Eluding Nirvana (The Dark Evoke Series Book 2) (35 page)

I slowly closed the di
stance, arching my shoulder, swaying my hips and playfully manipulating my body into small, timid dance moves, which earned me a shy, affectionate smile.

“I had no idea you liked the Jackson Five,” he said,
leisurely pushing himself away from the counter. He treaded deliberately and with purpose toward me, until we finally met in the middle. The soft, timing sound of his shoes scuffing across the flooring made every muscle in my body spasm with pleasurable and addictive force.

“I love them, and Michael. Playing their music was the only way my mom could get me to sleep at night
when I was a kid.”

We were st
anding toe to toe, chest to chest. His intoxicating cologne graced my nostrils, while, with hands at our side, our fingertips found their way to each other. I peeked down at our hands when I felt a small tug on the links of the silver bracelet.

His small smile was heard through the sigh of
approval. “I can’t believe you wore this,” he said, the bear being caressed between his thumb and middle finger.

I
stole a look up at his gorgeous face, a smattering of hair around his mouth, and gazed aimlessly into The Indian Ocean, an ocean I could happily be stranded in. I licked my lips. “I don’t get to wear it as often as I’d like, but I will wear it whenever I can. Now, Dance with me?” It was a statement, but somehow, longing hijacked my words and posed it as a question.

“
What kind of man would refuse his wife?” Oh, we were back in character. That was making it so much harder.

Smiling
, Walker coiled his arm around my waist, my right hand placed in the warmth of his palm, while my left caressed his muscular bicep. Rhythmically swaying, we gazed into one another’s eyes as we lightly serenaded each other. I could never stay quiet while listening to the Jackson Five, so as I mouthed, “Just call my name,” Walker surprised me, coming in directly after, his rugged, perfect indie style voice shadowing mine with the words, “And I’ll be there.”

We were bathed by lyrics which were meaningful to us, to our relationship as h
is head dropped and his brow fixed against my own, his breath warm and enticing as I felt his exhale against my lips. Although it went unsaid, I think we both realized that this song was in fact, our song, and always would be.

Swaying
in each other’s arms he breathed my name, making it sound like Katy, once again.

We both had our eyes closed when I replied with, “Hmm…”

“Leave him. Leave, Liam.” We came to a pause, my eyes sprang open and I was greeted with a shimmering tide, the waves proving too much as a lone tear escaped over Walker’s eyelid.

“What? I–”

“I told you before, Kady, when you were in Pinewood. I wouldn’t be able to offer you the world at your feet like Liam can, but if you were mine, I would offer you a world of happiness.”

Pinewood? That means…I furrowed my brow, the creases carved into my forehead like a sculptor had just carved into my flesh
as if I was his next marble project. “You…you were there? You actually came to see me?” Although a year had passed since my first break, we never spoke about it. For so long I had considered that moment to have been another delusion in my head.

“Yes, darlin’,
I was there. I saw you and I told you to not give up. I had no choice but to leave the way I did because seeing you like that killed me.”

I sagged in his arms as the song began
again on its repetitive cycle.

“Kady, that outfit on your back, one article of
clothing in your closet may cost more than a month of my rent, but I have a little saved up, we could move away, somewhere Liam won’t ever find us, somewhere I can keep you safe…somewhere where we can be together and you don’t have to worry about beatings, or punishments.

“I hate knowing what he’s doing to you, how he’s treated you, but unable to do anything about it because of the ramifications
for you
, Kady. I can’t save you from him while you’re still with him, darlin’.” He closed his mouth with a loud exhale through his nose.

“I can’t do this Walker. I can’t…” I had no idea what I was attempting to say. His declaration had completely thrown me.

My body was left cold as his hands were removed from my waist and my right hand. Instead, they held my face, coaxing my gaze upward to maintain eye contact as he searched my eyes. “Since the first day I laid my eyes on you, I was snared. You’re the classy uptown girl and I’m the downtown guy, I don’t have much to give. But I give you me, Kady. Please…” He glided his thumb pad over my lower lip while my breath caught in my chest. “Kiss me…”

In that moment, t
he guilt I felt was abundant because I wanted to, I wanted to so badly, but I couldn’t just up and leave Liam, even though I was still waiting for him to change back into the caring man that he was at the beginning, the man he promised that he would give back to me on the beach, not the monster that he still shared his body with. And with everything that he had done with Ent-icing and my medical bills…I owed him.

My own tears were making their escape, leaving warm streaks down my cheeks.
“I can’t. I’m no cheater, Walker––”

“Look me in the eyes, Kady, and tell me that you don’t feel anything for me.”

A spell passed in silence, yet the music continued in the background. Isn’t it strange how you can enjoy a song when you’re happy, yet the lyrics have a profound meaning when you’re torn? Eighteen months had passed. Walker had been right there beside me through the obstacles I’d faced and that alone strengthened us––strengthened my feelings. It was time to admit defeat. “I can’t,” I sighed.

“Then you’re already cheating on him, darlin’.”

Terrified by his words and my feelings, I ripped myself away from his hands with a step backward, and I tore out of McGinty’s like a tornado in a trailer park. I had no choice. I had to remove myself before I gave up entirely, and ran back inside, into the arms of a man who, regardless of his own emotions, had been, and will continue to be there for me…to care for me without asking for anything in return. No matter what my decision may be.

The sound of the alarm clock tore me away from a night of
vivid yet disturbing dreams. Disturbing dreams caused by a disturbing end to a rather fun night.

