Silverbow (12 page)

“Why stop? What would be so bad? Yes, there is Greyden but I am an adult and I call my own shots,” I fought. He shook his head. That wasn’t it? Then what was it? I moved away from the house and stood before him, my hands reached for his. He allowed me to touch him, to take his hands and pull them to my waist as I pulled him to me and fed on his lips. His kiss was scalding and enslaving. I suddenly felt like I might be giving off more heat than he was. My body was devastatingly burning wildly for him. I had to have him and I could tell by the way his hands suddenly clutched me that he needed me too. We were like addicts.

My feet were suddenly off the ground as he reached down and swept me up without a struggle. With our lips pressed, he blindly carried me to the back of the house and out of sight of the road. I quickly got my footing on the cement steps that led to the back door as he eased me down and kept one strong arm around me. Violently, he unexpectedly forced me down on the steps. My knees gave and I fell to third step, scraping my side on the top one. I looked up at him with surprise and he glared down at me with a seriousness that forced me to keep silent.

“We can’t do this. Its not an option, Dakota. You have no idea who or what I am. I’d be the end of you and that would be the end of me,” he scolded me. I moved and the tension in his jaw paralyzed me again.

“Who are you? What are you? What the fuck are you talking about?” He couldn’t put that out there and expect me not to ask.

“I’m no one you should get tangled up in, Dakota. That’s all I can offer you. I’m sorry,” he growled.

“Then why did you come here? Why did you speak to me? Why did you agree to work with me?”

“I came here on business. I had no idea you would be here. Once I walked into that bar and caught scent of you, my addiction began. I agreed to work with you because I had to learn why I was drawn to you,” he began and then answered my next question without me needing to ask. “I found a hard headed woman that syncs up with me in every possible way. My kind only finds that once in a lifetime.”

“Your kind,” I asked and he sneered.

“I have explained enough. I’m sorry but I wont be returning to work. I came to tell you that I will be finished with business in the area in less than a week and I am leaving,” he informed me and evaded my last question all together.

“What is your business here anyways,” I asked with great curiosity. Since we were laying so much out on the table I figured now was as good of time as any to ask.

“Weapons,” he replied and I shook my head. He was lying but it was all he was going to offer me. I quickly became aware of the fact that he was giving me no say about this situation. I could want him and he could want me but he was slamming on the breaks and getting out of the fucking car. Fuck him. I began to get angry and looked away from him and off towards the shop. “Greyden is a good man. Let him take care of you.”

“Fuck you, Murphy. That’s my call, not yours. If you want to go, then go. You know where I stand. If you want to flake out then just go. I don’t need someone who is going to be a total pussy and not stand his ground for what he wants. Whatever you are scared of better be worth it. Go!” I shouted as I stood and climbed the steps to the back door. I pointed towards the side of the house where his car was parked, he turned and walked away. I entered the house and stormed through the kitchen to the front door. I snatched it open and watched him pull away through the screen door. I fought hard not to scream but lost the fight.

CHAPTER 10

“Dakota, get your ass down here now,” an angry command was shouted from downstairs. Greyden was home. I was upstairs in my old bedroom reading my old diary from when I was a young teen. I hadn’t changed much over the years. I shut the small purple book and tossed it under the pillow on the bed. My bare feet padded lightly through the hall and down the stairs.

“You rang,” I asked as I rolled my eyes and entered the kitchen where he paced the room with frustrated hands in his hair. I sat in one of the kitchen chairs with one leg tucked under me. I pulled my sleeves down over my hands and folded them over my chest as I leaned into the table.

“Hines came in yesterday after you left and said he saw you at the inn with that fucking guy you are working with,” he sputtered and stopped in the middle of the kitchen, waiting for my reply. I arched a brow and then snickered.

“Oh really? And instead of coming to me to ask if it was true…you chose to treat me like shit before you even knew if it was,” I asked calmly and he tightened his jaw. “Indeed, you did. So allow me to tell you what really happened. I drove up on Mr. Yates kicking the shit out of Hines because he caught him with his pants down with his wife. I had to peel Yates off of him and send him away. I took Yates to the inn to sober up so he could go home and be the man he needed to be for his wife. Yes, Murphy is staying there. He skipped out on work and I saw him there with a hooker. Was that hooker me? No.”

He began pacing again and shook his head. “Are you fucking him,” he asked unexpectedly. I laughed because it caught me off guard and to be honest I didn’t know how to answer it. I felt like he was fishing for a fault though. I finally had to face the music. I could sit here and lie to him all day or I would be a woman and make my confession now. I cocked the gun and fired.

“Yes and no. We never fucked but I sure as hell wanted to.” I watched as my frankness killed him slowly. Suddenly my conscience caught up with me and I felt the tears threatening my eyes. I took a long breath and he put his back to the wall and sunk to sit on the linoleum floor. “I’m sorry, Greyden.”

“Don’t be. I’ve been sleeping with Laney for two years now. It didn’t stop when we started dating,” he spoke into his hands as he rubbed his face and exhaled heavily. Wow. I didn’t expect that but I didn’t let it knock me off my rocker since I just unleashed my news too. I nodded and shrugged my shoulders as my tears retreated. I wouldn’t cry now.

“Didn’t stop after she married a year ago either, eh?” He shook his head and I mirrored him. “Why did you bother moving in then,” I asked coolly. I was simply curious.

