Chapter 7

<Gavin Forrester>

"You could've gone a little easier on them." She says gently and I give her a shocked look.

"They wanted to challenge the shark and it's my job to put them in their place." I pick up a cue stick and chalk it for her.

"I know, it's just...They sucked and I felt bad that they were ridiculed in front of all of those people." Victoria takes the stick from me and walks over to the table.

"Babe, they were the ones arrogant enough to challenge the shark. You never challenge the shark." I put up my hand, ending the conversation.

"Whatever," She rolls her eyes and collects the balls from the pockets near her.

I do the same and set them up in the rack, sliding the cue ball to her. She catches it and sets it up. I smirk and move it a few inches so it's in the proper place. I remove the rack and walk over to her.

She's holding the cue stick wrong which amuses me more than it should. I stand behind her and place her hands in the correct places. We line up her shot and I help her shoot the cue ball so it's breaks the other balls apart. A striped ball goes into the far corner pocket and a huge smile spreads across her face.

"We got one in!" She squeals, a gleam entering her eyes.

"Yeah, let's try for the 14 in the right corner pocket." A small smile forms on my lips as I watch her concentrate.

We line up the shot again and hit the cue ball lightly. 14 goes in and she squeals again.

"You'll be a shark in no time, love." I say, my lips just a few inches from hers.

She rolls her eyes in an attempt to hide the blush that's creeping onto her cheeks. I turn my attention back to the game, trying to move my mind away from what almost happened a few seconds ago. She does the same and we continue to hit the balls into the pockets, paying no attention to whether or not they are stripes.

~~~~~

It's about midnight when we finally clean up the pool balls and cues. Victoria has loosened up and I think she might've actually enjoyed herself once she got over the initial shock of being is a dirty, run-down bar. We played Blaze and Slick a couple of times and we actually won the last game. In all honesty, I think they were going a bit easy on her but hey, a win's a win.

I help her get her coat on and we walk out into the cold New York air. She shivers and I put my arm around her shoulders as we walk out to my car. I unlock it and wait for her to get inside before I walk over to my side of the car. I flip on one of the lights and turn to face her.

"Did you have fun?" I ask with a smirk.

"No, having your arms wrapped around me all night was completely infuriating." She rolls her eyes and leans in closer to me.

"I've gotten charming and arrogant before, but infuriating is a first. Why am I so 'infuriating'?" I mock her tone and raise an eyebrow.

"Because I can't feel that from anyone but you and your something I just can't have." She huffs and looks genuinely upset.

"You have me right now..." I tilt her chin up so she's looking me right in the eye.

"I want you all the time...I don't want to have to sneak around with you and pretend that I love Carter when I get home. I just want you." She whispers and then bites her lip.

So she does feel the same about me...Bet you didn't see that coming, Talon

"I want you too and I promise someday it will be that way." I tuck a piece of hair behind her ear and lean in so our lips are barely an inch apart. "Tell me no if you want me stop."

My heart is racing as I lean in closer, desperately trying to close the gap between us. It's almost closed and then she places her index finger gently on my bottom lip. I look up into her eyes and see a stray tear making its way down her cheek.

"You have no idea how much I want to kiss you but we can't lie to ourselves...I'm stuck with Carter for the rest of my life and you'll find a girl that can fully love you back. We need to cut this off before we both get hurt." She smooths her hands over her jeans and then turns so she's facing the window.

"Victoria, do you love me?" I ask simply.

"Yes," She turns back to face me but with confusion written on her features.

However, her answer wasn't hesitant.

"Then you're all I need and I'll wait for you, for as long as I live." I slip my hand under hers and grasp it tightly.

"Gavin, don't lie to yourself..." Victoria's voice cracks and she proceeds to look out the window again.

"I'm not, Victoria, love has a funny way of working out." I turn the key in the ignition and begin to drive away from the Magic 8 Pool Hall.

"I hope you're right because I don't know how much longer I can go without you." She sighs and continues to stare out the window.

Well, that went downhill fast.

