AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Well… no, but doesn’t everyone know how to cook?”
“Not us,” Jackson said. “But I’ll make you a sandwich, if that’s your thing.”
I stood aside as he pulled ham, chutney and cheese out of the fridge, and arranged them between slices of bread.
“Bon appétit,” he said, as he placed the plates on the table. “It’s the best sandwich you’ll ever eat, if I do say so myself.”
I took a mouthful, doubting his claims, but to my surprise, it tasted great.
“I think I could get used to this,” I joked, but as I took my second bite, a security alarm went off in the shop.
“I’d better check that out,” Jackson said, and darted out of the apartment, closing the heavy door behind him.
I assumed that one of the guys would turn the alarm off within a few seconds, but then it kept going.
I pulled out my phone and opened the app that showed all the cameras, and I almost choked on a piece of bread when I saw the footage.
Nathan was in the shop.
12
XAVIER
What did that fucker want?
As soon as Nathan came through the door, both Adrian and I leaped up like fighters ready to go into the ring. I activated the hidden alarm to alert Emma and Jackson, and leaned over the counter.
“What now?” I growled.
Nathan looked suspiciously calm.
“I’d like to get a tattoo,” he said with a sleazy smile. It was hard to remember how I’d originally thought he looked normal. Now that I knew what a prick he was, it affected how I saw him. Everything about him seemed off-kilter: his dark hair sat unevenly, squashed on one side like he’d slept on it. His eyes were beady, his nose was crooked, and his smile didn’t look genuine.
Bullshit, my instincts said. But it was safer for me to pretend that I couldn’t remember who he was — after all, there was no way he could know that Emma was upstairs, and if I overreacted, I might give her location away. This was just an information-gathering exercise, and I wasn’t going to give him any.
What he didn’t know was that I’d done some detective work of my own. While Emma had been asleep, I’d used my networks to find as much information as I could: the workshop where he was employed as a mechanic, the address of the apartment he’d shared with Emma until three weeks earlier, details of the speeding tickets he hadn’t paid, and the locations of his friends and family.
None of it was going to help me right now.
“What kind of tattoo?” I asked, resisting the urge to throw him out the door.
“A skull,” Nathan sneered. “With a snake slithering out of the eyeball.” He traced his finger over his shoulder. “Right here.”
I flipped through the diary, pretending to look for a vacant slot. We had a lot of availability in the next few days, but I didn’t want him to come back anytime soon.
“Would the fifteenth of August suit you?” I asked.
“That’s almost a month away,” Nathan said. “I wanted to get it done now.”
Instead of flipping back to today’s date, I closed the diary.
“Sorry, we’re all booked out.”
Nathan raised an eyebrow and gestured around the shop. My next booking hadn’t arrived yet, Adrian’s had called to cancel at the last minute, and Jackson was on his lunch break, so until my client turned up, it was just the me and Adrian.
“Really? Because it looks like you’re doing nothing.”
I wasn’t about to be intimidated by someone who got off on scaring the shit out of Emma. I placed my hands on the counter and leaned over Nathan.
