Page 126 of Last Fall

“He was on myplane.”

My fist connected with the door. “The sameflight?”

“I think he intentionally booked the seatbesideme.”

I was definitelykillinghim.

Wes opened the door with aWhat the Fuckface that was quickly replaced withWho Are We Killingface the moment hesawme.

“You think he intentionally booked the seat beside you? How?” I repeated everything so Wes could hear the parts thatmattered.

She didn’t reply at first. The pause damn near killed me. “I think, from what he said, he’s been keeping tabs on me this whole time. And when that picture of us made the paper it made him very angry. Tony has a lot of connections. It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if he was capable of doing something like this.” She took a quick, shaky breath. “Erik, he knew where I was staying but I thought it was a casual threat. I didn’t expect him to be downstairs when I got here tonight. I can’t believe he wasthatbold.”

I muted the phone. “I need to gettoLA.”

“The shithead?” Wes was on thesamepage.

“Yep.”

“I’m on it.” He disappeared back intohisroom.

I unmuted the phone. “You shouldn’t have to worry about things like that. No one should ever behave that way, Zo. You said you have securitycoming?”

“Yes. Lucy knows a good company and they’re sending someone over now. She’s going to stay with me until theygethere.”

“Good. I’mcomingtoo.”

“Erik,don’t.”

But I cut that off real fast. “It’s a quick flight. I’mcoming.”

“You need to sleep. You have a gametomorrow.”

“Like I give a fuck about sleep or tomorrow’s game. Right now you’re the only thing I care about.” Wild horses couldn’tstopme.

She sniffled and I knew I was doing the rightthing. “Okay.”

“You want to stay on thephone?”

“No,” she sighed. “I think ...yes, the security people are here. Ishouldgo.”

“I’ll be theresoon.Zoe?”

“Yes?”

I could hear how tired she was and that somehow made all my exhaustion disappear. “Iloveyou.”

Her reply was a hundred percent brighter. “I loveyoutoo.”

* * *

“I’ve gotyou a flight but there are some complications,” Wes said, leading me out of the hotel room to theelevator.

“What’s that?” I punched the button for thelobby.

“When I told the guys I needed help getting you to the airport and onto a plane they werepissed.”

Like I cared. “I’ll be back in time for the game.”Probably.