Page 80 of Kiss Kiss Bang
When they cleared the path, sitting on the ground playing with three ladybugs in her clear box was Olivia. Sitting right by her, with a knife—a large motherfucking knife—by his right hand, where Sophie couldn’t see, was a man.
“Hey, babe. Long time no see,” he said with a toothy smile.
Olivia gasped. “Connor.”
* * *
She was going to throw up. Her blood drained completely from her body.
“Come here, sweets.”
Sophie looked up and showed Joey her box. “Look, Joey. Three ladybugs.”
“Wow, freckles. That’s great. Come here and show me.” His voice was deceiving. Olivia could hear the anger and fear in it, and his hand was still behind his back where she knew there was a weapon.
“We’re gonna stay here and catch more bugs, aren’t we, Sophie?” Connor was speaking with Sophie but his eyes, eyes which were so familiar and at one time so comforting, were trained on Olivia. His tone was absolutely threatening.
“Mommy, this is your friend, Connor!” Sophie said happily. “He said you weren’t going to get mad I came back here.”
“I’m not mad, sweets.” Olivia’s voice trembled. She didn’t want Sophie to worry but she was scared at what Connor was doing there. “Maybe you and I can talk privately,” she said, but Joey cut her off. “No!”
She elbowed Joey. “Joey, that’s my daughter.” She whispered so Sophie wouldn’t hear.
“Tell him to show me both hands,” Connor demanded.
Sweat was trickling down her back and the panic was becoming almost too intense. “Do it, Joey.”
Joey, his face neutral except for the tick in his jaw, released the grip he had on his still-holstered gun and held out his palms. Connor just continued to look at her. The way his eyes penetrated her gave her a chill up and down her spine. “It was supposed to be me and you. You just left. You and me against the world, Liv. And you just left.” His eyes were bloodshot and spittle came out as he spoke. Even though her heart broke for him, she wanted to kill him for talking to her daughter. But she also needed to reason with him somehow.
“Left? Connor, you were arrested. I didn’t leave. I waited and waited.”
“No you didn’t,” he spat, and there was a twitch by his left eye. “You have this little perfect life pretending to be something you’re not. You’ve forgotten where you came from. What happened to our dream? You forgot about me and now I’m going to ruin you. You belonged with me, by my side. I still have your fucking notebook. We had a plan.”
Oh god, that stupid notebook with her naïve plans. All she’d wanted was to get them both out of the slum they lived. He had given up and she hadn’t. But she didn’t want to anger him further. He gripped the knife tighter, she noted, but she tried not to seem overly concerned, for Sophie’s sake. “You and me, babe. That was the promise. And you lied and now I’m here to ruin your career.” She knew that was part of it, but the other part was that in doing so, he could get a pardon from McGregor. Again, something she didn’t say out loud.
She cleared her throat. “It still can be. Let’s go inside. Leave my daughter and we’ll go talk.”
He seemed to be thinking about it, Joey beside her with his arms still out.
“Come on, Sophie.” Connor said, standing up and holding a hand out to Sophie to let her up. When he touched her Joey took a step forward and Olivia stopped breathing. A literal ticking time bomb would’ve been less intense then the current situation. Connor had the knife in one hand and Sophie’s hand in the other. “Let’s go inside. I’ll be right behind you both.”
Unable to do anything else but follow instructions they both turned and walked into the house.
“You have to trust me. Do whatever I say.” Joey whispered.
The trek from the back of the yard to the back porch felt like it lasted hours instead of minutes. She turned her head back a few times to see Sophie obliviously skipping while holding Connor’s hand. And Connor, how different he looked—but still very similar. Still handsome, but now unhealthily thin, his long bushy hair half in ponytail half falling out messily. He had an arm full of tattoos and even had one by his eye. When her eyes went back to his face he winked at her but it looked nefarious—not at all like he’d done when they were younger.
“Open the door,” Connor instructed, and that was when a blur of movements happened.
She opened the door and walked inside and so did Joey. The moment that Sophie was inside, Joey shouted. “In her room, lock the doors, call the cops. Don’t open it for anyone but me!” At the same time as he turned, he tackled Connor to the ground. A loud, pained yell filled her ears as Connor’s head hit the floor. She hoisted her daughter swiftly and ran to her room, locked the door, and stumbled around for her phone.
“Are you okay, Sophie?”
Her daughter was now sobbing. “My ladybugs! What happened to your friend?”
“He wasn’t my friend, sweets. That was a bad man.”
“But Joey is with him. Where’s Joey? I want Joey!” She started to wail as Olivia dialed 911 with trembling fingers. There was a sound of gunshots and she wanted to go check up on Joey, but instead she gathered Sophie in her arms and hid in a corner of the room.
