Ignite (The Disciples #4) - Cassandra Robbins Page 0,95
didn’t you tell me?” I say sharply. Maybe it was Drake. “It doesn’t matter. Go on.”
“This guy starts to coming in, insisting on my section. He looks familiar, but I know I haven’t met him. It’s bugged me every time I wait on him.”
“Okay.” Again I want to address that she needs to always tell me these things. But since I haven’t prepped her for any of this, the blame is mine. I’m clenching my jaw so tight I can feel the pulse in my temple. I text Drake on the burner phone.
“He’s not right. Like in his eyes, I can tell,” she says.
The burner instantly vibrates with a text from Drake: I’ve been watching him. Pictures coming.
And I almost throw the phone. Where the fuck did Snipe find this guy? He’s been watching him and didn’t let me know? If he lives without me putting a bullet in his head, it will be a miracle. The ding of a picture brings me back to the now.
Drake: I have more from the other days also. Trying to get the clearest ones.
“Motherfucker,” I hiss, zooming in to get a good look at a dark-haired man talking to Antoinette.
“Axel? Are you still there?” Antoinette sounds scared and the sense of helplessness makes me want to punch a wall.
“Yeah, I’m here. Go slow. I need all the details.” I pass the burner to Blade so he can see the picture.
“He was agitated today. I don’t know if he’s on drugs or maybe he’s mentally ill. But he called me Toni and said ‘Happy Birthday.’ How would he know that, Axel?” Her voice gets louder. “My birthday? Toni? No one calls me Toni unless they’re from my past.”
“Where are you?” My voice remains steady as I go to that place in my head where I need to be.
“In the office. I’m not… feeling great. So, they wanted me to take off for my birthday. But the creeper said he saw me perform when I was fifteen… fifteen.” Her voice is hushed, as if she’s scared someone’s gonna hear.
“Babe, stop whispering.” My heart thunders in my chest. “I need you to do exactly as I say. Stay in the office until I come get you. Don’t leave with anyone but me and don’t make any calls. I’m bringing you a new phone.”
“Okay. I think the girls and Doug wanted to go to Casa Vega later—”
“We’ll talk about that when I’m there,” I say, my voice calm.
“Wait. Axel? Don’t hang up.”
My heart hurts because she knows me. Knows I don’t say goodbye. If something happens to her…
“Yeah, baby?”
“I memorized his face and everything he was wearing. I tried to see what he was driving, to get the license plate. But he must have been walking because he vanished. Which is creepy in itself. Do you think he’s after me?” I can hear her panting. My eyes shift to Blade who has his blade out carving small nicks in the wood.
“Edge is on his way. I’m right behind him, and Antoinette, I’ll never let anyone hurt you.” This time I do hang up.
Fear.
I’m assuming that’s what it is since my stomach is in knots, and I’d rather be stabbed or take a fucking bullet than live with this kind of feeling. I almost rub my chest because when she said she memorized his face… I should be paying her rather than that piece of shit I hired to protect her.
“What happened?” Blade snarls as he stabs his knife into the table and reaches for the cigarettes.
“Is it him?”
Blade’s eyes narrow on the phone. “These pictures are shit. But from what I can see… yeah, I’d say it is.”
“That fucker has been coming into the diner and sitting only in Antoinette’s section. Somehow he knew it was her birthday and her nickname.”
Blade lights up and grabs his knife from the table only to continue stabbing it again. “Why are you only hearing about this now? I thought you had a guy on Antoinette twenty-four seven.”
“I guess that will have to be addressed.” I reach for the pack he tossed and light up myself.
He looks at me. “If he’s on someone’s payroll, we need to find out before you kill him. You hear me, Axel?”
The buzzing from the old neon Budweiser sign makes me look up at the yellowed ceiling as I try to calm my racing mind and inhale, letting the nicotine do its magic.