Paxton's Promise (23 page)

“SO YOU’RE SAYING this guy’s name is Josh Davenport?” Mason asked. He was already in L.A., but laying low like he suggested we do until he got all of the facts.

“Yes, that’s the name Kyle gave Pax.”

Mason scoffed. “I can’t believe he called that fucker. If he’s screwing with us, I’m going to make sure he can’t walk for the rest of his goddamned life.”

“Paxton thinks he’s really trying to help us and I have to trust him. As much as I hated turning to Kyle for help, I think it was the right move.”

Mason already knew the timeline and every single thing that’d happened over the course of the last two weeks. His team was all prepped and ready to go at a moment’s notice. So, if Paxton had to fight tonight, they’d be ready. That gave me some sense of relief.

“All right, Gabby, I’m going to study this timeline and I’ll call you back sometime this afternoon. I dropped off the trackers with Carter early this morning. You and Paxton need to go by there and pick them up as soon as you can.”

“We will. Thank you, Mason.”

“Don’t thank me yet. This isn’t over. There’s still a lot that could go wrong.” Mason was a realist, but I was an optimist. I had to believe everything would be okay. Good always triumphed over evil, right? Or at least that was how I saw the world.

Once we hung up the phone, I sat down beside Paxton. “We need to run by Carter’s. Mason left us some trackers there, so he and his team can follow us.”

Getting to his feet, he pulled me up by my hand and put his arms around my waist. I relaxed into him and laid my head on his chest. “I swear I never thought being with you was going to be so difficult,” he teased.

“Hey,” I exclaimed, playfully trying to push him away. He held on tight and wouldn’t let me go. I didn’t want him to let me go. “I can’t help it if some deranged lunatic is obsessed with me. You are more than welcome to walk away. I’ll fight Rage all by myself.”

Letting me go, Paxton took my face in his hands. “I’m not going anywhere, Gabby. As long as you want me, I’ll be here.” He smiled and kissed me, before leaning his forehead to mine.

“Then I guess you’re not going anywhere.”

“Except to the gym,” he said, pulling me out of his room. “We need to get to Carter’s and get those trackers. We have to be ready. I’m not taking any chances where you’re concerned.”

As soon as we got outside, the tension rose. I never knew when we were being watched, but we both kept vigilant. I tried to keep the weight of impending doom from pressing me down, but it was overwhelming. There was something brewing and I knew it was going to happen soon.

When we got to Carter’s, we stayed and worked out like we would on any other day. Apparently, Carter was told to put the package inside my gym bag because after we were done, I saw it inside. Everything was supposed to be normal and we pretended it was.

“What’s in it?” Paxton asked. We were already on our way back to his house and since no one could see us, I opened up the envelope. Inside there were five little transmitters. I already knew we were supposed to put them in things we would keep on us at all times.

“It’s just the trackers,” I said, pulling one out. Since I drove the Hummer around, I placed one under the seat, just in case. That left us two each to put on our person.

“Okay, so that leaves two for you and two for me. Make sure you hook them on something you’ll have on you at all times.”

I sealed up the envelope and put it back in my bag, so they were secure until we got to Paxton’s house. It was closing in on midafternoon and still no word from Cliff. I was worried about him.

“What’s wrong?” Paxton asked.

I pulled out my phone and texted him again. “Cliff still hasn’t gotten back to me.”

He sighed. “Do you want to ride by the apartment and see if he’s there? We can check out yours as well.”

“Yeah, let’s do that.”

Paxton turned the Hummer around and started toward my place. My nerves were shot. I had no clue what we were going to find, and I prayed it wasn’t going to be anything bad. Knowing my luck, it would be.

Paxton drove us into the parking lot. “Fuck,” I hissed. “His truck isn’t here.”

After we parked, Paxton and I both got out and went straight for the stairs. “Just because his truck isn’t here, doesn’t mean he’s not.” When we got up to the third floor, I rushed straight to his door and knocked. A minute went by and I knocked again. Nothing.

Paxton put his arm around me. “Come on, Gabby, he’s not here. Let’s go check out your apartment and get out of here.”

Reluctantly, I let Paxton lead the way. Luckily, there was nothing amiss at my door. No notes or black roses. I half expected to see a dead cat, or a horse head hanging by my door. Since Rage got his name for a reason I could see him taking his anger out on animals. I bet he killed them when he was younger. What made me sick was, people actually did that shit and enjoyed it.

When we got inside, everything seemed to be in place. It was strange being back there, since I hadn’t really been by in a while. Oddly enough, it didn’t feel like home anymore.

“Does everything look okay?” he asked.

