He picks up his water glass to hold it to the light—I guess to see if anything is in it.
“Then poof you were gone.” He sets it down and focuses his blue eyes on me.
“You can imagine how delighted I was to see you here, in a diner. A ballerina in a diner.” He talks strange, as if he’s a bit off. It’s unnatural, clipped, as if he doesn’t trust himself not to mess up. I try to memorize everything about him. He’s pale with blue eyes and blond eyelashes. Dyes his hair, which is why he resembles a vampire with his coloring. His white button-down shirt and black slacks look rather old or else unkept.
I clear my throat. “I do have other tables. Your usual?” He stares at me, a strange smile spreading across his lips. I smile back, but I’m going to have him eighty-sixed. Then again, who’ll enforce it?
Great. Now we need security because a strange man saw me perform years ago? It’s bizarre, but I guess it could happen.
“No. No food. I wanted to give you your gift.”
“I’m sorry. I can’t accept it. I have a boyfriend who’s a Disciple. And he would not be happy if I accepted that. But thank you.”
His eyes change. This guy’s not right. Maybe he’s on drugs, but I’m done dealing with him.
“The Disciples.” He lifts his water again. “I heard they’re dangerous. Is it true?”
“Yes. Yes, they are.” I’m not engaging anymore. He can go take his weird crazy somewhere else.
I leave him and gratefully greet another table with a baby and grandparents. “Can I get her a high chair?” The grandparents smile, but I’m not paying attention—I’m watching the creepy guy leave.
“I’m so sorry. I’ll be right back to take your order.” Weaving my way around the tables to get to the window, I want to see what he drives. But he’s gone. Vanished. Maybe he walks? No one can pull out that fast. My eyes scan the restaurant. Is he hiding?
“Are you okay? You look… off today.” Joy walks by with a pot of coffee.
“Did you see the creepy guy leave?” I hiss at her, following her to a table.
“He just left.” She pours a cup and smiles at the old man, handing him his check.
“Okay. Antoinette, Charlie called me in today because it’s your birthday. I think you need to rest.” I open my mouth to argue, but when Joy gives you a look, you don’t argue.
Her kind brown eyes have the slightest hint of gold in them, making her lovely inside and out. Joy is studying to be a nurse, so when any of us have medical issues, we go to her.
“Seriously, Antoinette, go home. You look like shit.”
See, Joy’s the positive one. No one messes with her.
“Go home. And work on dance. And getting your classes going.” She gives me a saucy smile then greets the table I just left with the grandparents.
Dance classes. It’s a fantastic idea, but where would I hold them? It’s not like I can invite everyone over to the clubhouse and teach them in the game room. I go back to look out the window again and don’t see him. The parking lot is full, but his godawful dyed black hair would be easy to spot.
Turning, I look up at another loner sitting in the corner reading a book. Which is fine. I mean, most are on their phones, but this guy’s been coming in for coffee and lunch for as long as I’ve worked here. He’s a regular who none of us talk to. He looks up and nods, then goes back to reading and drinking his coffee.
What the hell?
Maybe he’s an actor? We get a lot of them since the diner is near the studios. He looks like he could be Rambo’s son. Whatever, I don’t get a creepy vibe from him. Who cares that he’s a quiet regular?
Joy’s right. I need to get out of here. But it’s not like I can blink myself back to the safety of Axel’s room. I’m not walking after creepy guy was here.
God, I can imagine him following me and having no choice but to kill him… With what? My good looks? Rolling my eyes, I make my way to the office again.
Poor Victor looks up from the grill as I pass. I try to smile, but he frowns, so I guess that didn’t work. Maybe I’m overreacting. Maybe I was rude to a regular customer and he truly did see me perform in New York and he knew it was my birthday from the playbill. That’s absurd. No way can that be true, and if it is, he’s still creepy to have memorized all my information. Either way, I’m not being paranoid. I’m telling Axel.
I head straight for my bag in the office to get my phone and call. This is turning out to be a horrendous birthday. God, I hope this isn’t a foreshadowing of the year to come.
