Page 109 of Hunt Me

It’s not Byron, and although I don’t remember every single face from my shows, I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen him around.

“Who the hell is he?” I ask aloud.

He frowns at me. “I don’t know. I figured you would.”

My legs feel like jelly as I stand up, and three steps across the floor, the café’s doors burst open and Milo comes tearing through, holding a gun in his hand. He points it at me for a second, making me yelp, then turns it on the unconscious man lying on the floor.

“Put that shit away,” Percy snaps.

Milo does, slipping it into a holster he has in the back of his pants. He turns back to me and gives me a slow look up and down. “You’re okay.”

It’s not really a question, but I nod anyway. My headache is back with a vengeance, and all I want is to go home and lie down and wait for Archie to get back. God, when he finds out aboutthis, he’s going to lose his mind, and I have a feeling blood will be drawn.

I push past Milo and stare down at the man on the floor, but there’s still nothing familiar about his face. Kneeling down, I shove the hood back away from his hair, but that doesn’t help.

He’s a complete stranger.

“I don’t have any clue who he is,” I say, looking back over my shoulder at both brothers.

“So this isn’t Byron?” Percy asks, kneeling beside me so I can hear him better.

I shake my head, biting the inside of my cheek. “I swear I’ve never seen him before. I mean, maybe he’s been to the club and watched my show, but if he did, he didn’t ever show himself to me.”

“This is fucking weird,” Milo says. He rolls his shoulders back, then leans over at the waist and hooks his hands under the stranger’s armpits. “I’m going to take him to the shed. Can you two close up?”

Percy stands and swipes his hands over his jeans, keeping close to me like he feels as though I’ll fall apart if he doesn’t. And hell, maybe that’s true.

“Everything go okay with Palmer and the kitten?” I ask. I don’t know why the fuck I care, but asking such a normal question oddly helps me feel better.

Milo’s eyes take on a glint, and he smiles. “He has the kitten now. I’ll collect him later.”

I’m not sure if he means he’ll collect the kitten or Palmer, but at this point, I don’t want to know. I still feel weak, and although the chemical is leaving my system, it’s doing it slowly. Percy seems to notice because he helps me over to the bench by the front window, then points firmly at me.

‘Stay.’

Like I’m a dog? Though I suppose it’s fair. I do have the urge to get up and fight through the grogginess to help him close up. I lean back against the window instead, feeling the faint vibrations of thunder rumbling as Percy starts to shut everything down. He looks over at me several times like he’s worried something will happen, like maybe there’s another stalker lurking in the shadows, but eventually, he gets it all taken care of.

I hear a faint stomping sound, and I turn to see Percy in the doorway of the cat area. ‘Ready to go?’

I pull my CIs off because right now, I need the silence, and I tuck them back into the case as I nod and stand. ‘Yeah. I think I need a nap.’

‘You should probably FaceTime Archie. He needs to know about this.’

God, I really don’t want to do that. If I do, Archie will abandon his dad and race back here to comfort me. And as much as I would love to be in his arms, he’s coming home soon anyway, and I’ll have him all to myself then. Besides, this trip is important to both Archie and Jasper, and not just because they might have a lead on whoever the fuck this guy is.

It’s more than that.

Archie didn’t say it directly, but I know there are things between him and his dad that need to be fixed. I see the way he looks at Jasper and the way he loses his words because he doesn’t know how to bring up whatever’s on his mind.

And I know that Jasper thinks he was a shit dad.

But I’m well aware that if I don’t tell Archie, he’s going to be pissed as fuck that I kept the secret, and I don’t want him to be angry with me.

Following Percy to his car, I slide into the passenger seat, then pull out my phone and pull up Archie’s contact. It takes me until we’re on the main road to find the courage to hit the buttonand request the call, but when I do, Archie picks up almost immediately.

His eyes narrow the second he sees me. ‘What happened?’

I can’t help a heavy sigh. I must look worse than I thought. ‘I was attacked again.’