“Jesse,” I force out through stiff lips.
She looks up. Jesse is leaning against the wall of the building, smoking a cigarette. As I watch, he blows smoke at a passing couple who dodge around him with a look of disdain that makes him laugh at them.
What the hell is he doing here? I don’t think he’s waiting for me; while he seems to know I’m at Jacqui’s, there’s no way he would know that I would be coming here tonight. It seems he’s just hanging around to cause trouble.
But if he sees me, he’ll definitely approach us, and I can’t deal with that right now.
“What do we do?” Jacqui mutters. He hasn’t noticed us yet, and we both slide down in our seats. “Do we go somewhere else?”
“Is there anywhere else?” I ask.
“Yeah, but it’s a few miles away,” Jacqui says reluctantly.
I grimace. This place is close to Jacqui’s apartment and we’re both starving. We were hoping to be in and out, not have to drive around all night looking for groceries.
Then, suddenly, Jesse straightens. For one, horrifying second, I think he’s seen us. He drops his cigarette to the ground and steps on it, before snarling at something to the left. His fists are clenched beside him so tightly that they look white, even from this distance.
As I watch, he raises his fist to someone. But he doesn’t approach them. Instead he spits on the ground. Then his eyes widen and he takes a step back. In the next second, he turns on his heel and flees.
Jacqui and I stare, amazed. Then we look at each other.
“What was that about?” Jacqui asks, blinking.
“I have no idea,” I say.
Movement catches my eye. There’s a man walking into the parking lot from the direction Jesse was staring in. He’s straightening a leather jacket as he heads toward a motorbike and, when he turns around, I see a familiar symbol on the back.
My breath catches. So that’s what Kyle meant.
“Allison?” Jacqui asks.
“Nothing,” I say with a smile, sitting up. “Let’s grab the groceries.”
It seems that there’s a reason Jesse hasn’t approached me. The other people who are stalking me, the ones who disappear into the shadows… They aren’t following me. They’re protecting me and keeping Jesse away.
And I know exactly who set that up.
I shake my head in fond exasperation.
Kyle… You really don’t know when to give up, do you? I’m glad.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Kyle
Jacqui’s apartment has the added benefit of being right across the road from a little coffee shop. I feel sorry for the staff; I know all the men in leather jackets coming in and out are making them nervous, but it’s the best place to sit and relax while keeping watch.
I sip at my coffee and eye the door. From the reports I’ve gotten from the men I’ve roped into watch detail with me, Jesse hasn’t come near the apartment in days. Someone apparently even scared him away from the shops last night when Jacqui and Allison arrived there to do some shopping.
I wonder if he’s figured out. He must be blind if he hasn’t noticed all the different men, each of them wearing the same symbol on their jackets, who keep chasing him away. I hope he’s running scared, I think grimly.
So far, though, that’s all we’ve been able to do. Alex hasn’t gotten back to me yet, and I’ve just been left to keep a constant watch over Allison and Jacqui. I wonder if they’ve noticed too. I hope we haven’t scared them.
I sigh and lean back in my chair. Other than the messages we exchanged yesterday afternoon, Allison and I haven’t spoken since Thursday, when we broke up. Does it even count as breaking up? We only decided we could be together the night before, and then we went on one date. We had sex more than we dated.
I snort, making the barista at the counter give me an odd look. I wonder what Allison would say if I say that to her.
I’ve spent hours going over every bit of the conversation we had on Thursday, as well as looking for any sign that she was thinking about our lack of compatibility on Wednesday. But I just can’t figure it out.