“Damn it, Manny, if you
don’t tell me what’s wrong I’m going to assume you’ve found someone else and
you’re trying to figure out how to break the news to me. You’ve been totally withdrawn
for the last two days.”
“It’s—“ Manny looked up at
Hamlin, who was standing almost menacingly in front of him. “I haven’t found
someone new, believe me. You’re the only one in my life that I love, and I have
no intention of changing that. Ever.”
Dropping to his knees,
Hamlin took Manny’s hands in his. “Then what’s going on?”
“Don’t shoot me, but I’m
under orders not to tell you.”
“Well break them, damn it.
This is me. Whatever it is I’m not going to go shouting it to the world. I
thought you knew me better than that.”
“I do damn it! Hell, I
don’t—“ Manny buried his face in his hands.
“Mijn liefde, tell me,
please.”
“You’re not going to believe
it.”
“Short of your saying that
Cerdic’s back and behind what happened to you, I’ll believe anything.”
Manny laughed softly. “I
told you that you wouldn’t believe it.”
Roughly pulling Manny’s
hands away from his face, Hamlin growled, “You have to be kidding me. I
thought—you said you killed him. What the hell happened?”
“Apparently someone on the
other side wanted him back, doing his worst.”
“What are we going to do to
stop him?”
“’We’ aren’t going to do
anything. You don’t know about this, remember. And what I’m going to do is
being decided by those in power. It could be nothing at all.”
“Like hell! He tried to have
you killed.”
“I suspect that was Mr.
Shadrick’s doing, all on his own. Cerdic would have known that I couldn’t be
hurt that way, to say the least of dying from it.”
“But he will come looking
for you.”
“Possibly. Probably. I would
if I were him. And that, Hamlin, is why you’re going as far away from here as
possible no matter what Alasdair and Sofietje decide about me.”
“As if that would do any
good. If Cerdic knows about us I’ve got the feeling he’d find me even if I was
sent—to the moon. If he doesn’t, then there’s no reason for me to leave. Ergo,
I go nowhere unless you have to. End. Of. Story.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For those who are interested, 'Silver Presents: Three's a Party' is out today. It's an anthology in which I have a story.
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