Page 42 of Twisted Obsession

At a glance, I could tell that she was anything but okay.

“We are building trust remember? I need you to tell me what’s wrong.”

She glanced across the table, her bottom lip pinched between her teeth.

“You’re going to think I’m crazy,” she stated. A sorrowful glint filled her eyes and made me that much more curious. I was the king of crazy. Therefore, there wasn’t much she could tell me to make me believe she was crazier.

She swallowed a few times but didn’t speak. I kept my gaze pinned on her and leaned over the table to await her answer.

“I keep seeing him,” she confirmed. “I keep seeing Sorio. When Marcus took me shopping. Today on the drive here. One day when I was sitting on the balcony enjoying the view. Even after August took Megan and me into your garage and showed us what was left of his body, I still see him.”

“Wait. Aaron showed ya’ll that crazy ass shit? He beat the man into a fucking bloody puddle,” I uttered in the lowest tone I could muster.

She nodded. “August promised me that he’d kill him, the same as he’d promised Megan, so he showed us.”

And Aaron thought I was the crazy one. I cast aside my cousin’s crazy actions. “So, you think you’re seeing your dead cousin?”

She nodded again as embarrassment washed over her face before she started to bite on one of her short nails. I reached across the table and eased her hand away from her mouth. I’d heard her scream herself awake some nights. Each time, I’d flipped on the camera feed and watched her toss and turn until she got up and started reading.

She didn’t sleep most nights, and neither did I, a common link we shared. However, she turned to books to deal with her anxiety, and I dealt with mine in a more unconventional way.

“Regina, you’re not crazy,” I reassured her. “That bitch-ass cousin of yours put you through hell. You’re probably suffering from post-traumatic stress. Would you like for me to set you up to see a doctor?”

“No!” she answered louder than she intended, drawing a few glances our way. “I’ll be okay. I know it’s all in my head. I don’t want to see a doctor, not yet at least. It’s just…sometimes the images are so real. It’s like he just stands there and stares at me.”

“I’d planned to give you more time before I started this but, in a few days, I would like to start teaching you how to protect yourself.”

Her stare lingered on me before she nodded her head. Aaron had informed that she didn’t like guns, but I planned to make her love them.

“Would you excuse me for a minute?” I asked, standing. Regina nodded before I walked away. I sensed her gaze following me as I searched for a quiet corner out of earshot of her and the other customers.

I stood in a corner near the restrooms.

“Say again, JG,” I stated as I peered around the bend and cast my gaze through the front windows lining the restaurant. I’d been listening to dialogue between my team as Regina and I dined.

They’d spotted two men watching my building a few days ago, and now those same assholes had shown up outside the restaurant. I’d intended to get Regina out of the house for a quiet lunch, but our outing had flushed out a couple of lurkers.

Hopefully, my crew and I could figure out who the hell they were, how many, and what the fuck they wanted.

“At your two o’clock. One outside the black SUV, the other inside behind the steering wheel,” JG’s voice informed.

My view was obscured inside the restaurant, but I spotted the assholes JG pointed out. They were some dumb fucks if they thought they were getting their hands on Regina. From a distance, the one outside the SUV didn’t appear to be Mexican like the others DG6 had sent after Megan. Also, I couldn’t rule out that this could have been one of my family’s enemies, or even mine. The California chapter of the August Knights was just as trouble inspiring as the Florida chapter.

“JG, keep eyes on. Marcus, Scott, you know what to do if they take off. Let me know if they come this way.” Rob had remained back, to protect the home front.

“Roger,” “Tracking,” came their replies into my ear as I headed back towards our table.

I hadn’t stepped away from Regina a hot minute, and she already had a vulture circling. Her cluelessness about her beauty made her that much more appealing.

She must have sensed the lurking eyes of the guy at the table across from ours because she glanced over at the man and smiled. Instead of returning her smile and getting back to his food, that motherfucker had taken Regina’s smile as an invitation to engage. He turned in his seat, leaned in, and started speaking to her.

My steps slowed when JG’s voice returned in my ear. “The one in the truck has binoculars. Should we engage?”

“Yes,” I answered JG. “In five minutes, make an example out of one of those fuckers.”

“Roger that,” came JG’s delighted words in the earpiece. My crew and I had killed more men together as civilians than we had while in the military. Like me, none of my crew had a problem with killing. Especially when it was motherfuckers like DG6 that preyed on the weak and unprepared that couldn’t fight back.

My fiery gaze had never left the idiot who’d turned towards our table, staring a hole in Regina. She’d been enjoying her meal in peace, and he was intent to not let her. If he knew what was good for him, he’d return to his meal and mind his fucking business.

After pressing 911, I awaited the sound of the operator.

“Please send someone to Prescott Avenue and 34th. There are two men arguing outside across the street from Manuelle’s Restaurant and one has a gun. Hurry! I think he’s going to shoot.”

Not giving the operator a chance to ask me more questions, I hung up. The area we were in was one of the most upscale locations in the city, so the cops would most likely arrive in five minutes, give or take a few seconds.

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