Honored (City Series Book 4)(8)

As she faced me, I felt something break inside my chest. I felt something change forever, something shift in my world. I knew I wasn't going to pull the trigger, and could never pull the trigger again for a man like Colm. I knew my life just got that much more dangerous.

I worked my jaw, trying to find words, eyes wide and heart racing.





Chapter Six: Ellie


"Liam? What are you doing down here?" I asked, laughing.

He looked as surprised as I felt, although he was sweating and a little pale. Still, he was as handsome as always, with a chiseled jaw and a certain presence about him. Petey barked some more, and I pulled softly at his leash.

"Stop, Petey, calm down," I said, and he looked up at me.

Liam didn't say anything. He looked like he was trying to formulate words, but nothing was coming out. Something felt weird about the whole situation, and I wondered what the hell he was doing down in an underpass with nobody else in sight. I hadn't seen him as I was walking, which meant he must have been hiding somewhere out of sight, or maybe he had come from a path I hadn't noticed. I stared at him quizzically.

"Liam?" I asked again, taking a step closer.

Suddenly his shocked and confused expression melted away, replaced by his large, cocky smile.

"What, are you following me or something?" he said.

I laughed. Petey barked again, and I kneeled down next to him and began to gently pet his shoulders, calming him. Liam did something with his right arm, maybe dropped something behind him, and then came a little closer.

"Who's this guy?" he asked.

"This is Petey."

"Hey there, Petey." He held his hand out for Petey to sniff, and he began to softly stroke his back.

"What are you doing down here? You scared me," I said.

He laughed. "Sorry about that. I was just out for a walk."

I looked around. "Where'd you come from?"

He gestured back the way I had come. "Back there. I saw you from a block up and thought I'd catch you, say hello."

"Oh, well hey."

He grinned at me. "Hey yourself."

There was something about him, something irresistible. I couldn't tell if it was his muscled body or his confidence, but I hadn't been able to get him out of my mind ever since he had approached me earlier to ask me out. He had acted like it was obvious that I would say yes, and for whatever reason, he was right. Just like back at the school, I felt compelled to be around him.

I stood up and looked around as he kept petting Petey.

"Creepy place," I mumbled.

"What's that?"

"Just saying how this is a creepy spot."

He looked around and shrugged. "No different than anywhere else."

"You're probably right," I said softly.

He stood up. "Where are you headed?"

I shrugged. "Just a few more blocks and then back home. Feel like joining me?"

"I'd really like that," he said. He said it with such a serious expression, like it was the most important thing in the world. I couldn't help but laugh.

"What?" he asked, the serious expression fading, replaced by his smile.

"Nothing. You just looked so serious. It's just a walk," I said, teasing.

"Not just a walk, the best walk of your life."

"Yeah, why's that?"

He grinned his perfect, arrogant smile. "Because I'm here."

I laughed again and shook my head. "All right then. Let's get going."

I started moving, and Petey charged ahead. For some reason, he was being particularly bad, like he had no interest in doing anything but pulling me along behind him. I guessed it was punishment for coming home later than usual.

"So, how long have you had him?" Liam said.

"Little more than a year. He was a rescue."

"Good looking dog."

"You should have seen him when I got him. He was a mess, way underweight, had worms and bite wounds from fighting other strays."   





 

"That's horrible."

"He's a great dog, though."

He nodded. "Yeah, I like him."

We walked together in a short silence as Petey moved ahead of us, sniffing at the ground. We hit the other side of the underpass and started to walk uphill, heading south and away. For some reason, I felt relieved to get out of there. It felt claustrophobic and strange, like the roof and all the cars were going to collapse on top of me. I had been feeling a little off-center ever since I saw those guys dumping the packages, though, and it was probably nothing to worry about. Except, for some reason, even with Liam walking beside me, I couldn't shake the funk.

"So, how did you end up teaching?" he asked me.

"I'm not really sure, honestly."

He laughed. "Not a ringing endorsement."

"No, but it's true. I studied education in college and all that, but I don't really know why I decided to."

"I hear you. Funny how that can happen sometimes."

"What about you? I mean, how did you get into restaurants?"

