Everything We Ever Wanted [Everything #1]

EWEW - LWTBB 33: Lights Out, Party Girl

"Try harder, Anna."

I leaned closer so only he could hear what I had to say. "It's a good thing you were lying – I'd never fvcking let you work in a place like this."

I felt Nico's soft chuckle, before I heard it. "Okay, Mom."

Our drinks were served. Nicholas handed me mine with an arched brow. "Only take one sip and pretend to look indifferent as we talk," he ordered under his breath.

I was only planning to take one sip anyway. The whiskey was watered down and my concoction barely tasted of soda. "What are we looking for?"

Nico gave me his profile as he unscrewed his water bottle and took a swig. Before he could even swallow, his body, which was parked between my parted legs, froze to cold stone. His jaw worked as he swallowed. "That. Be sly when you look over."

Discreetly following his line of vision, I took another sip despite my better judgement.

In the corner of the bar, there was a hefty looking biker parked on a stool, holding a cue stick by the billiard tables. Anger twisted his craggy features and he used the blue bandana on his head to wipe down the sweat smeared on his face and bushy beard. The telltale signs of a hidden gun dented his side pocket, but I couldn't see as properly since three men blocked our view of him. He was arguing with them, spit flying out of his mouth.

There were two men on either side of a slightly shorter one, dressed in matching black suits with similarly built bodies. The shorter one, however, caught my attention.

He was talking fast, a baleful air surrounding him like a thick cloud. He pushed aside the flap of his expensive looking coat, revealing a well-tucked revolver in his waistband.

The biker seemed to pale, color instantly draining from his face. His anger dissipated and he looked desperate as replied – almost bargained - to whatever deal was going on. It was only when the shorter one smirked victoriously and faltered back a step, a quarter of his face finally illuminated from the one light not fused in that section of the bar, that my pulse quickened.

My glass almost slipped between my suddenly clammy palms.

Nate mentioned the possibility of a hit-man earlier, and Joey Donald definitely looked every bit in character.

My throat ran dry and I struggled to slow the fast pace of my thoughts.

When we were younger he had a typical bad boy aura, something mischievously bad but tenfold times more innocent than now, the one that screamed I'm-bad-for-you-but-you-can't-resist-my-charm-anyway. Now his aura had morphed into something deathly that yelled several shades of pay-up-or-get-three-bullets-lodged-in-your-fvcking-skull.

It's as though I was glimpsing him - barely ten meters away from me – for the first time.

All I could think was that this isn't a Joey I remembered. He had many sides, but this wasn't one I'd ever seen. This wasn't even remotely similar to the time I'd seen him in the alleyway with Sam when he'd confronted me, or the time he taunted me in the convenience store and put his fvcking hands on me. It must have been underlying – this side of his – swimming beneath the surface of his true nature.

Like a switch had turned on, his character had gotten worst after my father died, showing me that he could be a merciless bxstard who mentally abused me and tormented me relentlessly. But this was horrifying to witness. This ruthless killer side.

This. This was the guy I'd once loved and given away myself, too. This was the reason why my family fell apart. Why my dad was six feet beneath the ground.