“Ernie left and is with Kai and the guys.”
“Oh.” I held the screen door open and London stepped inside. I followed, letting the screen door clang closed behind me. I didn’t bother shutting the solid door.
We walked past the wooden staircase, down the narrow hall with the printed floral wallpaper to the small but quaint olive-green kitchen. The fridge was old with an oversized metal handle and made a constant loud humming sound. The yellow ceramic tiled backsplash clashed with the green walls and screamed 1950s, as did the crown molding above the cupboards. But I loved the crown molding and it was in every room throughout the house.
I pictured Deaglan’s grandmother, pottering around the house with a warm smile. Then I pictured this tall, tatted-up guy trailing after her as she rambled on about what she needed fixing.
It was cute and sweet.
“Kai would go insane in a house like this,” London said as she peered around the kitchen. “We live in a warehouse, open concept, modern, simple and definitely no knickknacks.” She picked up a little dog statue from the shelf above the kitchen table. “I should get one of these and put it on the coffee table. See how long it takes him to notice. Then when he does, I’ll tell him it’s practice for the real thing.”
“Are you getting a dog?”
“Kai with a dog?” She laughed. “No chance. I’d love one, but I love Kai more. And I love him happy, so I can live without a dog. But I like to tease him.”
I faced the counter, my hand on the tap. My chest tightened and it hurt because I wanted that. I could’ve had that with Connor. Instead, life had other plans for us.
I pushed up on the tap and the water sputtered and pipes grumbled, shaking the cupboard beneath the sink, before it flowed. I put the carafe under the water and filled it.
“I start classes in a few days, so I wanted to see the Center before my schedule gets insane. Chess says it’s nearly finished.”
“Classes?” I walked over to the coffeemaker, lifted the back lid and poured the water in.
“Yeah, I’m going for my doctorate.”
“Wow.” That was impressive, but then her father had been a well-known scientist. “Do you have a focus?”
“Yeah, kicking cancers butt.” She sat at the small rectangle kitchen table that had a marbled beige laminate top and stainless-steel legs. It was also peeling in the corners and you could see the cork underneath.
The chairs were old too, wood, wobbly and worn on the seats. But I loved them. I loved everything about this house. It had personality with memories imbedded in every room. And now finding out that a sweet lady had lived here… it was a piece of nice.
I put a new filter paper in the basket then scooped dark roasted granules into it. The intense scent wafted into me and I closed my eyes, as I pictured Connor taking that first sip of my coffee every morning.
He did it to make sure it wasn’t too hot.
“Alina? You okay?”
I pressed the ON button. “Yeah. I’m fine.” But I didn’t turn to face her. Instead, I stared out the kitchen window into the backyard. The grass was overgrown and the cabana at the back near the fence needed painting.
I frowned when I saw Deaglan appear and stride toward the cabana. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, which meant I could see he had even more tattoos except for one spot, his right shoulder and chest was bare of any ink.
He crouched at one of the pillars then took a metal tool from his back pocket and began scraping the lose flecks of white paint off. That was his ‘I have shit to do’?
London talked about her classes while the coffee percolated and dripped into the glass carafe. Then she mentioned how Kai and Deck were merging their businesses to which she laughed and then said, “They disagree on everything, so I expect there will be a few… kinks and I’m betting the name of the company will be at the top of the list.”
I half smiled. I knew what she was trying to do, talk about everything except Connor showing up at the bar and it was thoughtful, but I wanted to know more about the drug because it was obvious Connor had serious side effects. Not that I could help him right now, but I wanted to know.
“Being on the drug for so long…” I paused and London’s chair scraped on the hardwood as she shifted. “What will it do to him?”
I tried to look nonchalant, but my heart pounded and my breath quickened. I reached up, opened the cupboard with the tarnished brass knobs and pulled out two green mugs that matched the walls.
“Alina, I wish I knew, but I don’t. He was the only one Vault tested it on.” I nodded. Carlos took delight in informing me that Connor was the first test subject for the drug. “He needs to see a doctor and have blood tests done. If you know where he is, then you should tell Kai or Deck.”