Page 10 of Kingpin's Secret Baby

“Piers-”

“I’ll get a hotel room for now. I’ll keep my distance. I- I just need to make sure she’s okay.”

“This is not a good idea. I stand by it- this is your worst idea ever.”

“Yeah, well,” Piers says, his voice bitter, “I didn’t fuckin’ ask you.”

Achilles’s curse is cut off by the beep of the call disconnecting. As soon as Piers hangs up, the phone starts ringing again, but the abrupt cut off tells me Piers has turned it off.

Before I can rethink it, I’m barging into the room, almost slamming into Piers when I do. His phone goes flying out of his hand, hitting the floor with athunk, but it’s me he reaches for to make sure I won’t fall.

“What are you-”

“You can’t leave,” I blurt. My fingers curl into fists in his shirt, and it’s only then that I realize I’m breathing hard enough to be panting.

Wait, no- he can’t do that now. He can’t leave after refusing over and over again to go. I don’t care that all of ten minutes ago I was wishing Piers would leave me alone. Now that he’s been convinced to stay away from me, I- I can’t bear the idea.

Piers’s dark eyes widen, then narrow as he frowns. “Were you listening the whole time?”

“I don’t know, but I heard enough,” I say stiffly. “Besides, I’d rather know when you and my brother are trading humiliating truths about me behind my back.”

He steps away from me, pulling his shirt out of my grip. His sharp half smile is back, and I don’t like it. It looks like a mockery of his old self. “I thought you’d be relieved that I’m going. You’ve been trying to get rid of me all day. Besides, I didn’t call him to talk about you. I had to tell him about the attack at the airport. You just so happened to be there.”

My hands, now that they’re empty, curl into fists. He’s being crueller than he was up in my room, and I’m not prepared for how much it hurts.

“What did he say about it?” I ask instead, my words clipped. “Does he have any idea who those men were?”

“We’ve figured out that they were Crowes. Ring a bell?”

I glare at him, but shake my head. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard the name before.”

Piers nods, like he assumed as much. “They’re an Irish gang. No idea what they’re doing here or what they want with you, though. Achilles has agreed to try to contact their boss for answers.”

And then the conversation devolved from there, it seems.

“Why change your mind now?” I demand. “Why leave? Because Achilles is telling you to instead of me?”

Piers’s arrogant smile twists, but only for a moment before he recovers it. “Yeah, that’s about right.”

I could slap him, but that might be what he wants. “Where do you plan to go?” I demand.

“I told Achilles. I’ll get a room in a hotel.”

“Butwhere-”

“Why does it matter to you, love?” Piers demands, stepping up to me again so suddenly I almost trip back. “You’re not hunting me anymore, right? So you don’t need to know where I am every second… if you’re not trying to finish what you started.”

“You think I’m still- ” I stop myself, the words catching in my throat.

That might as well have been a slap inmyface. I do step back then, dazed, my chest hurting. Piers doesn’t move for a moment, but when he speaks again his voice is a little softer.

“I’ll be back, all right? Don’t worry about when. Just… know that I’ll be around if you need me.”

I don’t respond. I can’t even look at him anymore. My eyes are fixed on the floor, but I don’t see it. I don’t understand why his accusation hurts so much when he’s right. Our history damns me. But to accuse me of trying to kill him now, when there’s absolutely nothing to gain from it-

Does he think I’d turn on him without a reason? He told Achilles that he was here because he thought I needed afriend. But that’s clearly not true, not if he believes that about me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Piers’s shape move toward the door. Once again, I don’t move to stop him, and I don’t open my mouth to beg him to stay. This was the right choice from the beginning, and it’s a choice I have to respect.

---