Page 4

Serenity

A warm hand on my shoulder jerked me out of the vision. The truck barreling toward me disappeared, leaving Stone standing next to me. I blinked the image away and let out my breath.

His eyes narrowed, and he put his other hand on my shoulder to steady me. “You okay?” For almost the first time, his gaze didn’t hold any anger or disdain. If I had to guess, he was genuinely concerned.

My heart squeezed. Clearing my throat, I swallowed and pulled back. “I… uh.” I licked my lips, the vision flashing through my mind once more. “Just…” I shook my head and took a deep breath. “When was the last time you used this ice pack?”

His brows drew together as he studied me, some of the cynicism returning to his dark eyes. “Why don’t you tell me? ”

“Seriously?” I huffed out a breath, but he didn’t budge. “Fine. There was a truck. You were on a motorcycle, and it came right at you, like it was trying to hit you. You got out of the way, but your bike slid out from under you.” I raised my eyebrows at him. “I think you hurt your leg.”

“Wow.” Stone’s eyes widened an instant before narrowing into a glare. “Wait. Vanetti told you, didn’t he?”

“ No . Why would he? He only told me that someone had a vendetta against you.” I shoved the icepack into his hands and slammed the freezer shut. “I can’t see why, though,” I muttered, stalking to the kitchen island. Jerk.

“What was I wearing? Tell me the color of my helmet.”

I spun to face him. “What were you wearing, huh? Are we playing that game, now?”

He met my gaze without flinching, staring me down, challenging me to prove myself. I should have been used to it by now; after all, I did advertise as a psychic. I got it almost every day, but part of me had hoped that Stone would believe me because of Mr. Vanetti. I huffed a short breath. “Your helmet was black and red. And you wore a black leather jacket.”

His intense, dark eyes narrowed slightly, but he didn’t acknowledge my information. “So— what did you see when you touched my chest?”

My eyes widened. “What? Nothing.”

He raised a brow. “Liar.”

I glared back. “I didn’t see anything.” But I couldn’t hold his gaze, and glanced away, trying to hide the heat rising in my face. Just the memory was enough to send tingles down my spine. Touching his chest had been like touching fire and ice at the same time.

I’d had to use all my willpower to resist running my hands over his skin, hoping to feel that electric shock spread from him into me. What would it be like to peel my shirt off and feel his bare chest against mine? Tingles raced over me again, and I had to rub my hands up and down my arms to push the sensation away.

Needing to change the subject, I concentrated on my vision. “Why don’t you tell me about the truck? The driver was obviously trying to kill you. Did you manage to see the person’s face?”

His lips turned down and his eyes narrowed. He knew I was sidestepping him, but he let it go. “No. It all happened too fast.”

My shoulders sagged with relief. “That makes sense.” My gaze landed on his chest, which wasn’t too hard since it was right in front of me. His shirt was unbuttoned, and I got a tantalizing view of all that skin.

Without thinking, I raised my hand to touch him, but caught myself just in time. Stepping back, I nearly tripped over my feet. I needed to get out of there. “Uh… we’d better get back to your office so we can find this guy.” I motioned toward his chest. “And you need to finish getting dressed.”

He smirked. “Why? This is comfortable.”

“It’s too distract—” I stopped myself just in time. “Never mind.” I shook my head and rushed out of his apartment, nearly running to his office. Ugh. This was the worst. What was I thinking? Obviously, I wasn’t.

I took my seat beside his desk and waited for him to join me. Hopefully, he wouldn’t razz me about my stupid comment. This attraction could not go anywhere. Needing to appear totally professional, I sat up straight and tried to look like I knew what I was doing.

He was slower joining me, and I was grateful he’d taken the time to button up his shirt. Of course, now that I’d seen his bruises, it made sense that he was moving slower. He studied me for a long, uncomfortable moment before huffing out a sigh .

“Look.” Twisting his lips, he met my gaze. “I don’t have any files to show you. I didn’t realize what was happening until the bomb went off this morning.”

I’d had a feeling that was the case. “Don’t worry about it. Why don’t we make a list of your enemies? That’s a good place to start.” Thank goodness he was focusing on the task at hand. Maybe offering to bandage him up hadn’t been the best idea. But I’d felt bad for him.

I’d left my shoulder bag on the floor, so I grabbed it and took out my notebook and pencil. I flipped to an empty page and labeled it Enemies . “Okay. Let’s get started. Can you think of anyone who’d want you dead?”

His brows rose, then his lips twisted into a frown, like he thought it was a stupid question. “Well… yeah.” He scratched his neck. “In my line of work, it comes with the territory, but I don’t think many of them would go to the trouble. I mean… a bomb is kind of overkill.”

“Well, not exactly. It didn’t work, so it wasn’t actually overkill.”

