“It’s not a flattering look.” I unlock my phone, checking to see if he read my text. Not yet.
“Give that to me,” she says, glancing down at it in my lap.
“My phone?”
She steals it off my lap. “Wait—” I reach for it.
“Chill out. I’m just checking something . . .”
I keep my attention on the road since hers isn’t. She taps the screen a couple times and gasps. “Look!” She holds it out in front of me. “He’s been tracking your location!”
I take my phone back and roll my eyes. “He’s being protective. That’s only because of the stalker stuff.”
“No, he’s being domineering. You need to know the difference. I really think you need to look into a lawyer.”
An uncomfortable silence hangs between us. I totally understand where she’s coming from. It doesn’t matter how many excuses I make for him—sayingYou don’t know him like I doisn’t going to help the situation at all, it just makes me sound like a stereotype.
“Sorry, it’s just . . . that’s crazy. That’s insane behavior. You know that, right?”
“I do,” I confirm. She’s right, it is crazy. “But he didn’t do it for control.” Well, notallfor control. He was trying to save Black Rabbit and me. If he hadn’t saved my dad’s shop, there’s no way I could have.
I explain some of the details but jump around a lot in the story because she keeps interrupting with more questions. I can’t blame her, it’s a lot to take in. After a few minutes, she turns onto Hartford Avenue. Wait a minute, this is a residential neighborhood.
I furrow my brow and look around. “I thought we were going out for happy hour?”
“After what you just told me? Absolutely not! I need to hear the rest of this story without any distractions or having to talk over people.”
“Aren’t you staying at the hotel?”
“What?” She pulls into a driveway and parks. “No, this is my Airbnb.”
“We’re really close to Logan’s loft, I can practically see it from here.” Damn, I can just walk home after this.
She reaches into the back seat and grabs a bottle of wine and a bag. “Well, that’s convenient!” she says with a chuckle. “You like reds, right?”
I nod.
“All right! Let’s hear the rest of this shitshow!”
I’m in my truck when Casper calls me, so I pick it up over the Bluetooth. I’m headed to Jason’s place.
“Hey,” I answer.
“Slight problem. Kelly isn’t here anymore.”
“What?” I bite, checking my phone. I forgot I missed a text earlier. I pull up the message and groan. “Fuck, she went out with Rosa. I’ll give her a call. I don’t want her out at the bars until I know where Jason is.”
“Copy,” he says. “Just let me know where they are headed and I’ll go babysit.”
“Sounds good.” I end the call and open up the tracker to find out which bar she’s at. The dot isn’t there. I zoom out. Nothing. I click her name at the top of the screen:Offline.
“Damn it.”
I click the phone app and tap her name. It goes straight to voicemail. I don’t like that one bit. I try again . . . Then thrice more.
“Why the fuck isn’t she picking up?” I punch the steering wheel as panic rises in my chest.
I haven’t even told her about Jason, so she doesn’t know who to look out for. What if he was watching Kelly at the shop and followed her to a bar? My thoughts spiral with worst-case scenarios of him slipping something into her drink or sneaking behind her into the bathroom.
