Obsidian Souls (Soul Series) (2 page)

             
I could not help but laugh at Gilly’s remark, and I felt some of the tension release its death hold on my muscles. I just hoped he would stay gone for the rest of my time at the bar. There was something about that brief connection that was completely unsettled me. I had no intention of ever stepping a foot in this place again.

Chapter Two

             
“Caden? What’s wrong with you?” Mike was close on my heels as I entered the room.

             
If it wasn’t one of my inner circle, I never would have said a word. Only this small group of men could I ever really trust.

             
“There is a female here.”

             
“There are females here every night.” Michael stood there with a confused look.

             
“No. She’s one of ours.”

             
“Wow…are you sure?”

             
“Yes. She’s the petite brunette sitting with two other women at table seven.”

             
“Yikes, well what should we do? Tonight‘s the worst night for her to have wandered in here.”

             
I heard the concern and unease in Mike’s voice. Breathing deeply, I tried to regain my control, as I stood there deep in the under cellars where only me and a very select few ever entered. The air was several degrees cooler down here, and it felt good to breathe in. I was always slightly warm upstairs in the bar.

             
“It’s been a long time since we’ve had a situation like this.” All the possible ramifications sank into my head and I mentally got my brain around the situation.
             

             
“Do you want me to try to get her out?”

             
“I’m going to watch her from down here on the monitors and hope she leaves before the others arrive. She doesn’t look like the type to close down a bar so it should be okay. Give the guys a heads up to be on alert.”

             
Mike nodded and left to go warn the guys.

             
This was the heart of the operation. I could see everything in a ten mile radius from here. I had cameras on every street pole for miles. The lights never went out in this part of town. There weren’t any burglaries or vandalism. If something happened here it was because I had given the nod. And now, a tiny little clueless brunette was on the verge of causing all hell to break loose.

Chapter Three

             
“There he is. Let me go get him. I‘ll be right back.” Amanda jumped up and starting waving and heading toward two men near the door.

             
“Thank god! Even I’m ready to leave at this point. Could they have gotten here any closer to closing?” Gilly looked to the two tall large men her friend was approaching. “The one’s not bad looking. The one she’s handing the papers to is a bit rough around the edges. Do you think they are lawyers too?”

             
Gilly was always willing to downgrade her physical standards for a better paycheck. She called it the point system. If he made nice money it would offset the points needed in the physical department and vice versa. She swore everybody used this point system on some level, she just had fined tuned it. She even had a phone app worked out for it that she wanted to market. You would just take a picture of the guy and it would calculate what salary he had to make. Considering she was a computer programmer, it wasn’t THAT odd. You’d never peg her for a techie either. She was as flamboyant as the red hair on her head.

             
“Well? What do you think? Lawyer?” Gilly pressed.

             
“I don’t know. If she’s giving him papers from Mark I guess there’s a decent chance, but what do I know. Do you think she’s going to bring him and his friend over? I’m beat. I really don‘t want to run out on them, but I‘m ready to leave. Where did you park?” My feet were already aching at the thought of trekking back to the car.

             
“About a block south of here.”

             
“Oh good, I need a ride to my car,” I said with a sigh of relief.

             
“I can give you a lift.”

             
The deep voice coming from behind me startled me. I threw Gilly a look for not warning me of his presence.

             
I turned and was shocked by how large the man was up close. He could have been a professional linebacker. I got to my feet, even though they were aching from my new heels, to level the playing field a bit. Even with the extra four inches I didn’t even come close to clearing his breast bone.

             
“I’m Carl. Mark and Lisa’s friend?” he said it in a manner that implied I’d be bending over backwards to be nice to him after knowing that. As if I had some knowledge of him being an important person. What he didn’t know was, I didn’t really care who he was or what he did. I either like you or I don’t and not much changes that. Unfortunately, this time around, I took an instant dislike.

             
“Thanks, but my girlfriend Gilly can drive me.”

The guy was giving me the creeps and I took a step back to regain some of my personal space. He had an overbearing feeling to him, and he stood just a little too close. Everyone has a certain personal zone around them that they don’t like crossed. The average person likes twenty-eight inches in front of you and twenty-four inches on the sides. My personal space needs happen to be a bit larger than most, but even by average standards he was way over the line. If I can smell your cologne, you either have too much on, or you need to take a step back. This guy needed to do maybe a little of both.

             
I turned to look back at Gilly, so she could confirm what I had just said about her giving me a ride, to find she had already abandoned me for a chance to chat up one of the cute guys that helped run the bar. There was no way I was getting her attention now. My only hope was to make a break for the ladies room and dodge him that way.

             
“If you could excuse me a moment, I need to use the ladies room.” He looked as if he wanted to follow me, but he did not budge as I started to leave. As I turned toward the hallway that led to the restrooms, I caught sight of the owner again. Luckily, it seemed to be Carl, Mark’s friend, who was getting his attentions now. If I didn’t know better, I would have said it was a look of warning. It was clear that these two men not only knew each other, but would have preferred not to.

