So he went with plan B. With a burst of vampiric speed, he passed Stella and fell in line with Saxon. When there was a break in the crowd he slammed into his friend, shoving him to the left until he had him pinned on the wall. “What the hell is going on?”
“Let me go! Raven is after me. He’s going to chop my head off and drain my blood. And then I’ll be dead. Like for real dead.”
Saxon’s eyes were darting wildly around Wyatt and he looked genuinely afraid.
“Raven?” Wyatt eased up on Saxon and also looked around. Stella had drawn up next to him and he moved closer to her, his protective instincts kicking in. He still didn’t see anything. No sign of the telltale shaved head. “Why would Raven want to kill you?”
“He says I owe him money.”
“Do you?”
“Not that I’m aware of. But I’m not always aware of a lot.”
That was the God’s honest truth. Wyatt dusted off the front of Saxon’s T-shirt. “Did he say why?”
“No, just that he was going to kill me if I didn’t give him the money. I told him I didn’t have it and he hit me. So I ran.”
“He hit you? What an ass.” Wyatt frowned at Stella. She looked worried.
“Did he say anything else?”
“Something about shooting Bambi. I thought it was Bambi’s mother who got shot. I’m so confused.”
“Where the hell is he then?” Wyatt wanted to have a word or two with him about roughing up Saxon. That was kind of like kicking a dog who was happy to see you. It wasn’t right, and Wyatt wanted to rectify the situation. He had some money and he’d pay Raven off if he had to.
The wording Raven had used earlier in the night came back to him. “Watch your back.” Wyatt could say the same to Raven.
“Bambi? Didn’t Nigel say that was the name of Johnny’s girlfriend?” Stella bit her lip in worry.
“Yeah.” That just added yet another piece to a very confusing puzzle. “Raven was working tonight. I’m going to take you two back to my place then I’m going to have a word with Raven. He must be about done with his break and I can head him off at the door.”
Stella shook her head. “We’re going with you.”
It figured. She was stubborn, no doubt about it. “Stella, no. This may be a bit of an argument.”
“Which is why you shouldn’t be alone.”
Yeah, that was stubborn. “I’ll be at Famous Door. There will be fifty people there, easily. And you know Sanford is the bouncer at the door. He’ll have my back.”
“Johnny was my brother. If he was in trouble, I have the right to know.”
Wyatt sighed. They could stand there all night arguing about it, or he could just give Stella what she wanted. “Fine.” He had a feeling he’d just caught a glimpse of his future. Funny how he wasn’t anything other than thrilled by that thought. He loved Stella as she was and he wanted to make her happy. Being with her made him happy. It was win-win, as far as he was concerned.
Saxon was slinking away. Wyatt shot an arm out and grabbed him. “You’re going, too, then.”
“Why? Do you have a death wish for me?”
“No one is going to kill you. Raven’s riff on ‘Crazy Train’ might damage your eardrums but nothing is going to kill you. Buck up, bro.”
“Fine,” Saxon grumbled. “Though I have to say I’d rather go home.”
“We all would, trust me.” Wyatt didn’t mean that he would like to go home. He was agreeing with Saxon literally. He would definitely like Saxon to go home and not encounter him for about a week, but that wasn’t going to happen. “But you live in the opposite direction and I’m not walking you back.”
Wyatt was getting sick of tromping up and down the street. If one more tourist threw beads down onto him from a balcony, he was going to jump up there and bite them. Hard.
Raven wasn’t at work and after a few inquiries Wyatt confirmed he was on break. They stood by the beer tub, prepared to wait. The cart was cold on the back of his legs as he glanced around the bar. Nothing looked out of the ordinary. Couple of women with big hair and short denim skirts tearing up the dance floor. Older guy alone creeping on a trio of thirtysomethings. Shot girls wandering around in hot pants and tank tops, trying to fob off watered-down Jell-O shots on horny men. The usual.
“I’m going to step outside and call Cort,” he yelled into Stella’s ear. The deejay had the bass pumping and it was too loud to really communicate in the bar. He wanted to tell Cort what they’d seen on the video.
She nodded.
“Wait right here. Don’t go anywhere.”
She rolled her eyes.
Hey, a guy couldn’t be too careful.
Waving to the doorman, Wyatt stepped outside and took a few steps down Conti to the relative quiet. He dialed Cort. “Hey, man, what’s up?”
“I don’t know. We haven’t found out jack.”
“Well, we’ve figured out the priest with us last night who supposedly married you is really a stripper. I don’t think that’s legal and binding.”
“For real?”
“Yeah, so you’re off the hook.” Not that Katie the washboard player wasn’t a cute girl, because she was, but marriage was a big step. Or so he’d been told. Wyatt had never taken the plunge himself.
“Yeah, I guess so.”
Cort didn’t sound nearly as thrilled as Wyatt would have expected him to. But he had more important things to worry about. “Hey, you ever hear anything about Johnny or Saxon owing Raven money?”
“No. Why?”
“Saxon got roughed up by Raven, who said Saxon owes him some cash. Did you know Johnny was seeing a girl?”
“Johnny was always seeing a girl.”
Good point. “This one’s name was Bambi. Ring any bells?”
“Uh, no. That one I would remember. Look, I gotta go. The parrot keeps trying to peck my balls. I swear, I’m going to kill this thing.”
Wyatt fought the urge to cross his legs. Yikes. He valued his testicles highly himself. “Alright, I’ll talk to you later.”
Putting his phone back in his pocket, he went back into the bar.
Only to discover that Stella and Saxon were not there.
They were gone.
Chapter Fourteen
THE CALL OF THE RAVEN
STELLA played Rock, Paper, Scissors with Saxon and wondered when this night was going to end. She wanted to go back to bed and sleep for two days. She wanted to wake up next to Wyatt, tucked in warm and cozy under his arm.