Pushing on his number, absently I think about my birthday last year. I was sitting in a dance class with Bella arguing about not wanting her to take me out to dinner.
Bella. I suck as a friend. She’s probably tried to call me at my old number and is freaking because it’s disconnected. I know I was hurt. But that was over a month ago. She’s one of my best friends. If I were her, I’d probably have done the same thing. Well, I wouldn’t, but I love her and need to at least check in and give her my new number. I make a mental note to call her later as I stare at black-and-white movie posters hanging on the wall showing Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner smoking and drinking. The other wall has Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.
“Antoinette.” His voice is deep and gravelly. All-around sexy. I hate that my pulse leaps when I hear my name. I hate that I want him. I hate a lot about today, but I’m done keeping quiet. I tell him my truth.
“I need you.”
AXEL
“What’s wrong?” My boots drop from where I’ve propped them on the wooden conference table, and I instantly grab the burner phone that’s only for Drake, the ex-marine I have trailing Antoinette.
No missed calls. I take a breath. My heart is pounding, which is not improving my humor.
“I… don’t want to hide things anymore.” She sighs. “So, there’s a creepy guy who’s been coming into the diner and today was bad.”
“What do you mean?” I hiss. “Give me details, baby.” I look over at Blade who has stopped talking on the phone to listen to me.
“Everything okay?” His eyes reflect concern.
“Edge needs to go to the diner now and get David on the phone.”
Blade looks at me and starts barking out orders. To say we’re tense is a fucking joke. From the moment I walked in, it’s been one thing after another. Some group held up one of our trucks this morning. It was filled with guns from the Russians. Ryder killed one of the thieves, which stopped the heist. But he’s still not back from getting rid of the body.
David is meeting with the Russians to feel them out, so we’re already spread thin. Hearing creepy guy coming out of Antoinette’s mouth makes me want to fucking start killing. And I’ll start with Drake.
Where the fuck is he?
“Okay.” She’s all business and my heart aches. I ignore it as I run my hands through my hair. I need to calm down or I’ll make a mistake and that’s unacceptable.
“Slowly, tell me everything.”
“So, I started feeling like I was being watched a while ago. I thought maybe I was being paranoid, you know?”
“No, I don’t know! Why didn’t you tell me?” I say sharply. Maybe it was Drake. “It doesn’t matter. Go on.”
“This guy starts to coming in, insisting on my section. He looks familiar, but I know I haven’t met him. It’s bugged me every time I wait on him.”
“Okay.” Again I want to address that she needs to always tell me these things. But since I haven’t prepped her for any of this, the blame is mine. I’m clenching my jaw so tight I can feel the pulse in my temple. I text Drake on the burner phone.
“He’s not right. Like in his eyes, I can tell,” she says.
The burner instantly vibrates with a text from Drake: I’ve been watching him. Pictures coming.
And I almost throw the phone. Where the fuck did Snipe find this guy? He’s been watching him and didn’t let me know? If he lives without me putting a bullet in his head, it will be a miracle.
The ding of a picture brings me back to the now.
Drake: I have more from the other days also. Trying to get the clearest ones.
“Motherfucker,” I hiss, zooming in to get a good look at a dark-haired man talking to Antoinette.
“Axel? Are you still there?” Antoinette sounds scared and the sense of helplessness makes me want to punch a wall.
“Yeah, I’m here. Go slow. I need all the details.” I pass the burner to Blade so he can see the picture.
“He was agitated today. I don’t know if he’s on drugs or maybe he’s mentally ill. But he called me Toni and said ‘Happy Birthday.’ How would he know that, Axel?” Her voice gets louder. “My birthday? Toni? No one calls me Toni unless they’re from my past.”
“Where are you?” My voice remains steady as I go to that place in my head where I need to be.
“In the office. I’m not… feeling great. So, they wanted me to take off for my birthday. But the creeper said he saw me perform when I was fifteen… fifteen.” Her voice is hushed, as if she’s scared someone’s gonna hear.
“Babe, stop whispering.” My heart thunders in my chest. “I need you to do exactly as I say. Stay in the office until I come get you. Don’t leave with anyone but me and don’t make any calls. I’m bringing you a new phone.”
