That makes me smile. “He’s really sweet to her.” My smile quickly vanishes when I see Elaine’s chin drop. Her brow crinkles again, and I grab her hand, hoping to derail any more tears. “They’re friends. It’s a good thing, Lainey. What if she were a raging bitch?”
Her lips press together as she studies the napkin. “You’re lucky. You don’t have anything threatening your relationship with Derek.”
As much as I want to argue she doesn’t either, I pause and think about it for a few moments. Even though she’s drunk and irrational at the moment—or maybe because she is—I let my guard down. “I used to be afraid he’d never love me as much as he loved Allison.”
Her face jerks up to mine. “What the hell? Whatever would make you think something like that?”
Shrugging, I look at our hands. “She was his first real love. They dated in high school, she waited for him to come back from Iraq. I can tell she was this wonderful, amazing person, and I—”
“Now who’s talking crazy? Derek Alexander is the most threatening man I’ve ever met in my life, and when you’re in the room, he completely changes. It’s like he’s your personal tame lion.”
“Still, she had his heart first, and he mourned her for so long.”
“Okay, so you said you used to be afraid. What changed?”
“Oh! That’s why I’m telling you this.” For a moment my old fears had tried to creep in again, but I scoot forward. “I finally just told him. I said it out loud to him.”
“And?”
“And it was the best thing I’ve ever done. He opened up and told me things… I don’t think he would ever have said to me otherwise. You know how guys are.”
“Patrick will talk, but only when he’s in the mood.”
“Right!” I relax, leaning back on the cushions. “You need to talk to him about how you feel when he’s in that mood.”
She shakes her head. “I don’t know. It just feels different, and you don’t have anything else to be afraid of with Derek. No dark secrets.”
“I’m afraid of what might happen tonight.” Once the words are out, I wish I’d never said them. Elaine’s brow creases, and it’s clear she hasn’t connected the dots on what could happen if things get out of hand in Baltimore.
“What do you mean? You think Derek might do something—”
“Illegal. Something that if he’s caught, he’ll be taken away from me. You know how protective he is. He’s done things… And I’m afraid he’ll do them again, and then I’ll lose him.”
We’re quiet, and Elaine’s green eyes travel over my shoulder and out the window. Up and away across the miles to where we both know they’re waiting. She blinks, and she’s back here with me.
“Patrick won’t let that happen. I know he won’t. Derek’s like a brother to him—a brother he likes—and he won’t let him… get caught.”
She didn’t say let him do it, I mentally note. “That’s what I’m counting on.”
Quiet again, we hold hands until she pulls me into a hug. “Isn’t there a saying about how if you speak your fears, they lose their power?”
A knot is in my throat, and I’m not sure I believe it. Still I go with her. “It sounds familiar.”
“Well, we’ve said it then. Now our fears have to disappear.”
I hold onto my friend. She holds onto me, and we settle in to wait, hoping against hope that our fears are now nothing more than toothless monsters.
Chapter 13: To Slaughter a Pig
Derek
Tonight’s watch is different from last night’s. Unable to find a way to get Patrick from the restaurant to our hideout without being caught, we’d decided he’d be with me from the start, leaving Star alone with Sloan.
We both sit in silence in the tech booth, waiting. Neither of us knows what’s happening in the Oceanaire, and we can only hope she manages to lure him here on her own. If anything else happens, we won’t know until it’s too late.
It’s the worst-case scenario.
“When you were in country, did you ever do a night watch?” Patrick is sitting on the floor, his back against the wall. He’s got one of his gloves off, and he’s rolling a quarter back and forth across his knuckles. “This reminds me of night watch.”