A Dangerous Affair

A Dangerous Affair Chapter 69

Tom and Stephanie re-entered the pub and headed to the bar to order more drinks. Phillipa spotted Stephanie and mouthed,

“You okay?”

Stephanie nodded and smiled.

Tom was a little disappointed to see that Stephanie’s friends were still there but he made a conscious decision not to dwell on the fact. After passing Stephanie another glass of wine he sat on a bar stool with his back to the bar, picked up his bottle of beer, swept an arm around Stephanie’s waist and pulled her back into the circle of his arms. He linked his hands possessively in front of her and waited to see if she would protest. To his surprise she didn’t protest at all but placed her free hand over his and sipped her wine.

Stephanie could sense Brick just a few stools away from them but she daren’t risk a look in his direction. Instead she focused her attention on Bob’s crowd but was a little disconcerted to see that many of the officers were watching Tom and her with great interest.

Tom’s attention was only on one person however, Dan. He was standing a little way from them, leaning against a pillar, with Phillipa and Simon chatting to his left. Dan was not listening to the conversation around him though, he too was only focused on one person, Tom. His eyes moved from Tom’s hands around Stephanie’s middle to Tom’s face. Tom’s eyes were slightly narrowed, a cold, emotionless look about them as he stared steadily back at Dan. Dan was by no means put off by Tom’s glare and he continued to hold eye contact with him. With his eyes still on Dan, Tom moved his lips to Stephanie’s ear and whispered something. She smiled and he nuzzled her neck a little before taking another swig of his beer and moving his eyes back to Dan. Dan’s expression hardened and, although he still refused to break eye contact with Tom, he lifted his glass of whiskey to his mouth, drained the contents, handed it to Simon and disappeared into the crowds. Tom watched him go and strained to see in-between the people, keen to know where Dan was moving to. It wasn’t long before Tom spotted him by the exit. Dan opened the door, hesitated and turned to take one more look in Stephanie’s direction before turning again and leaving the pub.

Unbeknownst to Stephanie or Tom a broad grin spread across Brick’s face behind them.

Stephanie turned around to look at Tom. “He’s gone now, hasn’t he?”

Tom nodded but looked slightly unsure of how this would make her feel.

“So are you happier now?” she asked.

Tom wasn’t sure if she was angry with him all of a sudden and he was finding it difficult to know how to reply.

She smiled at him. “Well if even if you’re not, I am!”

He laughed. “Yeah well I’m not exactly going to miss him!”

She smiled again and reached forward to kiss him on the cheek. “I’m going to go and have a quick chat with Pippa now.”

“Sure,” he smiled.

Stephanie was surprised to see that Pippa had apparently vanished, leaving Simon standing on his own.

“She hasn’t deserted you has she?” Stephanie said to Simon.

“Not exactly, she’s gone to powder her nose,” he replied.

“Ah. Think I’ll join her,” Stephanie said, pushing her way through the crowds to the ladies rooms at the back of the pub.

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Tom joined Brick and observed the glass of whiskey in his hand. From further down the bar Barker noticed that Tom had moved and he headed in their direction.