All The Pieces (Pieces of Lies 3)

ALL THE PIECES

(Pieces of Lies 3) 

by Angela Richardson

ALL THE PIECES

Copyright © 2013 by Angela Richardson.

All rights reserved.

MOBI ISBN  978 098 750 5538

Thump, thump
.

I see blue eyes.

Thump, thump
.

I see brown eyes.

Thump, thump
.

But where are the green eyes?

Thump, thump
.

Where are my green eyes?

Thump, thump.

My green eyes have been taken away from me.

And all I can hear is the thumping of my heart.

As I slowly descend into my darkness,

Unable to breathe,

Unable to feel,

Unable to say anything for fear I will scream and crumble.

Thump, thump.

I had one minute to tell him.

One minute to let him know that it didn’t matter, that nothing mattered anymore.

But I didn’t.

I didn’t get the chance to tell him my own secret.

Thump, thump.

And now he is gone.

And so am I.

I banged forcefully on the cold wooden door as tension and nervousness coursed through my veins. I closed my eyelids hard and opened them, looking down to the floor. I noticed my hands were clenched. I rolled my neck and returned to looking at my fists. Of course they were clenched. I desperately needed to hit something to stop this mess of unexpected emotion bubbling inside my chest. I felt the faint beading of sweat form on my brow. I stood back on my heels; moving away from standing so close to the door. I couldn’t help the way my body was reacting. It was because of her.
Lenorah
. In a minute I would see her, and everything I thought I could do, everything I needed to do, would probably fall to pieces. I couldn’t let that happen though. I was the better man, and I knew I had to be strong and do this for her.

“Mate, what the hell do we say to her?” Weston’s voice seemed to pierce my stilted mind. My body flinched at the sound of him. My hands unclenched themselves and began to rub onto my jeans, wiping away the remnants of sweat that had built up in my palms from squeezing so tight.

I turned to look at Clint standing next to me.  
Mate?
When did Clint Weston and I become fucking mates? Oh that’s right. When we both realized we weren’t each other’s enemy and now had a common goal. But even though we were here with the same purpose, the same plan; the way he called me mate still touched on a nerve. I still couldn’t be completely comfortable with the guy who was her first. Knowing he had touched her in her most intimate places still had my blood boiling and my eyes seeing flaming hot torches. When I looked at him, all I wanted to do was rip off his arms and beat him to death with them so he’d never have a chance to touch her again. I was however, able to control that particular urge in this situation.
Mate? Really Weston — C’mon.
Perhaps the term was his way of dealing with this fucked-up situation too. Our history with her was all competition against each other. Friendship seemed like the most unbelievable kind of outcome, yet here we were, working together, and not choking each other until one of us passed out. I suppose we had to both put the need to pummel each other out of our heads if we were to make it through this, and I had to remind myself, it can’t have been easy on the guy as well. He loved her just as much me, I think, and we both lost her to ‘him’. I didn’t even want to acknowledge his name, but it was in my head, every second as I thought about her. Fuck, do I even dare say it? Yes, I suppose I should.
Joshua Hollows
. Joshua ‘
I—manipulated—those—two—ignorant—fucking—goons’
Hollows. He was the reason we were here after all. He was the reason we will n...

STOP. I couldn’t think about that right now. If I did, I would turn and walk away from this door and this plan would be tossed to the wind. Joshua Hollows did not deserve our help. Joshua Hollows deserved to never see her again and rot in whatever hole he had crawled into. Weston and I had discovered what he did and planned on confronting Josh and telling Len everything when they returned from Europe. However, due to these untimely and complicated circumstances far from our control, we could no longer do what we intended. Now, we were here for Lenorah, and Lenorah alone, even if she was part of a joint package.

Damn. This was going to be hard.
I knew my words would change once I saw her face, but I had to remember what I was here to do. I couldn’t forget our purpose.

I cleared my throat as I turned to Weston. “We tell her as little as possible. We tell her the basics. Everything else
has
to happen naturally. It’s the only way we get to him, and it’s the only way to see this through to the end. Alright?”

I heard Weston gulp. I could understand why he wanted to do this. He had explained his reasoning on the plane, but still, it must have been eating him up inside like acid. It was the same for me too except I had mentally locked up my heart in an iron box before leaving New York. I couldn’t possibly let my heart lead my actions here. If I did, it would certainly have disastrous consequences. When the time came to do what we came here for, I don’t think either of us would be able to really follow through or be able handle the look on her face. This was going to be gut-wrenching painful, to the point where I would be writhing around on the ground, trying not to dry heave myself into a coma. But, both of us set out to finish this, and nothing, especially my love that was still burning like wildfire for Len, could stand in the way.

“She isn’t going to like us being here. This is her holiday, and after that call she made to her Dad, the last thing she will expect is the two of
us
showing up like white knights. It’s going to look really bad and suspicious.”

