Page 2 of The Triangle

There’s no panic inside me.

I give that little thing in my head total control.

Until that knock on the door.

CHAPTER ONE - CHRISTINE

I stare at the door as my heart thumps inside my chest.

“Keene,” a man growls on the other side of the door. “Open the fuck up.”

I get up, the floorboard hiding the sniper rifle creaking under the weight of my dirty feet, and straighten the long t-shirt I woke up wearing yesterday.

“I’m gonna count to three, Keene. And if this door doesn’t open—”

I pull the door open. Stare at the surprised face of a man on the other side.

He’s no office boss, that’s for sure. Tall, broad frame hiding underneath a heavy leather biker jacket. Piercing blue eyes shooting anger as they find mine. They dart back and forth, scanning me. Searching for answers, or intentions, or… something.

And then he sighs, pulls me into his chest, and wraps his arms tightly around my body.

It’s such a nice hug. So comforting. And it makes that thing inside me go silent long enough for me to close my eyes and kinda enjoy it for a few seconds.

But just as quickly as he took me in, he pushes me away. “Fuck you,” he says, forcing his way into my apartment, grabbing my hand to take me with him as his foot kicks out and closes the door behind us. “Just fuck you! What the fuck, Christine? What the fuck?”

He pulls on my hand, yanking my shoulder. Not hard, but it’s fucked up and I squeak out a cry of pain.

“Shit,” he says. “Shit. I’m sorry.” And then he’s hugging me again. “I thought you were fucking dead when he called. I thought that was it, man. I thought we were fucking done.”

He pushes me away and I get the feeling this is how it is between us. One moment we’re together, the next we’re apart.

I get the feeling I should get used to that.

“What happened?” he asks, holding me at arm’s length. “What the fuck happened? What did you do?” His eyes are doing that scanning thing again. Searching for answers inside mine. “What the fuck did you do?”

If I thought I had answers I’d say something. If I had context I’d lie. If I had any idea at all I’d just go with it. Because I think that’s who I am. I think that’s what I do.

But I’m empty. Even that thing inside me is gone. I have absolutely nothing inside me. So that’s exactly what I say.

I just stare at him.

“Jesus. You look…” he starts, then stops. Runs his fingers through his hair again. “Someone betrayed you,” he says. I screw up my face as I stare at him. Mostly because betrayal… I hadn’t thought of that. “It wasn’t me. I’d never fucking betray you.”

“Do I know that?” I ask, finding my voice surprisingly low and throaty. Not what I thought it would sound like.

“Christine,” he says. “Don’t fucking do this. Not now. I need you.”

I get the feeling lots of people tell me that and none of them really mean it.

“Tell me what happened, OK? Just start from the beginning and tell me everything. I can fix this. You know I’ll fix this, right?”

He’s holding me at arm’s length again. Still scanning me for answers.

But there’s something else in his eyes now. Something soft when normally there’s nothing there but hate and anger. I know this even though I can’t possibly know this since I don’t even know if I really am this Christine girl.

I just know.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” he asks. “It wasn’t me. It wasn’t fucking me, OK?”