Several minutes later, he slumped down on the bathroom floor and squeezed his eyes shut as his stomach heaved again. But nothing was left; it was merely revolting over the facts it had learned.
Julien is missing, and Jimmy is free.
Julien is missing. And Jimmy is fucking free.
As the full impact of those two things slammed into him all over again, the next thought that hit was: Robert. Fuck.
Priest quickly hit Robbie’s number, and as he sat there staring at the stark white wall of the bathroom, he did something he hadn’t done in years: he prayed.
* * *
ROBBIE SAT AT one of the booths at The Popped Cherry and punched in the numbers for the monthly order they needed to place. He and Tate had made good headway today, and in another hour or so they should be done with inventory.
Throughout the day, Robbie had been sneaking quick looks at the new reviews popping up about Julien and hadn’t been able to stop himself from raving about it to Tate. He figured he was owed that, considering he’d had to listen to Tate talk about Logan for years, and just as he was about to check for anything new online, his cell phone lit up and he saw Priest’s name and number appear.
With a smile on his face, Robbie reached for it and hit accept, and then settled back into his seat. “Did you finally track down our famous chef? I think we should—”
“Robert.” Priest’s voice cut Robbie off like a knife, his tone was that sharp, and Robbie immediately straightened in his seat.
“Yes? What is it? What’s wrong?” Robbie said, automatically sensing that something was very, very wrong.
“Where are you?”
“I’m at…work. Inventory, remember?” Robbie thought it extremely odd that Priest would forget something as simple as that—unless, of course, something else, something much bigger, was distracting him. “What’s going on? Are you all right?”
“I’m coming to get you.”
“Wh…what? Wait a minute. What do you mean you’re coming to get me? I work tonight.”
“Is Tate there with you?” Priest said.
“Yes. We’re just ordering and stuff. Why?”
“Tell Tate to lock all the doors, and do not leave that fucking bar. Do you understand me, Robert?”
Robbie’s entire body shook at Priest’s words, his brain understanding that whatever was going on, whatever had Priest barking orders at him, had to be something big, something that scared Priest, and the only thing Robbie could think of that did that was…Jimmy.
“Priest, you’re freaking me out. What’s going on? Where’s Julien?”
“I don’t know,” Priest said, and the impact of those three words was like a sledgehammer. “Lock all the doors and don’t leave. I’ll be there in ten minutes, max.”
“Pri—” Robbie started, but Priest had ended the call, leaving Robbie sitting there shaking in his seat.
What the hell? What did Priest mean when he said he didn’t know where Julien was? Wasn’t he at the restaurant?
Robbie swallowed a gulp of air and ordered himself to keep it together and do what Priest had told him. There was obviously a good explanation for this, because Priest wasn’t the kind to overreact unless it was important, but that didn’t make Robbie feel any better.
Robbie slid out from his seat and wiped his palms on his pants, and then he made his way to the bar, where Tate was putting all the bottles back in order.
“Uh, Tate? I, um…”
When Robbie stopped talking, Tate turned around to face him and frowned. “Hey? Are you okay? You look pale as a ghost.”
“I…uh, Priest just called, and he sounded really worried, and I know this is going to sound weird, but he said we need to lock all the doors and…stay inside.”
“Lock the doors? Why?” Tate put down a bottle of Patrón, and then he walked to the bar pass and came around to stop in front of Robbie. “Do you need to sit down? Is everything all right?”
“No. I just…” Robbie swallowed again and said as calmly as he could, “I just really need you to listen to me, please?”
“You want me to lock the doors? Can you tell me why?”
“I…” Shit, he didn’t know if he could, and until he did, he wasn’t about to divulge Priest’s secrets—not even to Tate. “I think Priest is just being overly cautious about something. But he said he was on his way, and I’m sure he’ll tell us more then.” Robbie could see that Tate wasn’t thrilled with that explanation, but it was all he had. “Please trust me.”
Tate sized him up for a long minute and then said, “Okay, let’s lock up. Then I’m calling Logan to see if he knows what the hell is going on.”
Robbie nodded. But he had a feeling if this had to do with who he thought it did, Logan wasn’t going to have any answers for Tate. The only man who held those was Priest.