Page 160 of Coff

“Julia!” Dan calls out.

I glance over, and he’s waving his hand, signaling her to return.

“I better go. Hope you can get over that rain.”

I sigh. “Doubt it.”

She opens her mouth, but whatever she was going to say, she decides against it. She taps the bar, then walks back to her boyfriend.

The bartender finally returns.

“Three more shots, please.”

He stares at me for a moment, and since I appear sober enough, he doesn’t question it. Once they are on the bar, I drink them down. Then I walk over to the guys.

“Coff, welcome to the team.”

He smiles. “Thanks. Glad this all worked out.”

“One thing I want to know,” Cody says. “When I started, I got the smallest office and was told it was because I was the newest. But Coff here has an office that’s double the size of mine. What gives?”

CT whispers something into his ear. “Oh, that makes sense. I guess.”

I turn and catch the moment Dan leans down and kisses Julia. All I see is red, and I want to pull them apart. Instead, I turn without saying a word and walk out of the bar.

Or more like I stumble out of it. I can’t believe he’s going to propose so soon. While I don’t hang out with Julia as much as I used to, we still go to the gun range every few weeks. She never mentions Dan, so I didn’t think they were that serious. I want to punch something, but instead, once I’m a block away, I yell. “Fuck!”

“Hey, I’ve been looking for you,” a familiar voice says.

I turn and am staring into the face of a man I tried to kill. He kidnapped Julia last year. Fortunately, I was able to stop his plane before he flew her out of the country.

“Doogan. How did you get out of jail?” I’m slurring, and based on the man’s smile, he knows I’m drunk.

That’s when I notice two other men standing off to the side.

“It doesn’t matter. What matters is I found you.”

The two guys step closer, and I brace myself, ready to take them.

“Why were you looking for me?” I ask.

Doogan sneers. “That plane you destroyed wasn’t mine.”

Okay, so when I said I stopped his plane, what I really meant was I blew it up. Unfortunately, Doogan wasn’t standing close enough to the plane when it happened.

“And now I owe a very powerful man a lot of money. That makes me very angry.”

The alcohol is kicking in fast now, and I’m pretty sure I’m swaying. The two men are starting to look more like four men.

“You should be angry with yourself,” I say. “You put yourself in that situation.”

“Just as you have put yourself here,” he responds.

The two men move fast. Even though I see the first guy’s fist coming, I move too slowly to block it in time, and he hits my face. I jerk back and hit the second guy in the stomach, but not before another fist comes at my face. Dammit, it’s like I’m moving in slow motion.

“Finish him!” Doogan demands.

Then a sharp pain erupts in my stomach. I glance down, and my shirt is covered in blood. Dropping to my knees, I look up at the guys. One is holding a knife. I press on my stomach as I go down, face first, into a puddle.

I reach into my pocket for my phone. It’s not there. It’s in my jacket. I reach for it, but I’m not wearing my jacket. It must be at the bar.

My lids grow heavy. I need to get up and get back to the bar. But I can’t move. I’m too heavy. Finally, I close my eyes and hope one of the guys realizes I’m missing before it’s too late.

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