Stake You (Stake You #1) Page 11

Chapter Seven

  When I left for work the next morning, I had that feeling. As though someone was staring at me from the distance, and it made me twitchy. But at least I would be home early enough. I fully planned on locking all of the windows and doors as soon as I got in.

  Yet as I made my way to the pub, I wondered if I was being paranoid, if I had worked everything up in my head. Maybe my mother’s insecurities were hereditary or something. After all, Sully had pretty much left me alone. Only problem with that was him having a new target.

  The weekend cleaner had already swept through the pub by the time I got there. With an evil smirk on her face, she warned me she had left the bathrooms for me. Lovely.

  After scrubbing up vomit, blood, and God knew what off the bathroom floor, I pushed through the rest of the pub, attacking whatever the cleaner had started… but not finished. She did it every time she saw I had been rostered for the day because she knew she would get away with it. I would rather do her job than have the day start with a filthy pub.

  Bitch.

  After the cleanup, the only other floor staff for that afternoon turned up, and I moved into the kitchen to start the soup. The chef didn’t start early enough on a Sunday, at least in my opinion, and I had to prep for him. Which sucked. Every week.

  By the time he turned up, I had already chopped up everything and started on the sandwiches. He hated when I did that.

  “I told you I didn’t want to do sandwiches this week,” he roared at me from the kitchen door.

  “Tough shit. It’s on the menu. You want to cut something out then turn up on fucking time for a change.”

  “Uppity bitch,” he muttered, forcibly moving me away from the food.

  “And don’t forget the dinner menu’s already up. Get it ready after lunch.”

  I left the kitchen with a grin on my face. His slurs were worth it if it meant I had ruined his day. I hated lazy people, and he was part-sloth.

  The afternoon passed by quietly. A few regulars, one or two families. I wasn’t rushed off my feet, and I got to play with a cute baby. The harried parents were so happy to eat their food without being hassled, they gave me a massive tip. Which only served to remind me of Sully’s excessive tip at the party. Which reminded me of the things he said about my mother.

  I sat at the bar on my break, sipping on a cordial and emoing over Sully. If he hurt my mother, I would…

  “Devlin, can I talk to you?”

  “Shit.” I knocked my drink over as I swung around to see who was speaking. I couldn’t believe the relief that seeped through me when I saw it was Base. “It’s just you.”

  “Who were you expecting?”

  I shook my head as I cleaned up the spill. “Never mind. What are you doing here?”

  “It’s about Aoife… and Sully.”

  “Ah.”

  “Yeah. Ah. Can we talk?”

  “I have about ten minutes on my break left. Take a seat and be quick about it.”

  “Still bossing me around.” But he smiled, and I was relieved we weren’t about to have a blazing row. Yet. He took a seat next to me, but he twisted a beermat into pieces, much to my silent annoyance.

  “Why are you really here?”

  “Sully came back, and now he’s latched on to Aoife.”

  “And she’s lapping it up,” I said.

  He nodded glumly. “Yeah. This stuff between you and him. Is it for real, or just some crappy drama?”

  I stared at him in disbelief. “Are you serious?”

  “Think he’s actually dangerous?”

  “Maybe.”

  “I’m worried.”

  “So am I. Why does nobody else think he’s weird?”

  He inched closer to me. “I know, right? I feel like I’m in the freaking Twilight Zone or something. And remember that stuff he said about my sweet little girlfriend? That kept playing on my mind, and now they’ve twinned up? Is this like some kind of payback or something? I don’t get it.”

  I sighed heavily. “I think so. It’s like he’s playing some kind of game. Like creeping people out is fun for him.”

  “Did he hurt you?”

  I scoffed at his question, but my hands were shaking again. “He didn’t lay a hand on me, if that’s what you mean. But he’s said some weird stuff. I mean, really weird stuff. Stuff he couldn’t possibly know. About my mother, my past. He even made an odd comment about you. He’s been following me around. And no, I don’t think everyone likes me, okay?”

  He flinched. “That was just a joke. This is serious. This isn’t like Aoife. We hang out pretty much every single day. Now he basically tells her to stay with him, and she does. No looking back. I don’t like him at all. The things he says are way off the wall. I don’t understand why Aoife would suddenly be into him.”

  “I keep saying it’s strange!” I was just delighted there was someone agreeing with me. Even if it was Base.

  He deflated. “To be honest, I was kind of hoping I was overreacting.”

  “Sorry. I don’t know what his game is, not exactly, but he’s sending off all the wrong signals. He basically threatened my mother, but he phrased it oddly, made it sound like he was a… Never mind. All I’m trying to say is I think he’s bad news. Especially for Aoife.”

  “Why especially for Aoife?” he leaned toward me, interest in his eyes, and I couldn’t help reciprocating.

  “Well, she’s too sweet. She won’t say no to anyone. She would rather be hurt than hurt someone else. The girl has no backbone.”

  He jerked back. “There’s no need to say it like that. Just because she isn’t a ball-buster doesn’t mean she’s a doormat.”

  “That’s exactly what it means. And don’t kid yourself. He’s the kind of person who would happily walk right all over her. What kind of nutter follows girls he barely knows home? Serial killers and rapists, that’s who. It isn’t right.”

  He took a sip of my now half-empty drink. “I hate that I’m agreeing with you.”

  I snatched the glass out of his hands. “Don’t think it’s fun for me either. So what are you going to do? I tried talking to the pair of them, and Aoife got all defensive. But you’re her friend. Won’t she listen to you?”

  “I’ve tried, too. I can’t get her alone. They’re glued at the hip. I thought maybe you could speak to her when he’s not around. Catch her in the bathrooms or something.”

  I made a face. I really wanted to get as far away from the situation as possible. But something inside pulled me toward Aoife, and only partly because I felt as though Sully was messing with her to screw with Base and me for standing up to him. With that in mind, I nodded at Base.

  “I want to help her get away from him,” I said. “But she has to want to get away. I mean, maybe there’s nothing going on, and we’re both paranoid.”

  “It’s possible. But I doubt it. I could say a lot of things about you, Devlin, but you aren’t a sheep. You think for yourself. And if you agree with me, then I know there’s something badly wrong here. Wanna hang out later to make a plan of action?”

  “Oh. I, um, I can’t. I have to have dinner with my mother after work.”

  He looked disappointed, and for some reason, I couldn’t stand it.

  “Maybe after school tomorrow.”

  “Okay. I might go to see Aoife and try to talk to her again.”

  He hung about for a little while, but eventually left, leaving me confused. He had validated my concerns, but I was now more worried about the way we had been so easy together, as though we weren’t enemies. Then again, enemy of my enemy made a lot of sense. Sometimes desperate times called for desperate partnerships.

  The kids at school might have thought I was harassing Sully, but I was determined to find out something about him. Something that might help us scare Aoife off. I could only hope we were right, and that we weren’t making a massive mistake.

  A larger part of me hoped we were wrong.