Chapter 14 #3
My stomach still twisted when I recalled how he’d folded his soaking wet, shivering frame into a damp, fragile box parked in a filthy alley.
I’d waited, thinking maybe he’d just left something and was going to come back out.
But seconds had turned to minutes. Thunder and lightning clapped overhead, and all the patience I’d learned in training was ancient history as I peered into that makeshift shelter and saw him curled into a ball.
“I couldn’t stay. But leaving him with nothing wasn’t an option either,” I confessed.
“And you never looked for him,” Kieran surmised.
I shook my head. “By the time I was stateside again, I couldn’t. I’d hoped he’d taken the money and gone somewhere warm.”
But sometimes in the darkest, quietest part of the night, when I would wake drenched in sweat with a pounding heart, I would trace the shadows with my stare and wonder about him. A song whose lyrics I never really knew but a melody that was unforgettable.
“Well, he ended up in a shitty apartment in the worst part of town.”
“Pretty sure he’s hard of hearing,” I said, snagging some bacon and shoving it between my lips. It was cold, but I ate it anyway. Grease tasted good at any temperature. “He listens for shit,” I muttered, shaking my head.
Kieran opened his mouth to reply, but I rolled on.
“I mean, what part of stay out of trouble means live in a place where they film the before footage for true crime documentaries? I’d say the streetlights there probably flicker in warning, but they already gave up the fight. Not to mention almost shot up by the fucking mob.”
“Don’t forget the drugs.”
I choked on the orange juice I was using to wash down my rage, and it sprayed from between my lips.
“I’m calling the realtor. Putting this place on the market,” Kieran muttered.
My voice was strained when I said, “What did you just say?”
He grimaced.
I rose from the bed. “Vaughn.”
“He’s an addict,” he said calmly.
It took a moment for the words to sink in. You know, Kieran wasn’t a hater, but he was sure acting like one. I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. I was wearing his pants, after all.
“State your case,” I offered.
Look at me. The Dalai Lama of fair-minded folk.
“Remember when I went over to Haz’s apartment the other day and found it trashed?” he said.
“Go on,” I invited.
“I went across the hall and beat on his neighbor’s door until he opened up.”
“The neighbor being Pip.”
Kieran’s dark brows pinched. “Why do you call him that?”
“Focus,” I chastised.
He sighed like he wasn’t the one dragging this out. “When he finally answered, he was all bleary-eyed and out of it. Said he was asleep.”
I pursed my lips. “Insufficient evidence.”
Kieran threw his hands up. “He said he was sleeping. In the middle of the damn day. He slept through the only other apartment on his floor getting completely trashed and didn’t wake up at all?” He shook his head. “When I said as much, he blubbered on about taking some pill.”
“What pill?” I questioned.
“I have no idea. He started crying. And he wasn’t wearing any pants.”
Excuse me. I just need a moment.
The fork dragged over the plate when I grabbed it. Then my teeth dragged along the metal, filling the room with a cringe-inducing grating. Once it was clean of maple syrup, I held it up to one eye and closed the other.
Kieran made a face like he was suddenly bored. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Picturing what it would be like in prison if I gouged out your eyes and made you eat them.”
“Oh, fuck off,” Kieran grumped. “Like you’d even go to jail.”
“You’re right. I wouldn’t. Men like us don’t get caught,” I shot back, then muttered, “And apparently, you can’t appreciate sarcasm.”
I threw the fork onto the floor, something that bothered Kieran way more than having his eyes carved out with silverware, and I took the distraction as my opportunity to pounce.
We both went down with him breaking my fall. Really, it was the least he could do.
In seconds, he reacted, flipping us over so I was pinned beneath him. But I flipped us back, anchoring my good hand in his chest.
“You made him cry.”
“Haz was missing.” He defended himself.
I growled. “You saw him without pants!”
“I didn’t look.”
“Looked enough to know they were missing,” I accused.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake!”
“You will apologize.”
He scoffed. “Like hell.”
“Apologize or lose an eye,” I bartered.
“No.”
Squinting, I covered up one of his eyes. “You’d make a hot pirate.”
He smacked my arm away. “Get off me.”
“Apologize.”
“Fine,” he growled.
I got up and offered him my good hand. He smacked it away again.
I went back to the mattress and sat down. “Doc leave any pain pills?” I asked. Probably shouldn’t have been moving around this much, but threats had to be made.
“I flushed them down the toilet.”
I gave him a flat look. “I’m keeping these pants.”
“I’ll never wear them again anyway.”
We looked at each other and grinned.
It was an unnatural expression on Kieran, but he tried. Naturally, he went back to his RBF first.
“You love him,” he said quietly.
“No,” I denied. “And I don’t care what you saw. He’s not addicted to drugs.”
“Love makes you stupid, but don’t let it make you blind.”
I shrugged my uninjured shoulder. “Since I’m not in love, I don’t have to worry about either.”
Kieran said nothing, just stood there all judgy.
I sighed. “Look, I’ll keep an eye on him, okay?”
“If you don’t, I will.”
My eyes narrowed.
Kieran’s words were clipped. “He’s around Haz.”
“I’ve got this,” I vowed.
“I thought he didn’t want you around.”
Good thing I had a particular set of skills that would keep him from finding out.