Page 110 of Into the Dark
But of course I don’t. I say nothing. What I do is fix him with a look I hope lets him know exactly how I feel.
His response is to have another leisurely look down the length of my body. What am I still doing here? I turn my head away from him but look back immediately because that’s exactly the reason I’m still here: I don’t want to turn my back on him for a second.
“Shy now, are we?” he asks, licking his lips. “Me and Jay actually have similar tastes in women—did you know that?”
“Fascinating.”
He says nothing but looks amused as he lifts the bottle to his mouth again. “Drink?” he asks then, holding the bottle out to me. “Ah, wait. You don’t like Jack, do you?” he says.
Something small and quiet tickles the back of my brain, a spidery sensation that disintegrates as I try to grab onto it. “No, I don’t,” I tell him with a shake of my head, edging away from him as casually as possible despite feeling the polar opposite of casual. I feel like a weak thing caught in the snare of something exceptionally dangerous. I feel like if I move too quickly or show any fear at all he’ll pounce. I’ll be snuffed out. Crushed to dust.
It’s extremely difficult to look Kevin directly in the eye for too long. Most likely because I’m afraid of what I’ll find in there. Yet he watches me, quite boldly, for a long time, his dark, glassy stare focused on my face. His eyes look like marbles, hard and inanimate. He’s taller than Jake, wider too, I think, and suddenly I understand why Jake has him around. Why he was in the surgery that night while Jake bled. Why he was with him as he put that man who threatened Caleb into a coma. Why he was in the club the night Jake found me with Matt. It’s because he’s terrifying. He’s a soldier. Violent and capable of anything.
These are Jake’s associates. This is Jake’s life. Violence and terror.
“I’m going to find Jake,” I decide finally. I can’t be with him alone a second longer.
I make it a few steps toward the door before I feel his fingers wrap around my arm and he pulls me back. I’m certain a temporary paralysis takes over me, and I freeze, muscles leaden and heavy with terror.
“Wait a sec, Alex. Hang about.” He moves in front of me to block my path. “Let’s talk, yeah?”
I pull out of his grip and take a step backward, meeting the hard edge of Jake’s desk. Kevin is there, close—too close—smiling almost triumphantly. I push against him, but he doesn’t budge even a fraction of an inch. He’s a hulking rock of a man.
“Move, Kevin,” I demand, pushing my hands against his chest.
He sighs. “What’s the problem, sweetheart? I thought we were having a nice chat. Getting to know each other. I like to get to know all my boy’s women…”
I feel my hands curl into fists and bring them up to his chest to push at him harder. “Get the hell away from me right bloody now. Get out of my way.” I hear the breathless panic in my voice, my heart loud and hammering against my chest.
“I just want to talk to you! Jesus Christ, you’re fucking lively, ain’t you? Here, let’s try this…” His hands are on me now, on my thighs, on the hem of my dress—the dress Jake bought me.
I open my mouth to scream when, suddenly, his weight disappears. It happens so unexpectedly my legs lose all their strength and I have to hold onto Jake’s desk to keep myself upright. When I look up to see him standing there, a glorious, joyous barrier between Kevin and me, I want to cry from relief. My breathing wild and blood loud in my ears, I can only stare at him, tears blurring the sight. His body is tense and alert, and I can feel the wave of rage coming from him, a wall of violence and terror. Jake looks me over quickly, asking with his eyes if I’m okay, to which I respond with a swallow and a quick nod.
Kevin is few feet across the room now, his T-shirt stretched and pulled at an awkward angle. Amazingly, he still has a look of dark amusement on his face.
“Have you gone fucking mental?” Jake growls at him. “What the fuck was that, Kev?”
Kevin rights himself, dragging a hand through his thick hair and then over his face. “Jay, mate, look at you all dressed up,” Kevin says cheerily. “Nothing at all. Me and the missus were just having a little chat. She’s a good one, mate. Definitely a fucking keeper.” He inclines his head to me and smiles, causing my mouth to all but drop open.
He must be insane. Clinically. It would definitely explain a few things.
“A chat?” Jake growls.
“Yeah, a chat. Weren’t we, babe?” Kevin looks at me.
I say nothing.
Jake takes a step closer to him. “That be the same kind of chat you had with Gemma?”
Kevin gives Jake an innocent look. “What the fuck’s she said now?” He sighs. “I’m telling you, mate, that girl is a fucking drama queen. You know that yourself. You should do yourself a favor and get rid of her…nothing but trouble.” With a shake of his head, he lifts the bottle to his mouth again.
“Yeah, should I?” Jake nods. “So she can shut me down permanently? Nice black eye you gave her, by the way.”
I gasp quietly beside him.
“Don’t you worry about it though, Kev. Sorted your fucking mess out for you again, like I always do.”
Kevin shrugs. “Never touched her.”