Borden (Borden #1) (8 page)

Me:
Sweet. Make sure it’s both eyes tho just in case she’s a resilient little bitch. I’m going to bed now. See you at paradise tomorrow <3

I wrapped myself up in my covers and waited for sleep to take me. Though I was dead tired, I tossed and turned until midnight, thinking of the alleyway and Borden’s face. At one point, I got out of bed and went to the window. I peered out through the blinds, scanning the streets, looking for Hawke’s dark car parked anywhere nearby. When there was nothing, I returned to bed and finally passed out into a long dream about a dangerous man.

I saw his lips.

Saw his eyes.

Saw the dark look on his face.

My mind tormented me with flashes of him, of how scary and beautiful he was, until my body was a mixture of fear and arousal.

And then I awoke, mortified I’d been dreaming about a sick man who could have easily snapped my neck in two.

Emma

The diner was unusually busy all of Monday morning. Along with the other two waitresses, Blythe and Tessa, I had to skip my first break. None of us were pleased.

As usual, Denny the Dick, our bipolar asshole boss and owner of the diner, had locked himself up in his office the whole day. He sat in front of his computer and pretended to be busy with “work”, but the last time I checked, jacking off to orgies in his office wasn’t something you got paid for. The lazy ass pretty much just left us to fend for ourselves and the kitchen was none too pleased about it either.

And on that case, how hard is it to clear your web history? Or even clean up your freaking keyboard when you were done? There were things on there so old I was sure they could rival the dinosaur age.
Fucking yuck.

It was only after lunch that we realized there was a school holiday and that was why we’d seen so many children and parents coming through. We usually did really well with the regulars, and they were extra patient with us when the place had picked up the pace. The food was standard, nothing special, and the environment was welcoming enough. It was a good place of employment for the time being, especially having great staff to work with.

“You’re looking exceptionally beautiful today,” said a regular, John, with a broad smile on his wrinkly old face after I’d stopped by to get his order.

“Thank you, John,” I said, offering him the brightest smile I could muster. I was still a little out of it, especially after my unsettling dreams, but the normalcy of the day was helping.

“Has a lucky man scooped you off your feet yet, sugar?”

I sighed, trying to be patient with today’s round of questions. He usually asked the same ones over and over again, and I wondered if he even realized that.

“Not lately,” I forced out. “So did you want the usual? Ham sandwich and a coffee?”

“Sure,” he replied, his eyes gazing up and down my body. John was a seedy old bastard, and you can’t go through life as a waitress without bumping into one of those at least once. It was with great luck mine had to be a regular. “Shame, such a shame. You know, if you ever need a good greasing” –he winked– “I’m here for you.”

I clamped my mouth shut hard for a moment, fighting the nausea swimming up my throat. I managed a stiff smile. “Will definitely consider that, John, thank you.”

I turned away from him and my smile instantly fell. What in the actual fuck? Did a sixty something year old just offer to
grease
me?

“You okay?” Blythe asked, catching my bewildered look.

“I shouldn’t have stopped by John’s table,” I simply responded.

She cringed. “Did he offer to butter your buns like he did with me last week?”

“No, he offered to grease me, and that was after a creepy wink.”

“Oh, yeah, the winks are always the creepiest.”

“I’m taking my break,” Tessa cut in, fanning her face.

We nodded at her. This was the usual. Tessa took the first break between us. She was in her mid-forties, and surprisingly faster than Blythe and me combined. Off work, she had a never ending supply of drama in her life being a single mom with a run of shit boyfriends. Despite all that though, she was still a romantic and I envied her for it.

Blythe, on the other hand, was the talker. Only a year older than me at twenty four, she looked like twenty and had an incredibly athletic body to die for and a beautiful wholesome face. It took only a few dirty jokes from her and we bonded very quickly and became the best of friends.

“You’re going to have to fill me in on Lara the bitch,” Blythe told me as we passed one another.

“Definitely will,” I replied.

“I want every detail of that night.”

