so we sit for a while longer, the television filling the silence neither of us seems interested in breaking.
Eventually, she sets her empty mug on the coffee table and stands. "I'm heading to bed."
I nod. "Night, Lilah."
"Night, Tempest."
I give her a minute before I start my rounds. I check the front door, the fire escape, and then the hallway camera. I can hear Lilah in her room, moving around. Satisfied everything's where it should be, I lower myself onto the couch.
My mind drifts back to Rogue's call. Four months he's been in Boston. Four months to learn her routine while she went about her life, believing she'd finally put enough distance between herself and Connecticut.
Her bedroom door opens and I look up.
She walks into the kitchen carrying something wrapped in an old tea towel, she unwraps it carefully and sets it on the counter. I know the mug before I read it.
I'M NOT ARGUING, I'M JUST EXPLAINING WHY I'M RIGHT.
The same one she'd been talking about, she notices me looking. "It was in the box."
I nod.
She runs her thumb over the handle. "Lucy gave it to me for my twenty-fourth birthday." A small smile touches her lips. "She said it suited me." She lets out a quiet breath. "It felt like the right time." She disappears back into her room, the door clicking shut behind her.
I head to the window out of habit, resting one hand against the frame as I look down at the street where headlights catch my eye and a black SUV rolls into view.
I straighten without thinking, every instinct I have starts screaming.
He knows where she lives and he's making damn sure she hasn't gone anywhere.
Lilah's finally sleeping; tonight; she remembered her sister and opened something she hadn’t taken out in three years. Tomorrow can bring whatever it wants, but tonight, she gets to sleep.