He shook his head. “Not yet. Dash and Duke are looking for them. Where’s this fucker that’s been following you?”
When I looked up, he wasn’t standing in the spot he had been in all night. My eyes wildly darted around the club trying to spot him. My finger shot out. “That’s him. The man walking toward the back door!”
“Stay here!” Phoenix ordered and took off after him. The man pushed open the back door and stepped through it. Phoenix was hot on his tail and probably would have caught him if Crystal hadn’t stepped out of the bathroom and directly into Phoenix’s path. Phoenix tried to push her out of the way, but she grabbed onto his arm, which resulted in him sort of dragging her with him. He finally managed to shake her off and pushed through the back door. When he came back in moments later, I knew he had lost him.
He stomped past Crystal, completely ignoring her, and returned to where we were seated. “I saw what happened,” I told him, before he even said anything. “I also saw her talking to that man earlier, right after I sent that text to you.”
Without a single word, Phoenix turned around and stalked toward Crystal.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Phoenix
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I asked Crystal.
She blinked her overly made up eyes at me, “I work here.”
“You work here? Since when?”
She huffed. “Since I got into it with your Old Lady. I figured all it would take was one word from her and I would be out on my ass. I started looking for a part-time job the next day.”
“Who was the man you were talking to?”
“Could you be a little more specific? I’m a waitress in a bar. I talk to a lot of men,” she sassed.
“Cut the shit. The man I was chasing out the back door. The man you intentionally stopped me from chasing. Gray shirt, blue jeans, about 5’10, 180lbs. That guy,” I barked. I didn’t have time for her bullshit.
“I swear, Phoenix, I was just coming out of the bathroom. I didn’t know you were chasing anybody. Wait, is everything okay? Why were you chasing him?” she asked.
“Club business,” I barked. “What was the man’s name?”
“I have no idea,” she shrugged. “The man you described paid with cash all night.”
Of course he fucking did. “If I see him again, do you want me to get his name?” she offered.
“Sure. Whatever. Listen, I’ve got to get back,” I said and stepped around her. I wasn’t sure if she was lying to me or not, but either way, I doubted she would bring me a name.
I returned to the table to find Dash, Duke, Shaker, and Carbon with the girls. “Where the fuck have you two been?” I growled.
“Being hassled by bouncers and then the cops,” Carbon spat.
“Somebody told the bouncer at the first club that they saw us put something in a girl’s drink. The bouncer called the police and was able to stall us long enough for them to arrive.” Shaker shrugged. “Sorry, Prez, we couldn’t answer our phones with cuffs on.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. I could feel a headache coming on. “Let’s get the fuck out of here. We can discuss everything else back at the clubhouse.”
***
After giving it some thought over the next few days, I couldn’t convince myself one way or the other about the man at the club. It could have been a coincidence or it could have been someone legitimately following them. And if he was following them, which one was he following and why? With little to go on, there wasn’t much I could do other than tell the girls to be vigilant and travel in pairs.
I was also frustrated with the situation regarding Annabelle’s parents. How could two fuck ups like them just disappear without a trace? It took skill to not be found. There was no way those two were capable of anything like that.
Finally, Luke called with the results from Annabelle’s DNA sample. “Hey, Phoenix. Sorry, it took a little longer than I thought, but we got a match. The body belonged to Lisbeth Maynard Burnett.”
“Yeah, I kinda had a feeling it did. Thanks for going to so much trouble for Annabelle. I know it will ease her mind to know what became of at least one of them. You find anything on her father, yet?”
“No, but I’ll keep looking. About her mother…something’s not sitting right with me. From what you told me, Octavius tried to use Annabelle’s parents as a bargaining chip in order to get her to comply with his wishes, correct?”
“Yes, that’s what he said and she later confirmed it. What’s that have to do with anything?”
