We Come Out At Night

Chapter 17

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Shadows Office continued
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Gates dragged Vengeance through the door of Shadows office and it was clear that Vengeance was annoyed when he yanked himself away from Gates.

“What the fuck is the problem?” he asked eyeing Shadows suspiciously.

Shadows spun his chair around and rested his arms on his desk. As he folded his hands together he glared at Shadows.

“What’s going on with you and Izzy?”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Vengeance rolled his eyes at the question asked by Shadows. When Gates smacked him in the back of the head he scowled at him and let out a brief sigh.

“Call off your damn dog!” he yelled at Shadows and Shadows looked at Gates with a warning in his eyes.

“Is there something wrong with trying to be the girl’s friend?” Vengeance wasn’t going to let either of them intimidate him. Sure, they were tougher, but he could hold his own with the two of them when the time called for it.

“Her friend? is that what you call it?” Shadows asked.

Vengeance took a seat in front of Shadows desk. “Yeah, that’s what I call it. That poor girl has been through hell and back and someone has to be on her side. Especially with you too fucking goons running around.”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Gates leaned into Vengeance’s ear as he spoke through gritted teeth.

“That means go brush your fucking teeth you have bad breath.” Vengeance shot back and Shadows slammed his fist down on the desk.

“That’s enough!” he yelled. “What were you and Izzy talking about? It looked pretty serious.”

Vengeance shrugged. “Just things like how she got here and stuff.”

“Why was she crying?”

“I don’t know. She said something that made me wonder though.”

“Which was?” Shadows wanted every little detail of their conversation.

“She said no matter where she goes she can’t seem to get the fuck away from Kiera.”

Gates looked right at Shadows and neither could explain that comment either. Although Kiera had been gone from The Sidewinder for quite sometime, lately she seemed to be ever present.

“What else?” Shadows asked.

Vengeance brought his eyes back up to Shadows. “I think…well, it’s strange, you know?” Vengeance looked at Shadows with uncertainty in his eyes.

“What is?”

“The way she spoke” he turned his face to Gates before continuing. “She spoke as if Kiera was still here in the casino.” He shook his head and turned back to Shadows. “I don’t know if it was just the way I was interpreting what she was saying, but she’s terrified of something. She wouldn’t tell me what it was though. Hell, I’m lucky I got as far as I did with her.”

“How do you know she’s terrified?” Shadows asked.

“Remember the night that you had Gates mess up Kiera’s face?”

“Yeah”

“Well, she said that night she was standing outside Marco’s office and she saw and heard something that night that scared the hell out of her and if you found out you would put her in an early grave.”

“She didn’t say what it was?” Gates asked.

“No” Vengeance shook his head and looked up at Gates. “I feel bad for her though, I can’t help it. So much has happened to her and she’s only 20.”

Shadows sat back in his chair and let out a sigh. “Befriend her. See if you can find out her little secret, but don’t let her believe she has a reason to be afraid. I’ll be the one to decide that after we find out what it is”

Vengeance nodded and Shadows turned his gaze to Gates. “We’re done.” That was Shadows way of telling Gates to leave and when Gates walked out the door Shadows turned his gaze back to Vengeance.

“Anything else?”

“Yeah” Vengeance nodded and looked into Shadows eyes. “I think she’s in love with you.”

Shadows let out a breath and put his hands over his face. He hadn’t expected to hear those words come out of Vengeance’s mouth nor had he expected to be affected by them.

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Izzy’s Room
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It was dark when he walked through the door, but he knew she wasn’t sleeping. He could hear her sobbing over on the bed where she lay on her side facing the wall. Shadows took off his shoes and his shirt and quietly made his way across the room. She never heard him come in, but she did feel the bed shift and quieted her sobs.

He moved the covers up over the both of them and put an arm around her pulling her close to him. “Try and get some sleep, baby.” He whispered, but he could still feel that her breathing was heavy as if she was holding back her sobs for his benefit.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered and kissed the top of her head. After a few more minutes, Izzy’s breathing finally started to slow down and she closed her eyes as sleep finally pulled her under.