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“I mean, I sort of told him that I just thought of him as some guy, which was bullshit, but I was too up in my head to see that I was—”
“No, Ricki,” Easton barked, cutting me off. “What happened to make Asher think you weren’t safe at your apartment?”
“Oh.” I blinked, blushing. Of course Easton wouldn’t have cared about our relationship drama. He just wanted to know where his friend was. “A brick got thrown through my window,” I told him, pointing upwards toward my apartment as though Easton could actually see the window in question from where we were.
“A brick? On Halloween?”
“Yeah.”
“You think it was that same guy?”
“Javier? Probably.”
“No wonder he wanted you to leave, Ricki. That guy is dangerous.”
“Javier is not dangerous,” I protested, even as my gut started swirling with the idea that maybe I was wrong. “He’s just a douchebag with a grudge.”
“That’s exactlywhyhe’s dangerous.”
“He’s not—”
“The man came after you with a knife, Ricki! He painted your place of business with animal blood, and then he threw a rock through the window of your home.” Easton was worked up, and I stared at him in shock. “If you were my sister, I wouldn’t have just had you out of the building, I’d have you out of the state.”
Without waiting for me to reply—or comment on how I felt just the tiniest bit sorry for his sister—Easton pulled his phone out of his pocket and made a call, pacing back and forth as he waited for someone to answer.
“Thane,” he said when the call finally connected, letting me know he was talking to Asher’s brother. “Have you talked to Asher today? Shit. When was the last time you spoke to him? Huh.” Easton’s shoulders slumped, letting me know he didn’t get the answer he’d been hoping for. “Alright. Listen, I’m not sure yet, but I think something’s happened. No. Not yet. You don’t have to. Alright. Fine. I’ll see you when you get here.”
Easton ended the call, but even overhearing the half that I had, I knew Thane was just as worried about Asher as Easton was.
Standing, I joined Easton in his pacing, the sudden influx of nervous energy making my skin feel like it was on fire.
“What do we do?” I asked, feeling completely out of my depth.
“I’m calling the police.”
This time, I couldn’t even disagree. If Asher really was missing, then we were going to need help to find him, and calling the police was as good a place to start as any.
Chapter thirty-nine
Asher
Blinkingawake,thefirstthing I noticed was that my face was on fire. I hadn’t been in a fistfight in a long time, but even I could recognize the throbbing in my cheekbone as being the result of a fist to the face.
Shaking my head—and then instantly regretting the action as my temple was now also hammering like I’d been kicked by a mule—I closed my eyes and tried to focus on where the hell I was and what the hell was going on.
Taking in my surroundings, I could see that I was in a medium-sized room with a few dated looking kitchen cabinets on one wall and a dusty, sagging couch on the other. The chair I was currently tied to appeared to belong to the mismatched kitchen table set next to me. The lights in the room were off, but the door was open, letting in some of the watery light that spilled across what appeared to be a plain hallway.
The air was stale and had the disgusting undertone of too many cigarettes.
I had no idea where I was, but I remembered how I got here.
Fuckin’ Javier.
That punk had been waiting for me in my truck, and I had been too worked up over my argument with Ricki to pay attention when I’d gotten in, letting him get the jump on me.
It was a fucking embarrassment, really. Easton and my brother were never gonna let me hear the end of it when I got out of this mess.
Because I refused to believe I wasn’t going to get out of this mess. Javier may be a crazy asshole, but I was positive that I could outsmart him. I didn’t think he actually wanted to kill me, or I’d already be dead. Maybe he didn’t want to kill anyone; he was pissed off, but murder was hopefully taking things a step too far.