I nodded again. Definitely
not
. I told her everything, sure, but there were certain things that must be omitted. I didn’t want her knowing about Borden. The less she knew about a particular danger, the better. Not that he was any danger to me or anything. It happened, and I was pretty certain that was the end of that.

I let her have the second break when Tessa returned, but by this point the diner had finally settled down immensely and the tables were no longer packed.

“You need a ride tonight?” Tessa asked after we’d served everyone their meals.

“I’m going to Granny’s,” I answered. “I’ll have to take the bus.”

“That’s a long ways away, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, if your schedule changes up, I’m more than happy to drop you off. I’ll be going up that way again more regularly now. I’ve gotten back together with Dan.”

I faked a surprised face because their on and off relationship no longer shocked any of us.

“Yeah, I know, right?” She smiled brightly, turning a light pink in the face. Her fake red hair reminded me of the redheaded woman from the other night, and a flash of panic zipped down my spine. “He’s been begging for another chance and I admit I’m missing him too.”

She talked about it for a good five minutes before Blythe finally made her return. I headed into the kitchen where Pat the cook had left me a freshly baked blueberry muffin on one of the tables.

“Thanks, Pat,” I said with a grateful smile. I was starving.

Pat returned with a sheepish grin. “Of course, Emma. Anything for you. Just, uh, let me know if Blythe wants anything too, okay?”

I nodded, fighting the urge to roll my eyes at him. Yet another man crumbling for Blythe. Not a surprise since the girl had men wrapped around her little finger at the drop of a hat.

I took a seat on the chair that was against the opened back door. Tessa usually sat here to smoke her cigarettes and Blythe sat here to make her phone calls. I, on the other hand, sat here to enjoy my muffin and get away from the noise for a good fifteen minutes.

There was nothing to look at except for the view of the next door’s clothing shop wall where some graffiti had been freshly scribbled on. I noticed a caption that hadn’t been there before, written in terrible penmanship, that said, “Only dead fish swim with the stream.”

Pretty bloody deep, random dude!

My flushed skin welcomed the autumn air. I leaned back and picked out the blueberries from my muffin, munching on them hungrily whilst daydreaming about Granny’s yummy sausage rolls. It would be nice to have a good meal. It’d been three days since I last had a full stomach. Didn’t help I couldn’t keep anything big down from the fear of what had happened. And still –
STIILLL
– that dream plagued me. I wondered why my mind jumped straight to Borden like that. Didn’t help the man looked the way he did. Call it sick curiosity, or the fact I’d always admired his appearance through the papers and was baffled that he actually looked better in the flesh, but there was something about him… Some kind of strange perverse pull to figure him out and get to the bottom of the truth surrounding the rumours. It was stuff made for fantasies, the mystery blaring in your face and yet remaining so unattainable.

Like everyone else, I would never figure it out.

Suddenly a hand settled on my shoulder. I nearly jumped and looked up, only to find a bewildered Blythe.

“Emma, hey,” she said hesitantly.

“What’s up?”

“Someone’s asking for you.”

“Who?”

Blythe looked very uneasy. “It’s…that Borden guy. You know,
the
Borden. Everyone’s pretty shaken up right now.”

I froze, wide eyed and freaked the hell out.

“The place is like a tomb. You can freaking hear a pin drop. I tried to serve him, only he said he wanted you and that he would wait for you, but that I should let you know right away.” Blythe looked confused. “I didn’t know you knew him! I mean, that’s crazy. You should have freaking told me! What’s he like? He had on this scary ass look–”

“Shit,” I cursed.

I stood up and shoved the muffin into her hands, wiping mine against my uniform, wondering why on earth this man was here asking for me. I mean, sure my mind was all over him like white on rice, but I didn’t want to actually see him again. Unless I wanted to die, and yeah, I was probably going to die. Fucking fuck.

He doesn’t believe you. He knows you heard something. You’re done for.

“I can tell him you’re not here, Emma,” Blythe said from behind me, catching on to my uneasiness. “Do you owe him some money or something? Should I call the police? Those guys are dangerous.
He’s
dangerous.”

