A Muffin Top Christmas by Tabatha Kiss

Author:Tabatha Kiss [Kiss, Tabatha]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-12-09T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

Evey

“Don’t you just love Christmas?”

Nolan sits backward on a chair in front of us, staring down with his pistol balanced on one knee.

“The lights, the songs…” he says. “It’s my favorite time of year.”

I keep my head down. Tommy hasn’t let go of my arm for a second since Nolan hung up the phone. He’s probably scared of what I’ll do and honestly, so am I.

“Evey?”

I hold my breath, throwing all of my focus away from Nolan.

“Eveeeey—”

“Leave her alone,” Tommy snaps.

“What? Just because I want to see her lover die a bloody, horrible, excruciating death doesn’t mean we can’t be friends.”

I glare at him and he smiles.

“There she is,” he says. “That spark.”

“Go to hell,” I say.

“I probably will… and it’ll be worth it.”

I stare a bit too longingly at the bottles of vodka lined over our heads. There’s nothing I want more than to bash his face in with it right now but I can’t take the risk.

“What’s your boy’s name?”

I grit my teeth. “Why should I tell you?”

Nolan leans forward. “Because I have a gun pointed at your head. Your boy. What’s his name?”

I exhale. “Zachary.”

He nods with approval. “That’s nice. Strong. I’m sure he’ll get over the loss of his father very quickly. Don’t you worry.”

Tears swell in my eyes as I look down again.

“What?” he asks. “Is that not helpful? I’ve been in prison for eight years, so… it’s hard for me to tell.”

The phone rings and Nolan hops out of his chair to answer it.

“Hello? … Vincent!”

Tommy tightens his grip on my arm as my head jerks up.

Nolan nods. “A wise decision.”

My heart aches. I knew Vincent would choose to save me but I wasn’t ready for that damned look of amusement flooding Nolan’s pathetic face.

“You want to what? … Okay. Fine.” He turns the phone towards me. “He wants to talk to you.”

I hesitate, locked in place on the floor while Nolan rolls his eyes.

“Well?” He holds it out an inch further. “We don’t have all night. Santa’s coming.”

Tommy releases me and I push off the floor. I cautiously moving towards Nolan, keeping one eye on the gun as he presses it against my ribs and sets the phone up to my ear.

“Vincent?”

“Evey, are you okay?”

I inhale a deep breath, feeling warmth seep into every inch of me. Just the sound of his voice is enough to soothe and calm me to the core. “I’m okay,” I say.

“Listen, everything is—”

“And that’s enough.”

Nolan pulls the receiver away and speaks into it. “If I let you two ramble for too long, it’ll devolve into you hang up, no you hang up and that’s just… boring. We doing this or not, Vincent?”

He stabs my gut with the gun, pushing me away but I can’t bring myself to move. I can still hear Vincent on the other end, strong and steady as he always is and my heart pounds even harder with rage.

I grab a bottle of vodka off the shelf.

Tommy gasps. “Evey—”

My instincts turn on me, triggering a fight response I didn’t know I had.

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