“Okay. I think the girls and Doug wanted to go to Casa Vega later—”
“We’ll talk about that when I’m there,” I say, my voice calm.
“Wait. Axel? Don’t hang up.”
My heart hurts because she knows me. Knows I don’t say goodbye. If something happens to her…
“Yeah, baby?”
“I memorized his face and everything he was wearing. I tried to see what he was driving, to get the license plate. But he must have been walking because he vanished. Which is creepy in itself. Do you think he’s after me?” I can hear her panting. My eyes shift to Blade who has his blade out carving small nicks in the wood.
“Edge is on his way. I’m right behind him, and Antoinette, I’ll never let anyone hurt you.” This time I do hang up.
Fear.
I’m assuming that’s what it is since my stomach is in knots, and I’d rather be stabbed or take a fucking bullet than live with this kind of feeling. I almost rub my chest because when she said she memorized his face… I should be paying her rather than that piece of shit I hired to protect her.
“What happened?” Blade snarls as he stabs his knife into the table and reaches for the cigarettes.
“Is it him?”
Blade’s eyes narrow on the phone. “These pictures are shit. But from what I can see… yeah, I’d say it is.”
“That fucker has been coming into the diner and sitting only in Antoinette’s section. Somehow he knew it was her birthday and her nickname.”
Blade lights up and grabs his knife from the table only to continue stabbing it again. “Why are you only hearing about this now? I thought you had a guy on Antoinette twenty-four seven.”
“I guess that will have to be addressed.” I reach for the pack he tossed and light up myself.
He looks at me. “If he’s on someone’s payroll, we need to find out before you kill him. You hear me, Axel?”
The buzzing from the old neon Budweiser sign makes me look up at the yellowed ceiling as I try to calm my racing mind and inhale, letting the nicotine do its magic.
“I know you want blood, brother.”
I open and close my fists. “Do you? Because I don’t think you comprehend that I’ve been waiting to kill this sick fuck for years. I owe it to Doc. All the other shit he’s pulling gives me the urge to make him suffer before he dies. But to find out he’s been to the diner… next to Antoinette.” I breathe out, trying not to lose my shit. “I need to go.”
“She’s the key.” Blade’s voice stops me.
I turn and nod. “I know.”
It’s why I hired a guy to watch her, protect her when I can’t be with her. But I also know Blade.
“Antoinette is not gonna be our bait. Our women don’t get involved in club business,” I state.
He raises a brow and walks to the safe, pushing the file cabinet out of the way. “True. But is she your woman? Earlier you were pissing and moaning, telling me it was time to fuck new pussy.” He tosses me a Glock and a couple of new burner phones.
“Watch it, Blade,” I hiss, because he, out of everybody, has no right to judge.
Eyeing me, he shakes his head in disgust, tucking a Glock in the back of his jeans. “So, she is your woman?”
“For right now.” My voice holds a warning not to go there.
He nods. “I don’t have time to beat the shit out of you, Axel. You want her. Fear for her. Christ brother, you haven’t even looked at another woman in over a month.”
“I have to go.” I head to the door.
“It’s a dangerous game you’re playing, man. I know because I’ve been in your spot and played it.” That stops me. I turn to look him in the eyes.
“I’ll handle it,” I sneer, then walk out of the room.
“I hope so,” he yells after me. “We don’t have room for mistakes.”
AXEL
It takes ten minutes to get to the diner from the clubhouse. I make it in five. The parking lot has thinned out but still has customers going in and out. Fucking Blade, he had to push me. Antoinette is not something I’m ready to talk about. I’m not like them; I’m wired differently, and frankly, the fact that I crave Antoinette more each day is somewhat of an enigma. I’m assuming it has to do with her being untouched and I like that feeling of her being 100 percent mine.
She thinks she’s in love with me, so after I kill Benny, I should cut her loose. It’s the right thing to do. I’m never gonna be the kind of man she needs.
