Kinged(13)

“Yeah, he does. Do you know each other?” I didn’t see how they could, but it was the only explanation I had.

“We do, in a sense.” He looked incredibly pained, as if the conversation were causing his actual physical discomfort.

“Wow, that’s a crazy coincidence.” I didn’t know what else to say. I waited for him to continue.

“Darcy, you shouldn’t see him. Rex Latour is bad news. Very bad news. He’s not the kind of man you want to get involved with.” Shane looked serious as he spoke, his eyes clear and wide.

My eyes narrowed. Was Shane Green giving me dating advice?

“I’m not really sure how that’s any of your business,” I said slowly.

“It isn’t. And I would never have this conversation if you weren’t an important person to Amy. I’m only looking out for you here, I hope you believe me.” He held up his hands in a conciliatory gesture.

“I understand your intentions are good, but I’m an adult, Shane. I make my own choices.”

“Of course. Of course. But, and this is the last thing I’ll say, I know Rex Latour. He was a friend of my brother’s, back when my brother was involved in some pretty awful things. Rex has a violent reputation. I think you should stay away from him.”

What did he mean, a violent reputation? I saw the way he fought those guys, but other than that he seemed harmless. I supposed it was pretty intense the way he took those two guys down, but something about that drew me toward him. I had the distinct feeling that Rex may have been dangerous, but he wasn’t dangerous to me.

“I appreciate your concern, Shane.” I could tell this conversation was difficult for him. It was the most we had spoken without Amy around since I moved to the city, I realized. I didn’t go out with Amy and Shane, mostly because they didn’t go out at all, as far as I knew. He avoided public attention to an insane degree, and hated talking about his personal life. I realized I hadn’t known he even had a brother, let alone a brother that was involved in illegal activities. I doubted anyone knew that beyond his closest friends and family. I mentally made a note to cut him a little more slack in the future. He clearly loved Amy, and was going outside of his comfort zone to try and protect someone she cared about.

He nodded. “That’s all I wanted to say.”

“Tell Amy I said thanks for her concern.” I stood up to go.

“I will tell her that,” he said, and smiled. I could tell he was relieved.

I grinned back, and then left the office. Janice was talking on the phone as I passed, but she gave me a slight nod. I walked quickly to my desk, my head buzzing with conflicting thoughts and ideas. I was hung over and barely holding myself together, and certainly not in any state to process all of that information. I buried my head in my heads as Marissa launched back into whatever story she had been telling before I stood up and left. It was going to be a long day.





Chapter Six


Two days later, Saturday afternoon, and I was spending the day on the couch. My conversation with Shane kept replaying in my mind, over and over. He seemed genuinely worried about me, although incredibly uncomfortable. I didn’t really know Shane, and suspected nobody but Amy really did, but his warning seemed heartfelt and kept ringing in my ears. Rex Latour is a violent man. Stay away from Rex Latour. I sighed and looked out the window.

Before I could fall too deep into another daydream, my phone rang. I swiped right and held it up to my ear.

“Hello?”

“Darce, it’s Amy. What’s up?”

“Not much, kiddo, how are you?”

“I’m fine. I heard Shane talked to you.”

I laughed. “Yeah, he gave me a stern talking to.”

“I’m sorry. Seriously, I didn’t tell him to do that. I only found out about it today.”

“Yeah, well, I would have told you earlier, but you’ve been MIA at work lately.”

Amy sighed. “I know. I’ve been swamped with the new app launch, I haven’t had time for anyone.”

“Anyone but Shane.”

“I know, I’ve been a crappy friend. Let’s get dinner tonight?”

Lately, my relationship with Amy had been strained. We were best friends, sisters even, but her job and her new relationship were all consuming, and we barely had time to see each other. That worked fine when I lived in a different city, but we had no excuse anymore not to see each other. I knew how busy she was because I worked on her app, but I also knew she could have been delegating some of the responsibility. Amy was a very particular person, and liked to micromanage as much as possible.

“Yeah, definitely,” I said. I needed to be more understanding, and she was definitely trying at least.