Page 40 of Watched

“I’m good.” She puts on that fake reassuring voice I’ve learned to detect.

Blade’s lip twitches with a snarl, and he shakes his head. I turn my head to speak towards the phone. “I hope so.” Blade dips his chin and glares, and I’m wondering how many daggers he’s thrown at me since he came in. “When did you start taking pills again, Lex?”

“I don’t want to talk about it, Rain.”

“I understand, but it was laced. It could’ve killed you.”

“I wouldn’t care if it did.”

“Alexa!” Lakely scolds.

“Don’t fucking say that, Alexa,” Blade spits, taking an enraged step toward me. Snatching the phone from the desk, I step away from him. “What were you thinking, baby? Give me the name. That’s all I need.”

Alexa’s shortening breaths jolt through the phone. “W-wait, are you both in LA?”

Blade grins. “If you don’t give it to me, I might just pay you a little visit.”

“I’ll finally have you arrested,” she spits.

“Try it,” he taunts. “I’m not leaving this country until I watch them die.”

“N-no, it’s not his fault.”

He.

“They cut this shit with so much fentanyl it’ll kill someone,” Blade explains calmly, not bringing to light the fact she gave him information. “I’m about to walk out this door, Alexa. Room 401 in the east wing. Don’t make me repeat myself,” he warns.

“You can talk to yourself all night, Blade. Your threats are meaningless to me.”

“We both know I’ll follow through.”

“Then come find me. Kill me, for all I care.”

“I’ll see you soon, baby.”

He retreats toward the door, and I throw my head back. “Alexa, this shit will kill hundreds of people.”

“Is he gone?”

Blade stares at me, and I lie. “Yes, he’s gone.”

“A-at,” she admits. “I got it from Atticus.”

“Son of a bitch.” Blade shoves a finger in my face. “I warned that motherfucker on her seventeenth birthday when he sold her that cocaine. If he ever sold to her again, I’d put him in a grave.”

“You fucking liar!” Alexa shouts. “Please, Blade. Please don’t.”

“It’s okay,” he croons with a cold smile. “I’ll keep a souvenir for you.”

She releases a string of curses, and I hang up.

“What the fuck was that?” I snap.

He turns, stalking toward the door. “She can talk about me in therapy. I’ll enjoy reading about it.”

I sigh and drop my head, hating the ideas playing in it. Maybe I need to be a little more forceful with Rome. Not to the extent he’ll end up in a mental facility like Alexa, but enough to truly make him understand who he belongs to and put an end to his pathetic defiance.

Chapter eighteen