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“Anything more on her phone, then?” Rook prodded, flexing his fingers before taking a long swallow from the glass of whiskey he had perched on top of a wooden stool by the wall.
“Nothing.”
He slammed the glass back down and a muscle in my jaw ticked.
Ava Jade’s stalker had been eerily silent since the attack last weekend. She hadn’t received a single message. Either we scared him off or he was biding his time. Or, maybe he was just recovering from the two story fall out the window of her room.
There was no way he’d escaped unscathed from that drop. We’d checked the hospitals though. Every one within fifty miles. Of the few patients admitted with injuries that would’ve been consistent with the fall, none fit his description.
Tall. The same height as Rook—give or take an inch. Strong with a slender frame packed solid with wiry muscle. Neither Rook nor AJ thought he was very old. Maybe older than them, but not by much. Certainly less than thirty-five.
Only one man fit that description. And he’d met the cold barrel of Corvus’ gun and wet himself two days ago when he was released from the hospital. It wasn’t the guy. He was paid enough for a new pair of designer pants and sent on his way with a warning.
Rook licked his lips, and I could see the spark of madness in his eyes as they flashed in the overhead lights.
“We’re going to find this fucker,” I assured him. “We’re going to find him and then you’re going to take him apart piece by piece. I’ll help you.”
His gaze narrowed on me, a curious furrow in his brow. The unspoken question on his lips.You will?
I nodded.
Rook nodded back.
“I’m going up to get the girls. Corv is nearly ready.”
As I said it, we both heard the front door close in the house beyond the door to the garage and the engine to the Rover start in the driveway. It was cold as fuck out there tonight, chances are he was just warming it up, but he wouldn’t want to be kept waiting long.
Rook finished his drink and went in, headed for the shower.
I took the old entrance up to the loft. The one that required the use of the narrow staircase at the back corner of the garage.
Corvus had one of Diesel’s contractors in on Monday while the rest of us were in classes. They finished the small renovation within six hours as requested and by the time we returned after last class, there was a new entrance to the loft, accessible through the other end of the upstairs bathroom.
Corv hadn’t liked my loft idea, but instead of arguing about it, for once he just shut his mouth and found a quiet solution. One I was angry I hadn’t thought of myself.
If he didn’t have the new entrance made, they would’ve been sealed off from us. It would take too long for us to get to them in case of an emergency, and would leave them with only one route in and out—which was why Ava Jade was keen on the idea, too.
I rapped twice on the door and waited a beat before hearing Becca call for me to come in.
The loft opened up before me as I crested the last few steps past the threshold and into the little studio we never used.
Becca was perched on the edge of an oversized desk chair, pausing in painting her nails to inspect them for imperfections before sliding her hand beneath a UV light dome.
“What? Sometimes they need a fix between appointments,” she explained. “And I haven’t been able to get to the salon all week.”
I wasn’t going to ask, and I wasn’t wondering, but I nodded all the same. “Where’s AJ?”
She jerked her head toward the other end of the loft. “Shower.”
I started into the loft but Becca’s next question stopped me. “Got an ETA on those door handles yet? As much as I love showering with an open door in a house full of dudes...oh no, wait...Idon’tactually love that.”
Fair enough. “Corv says they’ll be here Monday.”
“Thank fuck for that.”
“Anything new we should be aware of?” I asked Becca, lowering my voice. “Messages, or…”
She looked at me like I’d sprouted another head. “Ask AJ,” she said with a heavy sigh. “You really think she’s still going to lie to you about it after that shit last weekend?”
