Ineffable ꕥ Joost Klein ꕥ

44.

'What can I get you, sir?'

The bartender's question went unheard as Joost stood rigid. Heat rushed to his fingertips and the gun in his waistband underneath his shirt whispered in his ear. In recent days, he never left his apartment without it for the very reason that was walking through the restaurant sipping his pint.

Joost's breathing had ceased as he watched Ski Aggu approach their table. He slipped into the seat beside Arabella and Joost dreaded the moment Elke would leap up from her chair and-

'Sir?'

Whipping back to the bartender, Joost was met with a wrinkled forehead and concerned eyes.

'U-Ugh, sorry...' he stuttered and cleared his throat. 'Just a heinekein and a lemonade, please.'

Walking off to make the drinks, the bartender left the blonde to turn back to the table in the crowded restaurant. Aggu was seated, his maskless face holding the most convincing smile Joost had ever seen. Arabella threaded her arm with his as she rambled to her friend in the opposite chair. She was oblivious to the fact that she was sitting next to a murder, while Elke's expression and reaction was yet to be apparent.

Joost didn't know why he committed to gettting drinks. When they were placed on the bar, he paid and grabbed them like he wasn't about to evacuate the building. Any enjoyment Joost anticipated for the night was gone and yet, Joost carried the bottle and glass of fizzy drink through the tables.

As he approached, his eyes remained on the German who he had never seen without a ski mask. If he hadn't already identified himself at the bar, Joost could have been convinced that it wasn't Ski Aggu, at all. The casual behaviour and blue eyes were that of someone normal and unpsychotic. It could have been Aggu's long-lost brother. But Joost's wasn't foolish enough to enjoy such a lie, so he put down the two drinks and hesitated in sitting down.

'Thank you, Joost...' he caught the subtle shake in Elke's voice and despised the fearful look she tried to hide.

Despite not wearing his mask, Elke could tell who sat beside her friend in an instant. Aggu's eyes bore into hers from across the table and it made her sick to watch Arabella cling to his arm. Her hand wanted to reach to her neck where the bruises were still fading. She still needed make-up to cover them but at Aggu's presence, Elke felt like they were darkening by the minute.

The hands that had been around her throat were now idle on the table, acting as if they hadn't held her down only a week prior. Aggu smiled as Arabella talked and Elke had to remember to breathe.

'Are you going to stand there all night, Joost?' Arabella laughed. 'Sit! I was just telling Elke how August almost lost his ear.'

When Elke didn't stand up, Joost shrunk into his seat obediently. If she said so, Joost would leave the restaurant without an explanation to Arabella. Hell, he would whip out his gun if Elke asked him to and would shoot Aggu in front of every diner. But at Elke's heavy silence, Joost faced Aggu with a straight face and an uncomfortably straight back.

'Can you believe that someone would do that? In broad daylight?' Arabella shook her head. 'You're not safe anywhere anymore. It was lucky that you didn't have your passport in there, right, August?'

'Yeah. It only had my wallet and book in there. He packed a hell of a punch, though.'

The story was laughable. Aggu had told Arabella that he was robbed in Rotterdam. A thief took his bag and assaulted him in the side of the head. The innocence that Aggu portrayed was pathetic, especially with how untrue it was. It made it even more unbearable when Aggu stared at Joost as he talked. It was his bullet that had skimmed his ear and Aggu was making sure that Joost remembered it.