INK: Fine Lines (Book 1) (18 page)

“Shay, it’s about the Specter. We have to figure out why it’s interested in you,” he says simply. “Everyone has intuition, but they don’t go around seeing murders taking place. And I doubt that all of a sudden you’ve been gifted with precognition.”

“McNab, I’m scared. Do you think Aiden is in danger? On the beach I saw Aiden with his guts spilled out…” My voice is staunched by the horror of that vision.

“I don’t think anyone is safe, what can we do?” He scans the area again. “But if you have another dream you need to call me immediately.”

“I will.” I hesitate. “What if I hear it again while I’m awake?”

“Call me. Call me. Call me. We need to document what’s happening at that moment.” He wraps up the trash from our dinner.

“Okay, I will. Well, what do you want to do? The night is still young,” I say, raising an eyebrow, hoping he’s not going to ditch me like he usually does.

“I want to go back to my room and do some more research. I also need to make sure they don’t run the story on you for the show.” He leans toward me from across the table.

Considering the fallout from the bomb Aiden dropped on me, I dread heading back to the hotel. I’m not sure which is worse, the proposal or the accusation. “Can I come with you?” I say quietly.

“No, ma’am. I don’t want any distractions or any of whatever it is that’s following you around. You are a danger to yourself and others, and I’m not up for inviting that kind of trouble back to my hotel room.” He stands from the picnic table, half-smiling. “Besides, it’s inappropriate.”

Inappropriate? What is this, the 1950s? “I’m not ready to go back. Will you stay awhile longer?” I ask, feeling so stupid.

“Sure kid, I’ll stay for a few.” I know he really wants to leave, but I’m glad he’s humoring me for a little while longer.

I think it’s funny how he calls me kid, as I’m pretty sure I’m a year older than he is. If anyone else ever did it I’d be irritated, but from McNab it’s endearing. We walk along the water’s edge in silence. McNab maintains his customary three-foot distance. I have thoughts of Aiden bouncing through my mind. How in the hell am I going to deal with him after he accused me of murder and asked me to marry him in the same breath? Only Aiden could think he could pull that off. I laugh at the thought.

“What’s so funny?” McNab asks, looking down at me.

“I just can’t believe Aiden’s gall.” I shake my head.

“Hmm, yeah, outright accusing you of murder, anyone that knows you should know you could never do that.” He says it in almost a kind tone, but also seems disappointed at my lack of killer instinct.

“Yeah, then he asked me to marry him.” A 
pfft
 involuntarily escapes me.

“What? You didn’t mention that part,” he says, a little shocked.

“I didn’t think it was important.”

“It isn’t; it’s sad though, really.” We reach the end of the dock. He turns and leans against the railing, facing back toward the land, ever vigilant.

“Yeah, it is.” I look out on the harbor, away from McNab. A dry laugh rattles through him.

“Care to share the joke?” I need one right about now.

“It’s just humorous. Aiden actually thinks he’s going to get the girl.”

“Isn’t he?” I’m intrigued, not that I want Aiden to ‘get the girl,’ but this implies McNab knows who does.

“Silly Rabbit, of course not.” It sounds strange in his urgent tone.

“Well, who does?” I turn to face him.

“Not Aiden.” He comes closer and breaks his cardinal rule, tapping his finger on my nose.

I’m stunned and put my hand over my nose. “Hey, I thought ‘nobody touches McNab.’”

“Nobody did, I touched you.” He starts back up the dock. “Let’s go, kid. I’ve got work to do and you have quite the brouhaha back at your hotel.”

“Brouhaha? What do you mean?” I question, following him up the dock.

“You’ll see.” His pocket lights up. He pulls phone out and looks at the screen, then me. “Hey kid, I gotta take this. Can you get back on your own?” He surveys the distance across the street to the hotel.

“Yeah I’m fine; you go.” I wave him off.

He answers the phone while walking away with his Gary Cooper stride. “You’ve got McNab. What’s got you?”

