Page 50 of Phantom
Taylor didn’t respond, only led the way back behind the bar, past dad without saying anything to him, and back into the warehouse. All of me was shaking despite my best attempts to keep myself still, so I was glad when I was finally sinking down into a chair at the table. I could at least clench myself together and attempt to seem unafraid.
Taylor sat across from me and crossed his arms before leaning back in his chair. “How are you?”
“What do you want?”
A deep smile curled from one end of Taylor’s face to the other. “You know, I was just thinking about when we were kids. Do you remember?”
His angle was a mystery, and it was terrifying. “Sure.”
“I know I was much more of a homebody, but you… you were always so popular. Everyone loved you.”
I cleared my throat. “I don’t know about all that. I had friends.”
Taylor leaned forward suddenly, his eyes bugging out and his smile growing impossibly larger. “That’s right! Youdidhave friends! Didn’t you have one in particular? A boy.”
My stomach collapsed in on itself, and I thought I was going to throw up. “Um, I knew several boys.”
“No, no, no. You had one in particular. One who you were always following around like a little puppy dog. What was his name?” Taylor stared to the sky, and I said a silent prayer, but he snapped his fingers, and I knew it fell on deaf ears. “That’s right! Colin. Colin Jones.”
“Did I?” I stuttered. “Maybe? It was a long time ago.”
“It’s so interesting,” Taylor said. “Don’t you think that CJ could be short for Colin Jones?”
“CJ is CJ, so I don’t know what you’re insinuating.”
Taylor nodded, leaning back in his chair. “That’s good. It’s good that it’s not short for Colin Jones. It’s good because I think we’d be in real trouble if it were Colin Jones.”
I hunched my brow. “What do you mean?”
He shrugged. “Well, it doesn’t matter. I looked up Colin Jones, but if CJ is not Colin Jones, then we don’t need to be worried about Colin Jones, do we?”
I had no idea what he was talking about, but it was the most manic I’d ever seen Taylor, and I wanted out of the room as quickly as possible. “No. We don’t have to worry about him.”
Taylor smiled wide. “Well, good, then. That’s it.”
“That’s it?” I asked.
He nodded. “That’s it.”
“Okay.”
With quickness, I got up from the table and rushed out of the warehouse using the back door. I did need to talk to my dad, but that was going to have to wait. The fear coursing through me was too much to bear, and I just needed Colin. To look in his eyes and have him tell me that everything was going to be okay.
The dust kicked up as I kicked a leg over my bike and prepared to leave when some of Taylor’s words ambled across my brain.
I looked up Colin Jones, but if CJ is not Colin Jones, then we don’t need to be worried about Colin Jones, do we?
The feeling that I’d done something inexplicably dumb wouldn’t shake away from my mind. Why didn’t I do a quick search for Colin after he first showed up, claiming that his name was CJ and not Colin? I was suspicious by nature. My default assumption was that someone was lying to me, but ever since Colin showed up, I was able to take everything he’d said to me at face value.
But it was Colin. He loved me, and I loved him. That was what mattered.
I started my bike and pulled out of the Taphouse, bound for home. All I could think about was curling up with my boyfriend and my dog and just forgetting about the day’s events. Hell, maybe we needed to plan a vacation and just get away from it all for a bit.
I think we’d be in real trouble if it were Colin Jones.
There was nothing troublesome about Colin. The urge to pull over to the side of the road and do a search on Colin from my phone was hard to resist, but I did it. I trusted him. He wouldn’t lie to me, certainly not about anything major. Whatever Taylor said was said specifically to psych me out, and I wasn’t going to let him get to me that way. Home was just a block away, and once I was there, I could forget all about Taylor.
That’s good. It’s good that it’s not short for Colin Jones.