“No. It’s fine. I’ll deal with it. It’s fine. I’m fine… It’s…” I stopped talking and tried to calm down.

“What’s going on?” she suddenly demanded, taking hold of my arm. Her voice turned serious as she said, “Please tell me you didn’t fuck something up. Please. You have to tell me, Emma. You have to trust me.”

“It’s fine,” I repeated, pulling away from her grip.

“It doesn’t look fine. I’m going to get Denny out –”

“No! Don’t start any problems, Blythe! I’ve got this under control, and besides, what the hell is Denny going to do? He’d shit himself if he knew Borden was here.”

She frowned at me, suspicion in her eyes. “Well, what the hell have you done, Emma?”

“Nothing bad.”

“Nothing good either by the looks of it. What’s happening? You look like you’re about to go to your funeral, and with someone like Borden waiting out there, I’m inclined to think that’s actually a possibility.”

I stiffened at her glare and shrugged. “Honestly, Blythe, the less you know the better.”

Her face fell. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

I didn’t answer. Instead, I left her like that in all her confusion. I didn’t want to keep Borden waiting. I walked back in and took small steps forward, waiting for the sight of him to come into view. As I walked out of the kitchen, I grabbed my notepad and pen out of reflex, like maybe in some candy land alternate universe he was here to just order something, like a coffee or a sandwich or a milkshake or… Fuck, no alternate universe would let that happen.

I found him seated alone in one of the booths against the entrance window. He was casually positioned, wearing dark jeans and a black long sleeved shirt that emphasized his broadness. Borden was fucking huge.

He was looking out the window, twirling a silver zippo lighter in his hands as I approached the table. I could feel the eyes of many others in the diner looking our way. As if sensing me – because he sure as hell couldn’t hear me by how quiet I was – he turned his gaze to me. He patiently waited for me to get closer. I stood a few feet away from him, unable to hide my shock. What the hell was he doing here? Hesitantly, I opened my mouth to say something, but he beat me to it.

“Sit down,” he ordered, motioning to the seat across from him as he pocketed his lighter.

Well, okay.

I was going to be sitting down regardless of him telling me to or not.

I did as I was told and stared at the table to avoid his piercing eyes.

“Having a good day?” His voice was so void of emotion, it was almost robotic.

“You don’t have to take the cordial route,” I plainly replied. “I know you don’t give a fuck.”

He stilled for a moment, like he was surprised by my remark. Then, he nodded slowly, muttering, “Right. Let’s get to the point then. You know why I’m here, don’t you?”

“It’s…to do with that night.”

“Good, you’re clearly smarter in the mornings.”

I fought hard not to glare. The jerk.

“Now I think it’s important for us to begin an open and honest discussion in regards to that night, and we can start by you looking at me.”

I did as I was told, only because I knew what he was capable of and he scared the shit out of me. With the sunlight pouring through the window and framing him the way it did, he was irresistible eye candy, and I understood in that moment why women flocked to him, regardless of all he was. Looks like his had the power to disguise the darkest sides in people.

“That’s better,” he said with a single approving nod. “So, I’ve been tossing your other night’s words to me around lately, and I have a few discrepancies I’d like to get to the bottom of. I’m going to ask you several questions, Emma, and you’ll answer them truthfully.”

It was my turn to nod.

“Good.”

He pocketed his lighter and straightened up so that he was fully facing me. Then he folded his large hands together over the table. I had a thing for hands. Couldn’t stand a man with manicured smooth ones. My gaze unintentionally lingered on his long fingers, finding callouses I knew he had. There were no rings or watches on him. He was incredibly plain, and a small part of me felt particularly intrigued by that.

“What did you see the other night?” he asked, focusing my attention back to him. His eyes roamed all about my face. “Keep looking at me as you answer, Emma.”

This was a difficult task to do considering I usually had wandering eyes when I lied. I kept them firmly on his, though, and decided this was not the time to let my fear control my words.

“I saw nothing,” I answered, and that was the truth. “It was dark.”