But why does the thought make me want to attack someone? Maybe I’ll go with my earlier plan and get her a small house, or a condo, and keep her as my go-to fresh cunt. Fuck, I could buy her a dance studio, kind of like Dolly’s salon. We need a new place to launder our money.
Edge is outside talking on the phone. He gives me a nod while I toss my brain bucket onto the handlebars and pull out a new burner phone.
I change phones so much that I memorize everyone’s numbers. Most of my brothers aren’t as anal about changing phones, but we go through a lot of numbers.
“Fuck off,” Ox growls into the phone when we connect. He’s our most unpredictable Disciple, but he’d take a bullet for any of us.
“Get your face out of that snatch.”
He chuckles and grunts a get out to whoever is with him. “Brother, someone has to take care of all the lonely pussy. You’re off the market.” He snorts loudly. Ox’s wake-up drug of choice is not coffee.
“What’s happened?” He snorts again, and I peruse the large parking lot. Other than Edge and me, it’s mostly older couples and some suits.
“You swept the clubhouse yesterday, right?”
“I did. We’re clean.”
“Benny’s been spotted in Out Takes. I know you helped Ryder this morning, but I need you to do a thorough sweep of the diner. Assume he has everything—cameras, microphones.”
“Motherfucker. I’m on my way.” The line goes dead. I know Benny’s close. I can feel it.
“How’s Dolly, man? She wanting one of Victor’s Reuben sandwiches?” I say in code. Edge instantly gets it. There’s a reason we’re the deadliest MC. We don’t fuck up.
“Nah, I do.” He laughs as we walk in. I nod at Cindy who frowns. Her eyes go from Edge to mine, but we ignore her and walk behind the counter and turn up the music.
“He’s got cameras. I can feel it,” I hiss.
“Blade sent Eve the photos. She confirmed it was Benny. So if he does have it wired, who knows what he’s heard.”
“I have Ox coming to sweep. You talk to David?”
“Yeah, not happy. Making Charlie close the diner early.”
“What are you guys doing here?” Charlie snips as she walks out of the kitc
hen carrying four plates, two stacked on each arm. “Turn down the music.” She eyes us as she passes.
“I’m taking Antoinette out of here.”
“Perfect,” Edge says. “I have to deal with them.” His eyes swing to Cindy and Charlie, but truly I think he’s more scared of Joy who’s making her way straight toward us.
“Good luck with them.” I grin and swing open the kitchen door, instantly smelling bleach. Victor is humming to old-school Santana as he lifts the rubber black mat, preparing to spray it down in the back alley. He stops and nods at me, but it lacks his usual jovial demeanor. That’s okay. He likes my ballerina and I’m the asshole who’s gonna break her heart. I’m man enough to respect him for that.
“Carl.” I nod at the busboy who’s busy spraying dishes.
“Hey, dude.” He salutes me. He’s Bobcat’s kid and is constantly trying to become a prospect. Not to brag, but unfortunately, he doesn’t have the ability. He stupidly plastered his tattoo of the Disciples symbol all over social media without permission. We voted no to prospect after that even though his old man is as good as you can get. He seems determined, though I have a hunch all he wants is pussy and notoriety rather than the life.
I knock on the office door and scan the large kitchen. There are plenty of places where someone could have hidden cameras.
She peeks out the door. And my heart hurts, giving me that urge to rub my chest again.
“Baby, it’s me.”
“Axel.” She throws her arms around my neck, crawling up my body. In an instant, that rage pulses through me. How dare anyone scare her? I hold her tight and let her straddle me, her ballerina legs easily holding on to me.
I let myself smell her, feel her. Fuck, I let myself have this with her, savoring her vanilla and grapefruit smell along with her cunt pressing against my erection. She buries her nose in my neck.
“Goddamn it.” I kick the office door shut and my mouth takes hers. It’s this kind of insanity that I need to get ahold of. But thinking it and doing it are two different things. Our tongues tangle and everything fades but us. The need to pull her jeans down and fuck her is so great that I force myself to pull away. If the sicko does have cameras, he doesn’t get to see my girl come.
Ignite (The Disciples Book 4) Page 23