Page 20 of Creatures in the Night

“No problem,” I replied as I stepped away, answering my phone.

Before I could get one word out, Noah Murphy’s voice came through the device. “Where in the fuck are you?”

“At work,” I answered, really not needing this shit.

“Don’t fucking lie to me,” he snapped. “You work the dayshift at Donza.”

“I also work a lot of overtime on my days off when they need someone,” I semi-lied. While I did work overtime regularly, I wouldn’t say that I worked it a lot.

“And you didn’t think to say something?”

“My parents knew,” I shot back. “Plus, who else was I going to tell? I don’t have your number, Mr. Murphy. Or did you conveniently forget that fact.”

“Call me Mr. Murphy one more time and see what happens, lass,” he threatened.

“Look, I don’t have time for this,” I told him. “My lunch is over, and I need to get back to work.”

“Unless you want me going to Donza to drag you out of there by your fucking hair, then you better make time for this,” he practically snarled, and we both knew that he wouldn’t have to drag me out of here. With everyone knowing who he was, no one would stand in his way.

“What’s your problem?” I hissed into the phone, stepping closer towards one of the side exits.

“Are you fucking serious?” he hissed back. “I came home to find my wife not in our fucking bed like she was supposed to be, and no one knew where the fuck she was.”

“Well, it’s kind of hard for your wife to be in your bed when she doesn’t even know where you live, don’t you think?” I shot back. “And the only reason that you didn’t know where she could be was because you never bothered giving her your phone number. So, I fail to see how this is my fault, Mr. Murphy.”

“I’m on my way,” he bit out, and my heart dropped to my feet.

“Don’t,” I ordered, heated anger making my hands begin to shake. “This is my job.”

“A job that you don’t need,” he pointed out.

“I’ll never forgive you if you cost me my job,” I said, even knowing that he didn’t care about my career, quickly proving me right.

“Do you think your lack of forgiveness will keep me up at night?” he taunted. “Baby, if you think that I have a conscience, then you’re living in a world of rainbows and unicorns.”

Choosing to quit my job with some dignity, rather than get fired for a violent scene that would no doubt end up going viral, I said, “I’m leaving now, Mr. Murphy.”

Noah didn’t say anything for a few seconds before finally saying, “Call me Noah, and then I’ll allow you to finish your shift.”

My stomach turned, and the anger that shot down my spine had my entire body shaking. I felt like a kidnapped victim that was forced to earn scraps of food by being good. Noah wasn’t even trying to hide what a manipulative sonofabitch he was, and I’d just given him the perfect ammunition to use against me. I’d shown him how important my job was to me, and now he had another ace to play, despite already having all the ones in the deck.

I had a decision to make, and I had no idea which was the right choice. Did I call him Noah and keep my safe haven from having to be married to him, or did I leave because men like Noah Murphy viewed compromise as another form of weakness? If I stayed, then I could keep my job, but for how long? How long before Noah threatened me with it again? If I left, then I’d be showing Noah that he couldn’t manipulate me, but that’d just be cutting my nose off to spite my face.

Finally, making up my mind, I said, “I’m leaving now. Though I’ll be going to my place since I still don’t know where you live.”

I hung up before he could say anything.

Chapter 13

Noah~

I couldn’t remember ever being this fucking enraged, and it was still blowing my mind that the reason was my wife. I had underestimated Shea, and I hated that particular error in judgement. Having been raised in our family all my life, that was the one thing that we’d been taught from the crib, and we’d been doing it with Klive Simpson, and now I was doing it with my wife.

When I’d gotten home to find her missing, I’d never felt that level of anger before, and that was saying something, considering. We were third-generation O’Briens and Murphys, so we’d always known the score, even when we’d been young. So, being raised around violent men, I was used to taking things in stride; never getting worked up over shit that could easily be solved with a bullet. Honestly, only threats to my family had ever been able to get me worked up, and I was man enough to admit that I wasn’t comfortable with these newfound emotions that I seemed to keep feeling in regard to my wife.

My anger was also struggling to coexist with how proud I was of her for calling my bluff. Apart from my mam and Keavy, no woman had ever done that before, and a strong woman was definitely more appealing than a weak one. My preferences in women were quickly shifting from blondes to stubborn brunettes, and one of these days, I knew that I was going to have to thank my cousin for his insight.

Being who I was, it hadn’t been an issue breaking into Shea’s condo, and while I’d been waiting for her, I had searched the place from top to bottom, and there really hadn’t been much to it. Shea was a minimalist, and apart from a few pictures of her, her parents, and her co-workers, she didn’t have much clutter. Her neat and tidy lifestyle was going to go a long way with getting her moved to our place faster, and she was definitely going to have to leave the furniture behind or donate it.

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