Which means he can see me clearly.
He’s still playing on his phone.
Wearing a hat that looks like a fly fisherman’s hat.
Camera still slung over his shoulder.
But his phone—his phone is aimed straight at me.
I gulp.
Don’t eat the scone I took off of Laney’s plate.
Sabrina starts to move, but I look at her and silently beg her to not do anything.
She glares back at me.
Sabrina doesn’t like being helpless, and she doesn’t like sitting still when she cando somethingto fix things.
“I should get back to work,” she says lightly.
It’s a fake lightly.
“Oh, god, me too,” Laney says. “I have a meeting in fifteen minutes.”
They both look at me.
I try to feel around invisibly for Jonas’s security guy.
Where is he?
It’s been eighty-four minutes since I gave the signal.
Did he miss it?
Why isn’t hehere?
“I—” I start to croak, and then screams split the air.
No.
Not screams.
Sirens.
“What thefuck?” Sabrina leaps to her feet.
Laney puts her hands to her stomach like she’s trying to shield her baby’s ears from the smoke alarms.
“Clear out,” Sabrina yells. “Everyone out. You!Out!Fire.Out!”
There’s no smoke.
And it makes zero sense for her to grab me and Laney and haul us into the kitchen, which is where fireshould be, but isn’t, and then it all makes sense.
Graham’s in the kitchen.
He’s a Black man, two inches shorter than me, but built like a tank. He nods once to Sabrina, who’s giving him theI am only forgiving you for scaring the shit out of my customers because you’re saving my friendlook, and then Laney and I are hustled into a black SUV waiting right outside Bee & Nugget’s back door.
