Little Dark One

21 - dinner party

Keira 

I didn't need directions to the dining room, all I had to do was follow the loud bellows and cheers. It sounded more like a party than a dinner. 

The fun was quick to die down when I entered the room. I was met with silence and over ten pairs of dark eyes staring deep into my soul. I was never comfortable with attention on me, especially not a room full of murderous gangsters. Talk about intimidating. 

My eyes frantically moved over the faces in the room until I met the warm honey eyes I feared and craved at the same time. Knox tilted his head slightly, motioning to the empty chair next to him at the opposite end of the table. 

I moved around the table of Revenants slowly, never breaking eye contact, mostly because I was too embarrassed to lock eyes with anyone else. I could feel the heads turning as I lowered myself into the chair next to Tommy. 

Once I was seated, he moved his eyes from mine and they darkened as he glared down the table at his silent men. 

"What the fuck are you all looking at." he addressed them all menacingly. 

The Revenants resumed their celebrations, quickly forgetting my entrance. They were passing around decanters full of a dark brown liquid, I could only assume it was some kind of expensive whiskey.

There was a glow in Tommy's eyes that wasn't there this morning. He flexed his muscles as he wrapped strong fingers around a crystal tumbler and brought the liquor to his full lips. 

His knuckles were swollen and cut up, I peered down the table taking inventory of the rest of the Revenant's conditions. Each one had some sort of fresh battle wound. Swollen, bloody and bandaged men yelled at each other across the table, raising glasses and laughing joyfully. 

I turned back to Tommy, his eyes were on me again and I could see the wheels turning in his head. The way he looked at me caused my blood to turn to molten lava, searing me from the inside out. 

"What are we celebrating?" I asked, nodding my head down the table. 

"They're like this every night." He answered, expertly avoiding my question. 

"So you have extravagant dinner parties every night?" I pushed, with a brow raised as a young man placed a heaping plate of food in front of Tommy and then me. 

"Most nights." He shrugged, cutting into his steak. "Eat." he ordered. 

"I'm not hungry." I wrapped my arms over my chest and leaned back.

His eyes pierced mine, darkening to burnt honey quickly. "I don't care. Eat." 

I leaned forward and wrapped my fingers around my fork, stabbed a single piece of pasta and brought it to my lips, all without breaking our intense eye contact. I wasn't in the mood to lose a battle so I decided not to start one. I'd save my energy for the big one that would come later if he lied to me. 

"Happy?" I asked after swallowing. 

"Ecstatic." He said humorlessly. I hummed in response, feeling the heat in his gaze between my legs. I squeezed my thighs together under the table as he licked sauce off his lips. 

"Where were you today?" I asked casually, praying to the gods for a straight honest answer.

"Out taking care of some business." Vague, as expected. He avoided my eye contact for the first time since I entered the dining room. 

"How did it go?" 

He leaned back in his chair and used a finger to wipe the corner of his mouth as he tried to hide a satisfied smirk. "It went as expected." 

"As expected?" A younger guy with fireworks in his eyes piped up across from me, overhearing our conversation. "Come on! It went fucking phenomenally! They didn't even see us coming, poor bastards." 

"Shut the fuck up Watson, or you'll be the poor bastard who didn't see something coming." Knox barked at the boy, venom lacing his fierce words.

"Sorry boss." Watson's excited tone shifted to nervous. He turned to me and opened his mouth to say something else. 

"Don't fucking talk to her." Knox growled before a single sound escaped his lips. The boy nodded frantically, stood with his plate in his shaking hands and moved to another seat at the other end of the table. 

"Was that really necessary?" I turned back to Knox, who was still death glaring Watson down the table. The other Revenants were avoiding his line of sight, or pretending they didn't hear a word. 

He didn't hear my question, he was so focused on intimidating the boy. I could feel the fury radiating off of him from where I sat. He was seriously over reacting, but I wasn't about to throw gasoline on the fire. I tried another method instead. 

I placed my small hand over his white knuckled fist on the table. His eyes immediately shot to my hand and then my face. His dark brows knit together in confusion, but he didn't shake me off. I gave his fist a light squeeze and he twisted his wrist slowly, wrapping his strong fingers around my hand. 

His hands were rough and calloused, but I felt at ease in his hold. We had only done this one other time, in the car that night, but I was the one to initiate the touch this time. All the warnings were sounding alarms in my brain as I savored his touch. I was supposed to be hating the man, not holding his hand and calming him down at the damn dinner table. 

He stared down at our entwined hands like it was the most foreign thing he'd ever seen, I could feel his anger dissipating as he squeezed my small hand gently. When he looked up from our hands I felt a current of electricity flow through me and settle down between my legs. He must have felt it too because we both tensed at the same time. 

I pulled my hand out of his like he shocked me and clenched his jaw. I cleared my throat and took a sip of my water glass, avoiding his molten honey eyes. 

I was relieved when Thor sat down next to us, I exhaled the tension between us and met his happy face with a small smile. 

"Keira! Nice to see you out of your tower, I'm surprised to see you down here." He winked playfully. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Tommy bringing his glass to his lips again, his posture was tense and he was watching me closely. I fought to keep my attention on Thor.

"Not as surprised as I am seeing you here." I bantered back matching his playful tone. 

He laughed and rolled his eyes "Girl you and I both, big dog over here just couldn't bring himself to off me. Pussy, am I right?" I couldn't help but laugh at the balls this kid had. 

"Watch yourself." Knox growled.

Thor raised his hands in surrender, wincing at the fatal glare coming from Knox. "Sorry, sorry. Just kidding! I know I'm lucky to be alive." 

Our plates were cleared and the tumblers made their rounds again, Thor tried to pour me some but Knox's hand snaked out and covered the top of my empty tumbler. 

"She's not drinking tonight." He said with a finality not to be challenged. I didn't usually like anyone telling me what to do but in this case I was grateful for Tommy's intervention.

"Oookay then." Thor passed the decanter back down the table, shrugging at me in apology. 

"I've been nursing a wicked hangover all day." I clarified. 

"Damn I feel ya, I'd be hitting the bottle hard if I was his girl too." Thor laughed. 

"I'm no one's girl." If there was ever a time to avoid Tommy's fatal gaze, it was now. I could feel his anger return tenfold, he was radiating and I knew the second the words left my mouth that i'd fucked up.