The brunt end of my exasperation was delivered upon t
he alarm as I hit it full force to get it to shut the Hell up. Today was Friday. Today was the day that Liam was due back home. I didn’t know how I felt about it. I hadn’t missed him. In actual fact, I found I had grown somewhat relieved when he went on each business trip. That was the part of me that was slowly finding her independence again. The part of me that felt marginally normal…whatever that was.

With an arch of my back
and a pleasant groan, I kicked the comforter off my body and made my way into the en-suite, whipping my negligee over my head as I went, and headed for a shower.

In and out within ten minutes, I
set about hastily blow-drying my shoulder length blond hair, fixed my face with a little makeup and, considering it was dress down Friday, tossed on a pair of faded jeans and a white blouse, before heading down the stairs.

It was when I was halfway down the staircase
that I sighted a folded piece of paper having been pushed through the mailbox, and waiting on my hallway flooring. With a bemused frown set firmly in place, I descended the final few wooden stairs and bent to retrieve the note. Unfolding it, it simply read:

E
NT-ICING, 8:45 a.m.

No name, no please or thank you. Just a simple directive. Instinctively, I twisted my left wrist
upward, considering my watch face was always displayed on the inner side of my arm, and checked the time. It was already 8:25 a.m. It was too early for this, I hadn’t even had my morning coffee, and by seems of things, it was going to remain that way until I located a coffee shop.

I shoved my feet into a pair of black heeled boots with a great sigh
, then fetched my car keys out of the bowl on the sideboard under the balustrade, and headed out.

“Good morning, Kady,” a voice called as I
derived the front steps and made my way to the driveway along the right of the house.

“Morning, Mrs. Steinbeck.”

“I was going to ask,” her voice was shadowed by the sound of her famous shuffling of slippers as she approached. I began to wonder if she actually owned decent shoes. “Is there any way you could do my granddaughter’s birthday cake? It’s in two weeks and my daughter has left it awful late, no one can fit her in.”

I pulled
open the door of my Audi SUV and slipped inside. “I’ll have to check the schedule, Mrs. Steinbeck,” I called through the open door. “But I’m sure that shouldn’t be a problem. Just pop into the shop when you’re not busy so we can take the details.”

“Perfect. Have a lovely day, Kady.”

“You, too,” I called, my voice shaded by the sound of my door slamming shut. The seatbelt locked into place, I started the ignition, pulled out of the driveway, and headed to Bricksdale Square with my mystery note.

Within fifteen minutes, I was p
ulling up outside of the pink awning, with the gold scripted words of ‘Ent-icing’ upon it. Dropping from the car, I peeked around. The shop was still closed. The bustling sounds which usually came from the Square were near nonexistent. Only the proprietors of the surrounding workplaces were bustling in and out of their stores, preparing for opening hours.

I
t was like a fucking Ghost Town and that was enough to unnerve me.

I was
inspecting the note again, studying the handwriting as carefully as possible. For a fleeting moment I considered it to be Liam with one of his surprises, but it wasn’t his writing. It was when my thumb glided over the ink when I jumped as an old-fashioned public payphone incased in a silver surround a little down the way of Ent-icing, began to toll. Within eight steps, I was at the phone and lifting the receiver.

“Hello?”

“Madison Avenue, ten minutes.”

I didn’t recognize the voice, it was terse and sounded muffled,
however, before I could ask who it was I was speaking to, they hung up, leaving me in the lurch and confounded as I sped back to the car, and headed south to Madison.

Slipping from behind the wheel after I put the car into park
at the sidewalk, I checked the time again. At nearly 9:00 a.m., my irritation was mounting. It was far too early for this type of activity. I didn’t like it one bit. I hated games especially games that felt like scavenger hunts.

With each ticking second, I was preparing myself to personally
send the person pulling the strings behind this one, to Hell, considering I still hadn’t had my first caffeine fix of the day.

I scanned the block left to right
then checked my watch again. My heart was thrumming in my chest, my head was spinning and my stomach was moments away from expelling stomach acid onto the sidewalk.

A person wearing a black baseball cap with the lip down low, practically concealing his face, was heading
straight towards me. His black hoodie looked a little too extreme considering the sun was blaring down on us, casting shadows of the buildings behind me, onto the street.

“Hey, watch it,” I chided when he ran into me head on, sending me staggering backward.

“Sorry,” he muttered, forcing a newspaper into my hands before subtly continuing down the block.

I took a moment to unfold the Boston Times I had just been
forced with. A note was safely placed into the crease. In red marker it simply read:

VENUE 129,

MIDDLE BOOTH,

READ ME…

This was getting beyond a fucking joke now. But at least I’d finally have my coffee. So, again, I did as instructed and headed to the barista around the corner.

I slipped into the middle booth
with my mug of happiness, having ordered a skinny latte, and began to read the paper as instructed. I was moments away from rivaling a tantrum of a toddler in a toy store when I overheard a familiar chuckle––a chuckle that sounded like one too many cigarettes had been drawn upon. Peeking over the pages ever so slightly, I was face to face…well, face to back, with Liv and Liam standing together at the register.

My stomach flipped and adrenaline
gushed when I heard him tell her, “Go and get us a seat, gorgeous,” and with a playful swat on her backside, they both smiled merrily as she walked away. The wall of my booth vibrated behind my back as she slipped in behind me, clearing her throat.

What the fuck was going on? I felt like a spectator.

The pleather padded barrier behind me shook again as Liam slipped in the booth with the person who was supposed to be my best friend.

My face was d
isguised by the paper while the masochist in me was found to be intently listening to the twosome. It was when the sound of wet, passionate kisses sounded that I scrunched my face up and screwed my eyes shut, questioning what the fuck was going on around me.