Chapter 27
There was a knock on the door and Jeff had a feeling it was Liam. He didn’t know why he thought that. It could be Missy or a buddy from the force. Maybe he thought it was Liam because he’d been thinking about him for a good chunk of the day, and part of him hoped it was the cheating bastard so he could connect his fist with the Aussie’s face.
Upon further thought, he wasn’t expecting anyone, so unless the Jehovah’s Witnesses were ignoring the No Soliciting sign on the front door of the lobby and had decided to spread the Word, there was no one else it could be.
Unless it was Liam.
He didn’t want to see Liam. The depression from the dreams of the night before still held on, as did the anger of what Liam had done to Adela.
The knock sounded again.
Jeff got up from the couch, went to the door, and opened it. He had been right—it was Liam.
He didn’t say anything, just stared at him. Liam had deep circles under his bloodshot eyes, and if his wet hair was any indication, he had just gotten out of the shower.
“Can I come in?”
Jeff shook his head and tried to close the door. “No. In fact, let’s just part friends.”
Liam sighed, stuck his foot out to keep the door open, and put his hands on his hips. “Look, I get that you’re angry at me, but things aren’t what they seem, Jeff. Please, just let me come in and explain.”
What wasn’t as it seemed? He really didn’t want anything to do with Liam, and he actually felt like giving him an old-fashioned ass whooping for what he did last night.
He stepped aside, his anger rising.
Liam walked in, closed the door, then Jeff slammed Liam into the wall, feeling the darkness rising in him. Liam winced and shut his eyes. Jeff guessed his brain was rattling around a little bit.
“What you did last night was flat-out wrong,” he hissed, holding Liam by the shirt collar. He wanted to let go, but the darkness within him surged, and, honestly, what he really wanted to do was hit Liam. His anger didn’t surprise him; he just hoped he could keep it in check. “You have no idea how fucking lucky you are to have that beautiful wife at home, and you start messing around with some skank in a bar? The Black Cuff of all places?”
Liam opened his eyes. “Look, I’m here to help you, Jeff. What I do isn’t your concern or your business.”
Jeff let up a little. What did Liam know of his troubles? “How are you supposed to help me? You don’t even know me!”
“And you don’t know me. But that doesn’t mean I can’t help you. I want to help you with your wife. With Sara.”
Jeff felt his anger kick up a notch. Liam wanted to help him with Sara? A guy who couldn’t keep it in his pants when he had a beautiful wife at home? A guy who was the very thing that had broken up Jeff’s marriage to begin with?
He backed up and glared at Liam. Liam took a step forward and gave Jeff a hard shove in the chest, making him stagger a few steps and hit the kitchen table. “And back off. I don’t take nicely to force,” Liam growled as he headed into the living room and sat down on the couch.
Jeff felt the blackness rise and swirl within him and fought to maintain control. Visions of getting his service revolver and putting twelve holes in Liam flashed in his mind. Hoping to clear the thoughts, he shook his head, followed Liam, and sat down on the opposite end of the couch.
“You’re right, Liam,” Jeff said. “Last night doesn’t concern me, but I don’t want anything to do with you from now on. Do you understand me?”
Liam shook his head. “The tequila got the best of me last night. I made a mistake. I take care of my actions and their consequences. And Adela is not my wife.”
Jeff stared at Liam. Yeah, he looked a little worse for wear, but he was dead serious in this conversation.
“So she’s your longtime girlfriend. Significant other. It doesn’t matter what you call her—what you did was wrong.”
“I know.”
“Did you tell Adela what you did, or did you make up some lie?”
“She knows.”
“And?”
Liam shrugged. “It’s something we’ll work through.”
Jeff couldn’t believe it. Maybe Adela was one of those dependent women who put up with her lover because she simply didn’t have the strength to leave him. He’d seen it dozens of times when responding to domestics: the woman wouldn’t press charges even though she was a bruised-up mess. No, Jeff didn’t think Liam was the type to get physical with her, but maybe he messed with her psychologically.
“But we need to talk about Sara,” Liam continued.
For some reason, the red flag on Jeff’s internal radar went up. Although he didn’t know where Sara was—and she had just about broken him—he was very protective of her.
And what did he really know about Liam and Adela? Not much. He knew there was something off about them, that they just appeared out of nowhere and had taken a great interest in him. For all he knew, Sara and her new dumb-fuck professor boyfriend were into something illegal and they owed money to Liam. The thought made his blood run cold. He would go to his grave before he let anything happen to Sara.
“Why do you want to know? Why are you so interested in her?”
Liam leaned forward and rubbed his face. “We need to find her, Jeff. Do you know where she is?”
Jeff mimicked Liam and leaned forward as well. “No, you don’t need to find her,” he snarled. “Not unless you tell me what for.”
“It’s important, Jeff. It’s about the two of you. I can’t really go into it, but we need to locate her.”
Jeff felt his anger rise again, the darkness swirling within him. He wasn’t about to drop the dime on Sara, and the fact that Liam wasn’t very forthcoming on what he wanted with her made him see black.
“Fuck you, Liam.”