McNab disappears into the darkness. I look back out onto the water, feeling very vulnerable. But I’m not up for the brouhaha just yet. I don’t think I will be. Can’t I just stay here forever, fall into the Gulf of Mexico? Maybe then the people I care about will stop dying.

Aiden

There’s a knock on the door. Oh please let that be her. I need to fix this and clean up the mess I made with my ridiculous proposal. “Shay, I’m so...” Fuck. Eli.

“You’re so what? So stupid? So insensitive?” Eli pushes past me into the room, hammering me verbally. The worst part is, he’s right about everything.

That doesn’t mean I have any intention of letting the shoulder bump he just gave me slide. “Don’t start with me, Eli.”

“You are an idiot, Aiden. I thought we had an agreement. I thought we were going to do what was best for her.” He runs his fingers through his hair and the tremor in his hands is visible. “I can’t believe what a moron you are. Asking her to marry you? Did you really think she was going to say yes?”

Eli looks like shit. I know that look. I’ve seen Eli wear it like a mask many times. What does he expect me to say? “Um, yeah. She always does.”

“You know you only had to do one thing, one fucking thing, Aiden. All you had to do was stay with her.” He pauses, standing with his hands pressed against the bar with his head down. Yup, he’s jonesin’ bad. “Maybe I’m the fool here, asking you to stay by her side when we all know you’ve never been able to do it before.” He cuts me a hard look.

This is bullshit, but of course I have no ground to stand on so I’m going to just stay quiet. He’s totally right and it pisses me off. I pace the floor like a caged tiger, not locking eyes with him but watching his movements. He’s staring long and hard at the mini-fridge. He takes a deep breath and walks away from it, heading straight for me. Why do I have the feeling I’m about to be the recipient of beating, courtesy of a serious withdrawal anxiety attack?

“Do you have any idea where she might have gone? What’s the name of the club in Ybor?” Eli is in emergency mode; weighing options, coming up with ideas, and solving problems.

“It’s the Castle and it’s closed tonight.” I already called them and every other club in Ybor where she might go.

Eli’s stride quickens as he paces the room. “Did you even try to go after her?”

“No.” I had done enough damage. Chasing her down would have only made things worse.

Eli stops in front of me, looking down at me with his shoulders thrown back. I really fucking hate when he does that. “You didn’t even try to go after her? Don’t you realize how serious this is?”

“Look, I’m sure she just needed a little time, to process things. She’s coming back; she always does.” My chest expands as a warning that he’s standing too fucking close and he needs to back off. I don’t want to have to hurt him.

“She’s not the same, Aiden; she’s changed. She doesn’t let you consume her every thought, she doesn’t crumble at every disappointment, every broken promise, every abandonment you think you can just get away with like she means nothing. Hell, I don’t even know if she gives a fuck about you anymore.” Eli’s voice is booming through the room. Worse, his words go booming through my being.

I stand my ground, holding Eli’s threatening gaze. “You need to back off.”

“Or what? You’re gonna hurt me? You’re going beat the shit out of me? There is nothing you can do to me that can hurt worse than what you’ve already done.” Eli steps in closer.

“Fuck you man, I haven’t done shit to you.” I push him back.

Eli rebounds right back into my face “You fucking lost her. You. Lost. Her. She could be hurt. People want to kill her.”

“I said get out of my face.” I push him again, but the little fucker barely moves.

He digs in his heels, bracing himself. “If she’s been hurt, it’s on you. Just like always.”

I’ve had all I’m going to take; it’s time to put Eli in his place. I know what this is all really about, and I’m going to set him straight. “This isn’t about Shay, this is about me. You’ve always wanted what I have: money, Shay, my father and his law firm. This about you being jealous of me, how you were always being everything to him that I didn’t want to. Just like when we were kids.” I’m on a roll and can’t stop, I don’t even recognize what’s coming out of my mouth. It’s like I’m trying to incite him, to push him over the edge. Truth is I want him to punch me, hurt me. I did lose her, in so many ways, and I just want to feel a different kind of pain even if it’s temporary. “This is all over a piece of ass; sloppy seconds that could never really be yours.”

