The Heart That's Meant to Love You [COMPLETED]

Chapter 20: Stress

Tawny appeared so angelic when she slept. Too bad that Kieran knew her real personality. Calming her down had taken longer than he anticipated. Though she had, in fact, returned everything except the bag he allowed her to keep, Tawny had not been happy about it. In the end, Kieran had used every trick he knew to appease her. She had eventually fallen asleep.

With a sigh, Kieran rose to his feet. The need for money had reminded him of his reality. The game he chose to play could mean life or death for more than just Kieran. He should be taking it seriously.

Rustle. Swish. Kieran snatched the loan paperwork off the counter.

It had taken too long to get Tawny to hand it over, but she had. She always did, eventually. Kieran didn't want to think about the zeroes in the contract. First, he needed to pay the interest.

To pay the interest on time, Kieran would have to speed up the process with the little rich girl. He only had one other option. An option that he would die before he chose.

Apologizing to the girl on the other end of his game meant nothing. Kieran had learned long ago to tamp down his conscience. Naomi had money, she would be fine when he left. They all were, always.

Fine. He would put on more pressure, stick closer. Nothing that he hadn't done before.

The Chanel bag on the makeshift couch blinked at him, twinkling in the light from the lamp outside the window.

Kieran rolled his neck one way, then the other, trying to release the burden of stress. He had seen the end of the tunnel, and then Tawny had been reeled back in. He should have known. Patrick didn't let go that easily. He never had.

Kieran snatched a hoodie from the hall tree and sneaked out of his own apartment. Waking Tawny would end in catastrophe, but Kieran had no intention of staring at the things that grated on his nerves. Just for a while, he wanted a break from everything.

His shoes had just hit the pavement outside when he spotted the shadow at the corner. Kieran tipped his head back and blew out a heated breath. Couldn't he catch a break?

"Evening, Donovan."

Donovan, a tall dark kind of man around the same age as Kieran, sauntered into the open. "Going somewhere?"

"Fresh air." Kieran shoved his hands in his pockets. "What's it to you?"

"I have absolutely no interest in where you're going, you know that." Donovan shrugged his shoulders. "But she does."

"Do you really still report everything to her?"

Donovan made a face. "I have to give her something."

"Does she know about-"

"No," Donovan answered decisively, clearly aware what Kieran was about to ask. "I never report details about your lady friends."

Kieran didn't envy the tight spot Donovan existed within. On the one hand, Donovan and Kieran had been friends since childhood. On the other... he had a job to do. Kieran couldn't let him fail his job, but he wouldn't stop being his friend, either. It was the delicate precipice that the two of them teetered upon.

"You going to follow me?" Kieran finally asked.

Donovan chuckled. "Probably."

"Whatever."

Kieran couldn't stop him, but if Donovan thought he would get any important information to pass along, he had another thing coming. Kieran didn't intend to go any farther than the corner convenience store.

Anyone with a brain would find Kieran's neighborhood frightening. Run-down buildings, piles of torn and unwanted furnishings along the walls. Roads that could use an overhaul. Eight out of ten streetlamps didn't work, either.

For Kieran, that's how life was. The neighborhood didn't scare him. He knew it too well. He had seen all sides of life in the "bad part" of town. He dealt with it every day. Though sometimes it didn't feel as safe as he'd like, Kieran found after all these years it felt like home nonetheless.

The corner convenience store had been robbed more times than Kieran liked to count, but it still managed to stick around. Their lighting had gotten better, shedding brightness out onto the street. Probably because they had gotten support from the uppity neighborhood three streets over. Rich people were only good for their money.

The bell over the door rang cheerily as Kieran entered.

The part-timer behind the counter looked up and offered a tired smile. At this hour, Kieran would be surprised if the teenager weren't half-asleep.

It didn't take long to grab a box of Snowballs and a large bag of Flamin' Hot Cheetos. To some, it might seem like a weird combination. For Kieran, it relieved all his stress and allowed him to let things go. It had become a tradition of his over time.

The part-timer rang up the snacks without saying a word, took Kieran's money, and handed him the change.

Kieran took his snacks and turned toward the counter seats.

A girl sat there already, hunched over something that sent steam sailing toward the window. A gray hoodie wrapped around her, hem at her mid-thigh, sleeves down to herfingertips, and hood pulled onto her head. Long, dark hair hung from the hood, down into her lap. Leggings and a pair of white sneakers completed her late-night outing ensemble, but that's not what caught Kieran's attention.

It was the reflection in the store window.

Big eyes. Pretty features. Constant stoicism.

Kieran hugged his snacks to his chest and ventured a step closer. Though this had never been in his plan, it caused his curiosity to spike. First, he had to be sure. Just in case she had a twin somewhere.

"Naomi?"

The way she flinched told him he'd hit the nail right on the head. For some reason, the little rich girl had ventured into his neighborhood. Kieran weighed his options, knowing that living in such a neighborhood would probably knock him down in her estimation.

But, still, he took a seat beside her.