Page 50 of Warped

Chapter Twenty-one

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I figured Vee would be a while, so I parked the car and went to a coffee shop to get breakfast. I had Harvey’s cell phone in my pocket, so she could call me when she finished, though I guessed I should look at getting rid of it soon. Someone must be missing the man, even if it was only a work colleague. His phone was one of the first things they’d try when someone decided to start looking for him, and I didn’t want to be in possession of it when they did.

I was worried about Vee. I remembered her story now—how she’d been forced to choose between her mother and sister about who would live, and then made to shoot one of them. No wonder she wanted to see her father go down for a very long time. I still couldn’t remember my own childhood, but I assumed the scars covering my torso had something to do with it, so I doubted it was anything to get misty-eyed about.

Ordering a hot breakfast sandwich and coffee, I went and sat at the bar in the window, figuring I’d be able to see Vee if she came out looking for me. I drank my coffee and ate my food, unable to think of anything but her. My memories were filled with the time I’d spent with her. Her skin, her voice, her taste. I was consumed with thoughts of her, but I didn’t know if that was purely because of the way I felt about her, or if it was because I couldn’t remember anything else.

A young blonde waitress came over to refill my coffee cup. She smiled at me prettily, lingered a little too long, asked me if there was anything else I needed. I told her no, only the check.

“I haven’t seen you around here before,” she said. “Are you here on business?”

A crazy part of me wanted to tell her she was speaking to a killer. I wanted to see that spark of unease and fear in her eyes. A girl like her wouldn’t understand someone like me. I’d freak her out, just as I should. She only saw the muscles and blue eyes, and thought I was someone she was attracted to, but she didn’t see what lay beneath.

Vee did, though. She saw every little part of me, and accepted it. Not only accepted it, seemed to cherish it, understand it. She recognized in me a darkness that was in her, too. It wasn’t every day a freak like me found a soul mate, but I had in her.

“I’m waiting for someone,” I told the waitress. “She’ll be here any minute.”

“Oh, right, of course.” I’d flustered her. “I’ll bring your check right over.”

She hurried away, perhaps picking up on the fact there was something not quite right with me. I knew of at least a couple of people I’d been paid to kill—the man I’d killed for Harvey, and, of course, I’d been paid to kill Vee, though I hadn’t gone through with it. I wondered how many other lives I’d extinguished with my own hands. Did I enjoy it—that feeling of power at taking a life? Did it make me feel as though it lifted me above the common man? Did it make me feel God-like?

Vee was taking longer than I would have liked. I hoped everything was all right.

Not wanting to lurk in the coffee shop any longer, I paid the bill and prepared myself to leave.

A man walked past, heavy set with a bald head, in his forties, I guessed. He glanced casually into the window of the café, but the moment his gaze landed on me, his eyes widened and he drew to a sudden stop.

My heartrate rocketed. Fuck. This man knew me, I was sure of it. And I was sure I recognized him from somewhere, too, though I couldn’t place him. It must have been from before I’d met Vee, before I’d started to remember.

He jerked his head away, stuffed his hands in his pockets, and kept walking. He didn’t want me to know he’d seen me. This man wasn’t a friend—not that I thought I had many of those. I couldn’t just let him walk away. I’d be letting a potential threat vanish, and I wouldn’t have a clue what direction I needed to be looking when I was watching over my shoulder.

I leaped to my feet and hurried to the door, shoving someone out of the way in my effort to leave. I ignored the profanity that followed me. The man’s large bulk was farther down the street, hurrying in his effort to get away. He pushed though the pedestrians, his pace quickened.

I was smaller than he was, and moved faster, but even so, I was losing him. He did an abrupt turn to the left, vanishing from view.

“Fuck,” I cursed under my breath, and received an evil glare from a young mother pushing by with a toddler in a stroller.

Picking up my pace, I broke into a run. I followed the same route the man had taken and swerved around the corner—

Something big and heavy slammed into me from behind. The ground rose to meet me and I hit it with both the force of my own body, and the one now on top of me. I was facedown, a useless position. I drove my elbow up, but the gut it met with barely budged. Hands grabbed my arms, wrenching them behind my back, and shoving me harder against the ground. We were hidden from view from the main road. Passersby would see us, but only if they deliberately turned their heads to look.

“Where is she?” the man spat above me.

“Who?” I said, being deliberately obtuse.

“You know who. Vee. You were with her when you came by the bar and took my truck.”

I remembered where I knew him from now. Johnny. The guy who’d employed Vee when she’d been in Witness Protection. He was also on Tony’s payroll.

“I haven’t seen her for weeks,” I lied. “I got shot. I’ve been in the hospital with amnesia. Check my shoulder if you don’t believe me.”

“I’m not taking your clothes off, dude.”

“Fine, don’t,” I said through gritted teeth. “Just get the fuck off me.” This guy was too big. I was strong, but his entire weight pressed me into the ground so I couldn’t move.

“Tony said she’d taken off. Left or perhaps taken by her father’s men. But now you show up, right around the corner from the court where her father is standing trial. Do you really think that is a coincidence? You know where she is. I know you do.”

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