All Souls' Night - Renee Rose Page 0,303

see through the haze of sleep. “Are you okay? What’s the matter?”

“I think Phil found me.”

“You mean at Armando’s?” I grind the heel of my hand against my eye. How the fuck is this guy tracking her?

“Yes, and Armando isn’t here. He said he’d be back around sunset.”

I glance at the digital clock on the nightstand—4:31 p.m. Shit. I slept in later than I anticipated.

“That’s weird. Theo and Alex told me the same thing. But that makes sense. They’re working together to clear this shit up with Phil. I don’t know if they’re going to be fast enough, though. You know how long legal proceedings can take. We may have to find a place to lie low until—”

“I don’t want to get Armando in the middle of this.” The pitch of her voice rises with each word. “If Armando gets hurt, I’ll never forgive myself.”

“This isn’t your fault, Zoe. Don’t start blaming yourself.”

“I can’t stay here.”

I sigh. “Yeah, I feel the same way about Theo and Alex. They’re trying to help, but they don’t owe me anything. Going against Phil in court is going to take a shit-ton of money and time, and I don’t feel right about any of this.”

“I have to move again. And this time, I think I need to leave Tucson,” she says.

“I’m thinking the same thing. How about a trip to New Orleans?”

“What? You mean go back to Marcel?”

“Yep. He owns the Crimson Dungeon, and yesterday he said in a text to do just that. He wants to take care of Phil for us once and for all. The guy’s a millionaire, and I think he operates a little on the shady side. Since law enforcement isn’t doing anything to protect us, maybe we need a mafia-type solution. Besides, Marcel owes me now.”

“What?”

I cringe, but Zoe is my best friend and I have to come clean with her. “I’m sorry, Zoe, but Marcel had me feeding him information about Club Toxic. Who the management was, the comings and goings of Lucius and Selene, the hours they operate, and stuff I thought was benign and wouldn’t really matter.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Why did I do it? Because I owed him. Why does he want the information? He said it was because he wanted to stay ahead of the competition.” I run my fingers through my hair and get up from the bed.

“You didn’t give him security codes or anything, did you?”

“No, no, of course not. I don’t know any of that stuff. He seemed more interested in how they ran the club. But then I started liking Theo and I felt like I was betraying you and…” I huff. “I just got in too deep. I was going to stop and then all this happened.”

“Okay, we’ll talk about that later. What do you want to do?”

“That’s the part I need to figure out. Do you feel safe where you are? I need about an hour to come up with a plan.”

“No, but I can get an Uber to a populated place. That would make me feel better. Just give Armando time to come home. I don’t want to leave before I say my version of a goodbye to him.”

I clench my jaw. “Okay, but I’m getting out of here before Theo and Alex get home.” I gnaw on my thumbnail, tears threatening to crack my voice, and I swallow the lump in my throat. “Listen, let me get on my laptop, and I’ll call you once I have something. Get somewhere safe, and text me your location.”

“Okay. Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

She’s a stronger woman than I am. There’s no way I’d be able to say goodbye in person. Gears turning in my mind, I scamper to pull out my laptop, my fingers flying over the keyboard as I research a route and travel options. A plan begins to form in my head. After about forty minutes of making arrangements and tapping notes into my smartphone, I pack up my things and text Zoe.

Pack light, and meet me at the Greyhound bus station no later than 7:30 p.m. Don’t go home. I think they’ll be waiting for you, so we’ll have to leave a lot behind. Can you do that?

The little dot animation starts, reminding me of three fingertips drumming on a table.

I’ll just bring my overnight bag I packed for Armando’s. Text me the address to the station and I’ll be there.

I grab the link from my map app and send it to her. PLEASE BE CAREFUL!

YOU TOO!

I smirk.