Page 83 of The Hardest Hit
“I leave that to you,” he agreed, and she grinned at him.
“Anyway,” she said, looking around the table, “was I interrupting? Should I go off and see about that backgammon game? I think I can ace that.”
“No,” said Evan. “We were done. I’ll come with you.”
29
Olivia – Doors
Olivia walked under the arched glass of the entrance and felt that the evening had ended up a success. It hadn’t started out that way. She had blown the entry and Eizo had kind of been a dick. She wasn’t sure Evan had noticed, but Eizo had spent the start of the evening speaking mostly in Japanese and being very dismissive. And not just dismissive, but oddly jealous, always angling Evan away from her or stepping between them. It was as if he was intentionally trying to show Olivia that she didn’t belong at their party. But after she had returned from her trip through the aquarium, he’d switched to mostly English and suddenly bothered to become charming. She wasn’t sure if Evan had said something to him, or if Dr. Onishi’s excited recognition of her name had impressed him, but it had been a definite shift. Evan had watched his friend’s efforts to charm her with a skeptical air but hadn’t said anything. She got the impression that had she shown Eizo the slightest bit of actual interest that Evan would not have been so hands-off, but it didn’t matter. There wasn’t anyone who could turn her head from Evan.
She glanced back over her shoulder at him, and his eyes flicked up to meet hers. She smiled. She was certain that he’d trying to take her panties off in the limo. She was equally certain that she was going to let him. She’d never done the limo thing for prom. It seemed like a good time to check it off her bucket list.
She stepped out into the chilly Tokyo night and someone grabbed her by the arm, hauling her forward off her feet. She stumbled, trying to remain upright, and failed. Behind her, Evan was shouting.
She let go of her purse and grabbed at the hand holding her. The man was young, early twenties, and pulling her across the parking lot. She turned her head and bit his hand. He yelled and let go. Olivia scrambled away from him. She turned, preparing to run back to Evan.
Evan had his own problems. A crowd of men stood around Evan and Eizo. As she watched, one of them swung a long stick at Evan. She tried to scream but found herself seized from behind.
“You just get to watch,” hissed the man, seizing her by the back of the neck. She looked down at the gun he pressed into her side.
Evan took the hit from the stick, but he didn’t seem to feel the impact. Instead, it was as if he became sticky. He took the bat, wrenching it out of his attacker’s grasp. Then seized the man, pulling him in, before shoving him at one of the others. Evan spun the stick around and struck out with it. The other two men launched themselves at Evan, but Evan didn’t flinch. He appeared to have no sense of fear or self-presentation. What he did have was blind fury.Behind him, Eizo punched one of the men, but to Olivia, it appeared that he was not backing Evan as he should have been. Evan grabbed the third person and threw him to the ground, kicking out with a sharp vicious kick.
The man holding her began to back up. It was becoming clear that Evan was not going to be stopped.
Evan struck out at the last man standing in cruel, punishing punches and stepped over his body, walking toward them.
The man dragged her backward. She didn’t blame him. The Evan coming toward them was no Evan that she recognized. He was furious—rage personified. He advanced with the inevitability of an avalanche.
The man pulled the gun away from Olivia and pointed it at Evan, lifting it to his face.
“I will shoot,” said the man.
Evan stared past the barrel into his eyes.
“Go ahead.”
Olivia’s heart stopped. He was absolutely serious. His face was empty, devoid of emotion. And in that moment, she knew that Evan had not been merely miserable in his twenties.
The man holding the gun shifted nervously. Then he yanked Olivia in front of him. He pulled off her necklace and shoved her at Evan. She heard him sprinting away as she clung to Evan.
An hour later she was still sitting in a private room of the casino being fussed over by paramedics and watching as Evan continued to rage, but this time at the police. His anger had hardened into a cold fury. She had never seen him so autocratic, so dismissive, so contemptuous. Eizo came into the room. He looked amused at Evan’s behavior and drifted to stand next to her.
“Enjoying your evening?” he asked, and Olivia stared at him. She couldn’t decide if he meant his comment to be amusing or mocking. She decided it didn’t matter.
“Eizo, would you be so kind as to fetch Evan for me?”
“You want me to fetchThe Deveraux? There are a few problems with that. I don’t fetch and Deverauxes don’t come when called. Particularly not, I think, at the moment.”
“Never mind,” said Olivia, pinning him with a stare that she hoped expressed how useless she found him. “I’ll do it myself.”
She got up, collecting her purse, but shedding gauze and paramedics. They followed her, bowing. Evan noticed her movement and turned toward her as she approached.
“Evan,” she said, realizing even as his name left her mouth that she was sounding her most Southern, but unable to do anything about it, “I would like to go home now.”
Silence seemed to ripple outward as everyone in the room turned to see what would happen next.
“Of course,” said Evan. He turned to someone in a casino uniform and snapped something in Japanese. Moments later, she and Evan were being escorted by police and security out to a waiting limo.
