Fair enough. I’m still trying to work out how I got from hugging Em to kneeling in front of the man who’s made her teen years a living hell.
“Give it to me,” I hear Stefan bellow. Another oddity. His manner is always so calm, so accepting. Like he’s seen everything at least a couple of times before and knows that nothing needs to be taken nearly as seriously as everyone does.
But this… there’s a shrill edge to his voice. If it were any other man, I’d immediately pitch it as panic but that’s ridiculous.
Stefan doesn’t panic. Stefan takes every new event as though it’s expected.
His voice doesn’t climb the octaves like a scared child.
“Give me the gun.”
Okay. That’s a new variable. I turn to my side but all I see is Em trembling. I need to stand up and take her in my arms again. Reassure her everything is going to be okay. Even though it isn’t.Especiallybecause it isn’t.
Then I don’t need to stand because she’s sitting beside me, practically crawling into my lap. There’s a gun in her hand and I take it off her before she hurts herself, pushing it to the side where Stefan can grab it. For a second, I flash back and think it’s the wrong gun, the other one, the one I had to steal in the end to get destroyed before it could ruin any further lives.
But no. It’s the safe gun.
I turn my head slightly and see the crumpled body lying on the floor beside me. Fair enough. Not asafegun then, after all.
“Hey,” I whisper, clearing my throat when it doesn’t function correctly. Not that Em cares. Her pretty head is burrowing so far into my shoulder I can barely make out her features. “Are you having a good time, yet?”
She giggles hysterically, and the sound reverberates around my armpit, making me laugh, too.
The only person not laughing is Stefan. And the dead guy on the floor.
“What the fuck happened to you?” he belatedly asks, taking a strange interest in my welfare for someone who was happy to stand back and let a man beat me to death with a statue.
“Three rather large men happened,” I answer, stroking the side of Em’s face and closing my eyes to feel the softness of her skin better. “One of whom I recognise from the club.”
“Right.”
I crack my eye open, staring up at him. Suddenly, pushing the gun away seems like a mistake. “You sent them to beat me?”
He shrugs. “I provided a client with three men ready to hand out a beating. No death. No dismemberment. I didn’t know he’d use them on you.”
I’m not entirely sure I believe it but for the sake of our relationship, it’ll be easier, so I decide to. “Well, we’re both surprised then.” I twist my lips nearer to Em’s ear. “They also gave me a message to pass onto you, but I think it’s probably past its best before date, now.” I blink at the sodden mess beside me. “Unless this isn’t Braxen.”
Given the rearrangement of parts of his face, it’s hard to tell.
“It’s Braxen, all right.” Stefan doesn’t sound pleased at the statement.
I struggle to my feet, alternatively helping Em to stand and leaning on her when my efforts go sideways. “Anyone have some codeine handy? I think I’m well overdue for my next dose.”
“You could check the bathroom,” Em says, then her hands convulse so strongly, their grip hurts.
“What is it?”
Stefan clears his throat. “Braxen isn’t the only body we need to dispose of tonight.”
I’m not sure I like his sudden use of the term ‘we.’ “Who’s the other lucky contender?”
Em’s hands convulse again, and I take them between mine, rubbing them as though they’re cold instead of just having the misfortune to belong to a nervous wreck. When they’re calmer, I kiss each knuckle in turn. If we didn’t have an audience, I’d probably branch out and kiss a few other places too.
Today has been a shitty one. For me and apparently for Em.
Stefan isn’t having a much better time.
We should call it quits and start again, trying harder this time.
