Page 8 of The Heart of the Dragon

Everything was too far.

And it was suddenly so dark...

Chapter

Four

Rose

"Oh, Jesus Christ. What the hell?"John ran for the door that led to the dining room with no explanation, only annoyed panic in his tone.

"What is it?" I raced after him, expecting I might have to call the police because another fight had broken out.

And of course he headed straight to the man I'd been talking to and into a crowd that had gathered around him.

I followed, pushing my way through the wall of people, and came to a stop at what I found. I'd imagined a fight. Or at the very least a heated argument that would eventually lead to blows. I imagined blood spilling...

However, seeing the big angry guy slumped over the table was not something I'd imagined. What the hell was right.

"What happened to him?" John demanded. Everyone spoke at once, but it didn't sound like any of them knew a damned thing. Or at least, they weren't going to say.

"Is he dead?" I asked, searching the area for blood or anything else that might explain why he wasn't moving.

John pressed his fingers deep into the man's neck, and I held my breath, waiting. Already a well of deep regret filling inside me. I'd been angry at him before, letting my hair trigger of a temper get the best of me, but only because I could tell he would be impossible to crack.

Finally he shook his head. "No. He's alive. Strong heartbeat." John pushed the hood away from his face, and I gasped.

Puckered skin criss-crossed his face in angry slashes. Each scar ran deep, creating a map of pain etched into his flesh. It looked as if whenever this had happened, he'd needed stitches but had either not bothered or been unable to have them done. The scars were old, faded to a silvery white in some places, while others remained an angry pink hue. The harsh light only accentuated the damage, casting shadows across the ruined landscape of his features.

The fire I'd seen in his eyes earlier, seemed at odds with the brutality written across his skin, hinting at a story I wasn't sure I wanted to hear but found myself morbidly curious about anyways.

"Pull yourself together, Rose. Or go back to the kitchen. These people here don't need to see you freak out over a few scars."

I closed and opened and then closed my mouth again as I bit back the words I'd been about to fire back in John's direction.He was right. We had an audience and we both needed to appear cool and in control.

Either satisfied I was going to keep my mouth shut, or no longer caring whether I did, John turned back to the unconscious man and peeled his eyelid open, examining him closer. "Pupils are a little dilated, but nothing that says drug overdose." He next patted his hands around the man’s clothes. "No signs of an external wound."

I breathed a sigh of relief. I stepped forward and something crunched underneath my shoe. I bent down to look and found broken shards of one of our bowls scattered underneath his table.

I looked up at John and then back down to the pieces. I gingerly picked one up, making sure not to cut myself and turned to my boss as fear and uncertainty began to take hold. "How many bowls of stew did he eat?"

John shrugged. "I don't know. I wasn't counting. Four or five maybe. He seemed hungry, and look at him, he's huge. I wasn't going to question him." He was holding onto the man's wrist while examining his own watch. Checking his pulse I guessed. "Why?"

I wracked my brain trying to picture the exact ingredients I'd put in the stew. I always measured everything exactly. Every single time.

"Rose?" John pressed.

I shook my head, not wanting to say anything more. It couldn't have been the stew. No way.

Either he took that as a sign, or he simply decided it was time to get the situation under control. "Everyone, return to your own tables. There's nothing to see here. He's going to be fine. Just a little under the weather."

I had no idea why anyone believed him, but they all shuffled away and left us to tend to the giant.

"Do you think the stew had something to do with this?" he whispered once everyone else was out of earshot.

It wasn't plausible, but the hard stone now sitting in my gut made me question the facts. “No. Of course not.”

His eyes narrowed. “Then why did you hesitate? What's going on? I need to know, whatever it is.”

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