The bananas on the counter were brown and mushy, so I threw them in the trash. “Yeah, it looks the way I left it. Let me check my room and then we can go.”

As soon as I hit the hallway, I knew something was wrong. The door to my bedroom was shut. I hadn’t left it like that. Paxton stopped and stepped in front of me. “What’s wrong? You tensed up all of a sudden.”

I nodded toward my room. “I didn’t shut my door. Someone else did that.”

Paxton’s gaze narrowed and he pushed me back toward the kitchen. “You stay here. I’m going to check it out.”

Instead of arguing, I nodded and let him go. While I was at it, I went and locked the front door. Nervously, I stood there tapping my foot, waiting to hear Paxton say something. When he called for me, I rushed back there. Inside my room, everything looked the same. My bed was made, the blinds were down, and everything was still on my . . .

“Something’s missing,” I pointed out. There was a spot on my dresser where a framed picture used to sit. You could even see the empty spot where the dust had collected around it. Someone had come in and taken it.

“What was it?”

“A picture of me and Ashleigh,” I growled. “And that fucker stole it.” I remembered the day we took it. Ashleigh and I were at the beach with Colin and Bradley. Colin was the one who took the photo because we were covered in seaweed. It was my favorite picture. “So help me God, this shit needs to end. I can’t imagine what would’ve happened if I was here.”

“Do you see anything else missing?” he asked. Paxton walked around my room, but I knew he wouldn’t know if anything went missing. My heart sank when I noticed my jewelry box, moved to a different spot. When I opened it, there was indeed a ring missing. It was my high school graduation ring.

“He has a ring too,” I hissed low, slamming the box closed. “There’s no telling what all he took. He probably took some of my underwear. Sick bastard.”

Paxton put his hands on my shoulders and squeezed. “We’ll get your stuff back. I’m going to make this fucker pay for what he’s done.”

I traced the place where my picture used to sit. I was going to make him pay too.

BY THE TIME we got back to Paxton’s house, Mason had called back with an update. I put him on speakerphone so Pax could listen in while I made us club sandwiches.

“My guys are looking up information on Josh Davenport. I should have something on him later tonight.”

“Speaking of him,” Paxton spat, “it looks like he broke into Gabby’s apartment and took some of her things.”

“It’s escalating, sooner than we expected. Thank fucking God she wasn’t there,” Mason thundered. “After studying the timeline, I think it’s what you thought all along. When this guy sees you two together, it sets him off. Take for instance, the night at the race. He knew what you two were doing in the announcer’s box and then the next day they want you to fight.”

“So what do you suggest?” I asked. “If he watched us today all he saw us do was go to the gym and to my apartment.”

“Or are you saying we need to do something scandalous?” Paxton cut in.

Mason chuckled. “Well, don’t go off and start having sex in the middle of the Manhattan Beach pier or anything.”

Paxton’s eyes twinkled with mischief. “I think I have it. Leave it to me,” he said. “I have the perfect idea to get him fired up.”

“Just whatever you do, be careful. The sooner we get this mission done, the better. I don’t like having to wait to kick ass. So do what you have to do and I’ll call you back later with more details on Josh.”

We said our goodbyes and Paxton jumped up and started toward the stairs.

“Where are you going? Don’t you want to eat?” I was starving, so I took a bite of my sandwich and moaned when I swallowed it down.

“I’ll be back in a minute. There’s something I need to get. Keep in mind, after we eat, we have somewhere to go.” He winked and darted up the stairs. By the time he made it down, I had already finished my sandwich and cleaned up the kitchen.

Paxton stuffed a huge bite of his sandwich in his mouth, smiling the entire time.

“What are you up to?” I asked curiously.

His grin grew wider. “I can’t tell you, but whatever I do just go along with it, okay? I’m actually kind of curious to see your face when it all happens.”

“Where are we going?”

“The beach,” he replied. “Why don’t you go and change clothes and by the time you get down, we’ll be ready to go.”

“Okay, but if you embarrass me today, I’m going to kick your ass.” When all he did was laugh, I rolled my eyes and bolted up the stairs in search for my bathing suit. It was hidden in the drawer with all of the sexy lingerie I had yet to wear for Paxton. Maybe I could wear some tonight, if we weren’t ass deep in trouble. Stripping out of my clothes, I put on my neon green bikini and covered up with a pair of denim shorts and a yellow tank top. I was ready to go.

Downstairs, Paxton had a cooler all packed up with waters and some snacks. His smile made my heart flutter when he watched me come down the stairs. I’d never felt like that before. “What beach are we going to? Are we going to stay around here?”