He looked away. "It was a family business. I took after my old man."

"What sort of place did he own?"

"He owned a bunch of spots downtown. Most of them are gone now. Some of them were sold."

"Anything I would know?"

He shook his head. "Probably not. Real shitty, small places. A few Irish bars, a few delis, stuff like that."

"What's your place like?"

"The hipsters call it a gastropub, but I call it a bar with decent food."

I laughed. "I've never heard that before, ‘gastropub.'"

"What can I say, I'm very sophisticated."

I laughed again and touched his arm. I wasn't sure why I did it; there was something about the moment, funny and intimate, and I wanted to feel him for a second. He didn't flinch away, and I got a short moment to feel the bulging muscles under his tailored black button-down shirt. He smiled at me and moved a step closer as we turned a corner, heading west.

"Anyway, that's enough about me," he said. "Where did you grow up?"

"Outside of the city, in a suburb called Trevose. What about you?"

"Here, in Philly. I'm a born and bred native."

"I figured. You have that something."

"Oh yeah, that something? I can't tell if I'm being insulted or not."

"You're not, or maybe you are, I don't know. You just have this attitude."

He laughed and moved closer, our bodies inches away. I could practically feel the heat rolling off him and smell his clean musky scent.

"You don't seem to mind it, Miss Boucher," he said.

"Careful, Mr. Sullivan," I replied, smiling.

He opened his mouth to say something when suddenly his phone started ringing. For a brief second, something flashed across his face, some emotion I wasn't sure I could read. It was possibly terror, but that didn't make sense. But it was gone before I could really understand what had happened.

"Sorry. I need to get this," he said.

"Sure, okay."

He pulled the phone out of his pocket, turned, and walked in the opposite direction from me. He flipped it open and answered it, speaking low and moving farther away. I watched him and could see how tense he was, his whole body practically wrapped around the phone. I crouched down next to Petey, who wagged his tail at me.

"What's this about?" I said to him.

Petey sniffed at me in response.

After a minute or two of talking, he hung up the phone and slipped it into his pocket. He walked back over to me, holding his hands out.

"Hey, I'm really sorry to have to do this," he said, "but I have to get going."

I shrugged. "Sure, it's no problem."

"I wish I could walk you home, but it's pretty important."

"I totally understand. Don't worry about it."

"I'll see you tomorrow."

I nodded. "Nice running into you."

He paused and grinned at me. "Yeah, I bet it was."

What an arrogant asshole. I couldn't help but smile though as he turned and walked back the way we had come, moving pretty quickly. I watched him go for a second and then turned, heading back toward my apartment.

"Come on, Petey, let's go home," I said to him.

There was something about that man, about his delightfully cocky smile and his attitude, like he was the best thing in the world and everyone knew it. There was something about his body, ripped and lean. As I walked home, Petey leading the way, I couldn't stop thinking about Liam Sullivan. He was the only thing on my mind.   





 





Chapter Seven: Liam


Flirting with the girl I was about to kill. That was a new low for me.

I couldn't do it. Of course I couldn't do it. Not when I saw who it was.

I put my head in my hands, cursing my terrible fucking luck. Any other person in the entire city and I probably could have gone through with it. Anybody other than the one woman I couldn't get off my mind. True, I barely knew her, but there was something pure about her, something that drew me in and made me want to know her more.

And because of that, I was fucked, and so was everyone I knew.

The office in the back of my restaurant felt smaller than it usually did. The walls were cluttered with receipts and other documents, plus pictures of my family: my father, my mother, and my little brother. But none if it mattered to me, not anymore, not since I was well and truly, deeply and darkly, fucked.

The call that pulled me away from her, the call that I was dreading the whole time, came from Max. He was gruff and short, and wasn't really pleased when I gave him my bullshit excuse. I told him that another person walked down into the underpass at the exact same time the girl did, which made me abort the whole thing. He was pissed, but he didn't argue, just hung up the phone like he usually did. But hearing his voice, and being reminded of what I was sent down there to do, ruined whatever pleasant moment we had been having. She went from the beautiful, innocent, perfect thing that I needed to the girl I was supposed to murder.