“War.” Her hand closed around his shoulder. “Let him go.”
Growling, he dropped his hands, but War didn’t back up far. “Come at me with a knife again,” he warned Billy, “and I will break your hand.”
“Jesus!” Billy gaped at War, then at her. “Where did you find him? And can you send him back? Because he’s scary and psychotic!”
“What came up, Billy?” Rose asked. Dawn was finally starting to streak across the sky. Angry red streaks.
“I…you know. Stuff.” A rough shrug.
No, she didn’t know and that was why she’d asked. “You said you’d have a place for me to stay.”
“You can stay here.” He jerked a thumb over his shoulder toward his house. “I’m cutting out of town for a few days. Feel free to crash here while I’m gone.”
He was leaving town. Running. He hadn’t met her at Finch’s. She could connect the dots. “You sold me out?”
“I just…I mean…hell, it’s not a big deal. Don’t make it a deal.” His voice cracked. “Some guy called and offered me a grand if I could set up a meeting with you. Some fool with a crush. Said he saw you on TV and wanted to meet you.”
She shook her head. He couldn’t be serious.
“Thought he was joking, then I found five hundred bucks on my doorstep. I gave him the address of the restaurant last night, and then I got five hundred more dollars a bit later. Easy money, you know?”
War grabbed him and slammed Billy back against the house once more.
“Not again!” Billy snapped. “Would you stop doing this shit?”
“He tried to fucking kill her.” War’s voice was ice cold. “You set her up to die.”
“What? No, no!” Billy heaved. War didn’t let him go. “Rose, it was just a fan! I gave him the address for Finch’s. It was no big deal!”
“It was a very big deal.” The unease in her stomach had turned into thick knots. “And you’re lying right now. You knew the cops were looking for me. You knew I was hiding. But you still want me to believe you just gave me up to some stranger for money? That you believed he had a crush on me?” No, not happening. “What really went down?”
“I told you—”
“I have my own knife,” War said. “Want to see what I can do with it?”
“No! No, no, Rose, call him off!”
“He’s not an attack dog. The man doesn’t do what I say. If he wants to show you what he can do with his knife…” She forced a careless tone as if it didn’t matter to her. “Then I guess we are all about to see what he can do with his—”
“He attacked me, all right? Some jerk broke into my house while I was sleeping. When I woke up, he had a freaking rope around my throat. Said if I didn’t tell him where to find you, I was dead.”
Now those words held the desperate ring of truth. “Why didn’t you go to the cops?”
“Because I already have two warrants out for my arrest! I go to them, and they’ll toss me in a cell. I figured the best thing for me was to just get my ass out of town.”
“After you sold her out,” War said in disgust. “You didn’t care if Rose got hurt, as long as your own ass was safe.”
“It wasn’t personal. But he was gonna kill me! What was I supposed to do?”
“I thought we were friends,” Rose whispered. “You could have at least called and told me he was going to be there. Given me a head’s up—”
“He said if you weren’t there, he’d come back for me. That’s why I’m running. It’s been fun working with you, but nothing is worth my life. I’m getting the hell out of here, and, seriously, you should do the same. Ditch this town. Look for greener pastures and all that.”
“What did he look like?” War’s voice was still flat. Still cold enough to send goose bumps running down her body.
“I don’t know! He was big. It was dark. I was trying to stay alive. His voice was low, whispery. That’s all I got.”
Nothing they could use to identify the guy. Just like her own attack. She’d only been aware that he was big. His mask had completely hidden his face. He hadn’t talked to her when he’d attacked. She and War had heard his drawling voice when he’d been calling to her from outside of the motel room, but she suspected he might have been faking the heavy accent he’d used.
“I don’t know anything else, I swear.”
She could hear the fear in Billy’s words. It seemed genuine. “War, we need to leave.”
War slowly released Billy.
“Thought he didn’t do what you said,” Billy mumbled.
Her hands slid down War’s arm as she kept her focus on Billy. “I came by because I wanted to make sure you were okay. I was worried about you.”
His head ducked toward his chest. “Look, I told you, it wasn’t personal. But the man was gonna kill—”
“You have to watch out for yourself. I got it. Understood. Take care, Billy. I never meant for you to get pulled into this mess.” The last thing she wanted was for someone else to get hurt. She tugged on War’s arm. “Let’s go.”
But he was an immovable object.
She tugged again. “War?”
His gaze was on Billy. “She’s not alone.”
“Uh, what?”
“You’re watching out for yourself, and I’m watching out for her. Pass the word. Rose isn’t on her own. If that freak comes to get her, he’ll find me waiting. And if you ever put her in jeopardy again, you’ll see just what I can do with my knife. That’s a promise.” War stared at Billy until he seemed satisfied that his words had made their impact. Only then did he step back.
Billy weaved.
War took her hand in his. Led her toward the Impala. He settled her in the passenger seat. Slammed her door. Then stalked around the car to the driver’s side.
She watched him in silence. There was a hard, dangerous tension riding him. War pulled out his phone—and since when did he have two phones? She didn’t remember that from their time together, but when she’d asked him about the second phone earlier, he’d told her it was for PI business. He hadn’t shared more. Now, he put the phone to his ear and curtly said, “The jackass wants to flee town,” and he rattled off Billy’s address.
“Are you talking to Odin?” Must be. His partner in crime.
War grunted. “Take care of it.” He ended the call. Got them away from the scene with a squeal of his tires.
Rose didn’t speak, not until they were well away from Billy’s place… “You can be scary.”
His hold tightened around the wheel. “You never had a need to see that side of me before.”
No, she didn’t guess that she had. “Have you…have you ever killed anyone?”
“Don’t ask questions that you don’t want answered.”
She’d take that as a yes. She’d seen the scars on his body. One that she knew was from a bullet wound. Another long slash across his abdomen that must have come from a knife. “I don’t want you to kill for me.”