The Pain of Things by J.L. Campbell

Author:J.L. Campbell [Campbell, J. L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Writer's Suite

thirteen

“Nothing could have prepared me for being hit with a stun gun.”

“I agree,” Khalila said, then sipped coffee. Her eyes danced over the rim of the cup before she lowered it to the table.

“What is it?” I asked, knowing she was holding something back.

Khalila poked out her lips before her smile came through. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I told you so.”

“How can you even say that? If I wasn’t as healthy as a horse, that taser could have put me in the morgue.”

Laying a hand over mine, Khalila said, “I’m sorry, that was insensitive.”

“You think?” I snorted, but all she did was hide a grin.

“Come on, though,” Her eyes flashed with amusement. “I did tell you not to do anything stupid.”

“You clearly didn’t hear when I said that man just jabbed me in the chest. I didn’t get a chance to do anything.”

“The point I’m making is that if you hadn’t gone over there, you’d have been here, safe with me.”

“You don’t know how to comfort the fallen, do you?”

Khalila almost fell over laughing. When she stopped, her gaze slid toward the doorway. “Did you and Roger make any progress?”

“I think we understand each other a little better.”

She beamed at me. “That’s good.”

I spun the mug in my hand as I tried to wrap my mind around what I was feeling. The danger we’d been in yesterday from those two idiots gave me pause to think about life and how tenuous it was. My experience hadn’t included my life flashing before my eyes or anything like that, since being zapped with what amounted to fifty thousand volts of electricity didn’t leave any time for thinking.

My ordeal hadn’t ended there. The delivery guy came and before I could pay him, he caught sight of Neil and his gun and ran back down the corridor with the food. Dre, the guy Neil had threatened, melted into a helpless puddle on the floor, clutching one of his ears.

Neil, against Roger’s advice, had discharged the weapon a second time.

Dre had peed on himself, then divulged more than Neil and Roger wanted to know. His friend, who we later found out was named Calvin, regained consciousness at that point.

While that was going on, I wondered if Neil was playing with a full deck. He didn’t strike me as unbalanced, but I had my doubts he wouldn’t shoot Dre again. Then I remembered what his friend did to me and kept my mouth shut. As long as Neil didn’t do him irreparable harm, I’d be okay.

When the police came, they took eons to write our statements and conduct their due diligence. By the time everybody left, I was extra famished and we ordered more food.

The evening ended with me staying the night with Roger. Wrapped in his arms, inhaling his masculine scent, made me admit I didn’t want to be anywhere else. I believed we’d connected on a deep level, but neither of us had acknowledged that fact. Maybe we were both afraid to admit our need for each other out loud.

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