Jace gave him a chin lift as Eastern hung up. “Is everything okay?”
“It’s fine.”
He was lying. Jace didn’t need to be a lie detector to know that. “Tell me.”
His brother ran his fingers through his hair. “I probably shouldn’t…”
Unease coiled in Jace’s gut. “What, Eastern?”
“It’s Elle. She thought some guy was following her so ran into the bar. She’s pretty upset.”
“What thefuck? Did he follow her in?”
“No. But Cody stepped out and said he didn’t recognize him. He also said Elle was shaking. I’m going down to get a description so I can keep an eye out for him.”
“I’m coming.”
Eastern sighed. “Of course you are. Come on.”
Jace climbed into his own car and followed his brother to the bar. The entire way, his gaze kept flicking to his phone and back to the road. She hadn’t contacted him. It shouldn’t surprise him after last night, but fuck, it still hurt. If she was scared, he wanted to be the person she called. He wanted to be the person she turned to for protection.
The drive was only a couple of minutes, but it felt far longer. He climbed out of his car and was about to step inside when Eastern grabbed him.
“You need to stay calm in there.”
Jace frowned. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“You already look like you’re gonna kill someone, and nothing’s even happened.”
“Someone scared her.”
“But she’s okay. So just…keep your head on, okay?”
His brother was right, dammit. He needed to remain calm.
It was only after Jace nodded that Eastern pushed inside.
The second Jace stepped in after him, his gaze went to Elle. She was seated at the bar, glass of water in front of her and Harper by her side. Cody stood on the other side of the bar, arms folded.
Elle glanced up, her lips parting when she saw Eastern, like she was about to say something. She stopped when her gaze hit him. “Jace…”
Eastern scrubbed his chin. “Sorry. He was with me at the station when Cody called.”
Jace walked straight over and loosely wrapped an arm around her, touching her hip. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” Her eyes held his for an entire beat before she swallowed and turned to Eastern. “Really, I’m okay.”
“Tell me what happened,” Eastern said, so calm—it was the complete opposite of everything Jace felt.
Elle wet her lips. “I was walking to my apartment from Sugar and Spice and a car drove past.”
“Make? Model?”
Her nose scrunched. “Maybe a Volkswagen? Black. I don’t know the license plate, sorry.”
Cody pushed a piece of paper across the bar. “I had a look when I stepped outside and wrote it down for you.”
Eastern slipped the piece of paper into his pocket. “Great.” He turned back to Elle. “What did he look like?”
