Page 62 of Fear the Reapers
It was him. Last I heard, they fired him shortly after my first visit to the bar. If the guys knew he showed up out of nowhere and grabbed me like this, they would annihilate him.
“You shouldn’t be here.” I said, pulling my arm out of his grasp. “Get out of here. Now.”
“Listen, I know. Jessie mentioned you might be by today.” He said as his eyes shifted around us. “I’ve been waiting for you for the last couple of weeks and this may be my only chance. I kept ignoring the calls and deleting the voicemails because I didn’t know who it was. I don’t know how she got my number, but there’s something you need to hear.”
For a moment I stared at him like he was a lunatic. I had barely spoken to the guy a few weeks ago, and we were acquaintances at best. I didn’t give a fuck about what was on his voicemail. It had nothing to do wi-
Fuck.Alex.
As soon as I realized, I snatched the phone out of his hand and looked at the text messages. Fifteen unanswered and all from Alex.
“I deleted a few, before I knew what it was…” Jacob admitted, scratching his head as he averted his eyes.
“You could’ve at least responded and told her she had the wrong number.”
I was taking my anger out on him and it wasn’t fair, but I was pissed.
“I know alright, I’m sorry. Just listen to the voicemails and you’ll see why I had to find you.”
“Stevie, that girl called again. I know you said to stay away, but she’s saying that The Reapers have you chained up in their basement and that she’s a friend. I don’t trust her, but I don’t know what to believe. I need you to call and tell me it’s not true. Fuck, please tell me it’s not true.”
Numbly, I pulled the phone away from my head and tapped the next voicemail. This wasn’t happening, this could not be happening. There was only one person who would have it out for me.Melanie.
“Stevie, I don’t give a fuck what you say and you can beat my ass later, but it’s been two weeks and I still haven’t heard from you. She wants me to meet her at Maria Cantina and I’m going. I need to know what happened to you.”
Alex sounded so upset in her last voicemail. I knew how hard it was for me to live without her, but I never stopped to think about how she would feel, living without me. Melanie took advantage of her biggest fear and was using it against her to get to me. I was the one she really wanted.
“When did you get the last one?” I hissed, piercing my eyes at Jacob as I deleted the evidence from his phone.
Jacob shook out his stupor and looked up at me.
“Huh?”
“When.The fuck. Did you get the last one!” I screamed, tossing his phone back at him in a blind rage.
“Two days ago.” He winced, rubbing the spot where his phone hit. “Jesus. Anger problems much?”
I wanted to murder him, but then I’d have two dead bodies on my hands and would be no closer to saving Alex.
“Jacob, I need a ride. Can you grab your car and meet me behind the fire escape in one minute?”
“I don’t know if I should...” He trailed off. “You seem pretty angry and I don’t want to get involved.”
I let out an exasperated breath and pulled him towards his car.
“You can and you will. My friends, The Reapers, you’ve met them, right? They’re in there right now. If they find out you refused to help me, I don’t know what they’d do. But if you help me, I can guarantee they’ll never know you were here. It’s up to you.”
“You’re a crazy bitch.” He mumbled with a scowl as he stepped into his car.
“I'm aware.” I said, heading towards the backdoor. “Fire escape. One minute.”
Shutting the door behind me, I paced towards the women's restroom. I couldn’t let them see that anything was wrong. I tried to keep my movements relaxed and my expression blank despite the storm brewing inside of me.
“Stevie. Is everything okay?” Atlas asked, stopping me just before I entered the restroom.
“Yeah, fine.” I said, giving him a tight smile. “You’ve asked me three times already. I’m beginning to think it’s you that isn’t okay.”
“You seem a little... on edge.” He responded, looking at me suspiciously.
