Do I have any idea how much trouble I am in? I don't see why I am the one in trouble. He is the one that threw a knife through the dude's throat. All I am guilty of is reacting, rationally to a rat attack. I frowned. His face did not change from the stony chiseled perfection of irritated maleness. Geesh, this man was really something and those eyes. Don't look at the eyes you will be sucked into the endless monologue of wondering how they are so blue. It really can't be an actual thing, he had to have had something done. Nobody has eyes that color.
He snapped his fingers in my face again. I scowled at his hand.
"Stop snapping in my face."
"Stop going wherever you go off in your head."
I narrowed my eyes further looking at his lips to avoid the chasm of his eyes. They were not exactly full but not really thin-well they were rather thin right now because he had them clamped together. I let my eyes go up a bit but not too far so see his cheekbones and nose. I am guessing that had been broken some time before and clearly had not been set. There was a bump near the top close to his eyes. Don't look in the eyes. Geesh he is like the snake in Jungle Book. The cartoon version not the live action. You know the one that sounds like Winnie the Poo. What? I like kids movies.
"Look, " he paused, "look lady, it is not what you think and now you are in mortal danger."
"Mortal danger? Who are you? The rich modern version of Gandalf? Nobody says mortal danger any more. Well, I don't think anybody ever really said it except maybe in the 15th century so I am going with nobody . EVER."
He rolled his eyes. I tend to get that reaction a lot. I already mentioned I tend to ramble when I am uncomfortable. Luckily, I ramble about things that do not matter so I never give up secrets. I will talk endlessly about shoes, nail polish or even wontons but I never but never give up important secrets.
"I can keep a secret."
He looked doubtful.
"What? I can. It is in the vault. As a matter of fact my memory is fading, I am not even sure what that maniac looked like. Was he a man or a woman? See, the details are fading fast. I bet if you walk away I will forget what you look like as well." Not a ant's chance in a flooded anthill I will ever forget the eyes.
Rosa chose that moment to approach Suit to see if he wanted to order anything. Suit looked like he was about to decline when I spoke up, "It is rude not to at least buy me a drink."
Rosa glanced sideways at me with a smirk that struck fear into my Valentine-despising heart and then back to Suit. He sighed heavily. "Another round of whatever she is drinking and a whiskey with ice for me." Rosa nodded and walked away.
"On the rocks." I said evenly.
"What are you going on about now?" Clearly at the end of his very considerable patience.
"You say, 'on the rocks' not with ice. Everyone knows that- well everyone but you. Where did you grow up? What part of the world has rich Suits that don't know how to order a drink in the real world?" I gasped. "Do your parents know where you are?"
His glare became more intense.
"They don't. You have escaped the castle and all the king's men are looking for you."
"We are in the United States, there is no king here."
"Sure there is no king here, but you could be from, from…" I glanced around frantically trying to remember any country that still had a king. It can't be England- I know Harry and William. What other country has a prince?
"Monaco!" I said way too loudly in my excitement at remembering a country that still had princes. "Are you the prince of Monaco gone rogue?"
Although Suit still had a glare working his face, I could see the wrinkles near his eyes deepen. He was amused. Ha! I made the Suit crack a smile. Well close as I was going to get today anyway.
"I am not a prince." I interrupted him with my next whisper yell, "You are the KING!?"
He took a deep breath and the eye crinkles completely disappeared.
"NO. Stop talking for a fucking moment and let me speak."
"You don't need to cuss at me. It is rude. And frankly shows a decrease in intelligence." I mumbled.
He took another deep breath and continued. "Your life is in danger. You will not be safe until this," he paused, skipping over the cuss word, "situation is resolved."
"What is today?" I asked abruptly.
"Thursday." he answered just as abruptly.
"No not the day, the date?"
He flicked out his wrist to look at his very expensive watch. I know that watch is more than my current car. "February 13th."
