Page 69 of Their Stormy Reunion

I thought about my time as a Ranger. I advanced on Sid until he was backed up against a wall. “You know nothing about me. You don’t know that I can kill you from one thousand meters away, or I can kill you with one hand right now. You don’t know what I’m capable of in order to protect those I love. If you value your life, you’ll stop what you’re doing and leave the state tonight.”

“If I leave, there will be a warrant out for my arrest for breaking my parole,” he whined. His words didn’t match what his eyes were telling me. He didn’t give a shit about his parole. He only cared about getting back at me.

“This is your one and only warning, Sid. When I leave through that door, all bets are off. You do one thing wrong and you’re a dead man.”

Sid laughed at me. “I’ve been a dead man for twenty-four years and it was all because of you. You have no idea what I went through in prison. You’ll pay for that.”

Now his gray eyes looked flat and dead.

I should probably just kill him right now and get it over with.

That stopped me up short.

Am I just like him?

The thought hit me like a freight train. My breath hitched. My vision tunneled.

How much of him was inside me? How much of his blood, his violence, his darkness lived in my bones?

But I knew, didn’t I? I’ve always known.

I swallowed hard, then turned around and left. I needed to get back to Fallon.

Chapter Twenty-One

When I woke up, I was alone in bed.

Strange.

I got up and went to find Michael. Coming down the hall, something smelled amazing. Was he cooking? I could hear the TV on, too.

Whoops! I took a step back into the shadow of the hallway when I saw Zarek sitting on the sofa watching a ballgame. I needed to be wearing more than Michael’s t-shirt before I faced Zarek.

“I see you,” Zarek called out.

“Well, I don’t want you to see too much. Hold on, I’m going to throw a few more clothes on.”

“Don’t feel like you have to on my account.” I could hear the humor in his voice.

When I came back out, the TV was off, and Zarek was in the kitchen pulling a lasagna out of the oven. So that’s what smelled heavenly.

“Did Michael invite you over to eat and watch the game? I didn’t know he had that in the freezer.”

“He didn’t. I made this from scratch and brought it over when Michael asked me to come stay with you when he went out for a while.”

“Out? Where did he go?”

“Out.”

“Is this the bro code? Not telling me, I mean.”

“Kind of. He asked me not to tell, so I’m not.”

Zarek put the lasagna down on a trivet, then took down two plates and cut out two large pieces for each of us. My mouth was watering. I picked up the two plates, walked over to the dining room table and set them down. Zarek came out with warm bread, grated Parmesan cheese, and a bowl of salad.

I went back in the kitchen to get napkins or paper towels. “What do you want to drink?” I asked him.

“Water’s fine.”