Heart Beats (Joker's Sin #3) - Davidson King Page 0,49

get off the car and fuck off. But he wasn’t looking at me. It was as if he was looking through me to Trinity.”

That was odd. “Did he say anything?”

“He waited until she stopped shouting and said, ‘Ledger could never love you. Stop fooling yourself.’ ”

It was as if my stomach dropped and all the blood in my body drained out of me. “What?” I whispered.

“Yeah. That’s what I said. He looked me in the eyes then and fuck, Ledger, it was dark in there. Like no one was home. And Trin, she lost it. She reached over my shoulder and slapped the guy. He laughed. Fucking laughed. And he said since she wasn’t able to make it right, he would. And walked away.”

“I spoke to a detective. He said a car chased you.”

Ziggy nodded. “Right. So, we got in her car, and we both agreed we had to get to you. I knew you were working and wouldn’t answer your phone, and we were only a couple of hours from you. You’d still be working, and it’d be okay.”

He asked for some water, so I grabbed the light-pink pitcher and a small cup. The nurse said he was on an all-liquid diet and had to take it easy, so I only filled it a little bit. Once he took a few sips, he took in a breath and continued the story.

“We drove out of the parking garage, and it was obvious we were being followed. She said she just needed to get to you before this crazy nut did.” Ziggy chuckled but he winced, and soon a tear slid down his cheek. “She knew.”

“Knew what?” I asked as I held his hand in both of mine, wishing I could hug him and apologize until I had no voice left.

“That she was going to die.” He sniffed but the tears flowed freely now. “We had hit the highway and the car—it was keeping pace. She looked over to me and said to make sure no matter what that you were safe.” I pulled a tissue from the box and dabbed his eyes. “Ledger, she said to tell you she was sorry.”

“Ziggy, I know who she is…was. We’d have worked it out.”

“The car hit her rear bumper, and she was going so fast to get away from him, she spun and…” He didn’t have to say any more. The rest was history.

“I’m sorry.”

He squeezed my hand and as gently as I could I held him while he sobbed. Trinity was a handful. A bitch most of the time, but she was our friend and this lunatic, this motherfucker took her from us. I’d figure out who they were and make them feel this anguish.

The nurse came in a short while later and said Ziggy needed rest. I waited until he fell asleep, and then I went back to the waiting room to see Shane. I had to tell him all of this and had no idea how he’d take it. But, when I entered the waiting room, I was greeted not only by him but three of Riordan’s men, and I knew Shane understood just how serious this was.

“If he was familiar to Ziggy, he’d likely be familiar to you too, right?” Shane asked an hour later as we sat in a café across from the hospital. Riordan’s men sat at surrounding tables, and we waited for Ciro to arrive.

“I’d think so. I mean, the guy seems to be after me.”

“Not after you, he wants you. It’s fucked up, but he’s willing to take out people around you just to get close.” Shane bit his lip as he played with his napkin.

“Shane, listen, it may be best that you—”

“Finish that sentence and I’ll cut you,” he snapped. “I’m not going anywhere. And I’m sorry, but I’m pretty sure the crazy fucknut knows about me by now.”

“That’s the thing, Shane. We don’t know what he knows, where he is, anything. We know he’s smart, fast, and ten steps ahead of us.”

“When someone is ten steps ahead of you, don’t follow, Ledger. Don’t you think he’d know that you want me away from you? Think like him, not differently. That’s how you get ahead of him.”

In this dangerous and dark situation, I managed a smile. Shane was smart and likely right. “Okay, we’ll do it your way.”

“Damn straight we will,” Shane said with a chuckle and sipped his coffee.

I had given the hospital my information to contact me if there was any change