He rolled his eyes and shrugged. “Fine. There’s Switchblade… but I think he moved back to Orlando, so probably not. Maybe Brent White’s son, Jake… since Brent’s… uh… dead. Although I’m not sure Jake would be that upset about it… so maybe not him, either.” He huffed out a breath. “This is a waste of time. It’s not going to be that obvious.”

“It’s not a waste. Let’s just be more specific. How about this? Do you know anyone who knows how to make a bomb?”

Stone shook his head. “Not that I can think of, but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t learn if they wanted to.”

“Okay. Well… let’s try a different approach. Did you make anyone mad recently? Say… within the last six months? ”

Stone glanced up at the ceiling before shaking his head. “I’ve made a lot of people angry, but they’d never come after me. I have a reputation, and they know it wouldn’t turn out so well for them.”

“Right.” I swallowed, grateful I hadn’t seen a vision of him beating someone up… or… killing someone. He didn’t look like the kind of person to kill people in cold blood, but what did I know? Still, I definitely didn’t want to see that. “Then tell me about the times you were nearly killed. Including today, how many are there?”

“Including today… three… no four.”

“Okay. Tell me about the first one.”

He sat back in his chair. “Sure… but first you have to remember that I didn’t think someone was trying to kill me at the time, or I might have done a better job of tracking them down.”

I raised a brow. “Sure. I totally get that. So what happened?”

His brows dipped. “The first time is the one you saw, where I barely missed getting hit by that truck. I managed to get out of the way, but my bike slid out from under me. The truck just took off, so I chalked it up to incompetence and forgot about it.”

“When was this?”

“A little over a week ago.”

My brows rose. “Oh… that recent? Okay. What happened the next time?”

“That was a day later in the parking garage here. I had just parked my car and was walking to the elevators. I heard a car coming up behind me, so I moved to the side. Instead of driving past me, it slowed and waited for me to cross in front of it. When I took a couple of steps, the driver sped up and came right at me. ”

Stone shook his head. “I managed to dive out of the way, but it was close. By the time I got to my feet, he’d gone around the corner, and I didn’t see a plate. The car was a tan, late model sedan, but there was nothing to distinguish it.”

“Did you check the security cameras in the garage?”

“Of course I did.” His voice hardened. “But the angle didn’t show anything more than what I saw.”

“Okay.” I made a note of it and met his gaze. “So, the first two times they used a vehicle to kill you… uh… I mean… try to kill you. When was the next time?”

He let out a breath. “It was two days ago. I was just leaving the gym and walking down the street to my bike. My buddy yelled at me to watch out, and I ducked into a doorway. This big AC unit comes crashing down from the roof. If not for his warning, it would have hit me for sure.”

His lips twisted. “I was so mad that I rushed into the building to see which apartment the unit had fallen from, but no one seemed to know anything. I hurried to the roof and found some scratch marks on the concrete. Whoever put it up there either had help, or they were strong. That’s when I first suspected someone was out to get me. I told Vanetti, and he agreed. The bomb this morning was the fourth attempt.”

“Okay… so this morning you were lured to the building by a text from a contact?”

“Yeah.”

“But it obviously wasn’t them, right? So did you talk to your contact afterward?”

“Yeah… I called him while I was cleaning up, and he insisted he hadn’t sent it.”

I shook my head. “So it was someone pretending to be him? ”

“Yes. It was sent from a burner phone, and they used his name.”

“Okay… so it’s someone who knows your contact and your number. I think that could be a good starting point. Who’s the contact?”

He shrugged. “His name’s Razor, and he’s part of the Shadow Serpents gang. But I don’t think it’s any of them. Razor knows better than to cross me or Vanetti, and so does his gang.”

“It wouldn’t hurt to talk to him though, right? Maybe I’ll pick something up.”

“I guess.”

“You still don’t believe me, do you? Even after I described your accident?” I couldn’t blame him too much, but it still annoyed me.

“I don’t know.” He huffed. “Maybe I do, but I don’t get how your ability even works. And even if you could pick something up, connecting it to me seems like a stretch.”

My mouth pinched. “Okay, fine. I get that, and I wish I could explain it better, but that’s how my psychometry works. When it isn’t connected to the job, I just keep it to myself.”

“So you pick up a lot of things?”

“Yes, I do.” My teeth clenched. “But, I usually know if it’s connected.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“Ugh.” I threw my hands in the air. “So typical. You know what? Mr. Vanetti hired me to figure this out, so that’s what I’m going to do, even if I have to visit this snake gang by myself.”

“Hang on.” He held out a hand. “Don’t even think about going anywhere without me.”

“Why? I get the feeling you’d be happier alone, anyways.”

His jaw tightened.

It looked like I’d hit a nerve, but I didn’t take it back. He’d been a total jerk ever since Mr. Vanetti told him I’d be working with him. “You know, I would think someone with a target on their back would be happy to get help.”

Mouth twisting, he let out a frustrated grumble. “Fine. But if you really can pick stuff up, then we should start with the bomb. Believe me, you don’t want to meet the Shadow Serpents. Especially if you call them the ‘snake gang’ to their faces.” He shook his head, obviously disgusted.

