“It was in the newspapers. It was hard not to notice your face plastered all over the news when a dead body showed up. I moved to New Jersey, but we still get the news.”
He laughed, “Sounds like you've been keeping tabs on me a little bit more than you’re letting on. Is there a reason for that?”
I felt my heart pounding in my chest just as the waiter walked up to us. Luka looked at me while he whispered something in Chinese to the waiter, he nodded his head and shuffled off to get our meal. Only a moment later he came back with two small shot glasses and Luka immediately raised his to me. “To our health, and finding one another again after all this time.”
“To finding one another.” I raised my glass and sniffed it. He swallowed his and laughed at me. “It's not poison.”
I gave him a look. “I figured as much. What is it?”
“Fireball. I always keep a bottle here. Nice way to unwind before a meal.” I raised an eyebrow at him but lifted the glass to my lips and took the shot. It felt like molten lava flowing down my throat and fire burning in my belly. Of course he would be drinking fireball. Just like he always had.
“So are you going to tell me why you were in jail?”
“I thought you read all about it.”
“Some. But I’d like to know more.”
“You have a lot of questions. Why is that?”
The waiter brought over our food and another round of shots. I drank it immediately to avoid his question. I needed to play my role better, to be smarter about the questions I was asking. I couldn't let him suspect what I was really doing here. But as we began to eat and continued to drink my resolution faltered. By the fourth round of fireball we were laughing like old friends and I felt like the questions that we were both ignoring were no longer important. He talked about his family and his friends and everything that we had both missed being away for so long. By the time that dinner had ended I had completely forgotten about my mission. I was falling into him, back into his trap. I was starting to feel the same way about him that I had all those years ago.
I had loved him once. That wasn’t true love, but a teenage crush that had developed into something more real. Part of me wondered if he had claimed me back then. It seemed that he had made his decision about me long ago and this was all just part of his plan.
I knew my endgame, but I didn't know his.
“Do you want me to call you a cab?”
I shook my head. “No. You can take me home.”
He opened the door for me and I got into the car. What was I doing? I wasn't following my plan. This was all happening too fast. All of my planning had become quickly unraveled. And as much as I knew I should slow things down I also wanted them to speed up. It was the fireball, I was sure of it, but that didn't mean that I didn't want him to touch me.
Deep down I wanted his hands on my skin. The ache that had been growing all night between my legs told me to abort the mission. Seek my revenge at a different time. By getting in this car with him I knew what would happen. But that didn't stop me. Instead it just made me want him even more.
We sat in silence in the car driving the streets of Baltimore. We weren’t going toward my apartment, but I didn’t tell him that.
I didn’t care.
I finally had enough waiting and started the conversation again. Patience had never been my strong suit.
The fireball had given me the confidence I needed to ask the real questions. Things I needed answers to.
“How did you find me?”
“You never changed your first name. I thought when you went into Witness Protection they changed everything about you. It’s almost like you wanted to be found.”
Was he onto me?
“My mother’s death wasn’t a hit. Therefore, I didn’t need to go into WPP. They considered it for a while, but then they just sent me to my family out East.”
“You have other family? Is that why you went to Jersey?” He sounded intrigued. I needed to play it off.
“Yeah, just a little bit. But they’re old, so I moved back. I missed this place.”
That was a lie.
I couldn't fight the feeling that was burying itself deep inside my stomach. The small moment that was blossoming between us was everything. I just had to hold on a little bit longer to see where it went.
I needed the truth.