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Anger tightened Locke’s face in a way that she never could’ve expected. His eyes beaded as his nostrils flared, and a low growl emanated from his chest. “Son of a bitch.”
Stepping quickly, he tucked her behind him, and she followed the direction of his ire. There was Jay. Her stomach turned. Angie had told her that she would consider him a person of interest, that Ella should consider him dangerous.
“Ella,” Jay said loudly, closing the distance as though he couldn’t see Locke in front of her. “We need to talk.”
She took a step back as Locke intercepted. “Ella’s good, man. She doesn’t want to talk right now.” Locke became a wall.
“What the—Ella. We need to clear some things up.” Jay tried sidestepping Locke and failed. When he moved the opposite way, Locke blocked him again. “The hell?Ella.”
“We were just leaving.” She turned toward the baker’s booth. If anything, she could stand with a familiar face until Locke took care of this. What was Jay doing there? And how long had he been at the farmers’ market? What did he want to clear up? Her mind spun too fast, with too many puzzle pieces desperately trying to slam together.
At the baker’s booth, she clung to the table.
“Ella, are you okay?” the woman who had sold her the cheesy bread asked.
“I just need to—” She refused to sound weak. “I told a friend I’d meet him here.”
“Here I am,” Locke’s deep voice said. “Ready?”
She nodded and grabbed onto his arm, needing to stabilize herself. “I know it was him. I know it now. How are they ever going to prove it?”
Locke’s tight jaw confirmed her biggest fear. They weren’t. Her best option would be something like a restraining order.
“Let’s go.” He hustled her toward the parking lot, weaving them through the rows of booths.
A cold chill ran over Ella, and she glanced over her shoulder. There Jay was, glaring. This was that same feeling she’d had for months, when she had no idea who her stalker was.
***
Bishop paced Ella’s hallway, listening to Locke as he summarized the final few moments of the interaction with Jay at the farmers’ market. This was why he wasn’t in law enforcement. Bishop didn’t have the patience for this cat-and-mouse bullshit. He wanted back in the mountains, back in the military, back to what Titan was supposed to offer. Orders. An enemy he could destroy. Not some jackass they had to pussyfoot around and play wait-and-see with.
“Man, you need to take a breath.” Locke put his arm out. “You walk in there like that, you’re going to scare the crap out of a girl who’s already trying to keep it all inside.”
Right. Ella didn’t keep much inside. She talked. She posted. Shevlogged—if that was actually even a goddamn word. “I’m fine.”
“You’re anything but.”
“I’m—” His phone buzzed, and Bishop wanted to throw the damn thing against the wall for the headaches technology brought on. How else would Jay have even known where Ella was going to be? Locke surely hadn’t left a breadcrumb trail. TITAN HQ appeared on his screen. Bishop rubbed a hand over his face. “Yeah. Hello?”
“Yeah, hello to you too, peaches.”
He sealed his teeth and squeezed his eyes. “Sugar. What’s up?”
“Not a good time?”
“No. It’s fine.” The last thing he needed to do was piss off Boss Man’s wife. “Need something?”
“We think you do.”
“We?”
“Lex and Cat are with me on speakerphone.”
“Spectacular,” he said, barely opening his teeth. “What do you need?”
He hadn’t put in a GUNS order, but with the three of them on the phone, Sugar didn’t sound as though she was calling about an order or a job.
“We want to meet your girlfriend.”