Eli snaps and lands a left hook square on my jaw. We tumble over the small dining table, grappling and throwing punches. Eli gains leverage and flattens me on my back. Straddling me, he punches me in the face three or four times. “She is not a piece of ass. I love her, I’ve always loved her. I’ve had to watch while you broke her to bits over and over again. You never really loved her; she was just a plaything to you. A conquest.”

I’m covering my face to defend from the assault. Eli stops. He balls my shirt into his fists, pulls me up close to his face, and says with a quiet seriousness that resonates with the truth behind it, “And if she’s been hurt, I’ll fucking kill you.”

“Stop It!” Shay’s voice shatters the eerie silence that had blanketed the room with Eli’s threat. I don’t know how long she was standing there. I don’t know how much she heard. But I do know that she is good and pissed, and I’m so fucking happy to see her. I want to just grab her and hold on to her forever. Lose myself in her aquamarine eyes, stroke her silky dark hair that always smells like flowers, and love her, just love her.

I buck under Eli to get him off of me so I can go to Shay. He sits back on the floor with his legs still making it hard for me to get up, that lanky motherfucker. “Get off me.”

She’s just standing there, her eyes a tempest surveying the room. The dining table is in pieces, a broken lamp on the floor. She shakes her head when she looks at Eli and me. Our faces are both bloodied. Eli’s shirt is torn and stained. My fucking eye is swelling shut.

I do my best to brush myself off and go to her, but she’s gone into the bedroom. She reemerges loaded down with two of my bags. Her gaze is on fire; she’s staring at Eli and me unblinking. I half expect smoke to start streaming from her ears or her head to start spinning around. God, she’s beautiful when she’s angry. She proceeds to perfunctorily toss my bags into the hallway. Then she does the same with Eli and me. “Get out!”

“Me?” we both ask at the same time.

“
Both
 of you get out.” Her arm is rigid from her shoulder to the tip of her pretty little finger, pointing to the hallway.

Eli takes two steps toward her, eyes welling with tears; what a douche. She isn’t going to fall for that bullshit. She matches his steps away from him while he’s begging for forgiveness. “Shay, I’m so sorry. Please.”

She glowers at Eli with as much bitter anger as she can summon. “I want your lying face out of my room now.”

I’m not the liar, I’m the leaver, so I get to stay. I take a few slow steps toward her, like you would a wild animal you’re trying to soothe. She turns quickly to me. “You too, get out.”

Stunned, Eli and I both hang our heads in shame as we walk out the door. I turn around to tell her I’m sorry and that I’m glad she’s back but she slams the door in my face. And that was the sound of the latch being dragged across the metal. I will not be getting back in there tonight.

Eli

Aiden and I stand stunned in the hallway, staring at each other. We’re both in pretty rough shape. My white dress shirt is half untucked, bloodied and torn, my lip is swelling and the blood is starting to dry. Aiden’s left eye is swollen shut and he has new cuts on both cheeks. His t-shirt is wrinkled and ripped.

After a few moments of awkward silence Aiden looks at me. “I’m glad she’s okay.”

I smile while wincing, immediately putting my finger to my lips to staunch the pain. “Yeah, I’m glad she’s back. I think I broke a tooth.”

Aiden slides down the wall, giving a little laugh. “Good.”

“Do you think she’s pissed?” I say with a gruff laugh rattling from my chest. I sit opposite from him.

Aiden nods and laughs. “Yeah, I think she might be pissed.” He cradles his ribs.

“Ribs hurt?” 
They should—I pummeled your side, you piece of shit.

“Yeah.” Aiden sucks in a breath, closing his eyes.

“Good,” I say, a little preoccupied, tonguing along the inside of my upper lip.

“Eli?” Aiden asks, stretching his neck, testing that it still moves the same amount in all directions. “When did you learn to fight?”

“I’ve always known how to fight. I’ve been doing MMA for years,” I answer, dabbing my lip with my shirttail.

“Why haven’t you kicked my ass before?” He looks right at me, searching my face.