Page 63 of Break Me

“You need to tell me everything.”

“We had a good time. That’s all I’m going to tell you.” I took another sip of coffee, noticing she was staring over the rim of hers. That made me laugh. “Okay, fine. He was nothing like I thought he’d be.”

“In a good way?”

“In a good way. However…” I placed my mug on the table, trying to get thoughts of him from my mind, which was turning out to be impossible. “When we left the hotel?—”

“He took you to a hotel?” she interrupted, even feigning horror in her gasp.

I stuck out my tongue. “Yes, he did. Okay? When I told him I needed to go home, and he was happy to drive me, he was attacked in the parking lot. Well, we were.”

“Wha… What? Attacked. What do you mean by attacked? Like as in someone tried to rob you?”

“No, as in someone tried to kill him.”

Kristine’s mouth hung wide open. “You are kidding me.”

“Do I look like I’m kidding you? Two vehicles came out of nowhere. The people inside just started shooting.”

My sister’s face went completely white. “My God. That’s… terrible. Did he tell you who tried to kill him?”

“We didn’t get into the subject. I’m certain he has a few enemies.”

She nodded. “He is Bratva.”

“Exactly. Which is why I shouldn’t have gone on the date in the first place.”

“Did he bring you home? What did he say? How did he act? Was he hurt? Oh, my God. Are you hurt?”

“Calm down. He protected me.” I had to admit his chivalry had surprised me. The fact he’d instantly thrown himself down on me had been… almost romantic. In his kind of way. I rubbed my eyes, hating how exhausted I felt, but mostly emotionally. My body was wired for sound, the adrenaline rush still going strong. “He wasn’t hurt. I grabbed an Uber.”

“Why? What a shithead.”

“No, I left without telling him. I just… I didn’t want to be there any longer. There were police and forensics, lots of people. They came crawling out of nowhere.”

“Forensics. For the bullets.”

“No, for the dead bodies.”

She gulped visibly. “But you said he was okay.”

“Yeah. He killed two of them.”

“Oh. Why not. Pretty cool.”

I swatted her on the arm. “I got the feeling they wouldn’t have stopped if he hadn’t. I need more coffee just to get through this day.” When I rose to my feet, not only did I feel wobbly, but my butt hurt with every step.

“That’s just crazy. Why don’t you call in sick?”

“Are you kidding me? Not a chance. You know how the guys are at the firehouse. They’d never let me live it down.”

“What did you tell the police?”

My stomach lurched as another hint of fear crawled in. There was no reason for me to feel anything but numb. “That’s just it. They didn’t come find me to ask any questions.”

“Because he didn’t want you to tell them he’d killed these… men.”

I hadn’t really thought about it that way, but my sister was right. “Maybe so. It’s over. I’m fine. Life goes on.”