The Two Kings (Afterlife Saga) (21 page)

“Keira stop! You don’t have to explain or apologise for anything. I am a big boy and knew what I was getting into
.
” Oh God
,
this just made me feel
even
worse!

“What do you mean getting into?” I asked feeling ashamed.

“Keira
,
I couldn’t help the way I felt for you and I guess I still can’t but I have known for some time that you didn’t feel the same. That still didn’t stop me though. I could tell that first night when you saw him that he was the only one you had feelings for
....
but Keira that doesn’t mean I blame you and I certainly don’t want to stop being your friend
.
” I
had tears welling up and I hid
my face behind my menu for a moment.

“I don’t deserve such a good friend
.
” I said looking down and reading nothing on the plastic in my hands. He pulled the menu from me and held my hands in his.

“Keira
,
I am lucky to have you as a friend. I won’t lie and say I am happy that you and Dominic Draven are together but I am glad that you are with someone who obviously cares a great deal for you
/
” This made me look up at him and his eyes showed such sincerity.

“How do you know that?”

“Keira
,
when you disappeared he had everyone in the club spoken to. The band stopped and the lights on full. I saw the desperation in his face when I handed him the letter you wrote. I was very surprised when he thanked me and even shook my hand
.
” He said
,
loo
king at the same hand as if
seeing the memory on it.

“However
,
I wasn’t surprised that he cho
se you. He is lucky to have you.” This made me blush again as I wasn’t great at receiving compliments, especially when I didn’t think they were justified by my appalling behaviour.

“Keira
,
will
you tell me something if I ask?” I knew this was coming and I told myself earlier that if he asked I would trust him. He deserved that much from me…he deserved the truth. I nodded knowing this wasn’t going to be an easy conversation to have.

“What happened to you that night?” His voice was soft and soothing. I knew this was him trying to make it easier for me. Then the waitress came over to us
,
giving me little more time to think about how I was going to start. But the more I thought about it, the more I knew I had no other choice than to start at the gruelling beginning. Jack ordered two sodas and I looked outside to find my watch dog on guard. I was about to wave but stopped myself before I looked nuts. After all no one else could see him and this was proven when a couple walked
past him and came into the din
er. And trust me when I say this was not a man you would just have walked past without a mouth dropping moment!

I waited until the cokes came and the snotty waitress went back to refilling her salt pots. Bless Jack because he just sat patiently and waited for me to find the courage to start.

“Well there really is no other way to put it, so here goes….I was kidnapped
.
” I said but he looked like he was going to choke on the ice cube he’d been sucking on.

“Jack
,
are you ok
?
” I said handing him my napkin so he could dispose of the cube.

“I’m sorry can you just run that through me a
gain please….you say you were….k
idnapped?” He whispered that last word like it was a sinful one.

“Look
,
I think I need to explain my past before I explain that night. The thin
g is Jack
,
this is the most priva
t
e
thing I could tell anyone. I have been running from it for two years now and only my family knows the truth. It’s the reason I came here and it’s the reason I have….
l
ied
.” I said this expecting
more of a reaction but no
,
so far so good.

“What kind of lies?” He said in a non judging tone.

“First, my real name is Catherine Keira Williams not Johnson and I am really twenty three not twenty one like everyone thinks.” I let this sink in before carrying on. His face tried to remain unmoved but I could see the shock in his eyes. Whatever he had expected
,
it hadn’t been this. I
continued to tell him about how and
when I first met Morgan and what the result of that was. I tried to miss out the details but Jack wanted to know, as many would. I answered his questions and saw how difficult it was for him to hear. He tensed his fists and gripped the table making it shake. He even ground his teeth whenever I got to a more disturbing part.

Once I had finished I told him the second half but had to change it slightly to leave out all the supernatural stuff. I explained how he had tricked me into meeting him and luckily Draven found where he was keeping me before he could really hurt me. When I had finished
,
he lent back against the leather backed booth and stared at his hands for a while before speaking. He then raised his eyes and I saw pure hate there for the very first time and it scared me when he said
,

“I hope Draven killed him
!
” This was so out of character that I shuddered. What could I say, yes he did, he stabbed him in the heart once but then he came back and killed himself! Nope I couldn’t go with that. When he saw me struggle for an answer he made it easy for me.

“You don’t need to tell me Keira, I think I can gather for myself and with a man like Draven I can’t imagine it was a good way to go but for this
,
I would agree with him. This Morgan
clearly needed to meet his end.
” He said bitterly at the thought of me in the clutches of that mad man. He looked down at my gloves that were under my sleeves and shook his head at what they must be hiding.

“I don’t think I have met anyone as brave as you. But I have to tell you
,
I never thought you tried to kill yourself. I always thought it must have been some kind of accident.” This touched me more than he could ever know. I had not yet met anyone that thought this
way. Everyone had thought I trie
d to commit suicide, even my family had thought that I had tried to end it all but they had all been wrong. I just could never bring myself to tell them that they might have been next in Morgan’s deluded, warped mind! I took his hand in mine and kissed it.

