Okay. I’m still alive. Pushed my luck so far, might as well push a bit more. “Who else asked you about her?”
He steps closer to me, a flash of something dark going through his gaze. “Nino Gaspari asked about her.”
My mouth’s dry as sand. “And what did you tell him?”
“Nothing.” He takes another step closer. “What is she to you?”
I take a gamble. “She’s the sister of a good friend of mine.”
He studies me for a long while. “A friend, huh?”
I shrug, and even that hurts.
“Listen, Rafe Vestri. I like you, and you’re a buddy of Asher Devlin. I knew your family, know how they were killed. I don’t think you’re kidding around or bullshitting me. This is a serious matter. Are we clear?”
“Yes, sir.”
He nods. “Tell your friend to visit the Red Jet Café in Grand Rapids, Michigan.”
And then he’s turning and striding away.
Huh. I repeat the names in my mind, rewind what he told me. Push it around in my mind and freeze.
Does Colt know that Nino is interested in this girl? Suddenly it seems like one hell of a coincidence that he’s working here, the same place Nino frequents, that he’d seen him, noticed him, found out his name and brought me in.
What’s going on here?
A clock ticks. I glance up. It’s mounted on the wall over the door, a cheap, white, plastic one with the logo of a drug company.
Time.
I quickly untape my hands and get up, keeping a hiss between my teeth. I pull on my sweater and jeans, my jacket, and leave the duffel. More pressing matters to take care of right now.
Like find Nino before he vanishes.
Then deal with all the rest.
Chapter Seventeen
Megan
Raf meows and takes another swipe at my nose with his tiny paw. He sniffs at my face, pulls back, perplexed, sniffs again.
I put another piece of chocolate in my mouth and sigh. “No chocolate for you,” I inform him. “Stay away.”
Raf won’t be swayed. He takes a break to lick his leg, then tries to burrow under the covers with me.
“Stop it.” I nudge him away, then stroke his head behind the ears and he curls up on my pillow, purring.
Outside my bedroom window, the sky is dark with clouds. It’s raining or maybe snowing, can’t quite make it out from my angle on the bed.
Rafe… The apartment has never felt so empty before. So dark and cold. I wish he were here. I wish he held me, right here, in my bed. I miss his smell, his voice, his laughter, the intensity of his gaze.
Can’t believe he’s really going to that fight club, put his life in danger. That he won’t change his mind.
I’m so afraid for him.
Maybe I shouldn’t have walked out like that. We could have talked more about it, but I kinda lost it when he seemed determined to go.