Coffee & Criminals

11. Surprise Visit

Silence. That was all I could hear. Not even one creak, nothing but the soft breathing coming from my chest. It was near midnight. I was curled up on the couch, staring at the moon hovering hear one of the skyscrapers in the distance. It was bright white and glowing, with no visible stars for company. Empty and desolate, reigning a vast darkness with light. Alone like I was.

All of the lights were turned off, even in the kitchen. There was no one here but me. I was supposed to be across the street, safe and sound in the apartment. My parents were there. Sleeping right now, not bothering to stay up to worry about me since I was close by even if I wasn't in the same building. A few blocks down, Clancy was in her home, probably reading a mystery late into the quiet night. She liked to read. We had that in common.

I don't know what I was doing or why I was here. Sitting alone in the friendly darkness of the coffee shop, doing nothing but breathing. I liked the quiet. It was peaceful. We didn't get much of peace in Brooklyn. This was New York City, after all. Quiet didn't happen unless quiet was enforced, and that didn't happen often either. Most people that lived here liked the noise, or had gotten used to it by now. I know I had. Noises didn't catch my ears but they were always there, a background hum. Take that away and I was left with an awkward shroud of quiet I didn't know what to do with.

That was when Wolfe decided to make an appearance, in the asshole way that he is.

Anyways, when Wolfe stopped by, he didn't politely knock or anything like that. He didn't even knock rudely, either. He just strolled in through the basement door, obviously coming from the tunnels in the cellar. I guess they had a specific route to take through the maze down there now.

I didn't hear him come in (too fascinated by the moon to take in my surroundings) and when I did become aware of his presence, it was because Wolfe clamped down one huge, veiny paw on my shoulder.

"What the heck?" I shouted, taken by surprise. Upon instinct, I launched the object I had in my hands right at his face, which unfortunately was my set of keys. I don't know, it was a defense mechanism. This was the second time I had thrown something in Wolfe Sterling's face. Unlike before, however, he dodged it just in time. My heart pounding, I scrambled up. "What?! What are you doing here, Wolfe? You can't just sneak up on people like that- I could've died!"

"Oh, you could have died?" He growled angrily, glancing back to where my keys lay on the floor a few feet away from the bookshelf. "Don't throw things, Florence! You're going to maim someone one of these days."

I couldn't resist. "Hopefully, it's going to be you."

He rolled his eyes. "I appreciate the sentiment."

I hadn't seen Wolfe all day, much to my surprise. After my little tattletale trip to the police precinct, I was absolutely sure that he was going to show up this morning and kill me. Clancy had been my panic attack reducer this entire day, forcing me to keep busy with customers to worry too much about my impending death. I hadn't seen any of the Crowns, in fact. For two days, the Espresso House was criminal-free. Why would Wolfe show up now, alone, of all places and times? It was midnight. He had no purpose here. No one to bother. Except for me, of course.

Biting my nails nervously, I stayed standing as Wolfe made his way around the couch. To my annoyance, he plopped down right next to where I had been sitting. The lights were still turned off, the moon still bright, the Espresso House still empty. Nothing had changed, except for the uneasy presence of Brooklyn's most beloved criminal.

He looked good, though. I couldn't deny that. A pretty navy blue suit that conformed to his muscular body, shiny black shoes, and the unmistakable lump of (not his dick) his gun under the blazer, clipped somewhere to his belt. Wolfe did that really annoying male thing where he extended one arm across the top of the couch like boys do when they're at the movies on a date. It really bothered me, for some reason. Probably because it hinted he was here to stay. Wolfe patted the seat beside him nicely. "Sit down, Florence."