Page 22 of Stone Cold Bad (Stone Brothers #1)

EIGHTEEN

JADE

A my parked the car and we climbed out. The rich smell of coffee drifted around the parking lot.

There were only a few people in the shop sitting around tables cradling steaming cups in their hands.

Several coffee drinkers glanced up as we stepped inside.

Two women, in particular, did a double take as if they knew Amy and me.

“Damn,” Amy whispered, “do I have dirt on my face or something?”

“So it’s not just me being paranoid?”

We got in line. I finally had a few dollars of spending money from tips, and I’d told Amy I wanted to buy her a coffee and muffin to repay her for being such a true friend.

“Oh good, they’ve got those little crumb cakes,” Amy said. “Love to dip those in my coffee.”

“How many do you want? My treat, remember? As long as we stay inside my five dollar budget.”

“One is plenty. In fact, we could share it.” She pulled out her phone. “A voicemail from Jack. I’ll bet he needs one of us to come in earlier.”

“I need to get a phone for myself. Someday.”

“Hey, I’ve got to take a whiz. Tell them I want extra whipped cream.” Amy pressed a button on her phone and walked away with it against her ear.

The girl behind the counter looked at me with round eyes, and I wondered what the heck was wrong this morning that was making people look at me as if I had horns growing from my head.

Amy came scurrying out from the short hallway that led to the restrooms. She was holding a paper in her hand and looking as if a monster was chasing her from the bathroom.

“What the heck, Amy? Was there a spider in the stall or something?”

She grabbed my arm and spun me toward the door. “Forget the coffee. We need to get out of here.” She led me quickly to the door.

“O.K. now you’re freaking me out,” I said as we raced across the parking lot to her car.

“Yeah? Well be prepared to be properly freaked.” She shoved the paper into my hand. “Someone pinned this to the bathroom door. Get in the car.”

I climbed in. My heart was pounding as I unfolded the paper.

My picture was staring back at me with the words Missing typed in bold print across the top.

There was a short description below, but I was in no state of mind to read it.

The word Reward and $10,000 were printed in red at the bottom of the flyer.

I recognized the phone number. It was Ray’s cell phone.

“Shit. Shit. Shit.”

“Yep. Yep. Yep.” Amy backed the car out of the spot.

“And I thought people were seeing horns coming from my head. Turns out they were seeing dollar signs.”

“Ten thousand of them to be exact,” Amy said.

She pulled the car out onto the road and headed back toward Colt’s house.

“That’s from him, isn’t it? The guy you’re running from.

Did you steal something from him?” she asked.

I felt slightly hurt by the question, but it was a perfectly reasonable one considering the heft of the reward.

“Just his stupid ass pride. The last time we were together, he tried to strangle me. I think he’s just pissed that I walked out on him.”

“A wrecking ball to a big male ego. What an asshole.”

I sank back against the seat and fought back the tears that burned my eyes. “What am I going to do? I’m going to have to leave town.”

“And go where? All alone? You’re safer here with Colt. Then we can all look out for you.”

“Amy, I don’t want to put any of you in danger.”

“Danger? Shit, the Stone brothers would eat dynamite for breakfast if they packed it in a cereal box.” She shook her head. “No, you’re definitely safer with us.” She looked over and brushed a blonde hair off my face. “But I think we need to do some things to change your appearance.”

I looked at her. “What do you mean?”

“That silvery white hair is too unusual.” She closed an eye as if she was sizing me up for something. “With your blue eyes and suntanned skin, you’d make a beautiful brunette.”

“Brunette?”

“Yep, brunette.” She pulled into the parking lot of the drug store.

“You’d better stay in the car while I buy the hair color.

” She reached into her backseat and fished around before sitting back up with a black cap.

“Put this on, Goldilocks. I’ll be right back.

” Her phone buzzed. “Wait, that’s probably Jack.

I forgot to listen to his voicemail. Hey, Jack, what’s up? ”

I could hear his baritone voice coming through her phone, but I couldn’t make out the words.

As he spoke, Amy looked at me. There was disappointment in her expression as she listened.

She sighed dejectedly. “Yeah fine. All right. See you later.” She hung up and stared down at the phone to avoid looking at me. But I already knew.

“He doesn’t want me to work there anymore,” I said.

“Someone pinned a flyer up in the hallway. He doesn’t want any trouble. Big fucking coward. How the hell was he ever in the military?” She shoved her phone in my hand. “In case of emergency. The boys are number one, two and three. I’m sure you can guess which brother is number one, the big jerk.”

“Here’s the five I was going to use for the coffee.” I placed the money in her hand, and she hopped out of the car. I watched as she hurried across the lot and disappeared into the store.

The first tear broke free. I stared down at the phone in my hand.

How badly I wanted to talk to Colt, to sit in his protective arms and have him tell me that he would keep me safe.

In the back of my head, I’d known that Ray wasn’t going to just fade away and accept that he’d lost. But there was always that tiny sprig of hope that he would forget me and move on.

This wasn’t about wanting me back anymore.

This was Ray refusing to admit defeat. He would rather part with a big chunk of money than admit that he’d lost me for good.

My biggest worry was just how far the creep would go to get me back.

My finger swiped over the phone list. Colt was number three on speed dial. He and his brothers had gone out on their boat, and his mood had assured me it wasn’t for a pleasure trip. All three brothers had looked rather grim as they trudged out the door this morning.

As I held the phone, it buzzed in my hand.

I nearly dropped it. It was Colt. I hesitated thinking it was wrong for me to answer a call meant for Amy, but just seeing his name on the screen made the tears roll down my cheeks.

I rubbed my thumb over it and lifted it to my ear. “Hello.” My voice was small and quiet.

“Hey, Street, I need you to stay with Jade.”

“It’s not Stree— it’s not Amy.” I sobbed once and took a deep breath. “It’s me.”

“Jade? Are you with Amy?”

“Yeah, she went into the store. Colt, my picture is all over the place. Ray is offering a reward.”

“I know.”

I sobbed again.

“Don’t cry, baby.” Of course, having him say that and call me baby at the same time made me cry harder. “You’re with me. I’m not going to let anything happen to you. You’ll have to give up your job for now.”

“That’s not a problem.” I sucked in a shuddering breath to get a grip on myself. “Someone put up the reward poster in Lazy Daze. Jack had to let me go.”

“We’re almost back at the dock now. Stay with Amy at our house. We’ll have to figure out a plan.”

I sniffled and nodded as if he might see me through the phone. The deep, confident sound of his voice had already lifted my spirits.

“No more tears. I’m going to take care of you, darlin’.”

“Hurry back.” I sniffled again. Amy came out of the store with the bag of hair dye.

She slid into the driver’s seat, and I handed her the phone. “The guys are on their way back to the dock. Colt said not to worry.”

“See, told you. I can tell you one thing, it’s always a damn big bonus to have the Stone brothers on your side.

” She lifted a box from the bag. “Coffee brown? Figured since we didn’t get to drink it, you could still wear it.

We’ll make you look so good, Colt won’t be able to keep his hands off of you.

” She laughed. “Oh wait, that’s already not a problem, is it? ”

I reached over and hugged her. “God, Amy, I’ve never had a friend like you. Thank you.”

She squeezed me back. “I’m glad you came here, Jade.”