Nature of the Beast by Stephanie M. Freeman

Author:Stephanie M. Freeman [Freeman, Stephanie M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781736798522
Publisher: Shadowlilly Publications, LLC

Chapter Eighteen

Dinner carried on into the wee hours, long after the band had performed and packed for the evening. Davis was in the middle of pouring their second cup of coffee when Willow’s phone went off. She excused herself, leaving the two men at the table.

“William...” Davis started, and the old man reached across the table and grabbed his wrist.

“Shut up. You’re both alive because of the lies we told.”

“You could have told me. The memories were still so real for her.”

“As if they aren’t for you. I was there, remember? I heard you screaming her name before I even got down the hallway. Your face was little more than ribbons of flesh.”

“Stop.”

“No, you stop it! You were right, but it didn’t make it hurt any less. I was proud of you in spite of it. Still am. You wanted so much to prove yourself worthy back then. You did. Tenfold—a hundred-fold.”

“I broke her heart, William. I made promises to her that I had to break to keep us both alive. She has every right to hate me.”

“Well you can see that she doesn’t.”

“She thinks I’m dead, William. Every day I didn’t pick up a phone or come to see about her, I lied to her. Something I swore I would never do.”

“To keep the two of you alive. They weren’t just coming for you that night. They would have used her to get to you. Could you live with that?”

“I didn’t have what they wanted. I never did.”

“That’s not what I asked. Could you live with them hurting her to get to you again?”

“You know the answer to that.”

“Do you think you’re not having what they were after mattered to them? They removed the scars, Harlem, not your memory. You knew enough. Cappy Reds adopted you, raised you. You were old enough to put two and two together.” William’s gaze shifted and he released him just as Willow came back to the table pulling at the pale blue shift, she wore over her outfit. “What’s wrong, honey?”

“Another fire. Sounds like the same MO but I won’t be sure unless I go on scene.” Willow took a sip from her mug of milk and scraped the hint of foam from her top lip. She rummaged through her purse looking for something.

“What are you doing?” Davis sat back and took her in.

She held up her wallet. “For dinner.”

Davis shook his head as he waved to one of the waitresses. “I’ll need a travel mugs for Ms. Daniels and her father.”

“There’s only one back there besides yours.”

“Give her mine, Lisa.” Davis tried to keep the annoyance out of his voice.

He knew what Willow was doing but it didn’t make it hurt any less. She didn’t know him and while he felt closer to her, she was still a world away. At one point during dinner she was talking to her father and she reached for her glass of water. He switched his own full glass for hers. Davis noticed a strange light flickering in William’s eyes as he turned back to his daughter’s conversation.

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