             
This night was getting odder by the minute. My head was feeling slightly fuzzy now as well. I couldn’t remember how many glasses of wine I had waiting for Mark’s friend to show. I might text Gilly and Amanda goodbye, and sneak out and grab a cab.

             
I ducked into the bathroom and ran my hand under the cold water. I made a little cool compress out of some paper towels and put it on the back of my neck to see if that would help with the fuzziness. I figured about five minutes had passed. He had probably moved onto another female by now, and hopefully I could just sneak out.

             
Pressing my hand to the wood of the door, I pushed it out just enough to glance with one eye when another woman coming in swung it open.

             
“Oops! Sorry honey! I didn’t see you there.” She stepped back to let me out of the doorway so she could proceed inside. I had to either leave or look crazy, so I decided to step back in and out of the doorway and just look crazy. Better that, then getting stuck with either the icky guy or the sexy but scary guy.

             
“Is everything okay?” She asked with a strong Brooklyn accent.

             
“I’m okay, thanks. Just avoiding some people.”

             
“Oh boy…I know what that’s like. At least I use to. Men don’t bother you as much once you hit my age. Enjoy it while you’re young and sexy. The men probably go crazy for you.” She said this with a warm smile.

             
“I do okay I guess. I wouldn’t say they are falling at my feet.” I was a bit uncomfortable with the direction this impromptu conversation with a stranger in the bathroom was going. The last thing I had been looking for was public bathroom therapy. What was it about female public bathrooms that led to these weird heart to heart conversations with strangers? I’d say it was the alcohol, except it seemed to not be a localized phenomenon that only happened in liquor serving establishments. I had a whole big conversation with a grandmother type just last week in the bathroom at Macys about whether I wanted to have a family. Perhaps it was the intimacy of the setting that made you more open and vulnerable?

             
As if on cue, “Maybe you shut them down before they get a chance?” She said this with a little grin and knowing smile. Had to give it to her though, for free bathroom therapy, she wasn’t all that bad. I did tend to be standoffish at times.

             
“Yeah, maybe.” She went into a stall, and I took another peak out the door. It looked clear. I yelled a goodbye to her as I seized on my opportunity to leave. As I made my break for it, I saw that Amanda was still talking with the creepy guy and the other one that had shown up with him. Gilly was standing next to her, busy flipping her hair at his friend. Too bad they were all by the front door blocking my exit.

             
The bar was emptying out as the bouncers were herding people toward the doors. There was a group of people leaving through a side door towards the back, and that seemed to be my best shot. I would have to tough it out the eight blocks back to my car in aching feet if I couldn’t find a cab, but this was the safest neighborhood around so at least I figured I’d make it. I didn’t feel as confident if I went with Carl.

             
I shot out of the bathroom and kept my head down making a beeline to the door. It let out into the alleyway, and I just held my breath that the creepy Carl hadn’t noticed me leaving. Heading down the alley towards the street, I grabbed my phone and sent a quick group text to Gilly and Amanda so they wouldn’t wait for me. Amanda always had her phone in her pocket on vibrate, and I knew she would get it. I’d explain to them tomorrow why I dashed out, and neither of them would care. They’d only want to know why I didn’t ask them for help escaping. Gilly looked like she was into the guy she was talking to so I didn’t want to crash that, and I didn’t want to put Amanda in an awkward situation with a colleague of Marks. This was just easier. Or at least I thought it would be.

             
I pushed send on my phone to finish the text to both of them and looked up to see that I was the only one left in the alleyway. And then I saw Carl turn the corner. He was blocking the only way out onto the street. He must have seen me leave and ran to cut me off to have gotten here so fast. He was just standing there, like he had been waiting for me. It felt very odd and well into the uncomfortable range.

             
Okay…I could handle this. I had taken some self-defense classes and a year of Tae Kwon Do to boot. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that I was bad ass, but I thought I could hold my own even with my small stature. I might be reading the situation wrong anyway. Maybe he’s just a harmless oaf that seems sleazy. Either way I had no choice. I’d have to let this play out as he was blocking my path.

             
“Hi Carl, I didn’t notice you there.” I was trying to sound normal but not sure he was going to buy the act since it so clearly conflicted with my earlier demeanor. He didn’t reply. He just smiled as he walked slowly closer. He was still about ten feet away when I started to dig in my purse, as if I couldn’t find my keys as he approached.

             
“Oh no….I think I left my keys inside, I always do that!” I took a quick step towards the door. A little too quickly because he picked up his pace a little anticipating my urge to flee and clearly didn‘t buy my excuse at all. I nervously pulled at the handle, but it wouldn’t budge. Oh no, it must only be opening from the inside because of the late time. Taking a couple deep breaths, I got as prepared as I could for the mountain of man heading towards me.

Chapter Four