But he just twisted up his lips, the secret object of his obsession no more primped up than the girl who’d just left. “Yeah, well…you want me to call Damon, or what?” he asked. “Someone said she worked at his house.”
She did?
“No,” I reply. “I don’t want him telling me anything about her. I’ll find out myself.”
He was already gone anyway, probably at the cemetery by now.
“So, are
we going to get her then?” Michael probed.
But I just stared ahead, thinking.
She’d challenged me, hadn’t she? She’d made it a point to let me know who she was before she made her little escape with those assholes. To let me know she got me today only when she thought she could get away from us.
I barely nodded, every muscle in my body tight as a rope. “I kind of want to scare the shit out of her first.”
I heard Michael laugh softly and then saw him twist around, shouting, “Hey, Dayton!” He called to one of the cars, and I watched him throw his keys down the line. “Switch cars with me. And clean yours out! I need the trunk.”
Will cooed excitedly and rubbed his hands together, suddenly very much on board with this plan.
We turned to hand off our keys for others to take our cars to the cemetery, so the three of us could go on this run together. This was more over the top than my usual taste in pranks, but I couldn’t stop myself.
I didn’t want to stop myself.
I wanted to slam through every wall in my head and race so fast I wouldn’t have time to think. Right now, as far I was concerned, this night would never end.
She fucked with me today.
Now I was going to fuck with her.
Kai
Present
I walked into Sensou, the strap of my duffel bag falling across my chest as I looked around, taking inventory of everything going on. Foils clanged off to my right, coming from the room where Rika led her fencing class three nights a week. Weights clanked together and hit the floor in the weight room to my left, and grunts filled the entire dojo, echoing in the rafters, as students worked on forms and sparred in the great room.
I hurried silently across the new floors, itching to work out some energy. The collar of my shirt chafed my neck, and a light sweat cooled my chest and back. I needed to get out of these clothes.
While I drove back to Thunder Bay every Sunday to work out with my father and eat breakfast with my family, per my mother’s request, I didn’t let half of what I had inside me out. My father was in great shape, but he was still nearly fifty. I couldn’t hit him.
But at the dojo, I could hit as hard as I wanted, and after today, I needed it.
Following the meeting with the “assistant” earlier, I’d intended to come straight here, but instead of taking the exit off the bridge, I’d just kept going, getting lost in my car for nearly two hours.
Banks.
Jesus Christ. Six years ago, she more than piqued my interest. Today, she been cold, eerily calm, and very collected. I remembered her far differently, though. She’d tried so hard to be tough that night, but those dark eyes and how they could level me, and those lips…. Yeah, I remembered. She didn’t stay controlled for long.
And then a couple years later, when Rika hung with us one night and Banks had become a memory, I’d been captivated by our Little Monster, because she reminded me of Banks. The innocence, the fight, the way I wanted to look out for her…
But as quickly as she’d torn into my world, she’d run away, and all inside of a few hours, one night, six years ago.
Who was she? Where did she come from?
I pushed through the door to my office and slammed it behind me, dropping my bag and ripping off my jacket.
I quickly changed into some workout pants and running shoes, grabbing a towel and pulling on a T-shirt as I left the office. At the front desk I passed Caroline, one of the college-aged, part-timers we’d hired, who gave me a sweet smile as always. I held up my hand, and she tossed me a water bottle from the cooler behind her. Same drill every day. She knew what to do.