~~~~~

I offer to drop her off at home but she refuses, again. I pull up in front of Grand Central and put the car in park.

"Come with me to Coney Island on Sunday. Wear your sunglasses or something and spend the day riding rollercoasters with me. I'll make you forget about having to miss me for at least a little while." I smirk as she steps out of the car.

"Okay, I'm sure he'll be working or something so it shouldn't be that hard to sneak out." She chuckles but her amusement disappears. "Are you mad at me?"

"No, Victoria, I think you're right but I'm not going to give up that easy so you're stuck with me for a bit more time." I wink and she shakes her head.

"Persistence is a nice quality and I kind of like being stuck with you." She smiles slyly.

"Of course you do, I'm just such an amazing person." I grin arrogantly.

"Don't inflate your head any larger than it already is." Victoria blows me a kiss and then slams her door.

I don't drive off until she's inside of the station and completely out of sight.

I hate allowing her to take the subway alone at night...It's just a bad idea.

~~~~~

I open up my apartment door slowly and slip inside, locking it tight as I let out a sigh. Tonight has been more confusing than I ever could've imagined and the Pool Hall never confuses me. I toss my jacket onto the nearby chair and slip out of my t-shirt. I grab a special-ops shirt I'd collected from my few years of special-ops work and collapse on the bed as I think back on my night with Victoria.

I just can't let her go that easy, besides the obvious fact that Talon is giving me no choice, but I just can't seem to function without her. When she told me that we needed to stop whatever it was that we were doing, I felt something deep inside of me shatter and I have a feeling it'll take more than a day at Coney Island to cure it and my relationship with Victoria. I tug the t-shirt over my head and then my phone rings, causing a groan to escape my lips.

I swear if it's Talon, I'm going to put a bullet through his head instead of Victoria's...

"Hello?" I mutter into the phone and lean back on my pillows.

"It's your boss; I haven't seen any death notices for Ms. Grayson." Talon's tone is dripping with irritation.

"Do you not understand the meaning of 'I'll check up with you in week'?" I sigh and wait for him to give me a sarcastic response.

"Don't test me, Forrester. I want it done...I said you have until her rehearsal dinner but that does not mean you should wait until then to put the bullet through her head." Talon seems to have calmed down a bit but I've learned to not trust that because a calm Talon is a dangerous one.

"I'll get it done but I don't need you breathing down my neck about it." I roll my eyes and turn on my side so I can see the time from the clock on my side table.

2:00 A.M. Damn, this is not a conversation I need to be having when I should be asleep.

"Yes, obviously you do, otherwise it'd be done by now." Talon chuckles and my level of annoyance grows.

"Can you tell me again why it has to be her and not Carter because that ass needs a bullet through his skull...?"

"Quit being so protective of your little girlfriend and do the job...I can't have you screw this up, Forrester."

"I won't, I just want a reason." I state simply and wait for his response.

"You never needed one to get the job done before." He responds in the same calm tone he's been trying to maintain throughout this half of the conversation.

"She seems more high-profile...You have to have a reason for doing this." I clutch onto the side of my pillow in a small fit of anger.

"She only seems that way to you because you're in love with her. If you'd just look past the pretty façade, you'd see why we have to kill her."

"You told me we were killing her to make Carter suffer. Are you saying that we're killing her because of something she did?" I ask, an edge entering my voice.

"This is not something we need to discuss right now." Talon mutters and that's how I know I've hit a nerve.

"It is if you want me to kill her..." I bite my lip because I'm lying straight to Talon's face; I'm never going to put a bullet through Victoria's head.

"Kill her and then I'll tell you." He sighs in an aggravated way.

"I need to know before or it's not going to happen." I don't even know why I'm arguing with him, he's the one with enough man power to shoot me until even my corpse ceases to exist.

"Quit fighting me, you'll do it or you'll face the consequences of defying me." With that Talon's line goes dead and I'm left alone in my apartment, a million unanswered questions running through my head.

