Chapter 9

“You could have caught him,” I mumbled, stepping towards Cole’s prone body and Gabe.

He shrugged, letting a smile form on his face.  “True, but what’s the fun in that?  The guy had to be making you uncomfortable.”

It was my turn to shrug at his comment.  The truth was that I wasn’t uncomfortable at all.  Not once did he look at me as if he was going to cause me harm. A look of disbelief and anger had crossed his face, but not once did I feel threatened.  “What are we doing with him?”

“You mean, what am I doing with him?”

“No,” I said in a hard tone, taking a step towards the man.  “I meant what I said.”

He let out a sigh as if he were working with a difficult child.  “Look, Sweetie.  You have to—”

“What did you call me?”

Clear confusion flew onto his face before he masked it.  The confusion most likely had to do with the hostility in my voice.  “You don’t like endearments,” he mumbled under his breath, “note taken.  What do you want me to call you, Dorothy?”

“That is my name.”

“You take your job too seriously,” Gabe said.  He bent down, pulling something from Cole’s neck.  “Look, Dorothy.  You have to get back to the party, and do your job.  There are people who expect to see the both of you, and if you’re both gone, they’ll know something is wrong.”

“Won’t they know something is wrong when only I show up?” 

He shook his head at me, while turning Cole over onto his back.  “No.  It’s not unusual for only one of you to show up at an event.  You both have a mutual hate for one another.  Well,” he said, a smile crossing his face, “you did.”

“Ass,” I whispered.  I didn’t trust the man, didn’t know if he would harm Cole.  Would he simply do what I would have done, take him home, put him in bed, and then leave?  I doubted it.  Walking towards him, I kept the hostility on my face.  Stepping over Cole as if he meant nothing to me, I pressed into Gabe until he took a step back. 

Reaching up, I grabbed one of the metal chopsticks from my hair.  He watched the action, but his expression didn’t change.  I ran it down his cheek, before stopping at the corner of his eye.  He didn’t blink, didn’t move a muscle.  “No harm to him, okay?”

The corner of his mouth rose in a half smile.  Just as I hoped, he took a step forward, pressing his body against mine.  I didn’t move my hand an inch, knowing that if I did, the man wouldn’t have an eye.

“You really like putting sharp objects in my face, don't you?” he whispered, before shaking his head at me.  “I’m taking him home, telling my man there to keep an eye on him, and then coming back here.  Nothing else.”

“Promise?” I asked, smiling back at him while letting the small weapon slip from his face.

His hand snapped out, grabbing the chopstick away from me.  Before I could stop him, he twisted me, putting my back to his chest. “Promise,” he whispered in my ear.  I stood still, expecting him to attempt to use a sort of scare tactic on me, but when I felt his hands in my hair, I knew the man would never do anything that I expected.  “Done,” he mumbled, patting me on the side.

I took a step away from him, trying not to make my moves to quick.  His hand gripped my arm before I could take another step forward.  “Be careful,” he said with a chuckle, “you don’t want to trip on your rich boy.”

He let me go without another word.  Stepping over Cole, I stopped for a moment, reaching up to touch my hair.  “You fixed my hair?”

“I fixed your hair,” he repeated, humor in his voice. 

Not looking back, I walked towards the party.  Gabe was more than I had thought he was; he knew more than he should.  That meant only one thing; he had been on the job longer than I had.  He was there when Dorothy was there, which meant Mitch should know about the man.  Why hadn’t he warned me?

“Dorothy.”

I stopped, looking over at a smiling Kyle.  “What are you doing here?” I asked, stepping towards him.

He shifted uncomfortably for a moment before shrugging.  “I was waiting on you or Cole.  Cole usually stays by me during these things.”

“You don’t like them do you?”

“No,” he mumbled before his eyes grew wide, “but don’t tell Mom and Dad.  I don’t want them to make me stay at home.”

Reaching over, I pulled the kid closer to me.  I knew that he didn’t want to be left at home because he was afraid that they would never return if he didn’t go with them.  It was a classic abandonment issue coming into play, one that I had experienced for a while as a child.

“How about next time, we both stay home?”

“You’d do that?” he asked, a large smile on his face.

I nodded, while pulling him towards the party.  “For you, I would.  Now, come on.  We have a party to go to.”

He laughed at me, while following.  As we slipped into the crowd, he tugged on my hand. 

“Yeah?”

Kyle pointed at my ear.  “You’re missing an earring.”

“So I am,” I said with a large smile on my face.  Reaching up, I pulled the other from my ear.  “Here,” I pressed it into his palm, “keep this forever, and no matter where you are, I’ll be able to hear you.”

“Really?”

“Promise,” I mumbled.  Turning back to the crowd of people, I took a deep breath.  I was ready for my last night as Dorothy Herring.