My jaw clenched. “Thierry hired you to be my bodyguard.”
She laughed. “What the hell do I care? So it’s one job I won’t get paid for. This is personal, babe. God, you know what? Thierry isreally hot. When you said old, married and a heavy drinker, I had my doubts.
But, hello, cowboy! When he wakes up, he and I are going to have some fun.”
Every muscle in my body tensed up. “You touch him and I’ll . . . I’ll . . . ”
“Again. Still waiting for this master plan of yours. You know, I think I finally may have you figured out. I bet you didn’t even mean to kill my brother, did you?”—pain twisted her words into harsh sounds—“but you did. You made your choice. And now I have something you love. Even if he doesn’t give a shit about you. Isn’t that what you said? Well, you’ve got a choice now. Let me make your breakup a permanent thing, or come and get him. And then we’ll settle things just between the two of us once and for all. How does that sound?”
I tried to ignore the tight feeling in my throat. “Where are you?”
“It’s in the note. If you can’t follow simple instructions I think you’ve already made your decision. Bye, bitch.” She hung up.
When I hung up the phone my palms were sweating.
Simple instructions. I glanced at the note again.
Come see the show. I’ll be waiting.
See the show.
I shook my head, trying to concentrate with my mind racing in a million different directions. She said it was an easy clue.
Where would I go to see a show?
After another moment it clicked.
“We have to go to the Paragon Theater,” I told George.
“Where’s that? And what’s this ‘we’ thing you’re talking about?”
“That’s where Janie’s taken Thierry.”
“Bully for her. I don’t think this is a very good idea. Thierry can look after himself.” He gingerly rubbed his injured nose.
“She must have knocked him out. Maybe he was distracted or something.” I thought back to our last words. Our last kiss and how he’d stormed away. How he’d overreacted to George’s obsession with party hats. This was all my fault.
I had to fix this.
“There’s no time to debate the issue. Will you come with me? I’m going. With or without you, but I’d really appreciate the company.”
“The boss is really in danger?”
I nodded.
He looked over at the dance floor, at all the people having fun at Amy’s surprise party. Then he nodded,
too. “I don’t think we should tell anyone. They’ll just panic. Make things worse than they already are.”
“I agree.”
He tucked his shoulder-length sandy blond hair behind his ears. “We’re going to do this. We’re going to rescue Thierry. Even though he punched me in the face.”
“Yeah.”
“Just you and me. The two of us.” He nodded firmly, his handsome jaw set in a square line. “We’re like warriors. I like that. We don’t need anybody else.” He looked down at Lenny. “We are a power to be reckoned with. And when people mess with the people we care about, they’d better prepare to have their asses handed to them on a platter.”
“That’s right. Well, almost right.”
He blinked at me. “What?”
“The part about you and me going alone.So not the way it’s going to go. Janie is dangerous. She’d mop the floor with us.”
“Really? She’s that tough?”
I nodded.
“Then maybe we should give this more thought.” He touched his nose again. “The boss did step over the line.”
I grabbed his arm. “No, we’re still going. But we’re making a quick stop for reinforcements.”
“What are we taking?”
“Not what. Who.” I swallowed. “We need to get Quinn to help us.”
He looked at me sternly. “Sarah, this isn’t a double date.”
“He’s trained. Just like Janie is. He’ll know what to do. Now come on. We can’t waste any more time.
We have to go to Clancy’s.”
“Clancy’s?Are you talking about the hunter bar?”
I didn’t reply, just stared at him for a moment before I turned away. I didn’t think he needed the confirmation. I wasn’t going to force him to come and potentially get hurt. But I was going. All alone if I had to.
I walked through the club, headed for the exit without a backward glance. Breezed past Angel the bouncer, who held the door open for me, and then I was outside. The cold wind whipped my dark hair over my face, covering my eyes for a moment until I tucked it back where it belonged.
George stood in front of me. I raised my eyebrows at him.
“Well, come on, then,” he said. “What are you waiting for? There are butts that need to be kicked.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Less than fifteen minutes later, George and I stood, currently bodyguard-free, on the curb outside Clancy’s, looking at the hunter bar with a large serving of uneasiness. I nervously twisted the gold necklace around my neck.
“How do you even know he’s still in there?” George whispered.