I got up, pulled some cash out of my pocket and threw it on the table saying, "No need to buy me a drink. I hope you get your," I paused mimicking him, "situation resolved. Have a nice life Suit." I started to walk away as fast I could without actually running or looking like I was in a huge hurry. I might have mentioned earlier that I am not the most graceful person on the planet. I routinely trip over nothing. Now is when my body decides to betray me and trip over something. I am not even sure if there is something to trip over. I reached out a hand to grab anything to stop the downward motion and grabbed the table cloth of the nearest table ripping it out without disturbing anything on the table. Later, I will be properly amazed at that feat but right now all I can think about is how fast the ground is approaching my face. I twisted at the last moment landing on my shoulder because my hand was tangled in the tablecloth. I heard another gun shot on my way down. The entire resturant went crazy. Everyone was screaming and running for cover. I army crawled my way to the kitchen to make sure Rosa, Ling and Sally were alright. They were crouched down below the counter. Sally had her phone. "Yes were are at the golden dragon on 6th street. There is a man shooting at people." pause "I don't know I did not ask who he was." pause. "I think I heard three shots." she glanced at me holding three fingers up and nodded continuing her story. Since I knew Sally had this under control I quickly rushed Ling and Rosa out the back and was working on getting everyone in the kitchen evacuated. I squat-walked back to the doors between the kitchen and the dining area. I chanced a glance through the circular windows and pulled back quickly when I saw the shooter looking around for someone. Where is Suit? He can clearly handle himself but why has he not thrown the knife at the shooter yet? What if he is hurt? Blooming heck! I am going to have to find out.
I popped my head back up to glance out the tiny window and saw the shooter's back so I quickly eased out of the kitchen and snuck behind a fallen table that was about 10 feet behind the shooter. I looked to see he was still facing away and ran towards him wrapping my arms around him taking his shooting hand down to his side as we fell to the floor. I rolled us over so he was forced to follow me, Man this dude was heavy. Eat a salad every now and then, geesh. When his body had traveled over mine I used his momentum to slam his gun hand down. He dropped it and it skidded away from us. I rolled on top of him digging my elbow into his family jewels and threw my other hand up to knock his chin back. I pulled the nearest table cloth not leaving everything on the table this time and quickly wrapped it around his hand, rolled him over and pulled the other hand behind him and wound the table cloth around it tying it as securely as I could for a table cloth. I lifted up my torso with one knee digging into his back and the other on the floor beside him right as the cops came storming in the building. I lifted my hands in the universal I didn't do it sign but did not move until a cop came over to take my place.
"Why am I not surprised, Nora?"
"What? Come on Jeremy. I just happened to be here eating some wontons." When he gave me a knowing smirk like he got the joke I was not telling I retorted, "No really. I was this time, I swear on my Grammy's hand stitched quilt, it is the truth."
Jeremy quickly stopped smirking. He knew how precious my Grammy's hand stitched quilt was to me. "No sh… I mean no kidding, really?" Jeremy knows I don't like cussing.
"Was he shooting at you?" Jeremy asked.
"I don't know."
"How do you not know, Nor?"
"I tripped right as he came in. I didn't see him until after I got everyone in the kitchen out the back." His shoulders started to shake. I punched him in the one that was closest to me.
"I don't know how you can be so clumsy and good at what you do at the same time." I smiled.
"I know right."
Jeremy, got handcuffs on the shooter and called another officer over to help haul him to the squad car. I looked around. Oh man. The place looked like a war between cupid and John Wick or maybe that chick in Peppermint. There were tacky Valentine's day decorations everywhere, not a single table was still upright. The tacky streamers were falling down and the floor was littered with dishes, napkins and tablecloths that all had some kind of heart or arrow or some other Valentine's day decor. Well there is at least one thing good out of this. Those tacky decorations will not be pulled out next year.
I looked around casually for Suit. When I didn't see him right away I became more serious in finding him. I walked up to Troy, another officer I knew. He was actually a detective now but I still called him officer just to push his buttons.
"Hey Troy."
"Hey Nor. What are you doing here?"
"Wrong place, wrong time. Hey, did you happen to see a really large man with amazing blue eyes, I mean AH-MAZE-ING, in an expensive suit?" Troy looked around and then back to me with his eyebrows scrunched.
"No. Should I have?"
I started to say yes but hesitated. Remember, I can keep a secret. Especially if my life is in "mortal danger."