The diner.
The coffee.
The name…
Her name.
*Crack*
His fist connects with my jaw, snapping my head to my right. Blood fills my mouth as my teeth rip into my inner cheek. I spit blood as I run my tongue over my teeth to make sure they’re all still there.
“Now that I have your fucking attention, what the fuck happened to my father?” he snarls as he squats down to eye level with me.
I spit, spraying his face with blood. His eyes narrow on me as his lips curl into a sickening smile. He runs his finger through the blood before placing his finger on his tongue. He hums as he tastes my blood. My stomach knots as I watch him.
He spits at my feet. The saliva dilutes the red blood on the white tile floor.
“I’ll ask you one last time, Langston. What happened to my father? Why the fuck did you kill him?”
I think back. The last time I saw Jocko was when I was twenty-one…The year I left. Why the fuck would this guy think I had something to do with his dad’s death?
“Fine…You don’t want to talk? I’ll just have to fucking make you talk.” He stands, wiping the rest of my blood off his face with his sleeve.
“I don’t know what happened to Jocko. Why do you think I had anything to do with your dad’s death?”
He stops and turns back to me. His eyes are dark and locked on me. His upper lip twitches with rage. What the fuck happened to Jocko?
“I know you killed him. I want to know why!” he screams as he walks back to me.
“I’ve been gone for years. I haven’t talked to Jocko or seen him in almost twenty years…”
“LIAR!” he screams as he punches me across the face again. He hits the side of my nose. I can feel the cartilage crunching beneath his knuckles as blood begins to leak down my face and into the back of my throat.
“I’m not lying. Why the fuck would I kill him!?”
“He was going to find you…To tell you about Mina.”
“Mina…”
“Don’t play dumb. I know he told you she was back.”
“I didn’t…” My brows crease in confusion. Did everyone know she survived except me?
“So, you kill my father to prove a point. Then send me a threatening message and decide to show up at my club…MY CLUB…Why? Did you think you were going to take her from me now?”
“I didn’t know she was here. I didn’t even fucking know she was alive!” I scream.
“Bullshit,” he scoffs. He walks over to the side of the room. I glance around the room trying to get an idea of where we are. I think we’re still at the club.
“I swear, Declan. I never saw him. He never came to see me. Something must’ve happened.”
“You can keep lying all you want…You’ll tell me eventually,” he smirks as he walks over to a door along the far wall. He knocks twice, and I can hear a faint scream from the other side. It’s like a knife being twisted into my soul. I know in my heart that it’s Mina.
“I knew the minute you walked into my fucking club you were back for her.”
“How did Jocko know?”
“What?” he stops pacing and looks at me, confused.