I nodded at Weston in agreement. “Yes, I know she is going to have a million and one questions, and she’ll probably slap us both in the face just for being here sticking our noses in where we don’t belong, but we have already discussed this. You know what has to happen. You know what we need to do.”

Clint rubbed one of his eyes in frustration. “Do I? Do I really? Look Sam, I really don’t know if I can...”

Shit. Weston was already knee-deep in hesitation and we hadn’t even seen or spoken to her yet. I swear, if he stopped this from happening, I would take him out myself. Fucking hearts and flowers pretty boy here was going to ruin this before it even got going. No bloody way was he about to selfishly change the plan. I had my orders and my own reasons. If it wasn’t for Clint’s connections in London, I would knock him out right now.

“Are you fucking kidding me Weston? After you begged me and her Dad to do this. You’re changing your mind now?” I stared at him coldly as I watched him take another gulp as we waited at the large wooden door. It had only been a few minutes, but it felt like hours. Time had stopped in that little Czech hallway between me and my former rival. Suddenly our urgency to get to Lenorah had slowed down and stopped moving. Perhaps it was because I could sense Clint’s restraint and fear and it suddenly filled me with doubt too. I suddenly felt the urge to break down the door and carry Lenorah back with me to New York and forget about the letter in my pocket, and everything that was already set in motion.

“It’s just... Norah. You know... Norah. My... Our... Norah. I can’t let her... With him. I can’t... I just don’t know. It’s going to be so...” Clint trailed off.

I cracked my neck, shaking off my own doubt. It was lucky for Lenorah that I was more of a man than Clint Weston and I could put her needs before my own. I wondered what she ever saw in him in the first place. I found it hard to believe there was more to the guy then all this weak emotion, and since he was acting like such a girl, I figured I needed to get in touch with my feminine side to help him see sense. I decided to rest my hand on his shoulder, trying to be understanding of his uncertainty. I’ve seen chicks do this when they try and calm a guy down. Should work on pussy-boy here. Hopefully it will ease Weston’s head back into the game.

Clint’s body flinched as he turned to look at my hand on his shoulder. “Man, why are you touching me like that?”

“’Cause you look like you are going burst into tears and cry like a bitch,
” I thought to myself. I smirked at the idea of Clint becoming a weeping mess right now. That would look really weak to Len, and I could use a good laugh. Although if Weston fell apart we would be much worse off. He was an important part of this equation. I sighed, remembering again that I needed to keep things moving along. “You look like you need to relax and get your head back in the game. Look, I know how you feel. Trust me, I know. But we have to do this. It was your choice to come with me remember. Len’s Dad and I appreciated all the information you gave us, but we didn’t need you here and now that you are, I swear if you do anything to deter this...this...I will fucking end you. Got it?”

Weston moved away from my hold, and my hand fell to my side. He was still dealing with everything; I could respect that. As long as he did nothing to deter the plan, I could handle his doubt and hesitation. Hell, I would control it if I had to. I would nail him to a wall inside a broom closet for the duration of this whole fucking mission to make sure he didn’t affect its course.

Finally the door knob started to twist.
About damn time.
The wood looked like it was being pulled towards itself, but with no success. The door knob twisted again, and this time a thump came from behind the door. I think someone was kicking it from the other side. Some rather loud curse words and another swift thud followed.

“Fuck this God damn fucking door...fuck, fuck, fuck!...”

Weston turned to me, looking a bit taken back. “Holy shit, that’s not Norah, that’s...”

Weston stood back as the door flung open and a cute-looking red-head stepped forward, closing the door swiftly behind her so we couldn’t see in. I had seen this girl before but I couldn’t quite place her in my head. She had dark brown eyes like Len, and choppy red fire engine hair. Her face reminded me of an animated doll, her lips jutting out, her mouth open in shock. Her eyes bulged and became very wide as she looked at the two of us. She shifted her exasperated expression back to Weston.

“What the fuck are you two doing here? Seriously, what the fuck Clint? When Norah’s Dad said he was sending a couple of guys to help, the last fucking thing I expected was Norah’s two ex-boyfriends showing up.” The red-head eyed me again. “Your name’s Samuel isn’t it? I remember your face from the Gala.” Her finger was resting rather forcefully on my chest. I pushed it away, and she sneered at me as I eyed her back. “Someone better start explaining this fucked-up little reunion I just walked into. This has to be some kind of sick and twisted joke, and considering the situation, it’s far from fucking funny.”

Clint tried to step forward towards to her, but she instantly held up one of her palms, stopping him from getting closer to the door. Clint backed off from the little firecracker to avoid hitting her hand. “Tess, please just stop. Joe sent us alright. We are, ‘the guys’. We were the ones sent here to help.”