Page 75 of Doll's Eye

“You do need to cut that shit out though, Less.” I eye her over my drink, and she rolls her eyes at me. “Frida,” she corrects. “My dad can’t have you drawing attention like that in here.”

“He touched me,” I grumble.

“So knee him in the face next time. A bloody nose can go unnoticed. But not when you take someone’s eye out.”

I look at her as she calmly waits for a response. “Okay.” I sigh. “I’m sorry, Kam. I’m just a little tightly wound tonight.”

“Any particular reason why?”

I stare at the crowd beneath us as they all dance to the music and with each other.So carefree…I’m reminded of times with Massimo, and it instantly sours my mood.

I finally shake my head. She doesn’t know what I do now for a living. No one does. She’d be horrified if she did. She might come from a crime family like I do, but she did not grow up knowing that, nor has she embraced it like I have. She dresses edgy and has dark, exotic features, but she’s a real sweetheart. She and I couldn’t be more opposite.

I turn my attention back to her and find her staring off into space, her usual smile missing. “What about you?” She looks at me. “There’s obviously something going on with you.” I get up to sit back closer to her, so I don’t have to shout over the loud music. “Spill.”

“He’s back,” she says solemnly.

I frown. “Who?”

She stares back at me silently for a moment. “Anson.”

“Oh.” I pause. “What do you mean by back? Like back into town, or…?”

Her eyes dart around. “I can’t really talk about it here. I’ll fill you in later, though.”

I nod my head in understanding. “So, have you seen him yet?”

She nods. “Yup.”

“And?” I question. “What happened?”

“He fucking hates me.” She leans forward to grab the bottle of liquor and pours two shots.

“Why?”

She hands me a shot, and we both take them. She slams her empty glass down on the table. “Because I ruined his life.”

I join Kamea in drowning in alcohol to numb our pain, and dancing late into the middle of the night before calling the quits.

It’s still dark outside when I wake up to the annoying chirping going off. I yawn and stretch before padding my way through the quietness of my home.

Hmm, perimeter breach. Probably just a coyote or deer or whatever else lives in these deserts. Grabbing my rifle propped up beside my back door, I pull up the surveillance on my tablet and check all the cameras out there. “Definitely not an animal,” I mutter as I turn all the lights out and grab my night vision goggles. I’m in the middle of nowhere, and there’d be no other reason to stumble across my property unless it were intentional.

Whoever is moving in the dark out there comes to a stop. Probably realizes I know they’re there and now waiting on me to make the first move.Good luck, buddy. I can wait all night long. I flinch a little when my phone starts going off, and I see it’s a blocked number.

“If you’re here to kill me, then at least stop pussyfooting around,” I say plainly to who I assume whoever is trespassing.

“Alessia. Where are you?”

The feelings of longing and heartache are both short-lived but violent enough to throw me off kilter when I hear the sound of a much too familiar voice. It’s quickly replaced by enmity. Ignoring the urgency in his voice, I tell him to go fuck himself and hang up. I can’t waist time staring at my phone or entertaining these twisted thoughts. I need to focus on my current situation.

Peering through the night vision lenses, I see the trespasser still hasn’t moved. My phone goes off again with the blocked number. “Look, I don’t have time for your games right now—”

“Alessia, listen to me,” he growls. “Where. Are. You?”

“None. Of. Your. Fucking—”

“Goddamnit. Are you at home?” he snaps.