Page 11 of Black Heart

Shayne threw him a dirty look before he turned his attention to the game. “You’re my bitch, lad, never forget that,” he drawled.

“We’ll see…”

“Yeah, we’ll see, lad. By the end of this game, ye’ll be good and spanked.”

“Ah, excuse me…hello?”the man with the pipe sticking out of his neck said as he stepped in front of the television.

“No, he didn’t,” Shayne said, shaking his head in disbelief. He cocked an eyebrow in Tristan’s direction. “Does he not know that I’ll bitch slap him into hell for coming between me and kicking yer ass?”

Tristan sighed heavily as he sat back in his chair. “Apparently not.”

“If you do what I want, I’ll leave you alone. Until then, I’m staying,” the asshole promised.

“Yer not threatening my lad, now, are ye?” Shayne asked with a hopeful glint in his eye, a look that Tristan knew all too well.

“He either does what I want or I’ll make his life a living hell,” the asshole drawled with a smug look in Tristan’s direction. “You know I can do it. Look how I drove you away from that woman and I swear I’ll do it every time. You’ll never get laid again.”

“Ye met a woman at therapy? Don’t tell me ye plugged a nutso, lad,” Shayne said with a pitying look.

Sighing heavily, Tristan dropped his head back until he was looking up at the ceiling, and when that wasn’t enough to escape the bullshit that was his life, he closed his eyes. “They’re not all crazy. Hell, I have to go there and I’m not crazy.”

“Well, ye do see dead people, lad,” Shayne pointed out.

Clearing his throat awkwardly, Tristan murmured, “Good point.”

“So…” Shayne said, letting that one word trail off.

Tristan muttered, “I was talking to Marty.”

“What’s that, now, lad?”

“I said that I was talking to Marty,” Tristan said as he opened his eyes so that he could glare at the bastard.

“Marty, ye say?” Shayne said, sounding really fucking intrigued.

Tristan rubbed his hands roughly over his face. “Don’t start that shit again. You know I can’t.”

“Why? Is yer wee willy not working?” Shayne asked with feigned innocence.

Tristan shot him a murderous glare. “First off, mywillyisn’t wee and it works fine. You know that’s not the problem.”

“Ah,” Shayne said in understanding as he nodded solemnly. “Aye, I suppose I do understand.”

“I think he’s gay,” the asshole said, shrugging it off.

“No, I’m-” Tristan began to argue only to have Shayne cut him off.

“Aye, I’m afraid that has to be the case. That’s the only explanation for it. I’m afraid I’ve turned a blind eye to the signs for years.”

The denial that was on the tip of his tongue was momentarily forgotten as Tristan narrowed his eyes on Shayne. “What signs? What the hell are you talking about?”

“Well,” Shayne drawled, making a show of studying his nails, “there’s yer first kiss, lad, talk about awkward. I could tell ye really didn’t want to kiss the lass.”

“Oh, you could tell that, could you?” Tristan asked, his tone dripping with sarcasm. “It probably had something to do with the fact that I didn’t want to kiss her and you knew that. I told you repeatedly that I didn’t like her, but you knew better. What was your reason for making me kiss her? Oh, yeah, because back in your day, it was normal to be brought to a whore when you were fifteen and since you couldn’t hire one for me, you thought the school slut was just as good.”

Shayne smiled sheepishly. “She did like ye, lad.”

“She liked everything with a dick!” Tristan snapped. “And I told you that I didn’t likeher!”

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