“I thought she and I would end. She got married and it needed to stop. I’ve always loved you and when you finally gave me an open door, I was ready to move on,” he said and looked away from me.

“You didn’t love me that much, I guess.”

“Same goes for you,” he replied and slowly started to collect himself. He stood and joined me at the table. “We have always been best friends. I don’t want that to end. Where do we go from here,” he asked and I shrugged.

“Stay in the master bedroom for now. I’ll move back to my old room until you move out.” I wasn’t angry and I could have been on so many levels. However, I felt my passion for Murphy was much more of a violation than a heartless two year fuck fest with a coworker. “Do you love her,” I asked him.

“No,” he replied and shook his head. “I just can’t stop.”

“Hope she was worth it,” I hypocritically stated and left the kitchen.

The door to my old room didn’t shut all the way. It never did. A sliver of hallway light poured over the bare wood floor and across an old bookshelf. I lay in my bed reading the titles to the few novels I had. They were all supernatural fantasy books and most of them were about vampires. The hallway light was turned off and darkness blanketed the room. I turned my gaze towards the window and watched nothing but darkness where Murphy once sat flashing his headlights.

I closed my eyes and tried to find sleep but all I could do was think about how I lost two men in one day. Looking back at my life in whole, I lost all the men in my life; my grandfather, my father and all of my boyfriends. I was pretty sure I had lost my best friend too. I could hear him talking on the phone down the hall, his words muffled by the closed doors between us. I sighed and wondered if Murphy was still in town or if he went ahead and abandoned my sinking ship. He said he would be here for a few more days which would give me time to see him again. However, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to see him if he was really leaving.

Where did I go wrong? When did my addiction start? What the fuck am I so addicted to? Never in my life had a man had so much pull on me. I could even say “no” to my father when I really wanted to. Why couldn’t I fight him off too? I finally surrendered to my unanswered questions after an hour and fell asleep. I wished I had stayed awake to fight with myself a little more.

My father’s murder played in slow motion. My dreams were relentlessly realistic tonight. I could feel the warmth of my father’s blood soaking through my clothes. I could feel the hands of people pulling at us as they loaded my father up to carry him to the hospital. The blinding white lights of the military hospital hurt my eyes and then smell of disinfectant and sterilizer solution stung my nose. The pain in my heart was joined with revenge and I woke up covered in a cold sweat.

The sun was already up and I was happy it was Friday. No work to do. I drug myself out of bed, showered, dress and ignored the laundry. Dirty dishes sat in the sink and they too were overlooked. Creaking floorboards above me told me that Greyden was still home. Not caring to see him, I grabbed my jacket, holster for my 9 mm and my keys. After Mrs. Yates’s murder, I was not about to leave my house unarmed any time of the day. I collected my gun from the truck and jumped in my truck. By the time Greyden stepped out on the porch to see where I was going, I was gone.

I headed to the inn to check on Mr. Yates. I knocked on his door and after the fifth knock he finally opened the door. His eyes were still swollen from all the crying he had done over his dead wife. In my current heartless condition I wondered how he could weep over the adulterous whore but that was me. He invited me in and I stood by the door with no intentions of staying long.

“They think it was the same as the ET Route murders,” he said as he sat on the end of the bed looking like a zombie. “Fuck man, they ripped her to shreds! Who the fuck does that,” he wept as his hands covered his face and he started to fall apart all over again.

“I have to talk to you. Are you sober? Can you focus for a few minutes,” I asked him and moved to lean against the dresser in front of him. He lowered his hands and looked up at me with a nod.

“I haven’t had a drink since you dropped me off. And I need one now more than anything!”

“Yates, I talked to her before she was killed. She told me that she knew one of the bikers that you guys strung up and left for death,” I informed him. I watched his jaw tighten and his eyes grew more serious. “She had an affair with one of them. His name was Darius. She told me about the tattoos on their neck and everything that you guys did to them. Those guys should be dead! Do you think its possible that they have come back for revenge?”

“Fucking whore,” he grumbled and then refocused. “Its been three years. I would have thought they would have come back before now.” I nodded. I agreed but some people could hold a grudge for a lifetime. Not to mention they would come back just when they thought we would forget about them.

“I met someone the other night out at the Ring. He had the paw tattoo on his wrist. He said he name is Markham.” I watched his face go slack and then he wiped his eyes and stood to cross the room.

“Darius was one of the bikers. I don’t know who Markham is. We couldn’t get those fuckers to talk. Maybe he is tied to them. Maybe he isn’t.” He wasn’t any help with his reply.

“Do you still have that glock Pops gave you a long time ago,” I asked and he nodded.

“I sleep with her every night,” he replied pointing at his pillow.

“Stay armed. I have a bad feeling about all of this,” I admitted and headed for the door.

“Dakota,” he called and I turned to look at him as I opened the door. “Thank you for being there for me.” I nodded and stepped out with the door heavily closing behind me.

Across the parking lot Murphy was leaning into the window of the same BMW that was here before. He kissed the woman inside of it and stood to stretch his arms up over his head as she pulled out and sped off. I sighed heavily, hating that I was in this situation again and headed for my truck. I didn’t go unnoticed.

“Fuck,” I heard him growl. Anger pulsed through me and I slammed my truck door. As I backed up I heard something slap the bed of my truck and I slammed on the breaks. Murphy rounded the truck and held his hands up. I rolled down my window but refused to look at him. He sniffed the air and placed his hand on my side view mirror. “Stalking me,” he asked playfully.