Don't Close Your Eyes Read Free Page A

though I were the nicest guy outside this building anyway.  "This is personal.  Not Nightshade bullshit.  Track her down.  I want info.  I want her schedule, her job, her address, her bloody name for fuck's sake, all of it !"  Alright, I may have escalated pretty quickly on that last bit...
    He cleared his throat, in a bit of shock, I think.  I sighed and waited with a roll of my eyes.  "Alright, Boss, I'm on it.  I'll be in touch this evening with anything I come up with by th-"
    "You get me the shit I want, I will give you one hell of a bonus," I emphasized.  "You know I'm good for it."  He whistled, and I could practically hear the bloody grin on his face.
    "Sounds like your own number is up, then, Boss?" he chuckled.  "This is just rich, can't wait to see what this girl must look like to have earned his majesty's attention," he said in amusement.  I clenched my jaw in irritation.  I think we can all agree that there is a certain bit of courage we allow ourselves on a telephone that we may not possess were we speaking face-to-face, correct?  Chris was mighty courageous.
    "Chris..."
    "Sorry, couldn't resist.  I'm on it."  He had no real reason to fear me as we were too close, but it didn’t change the fact that I was one dick you didn’t want to piss off.  The fact that I could still hear the smile in his tone had me fighting one of my own. 
    I hung up and walked to the windows, looking down at the ant-like people milling around below on their lunch breaks.  Was she down there now?  Was she only so many floors below me?  Wherever she was, whoever she was, I hoped that I would know by tonight.  Patience would just have to be the order of the day, and it was all I could do to wait until then.

 
     
     
     
    CHAPTER 1
     
                  Nearly Two Years Later
    I sighed in complete exasperation.  I hated dealing with any kind of shit on my Sunday mornings.  Sundays were mine.  The day for simply holding to any shred of humanity I might still have left since this bullshit with Nightshade had completely overtaken my bloody life.  It didn't used to be like this in the beginning.  Hell, this damn year was taking its toll on me, and I was finding it hard to be cordial anymore.  The hospital visits were the only thing keeping me from flipping out and losing it on this son of a bitch on the damn phone with me now.
    "Ray, Tom tells me you fucked with one of the servers.  You fuck with one of them, you're fucking with me.  You know that.  Says she put in for a different shift so as not to be harassed anymore.  I will not tolerate shit that does not pertain to our actual business at hand, and I am not tolerant of your distraction when we are neck-deep in this damn deal!  You are not to go into the bar again without me or my strict permission, understood?!" I shouted into the phone.  I was hardened for sure.   I needed to see my sweet little Anabelle who was so soothing, keeping reality of the value of life at the forefront as she fought so bravely for her own.
    I heard him sigh, and I knew he wanted to pop off, but he wisely kept his damn self in check.  "Yes, Boss.  No more."  Good minion.  Still didn’t feel good enough, though.
    "I mean it, Ray, you keep your damn dick in your pants, otherwise I might just have to cut that shit off when I straighten your ass out if it happens again," I told him, and I heard his choked cough as he knew I meant every bloody word.  I didn’t make empty threats.  It was a widely known fact about Mr. King.  I ran my finger along my lower lip in thought.  "Eh, maybe I will let you keep that and take your balls instead.  After all, only a man with no balls gets off on harassing a woman the way Tom claims you did, enough of this shit.  You are dismissed.  Do not make me get involved, you prick.  I mean it." 
    I sat back in my dining room chair and rested my feet in the one across from me as I clenched my jaw in irritation.  My back hurt from