wry grin.
And he told himself he was just being paranoid, but there were nights he blinked and saw the face of the man who had tied him up and had come too damn close to killing people he cared about.
His hand reached into his pocket, a slow movement. He tried to make it look like he wasn’t staring, though he knew he was probably failing at it, but he took several more steps closer to the water before dialing Eliah.
“I wasn’t expecting to hear from…” Eliah started.
“When you were being followed,” Jude interrupted in a rush, his voice low, hoping that the gentle crashing waves muted his words, “was the person obvious?”
Eliah was quiet for a long moment. “Where are you?”
“Just outside my building,” he said, “standing on the beach.” He glanced again at the man who hadn’t moved. He looked like he was staring at the water again, and Jude tried to get some detail off him, but there was little to see. He had light brown hair, pale skin, dark glasses. He had tattoos, but that wasn’t rare where they lived. “I’m probably just being paranoid.”
Eliah scoffed. “That’s what I told myself right before a man followed me into my work and then shot Aaron a few hours later.”
Jude winced a little, then swallowed thickly when he saw the stranger’s mouth widen into a bigger grin. “I’m being stupid. This is nothing.”
“I’m going to tell Aaron,” Eliah argued.
“No.” Jude heard the panic in his voice, but he was helpless against it. His brother’s boyfriend was a kind man, but he was hyper-reactive and would have half the bloody club sitting outside his condo if it meant making Eliah happy. “I’ve already spoken to Emilio, and he said he was coming by.” A small lie, but one he could remedy with the truth.
Eliah gave a small hum. “When I saw him last, he was doing some construction work on the bar.”
“Yes well…we’ve been in touch, and he said…” Jude started, then stopped and squeezed his eyes shut when he swore he saw the man shift a little closer to the sand. “Listen, I have to go. That’s him trying to ring through.”
He hated lying to his brother, but it was easier to cut Eliah off, and he used a trembling finger to scroll through his contacts and make the call. Swallowing his pride was hard, but he didn’t want to die. And he didn’t want to be in the position where it was an option. Not when he was feeling weak and off-kilter.
“You wanna tell me why I just got an SOS text from your brother?” Emilio said by way of answer.
Jude let out a small sigh. “I think I’m being watched, but I also think I’m probably just a bit paranoid.”
“We ain’t seen shit in town for a while,” Emilio said, and then Jude heard the sounds of a bike revving, and then the sound of the man’s voice changed like he was on some sort of speaker, “but that don’t mean they haven’t slipped by us.”
Jude closed his eyes for a long moment. “What do I do?”
“Where you at, rabbi?”
Jude gritted his teeth a little, even though deep down he knew his title wasn’t meant as a mockery. “On the beach, right in front of my building.”
“Yeah? There people around you?” Emilio’s voice had taken on the quality of someone trying to soothe a skittish animal, and Jude hated it. Desperately. Mostly because it was helping.
“A few. Not a lot,” he admitted. Never in his life had he wished for a crowd as much as he did right in that moment.
“That’s fine. I’m on my way, only about ten minutes from your place. You think you can hang that long?”
Jude snorted. “Provided he doesn’t take out a gun and shoot me?”
“He’s not going to do that. Fucker wants you scared, babe. He wants you to know he knows where you live and that he can find you. He wouldn’t be out in the open like this if he planned on doing anything now.”
Anything now. Which meant they were probably planning on doing something later. Jude let out a shaking breath. “Tell me what to do,” he pleaded very softly.
“Just stand there—or sit, if your knee’s hurting.”
Jude let out a small, strained laugh. “If I did that, I doubt I’d be able to get up again on my own.”
“You won’t be on your own for long,” Emilio promised, and Jude felt something warm rush through him. “I’m making