Shoplifter: E.O.W Series, Book 1

Chapter 16: You can't spell danger without anger.

    I enter through the back door, I wanted to be discrete and needed a smoke before returning to my friends. Flicking the dead cigarette, I stop to watch Blind on his way back to the kitchen. He sent me out to spy on Black Crosse. I approach him, patting his back. He roughly grabs my shoulder with mock affection, using his other hand to take the forty five caliber from the behind my back where It protrudes from my belt. My large sweatshirt kept it concealed.  We don't want to cause a panic but at the same time, Blind didn't want me be a sitting duck. He taught me how to shoot earlier in the week. "What did you see kid." He says in a gruff voice that sounds like he is a few seconds from coughing.

"They killed again." I hush my tone. "Shot a couple in their apartment, messy as all hell. I heard a cop say the words Black Crosse, they aren't a secret anymore."

"Shit. I'll tell Blake, we keep this under wraps until morning. This might sound stupid but it's Colton's Birthday and he Benny and Ramirez are already smashed. I'm not going to try to make any of them mad when everyone is half drunk."

"Makes sense, you would just have to tell them again in the morning."

"Go have fun while you're still young." He smiles, laughing out loud into the room so it doesn't look like we are plotting something. I don't have fun in mind tonight, I have other problems to deal with.  It's been over a week since I kissed Roan in the alley and everyday since she's been colder than ice. We haven't gone out together. She hasn't gone out at all and walks away from me when I try to talk to her. She goes to hang out with Tess, leaving me to go out stealing alone without so much as a word. We haven't spoken since that moment in the alley, it scares me. Our communications have been a couple half hearted nods and waves that she'll never return.  I can't  just lose my friend like this, something has to be done. I see her in the corner by a large wooden crate. I hate too physically corner her but knowing Roan  that's the only way I'm going to get a word in. Standing in front of her, I block the only way out so she's stuck. She looks at the brick wall to her left, then the one behind her and realizes  that she's stuck. Groaning and rolling her eyes, she turns to leave only nearly bump her nose on the crate to her right. "Hey." I say softly.

"Ugh." 

"Roan please just talk to me." I say trying to touch her arm.

"I have nothing to say to you." She spits, pushing my hand away.  

"Then please just listen, or maybe answer my questions. Anything! Just do anything!"  My patience is quickly gone. I think about how I spent the whole night we kissed trying to figure out why she punched me and how to ask her what I did wrong. Above all I tried like hell to apologize. I even waited outside her door telling her I was sorry. She just stayed inside her room and refused to respond.

Right now she does not look happy with me so I lower my tone. "I'm sorry, just please tell me what I did wrong." 

"You kissed me Kai." I can understand her being mad for a day or two but it's been a week. I don't care that she punched me, or that I got rejected, I'm only worried that I ruined our whole friendship. As I stand here, fuming and guilty I once again remember what she told me weeks ago. How she likes that we know all the acting is pretend. When I remembered that same  sentence on the floor outside her bedroom, I felt like an idiot and spent a week kicking myself for it. Now here we were, she was still mad at me for three seconds of poor judgement and I was out of patience. The perfect recipe for a fire storm. 

"I know it was stupid and I never would have done it if I had known it would make you this mad." I'm not usually this articulate when I'm mad.  This still doesn't help me and she begins to look sad as well as mad. Once again I ask myself: What did I do?