“Thank you. You don’t know what it means to me
,
to hear you say that. You are the first to have given me the benefit of the doubt. Everyone else just assumes…well you know
.
” I said looking down at my arms and I automatically pulled down on the material.

“I really appreciate you confiding in me and I will not say a word but I guess you knew I wouldn’t, otherwise you wouldn’t have told me.” I looked up to meet his face that had once again changed back to his usual happy self and he winked at me making me laugh. He really was one of the best friends I had ever had!

“I don’t deserve such a good friend” I said as I playfully flicked him with the end of my straw.

“Well what can I say, I will just have to charge you later on
,
when your rich boyfriend opens you a bank account!” He said laughing and I faked being hurt and flicked even more coke on him. We both giggled liked naughty kids and we got some evil looks from the other customers.

“Now pack that in!” I said before he could throw an ice cube my way. Jack got up and went to the rest room and as I fo
llowed his tall frame walk away, I noticed a
pair of eyes watching me…
purple eyes!

Oh great
!
Drav
en had been watching my entire ‘date’
as he called it! I now swallowed hard knowing that I was going to be in for it later. I shook my head at him but the middle aged trucker he was using just mouthed the word “No” at me
while shaking his finger at me
. When Jack got back
,
I decided to try and ignore him
and I carried on with Jack as if
I hadn’t noticed. Well I was going to get an ear bashing anyway so I might as well have a fun afternoon before Draven got hold of me.

“So Jack, it’s my turn to ask something of a sensitive nature
.
” He curved up one side of his mouth like he had been waiting for me to ask.

“You want to know about Celina don’t you?” He said looking at me over his now refilled coke glass.

“Well yeah
,
” I said shamefully feeling like a gossip.

“It’s fine, well I mean
,
it freaked
the crap out of me
when I saw her there but now I guess I can finally move on. But I won’t lie….it hi
t me hard.
” I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. All this time he had thought Draven had stole his girlfriend away two years ago, he had even semi believe
d that he might have killed her.
Celina was Draven’s assistant and had made me believe his fiancée
at one point
but this had been a lie to keep me from feeling for him. Of course it hadn’t worked but it still hurt like hell! Celina of course was a Demon and had started a relationship with Jack years earlier. This is one of the biggest crimes a Demon or Angel can commit. So when Draven saw her in his club with Jack he put a stop to it. But instead of punishing her
,
he a
llowed her to stay in this plane
and work for him. Jack
,
of course
,
didn’t know this and still doesn’t, so I was curious to what she told him that night he saw her up in the VIP area.

“She explained that she was actually engaged
.
” My heart stopped for a moment but started again when he continued.

“She thought the guy had been unfaithful but it was a misunderstanding. She ran away to her aunt’s house and no one knew where she was to explain the truth. He works for Draven
,
apparently, so when he saw her that night at the club he took the opportunity to tell her what really happened. She didn’t go into it and he wasn’t there that night but when he works for Draven, she tags along.” This story had been well thought out but I gathered for a Demon
,
lying wasn’t a hard job to master and if it didn’t wor
k, they could just control their mind so they would believe what they were told
. Which had me wondering if the reason he seemed to be taking this so well, wasn’t actually down
to some mind manipulation? What
ever the reasons I was just glad he didn’t seemed to be hurting about it.

“I know what
you’re
thinking, why not just tell me that…right?” He said and just nodded as I was pretty sure he wouldn’t want to know what I was actually thinking!

“Well she told me that her fiancée is a bit of the possessive type and she didn’t want him finding out about me because she didn’t want him to do me any harm. But when I helped Draven by giving him that letter
,
he agreed that he would not discuss our meeting again” I was lost for words and knowing the truth about this wasn’t making it any easier to pretend I didn’t.

“So how do you feel now?”

“I gu
ess I’m fine, now I know.
” Ok
,
I think he must definitely
have
received a little Demon therapy from the red headed beauty Celina.

“Well I’m glad something good came out of that night. Thank you for giving Draven that letter, you help
ed
save my life
.
” I said sincerely.

“I just wished I’d had the guts to do it sooner but no offence, your boyfriend is one scary
arse
dude!” I smirked and looked sideways to the trucker which Draven was still using to listen in and I saw him grinning at this statement. He obviously liked the idea Jack was scare
d
enough of Draven, to not pursue me romantically. Then I laughed as
the waitress eyed him warily so he went back to s
ipping his coffee. Thankfully Jack thought I had laughed at his last comment so I said
,

“Yeah
,
he can be intimidating at times but he means well and he was extremely grateful for what you did
.
” I said
a bit louder than I needed to
and the trucker snorted making the people next to him jump at the sudden outburst. Jack raised his eyes in disbelief.

“No really
,
” I said again
.