~~~~

I wake up the next morning with a pounding headache but this time not from alcohol, from my conversation with Talon last night. I still don't really know why he wants Victoria dead but apparently it's not to make Carter suffer anymore. Apparently, there's something else, something involving her, something that makes it vital for her to be gone. I don't care about the reason, though; I'll always figure out someone else who should die instead of Victoria.

If Talon won't tell me why she needs to be gone then I'll figure it out myself. Today is a perfect opportunity for that. I don't have anywhere to go since Victoria and I have nothing planned until Sunday, which leaves me an ample amount of alone time to figure everything out.

I change into a pair of jeans, a sweatshirt and my Converse, grabbing my keys, coat and phone on my way out the door. I slip into the driver's seat of my car and back out of the lot, on my way to Talon's building once again.

He has detailed files of all of the victims in his office. They list all background and needed information on every victim including medical records, daily routines and family ties. Theoretically, if I find Victoria's file, then I can figure out why Talon wants her dead. The key here is to sneak past Talon, find what I need and get out before I get caught.

I drive through the security gates without being questioned and continue towards the parking garage. I pull into a park on Talon's floor and walk right through the doors into the busy office space.

"Appointment?" the red-headed assistant mutters from behind the desk, her eyes never leaving the computer screen that's lighting up her face.

"I need to see Talon Tenebris, Lucy." I wink as she looks up.

"Hey Gavin, you know the drill, head on back." Lucy gestures towards the hallway and blows me a kiss as I leave.

Oh, the joys of having people wrapped around your finger...

I walk down the hallway and see the guards standing in their usual spots, in front of Talon's office. I roll my eyes and give them a condescending look as I draw nearer to them.

"Talon is expecting me..." I breathe in through my nose in an attempt to calm the little nerves that are multiplying in my stomach.

"He's out at lunch with a colleague," They state suspiciously.

"I'll just wait inside; it's where he'd want me to wait for him anyways." I cross my arms and wait for them to challenge me.

They don't and just open the door for me, giving me a clear path way to Victoria's file. I salute them and walk through, slamming the door behind me like I own the place. A sense of satisfaction runs through my veins as I lock the door and begin to search for the key to Talon's filing cabinet.

I walk behind his desk and open up every drawer until I find a key. I walk over to the metal filing cabinet on the opposite wall and search for the part of the alphabet that involves the letter G.

F-G...Bingo...

I insert the key and jiggle it a few times until I hear the lock click, giving me full access to the holy grail of victim files. I leaf through the labels until Victoria's name catches my eye. A smirk crosses my lips as I lift the file from the cabinet and bury it deep in my jacket. I slowly close the filing cabinet and lock it back tight.

It's a known fact that Talon never touches those filing cabinets unless he's absolutely forced to, so I should be safe for a while. I can just figure out the reason he wants her dead and return the file before he even realizes that something has happened to it. I put the key back in his desk drawer and close it tightly before proceeding to exit the door.

I'm about to turn the knob to the office door when I hear Talon's chuckle from just outside, maybe a few inches away from me. I rush quickly back to the leather chair and sit down gently so I don't look like I was rushing. Talon walks through the door and his eyebrows raise a little when he sees me.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you, Mr. Forrester? I seem to have gotten enough of you early this morning when you were defying me." He takes a seat in his large office chair and lights a cigarette from his pocket.

"I realized that I don't have any bullets for your gun, sir and if you want this job done then I'm going to need some bullets." I state simply, the lie tumbling out so effortlessly.

"I could've sworn I loaded that gun before I put it in my cabinet. I guess I forgot to on that one, I never really have my operatives use it so..." He stares at me suspiciously as he hands me a paper bag with a few bullets in it.

"Thank you," I mutter and stand up to leave.

"I didn't keep you waiting, did I?" Talon laces his fingers together and continues to stare at me.

"Just a few minutes, Sir." I nod and then exit the room.

A deep breath escapes my lips as I rush back to my car and begin to drive towards my apartment.

I need to figure out the reason before Talon figures me out...