Page 33 of The Deeper Game
“Somebody’s calling me,” I said stupidly. You weren’t supposed to have phones in Guvvey’s, but the owner changed the rules once he got re-addicted to Tetris.
Zeus grabbed it. “Answer it normally. A simple hello.” He put it on speaker and set it in front of me and then took out his own phone.
“Hello?” I said.
My guys all bent in.
A distorted male voice. “I’m coming for you, Isis.”
My belly dropped through me.
Odin and Zeus flew up from the table, looking all around the bar.
Thor slid closer and swirled the air with his finger.Talk more.
“Who is this? What do you want?” I asked, trying to keep my voice from shaking.
“You know what I want,” the voice said. “It’s only a matter of time ‘til I get it.”
I looked up into Thor’s blue eyes, uncharacteristically grim now. “Who is this?” I asked.
“Bring your lipstick,” the voice said.
The line went dead. I didn’t even want to touch the thing.
“Christ,” Matteo said.
Thor took a deep breath and moved in closer to me. “You’re okay.”
Zeus and Odin were out of sight. “Where’d they go?” I asked.
“The thinking is always that this kind of stalker gets his jollies out of seeing you react, seeing us react,” Thor said. “So they’re looking for people acting suspiciously. People watching us, people hurrying away. Just taking in the crowd. Everybody here is now a suspect.”
“I hope you all got a lot of photos of this crowd,” Matteo said.
“Defo,” Thor said.
Matteo snorted. “Such a mindfuck to see those two acting like cops.”
“It’s weird for me, too.” Thor turned his gaze to his soda, half gone, in the highball glass. “Bring your lipstick,” he repeated.
“What does it mean?” I asked, feeling all shaky. I drained my drink.
Matteo furrowed his brow. “Well, youdowear lipstick, I guess.”
“Yeah.” I actually wore lipstick a lot, and I reapplied it a lot. When I went from redhead to blonde, it gave me a whole new class of makeup to use, including frosty pink, something you couldn’t pull off as a redhead.
The Gigi’s and I had put lipstick on together in the bathroom…could it be them with a voice distorter? I hated the idea, but I looked around, wondering. At least we knew it wasn’t Matteo.
I swallowed, thinking I really was visible and notable these days, what with the bright colors I favored and being a woman with three men. I felt almost ashamed for the first time. I’d clawed my way into this life I loved, but maybe I had taken too much.
Thor had a faraway look in his eyes.
“What?” But right then, I remembered. Venus, the woman who’d been with them before, had written her suicide note in lipstick.
“It’s probably nothing,” he said.
Zeus was back. “Fucker’s watching. He’s got to be.” He picked up my phone and smashed it into a brick pillar to the side of the table. His intensity made me feel worried, but also like an army was on my side. A powerful army of stormy guys.
