Page 129 of Veiled in Brick

“No. Just—”

“Cas,” Liam scolded her gently. “Don’t be a pain.”

She rolled her eyes, murmuring, “I’m far from it,” as she sipped at James’ glass once more.

“Cassie,” James complained.

She noted happily, “This is good. I like the smoke in it.”

Liam chastised her once more, “Cassandra.”

“Luke,” she sang to Luke, who was biting his lip to prevent himself from laughing at the sight of James’ growing annoyance. “Can you get Jay another? I’m gonna finish this one.”

Luke snorted. “Uh huh—on it.”

Cassie threw the remainder of James’ drink back, not a wince from the straight liquor in sight.

James stared at her, his neck outstretched as if he were waiting for the punchline of a joke.

“That—that’s not cheap shit—”

“And neither am I,” she retorted. “I’m buying; chill.”

James flexed both of his hands in front of him into tight fists, released them, and then replied, “Fine.”

Claire patted Luke’s arm, mumbling that she would get James’ next drink, and as she turned her back to grab the bottle from the shelf behind her, the front door dinged overhead once more. Luke looked to the noise, his grey eyes went wide, his jaw fell open, and he promptly wiped away the entire expression before swallowing through a lump in his throat.

“Oh my God,” he whispered. All of us with the exception of Claire, who was still preoccupied, peeked at him curiously, ready to follow his briefly shocked gaze, and he told us all quietly, “Don’t look.” He greeted whoever had entered the bar with a smile as he approached the counter to Liam’s right, “Hey there—can I get you anything?”

“Oh, no,” an older man’s voice replied, and Liam’s body stiffened at the sound. “Not much of a drinker—just stopped by to pick your brain.”

I chanced a quick glance, and I sucked in a sharp breath through my nostrils. He was short. Portly. Wearing a tweed cap that covered his graying hair, he smiled at Luke—his dark eyes pinched at the gesture, crow’s feet deepening at the motion, and his nose crooked to the left.

Mister Milkovich was, in fact, alive and well.

I had been so busy in the past few days of distraction and putting together the pieces of my life that I had nearly forgotten about him. I quickly fixed my gaze back on my untouched cider.

Luke nodded. “I’m all ears, Mister Milkovich.”

At the mention of his name, Claire froze. Her eyes widened as she stared toward the shelves of liquor. Cassie coughed loudly, sputtering as if she had choked on her own spit, and James cursed under his breath in a whisper only Cassie and I could hear. He patted her back with a few loud thumps, she regained her composure, and our neighbor from 2D spoke.

“I’ve been subletting my apartment—did you happen to meet Peter?”

Peter. Fucking Peter. It was, without a doubt, one of the least intimidating names that I had ever heard.

Luke cocked his head to the side. “Peter?”

Claire began to move once more, blinking rapidly with downcast eyes as she grabbed a bottle of whiskey from the shelf. She turned, poured three fingers into a new glass for James, and slid it before him. Without inquiry, she filled Cassie’s glass as well in the same fashion.

“He must have not introduced himself,” Mister Milkovich stated. “Bit of a recluse, my nephew.”

“Oh,” Luke returned, and I tucked my tingling hands between my thighs. I watched the bubbles rise to the surface in Liam’s beer, and Luke said, “I’m so sorry, Mister M—I didn’t even realize you had moved.”

Luke’s face twisted up as he said it, the apology appearing sincere in his expression, but when my eyes traced down, I noticed that his hand was gripping the lip on the backside of the counter of the bar so hard that his knuckles were white. Our neighbor didn’t appear to have noticed, and he laughed gently.

“I suppose I’m a bit of a recluse, too,” he remarked. “I left all my furniture in the apartment—let Peter use it; I didn’t need it. It’s no wonder that you didn’t even know that I was gone.”

Liam leaned down, his voice almost inaudible in my ear, “Deep breath—you’re shaking.”

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