We Come Out At Night 4

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Kristina
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It was hard being back in the casino. Awkward would be a better word to describe it. The few times that I saw Brian since telling him how I felt, he was drunk and moody.
He even snapped at me this morning when I got to the office. I knew it was because I told him I couldn’t be with him, but I honestly hadn’t expected him to take it as bad as he was.

It was so easy for him to dismiss me when he and Shadows ganged up on me for acting like Ruby again. He had no problem kicking me off his floor and sending me back down to that horrible room, so why should he be having a hard time now? and why should I feel guilty?

It was lunchtime when I decided to walk down to the café to get something to eat. It was hard seeing him, I did and do love him, but the pain of him not being able to love me for who I am, was too much to bear.

When I got to the café I stopped outside its door and watched through the glass. The pain I felt was like someone stuck a knife right through my heart and twisted it mercilessly. I watched as Brian sat at a table with Izzy having lunch together. No longer did I have an appetite anymore. Brian’s face hadn’t been shaved in a few days and he was growing a shadow of stubble along his lower jaw line.

“You miss him, don’t you?”

I turned around and looked up into the eyes of Shadows who was standing behind me.
He angered me still and I wasn’t in the mood to deal with him right now. “I don’t see how my feelings are any business of yours.”

“Fair enough.” He nodded and his gaze moved over my head through the glass doors. “It’s not my business, but Gates is miserable because he’s in love with a girl who doesn’t love him back.”

What a son of a bitch! “I never said I didn’t love him back!”

“So you do then…miss him, I mean.” I wasn’t going to give him the answer to that question and let him have his satisfaction.

“Why don’t you just leave me alone?”

“Why don’t you just admit your feelings for Gates?” I was about to respond when the door behind me opened and the man of the hour walked through it.

“What’s going on?” Brian asked walking over and standing between the two of us.

“Oh nothing. Kristina was just about to answer a question I asked her.” Motherfucker! I glared at him like he was the devil himself.

“No. I was just going to get something to eat.” That being said, I walked away without another word and headed into the café.

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Gates
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“What the hell was that about?” I asked Shadows who stood there gloating.

“Just had to find out for myself is all.”

“Find out what?” I folded my arms and waited for his response. His cockiness was nothing new to me, but it was really starting to get on my nerves.

He chuckled lowly and put his hands in his pockets. “That Kristina actually does love….OH HELL NO!” He shouted and walked past me through the door of the café. When I turned around to see what the hell his problem was, I saw Izzy on the floor and Kristina on top of her pulling her hair.

I followed after Shadows and caught up with him just as he yanked Kristina off of Izzy. When Izzy got up the two girls charged at each other and went at it again.
“KNOCK IT OFF!” Shadows yelled as he pulled them apart. I grabbed Kristina around the waist while he held Izzy back.

“What the hell happened?” I asked to no one in particular.

“She called me Ruby!” Kristina shouted. Shadows looked at Izzy and waited for an explanation.

“She called me a slut!” Izzy shot back and tried to wrestle her way out of Shadows arm.

“Well that is what they call girls who fuck everyone else’s boyfriends and anyone they can isn’t it?”

“Kristina, that’s enough.” I warned, but clearly she was far from done.

Izzy looked at Shadows and she was seething with rage. “You should have left that ungrateful, bottom feeding bitch in the brothel where she belongs. She’ll never be good at anything else.”

Kristina grabbed at my arm to try and get it off her waist, but I held it there firmly. If I let her go she would kill Izzy. “You little bed hopping con artist. Why don’t you go back to The Maker’s Marc where you came from? That is where trash like you belongs. With scum like Marco!”

That was all it took for Izzy to break free from Shadows and punch Kristina right in the face. “ISABELLA!” Shadows shouted. He grabbed her and lifted her up over his shoulder and dragged her out of the café.

“You can’t hide behind Shadows forever!” Kristina yelled with blood pouring out of her nose.

“Come on!” I grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the café. When I got her up to my floor I shoved her on the couch and told her to sit there and don’t move. While she sat there, I went and got some ice cubes and a rag with some warm water.

I sat down on the coffee table in front of her and dipped the rag in the water to clean the blood. Her nose was still bleeding, but from what I could see it wasn’t broken.
I tilted her head back and held the rag to her nose to stop the bleeding.

“Why don’t you tell me what started the fight and I’m not asking, I want an answer.”

She spoke while I put some ice in a clean rag and placed it on the bridge of her nose. She was going to have two black eyes, for sure. “I went to pay for my sandwich and Izzy came up behind me.”

I grabbed her hand and placed it over the makeshift ice pack so she could hold it in place. “Then what happened?”

“She said she was surprised to see me back and when I turned around she was standing there with her arms folded. She didn’t look happy to see me and I guess that Shadows told her about the fact the he and I slept together.”

“What makes you think so?”

“Because she said that she knew that you and I weren’t together anymore and that the reason I was back better not have anything to do with Shadows. So I told her it was none of her business why I was back and if she could keep her own legs closed I wouldn’t have had to satisfy her man. Then she hit me.”

I picked up the blood soaked rag and threw it in the water bowl before looking back at her. She held the ice pack on her face and her head was back so I couldn’t see her expression. “Izzy hit you first?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I wasn’t expecting that. To be honest.”

Kristina took the ice off her face and lifted her head. When she looked at me I knew I was in for another fight. “Why is it so hard for you to believe that Izzy could have done something wrong?”

“Kristina, that’s not what I meant!”

She stood up and threw the ice at me. “Oh isn’t it? I never should have stayed.”
I tried to stop her, but she stormed off to her room and slammed the door and I just slammed my damn foot in my mouth again.