I sniffed. “Okay, fine. But we’re still going to have to talk to your snake buddies.”

Stone rolled his eyes and pushed to his feet. He winced when he stood, but I was done feeling bad for him. Relief to do something constructive washed over me, and I put my notepad back in my purse and slung it across my shoulder. I bit my lips as I followed him out, noting his slight limp. But it wasn’t my problem that he’d nearly gotten himself killed today, even though my stomach plunged at the thought.

Stone stepped into his apartment for his leather jacket, and we took the elevator down to the parking garage without saying much. He led the way to his car and popped the trunk. Taking out a motorcycle helmet, he held it toward me. “Here. This should fit you.”

I froze. “We’re going on a motorcycle?”

“Yeah… unless you’re afraid to ride it.” He let his hand fall and raised a brow. “Maybe you should touch the bike? It might show you who’s after me.”

I narrowed my eyes. “I guess it’s worth a try.” I couldn’t quite tell if he was being serious or just goading me.

He moved to the side, allowing me access to the bike. Suddenly nervous that I wouldn’t get anything, I ran the fingertips of one hand across the leather seat. Getting nothing, I placed my entire palm over it and still got nothing .

Crap. This was bad. Using both hands, I felt my way to the handlebars. As I wrapped my hands around the grips, a blast of pleasure surged through me. It felt so good that I closed my eyes. I could almost feel the wind blowing through my hair. The sudden vision of a truck swerving into my lane sent a spike of adrenalin through my body, and I jerked my hands away, my breath heaving.

“What was that?” He almost sounded concerned.

I bit my lips. “I think I saw the truck that nearly killed you. But this time I got a look at the driver. It’s definitely a man, because he had a beard, and he wore a ball cap and dark glasses.”

Stone’s brows rose. “Okay, that’s actually helpful, but still not much to go on.” He paused, eyes narrowing. “But I guess if you saw that, then it’s possible you might actually pick something up at the bomb site. If we’re lucky.” He shrugged, like it was a long-shot.

“Rude.” I glared at him, crossing my arms over my chest.

His brows rose. “What? I didn’t mean it in a bad way. It just seems like your visions aren’t always crystal clear.” His lips twisted. “It kind of sounds like a crap shoot to me, but if you saw the driver, then maybe we can figure it out.”

“Of course we can. I wouldn’t be doing this if I couldn’t.”

“All right. Well then, let’s go.” His brow cleared, and he sent me a nod. “Have you ever ridden a bike before?”

“Uh… no.”

He flipped the pegs down on both sides of the bike. “That’s where you’ll put your feet, and you’ll be holding onto me. A motorcycle is a lot like a bicycle, so you need to lean with the bike. Just hold onto me and go with the flow. Got it?”

I barely kept from rolling my eyes. “I’m sure I can handle it. ”

He met my gaze, and his lips twitched. “Good. And one more thing.”

I lifted a brow. “What?”

“Hold on tight. It wouldn’t look good for me if you fell off.” He snickered, and I barely refrained from smacking him.

He held the spare helmet out to me and I hesitated. If I touched it, would I see a vision of all the other women he’d taken on his bike? It had to be a possibility since he had a helmet that was just the right size for a woman to wear. How was I going to put that on my head and not see something? This was terrible. “Do I need to wear that?”

He glanced at the helmet as if seeing it for the first time. “You’re afraid of this?” Understanding dawned, and his eyes narrowed. “You don’t want to see who wore it last.” He smirked. “Why? You think it belongs to my girlfriend?”

My stomach jolted. “You have a girlfriend?”

He frowned. “Why is that so hard to believe?”

“No reason… I just…you seem too… uh… busy, I guess.” I barely managed to keep from saying arrogant and egotistical , but it was close. Besides that, he’d almost kissed me in his apartment. What kind of guy goes after another woman when he’s already seeing someone?

He shook his head, so I reached for the helmet. “Here. Give me that. At least if your girlfriend wants you dead, I can warn you, right?” I grabbed the helmet and braced for the vision of a beautiful woman smiling at him with adoration glowing in her eyes. Nothing. Crap. Now that I’d made such a big deal out of it, I had to say something. “I guess you’re in luck.”

He smirked. “You didn’t see anything, did you?”

I huffed, but since he’d spot the lie, I had to give in. “No, I didn’t. So let’s go already. ”

While he closed the trunk, I tried to slip the helmet on, but it was like stuffing my head into a soup can. It was either going to rip my ears off or pull my hair out in chunks. “Are you sure this will fit me?”

Stone glanced my way and his lips twisted, but he managed to keep a straight face. “Here. Put it on from the back like this.” Stone guided me through the process, and I finally had it on my head with my ears still attached.

“You fasten the chin strap on the side.”

I felt for it, but couldn’t find the snap.

He pushed my hands away. “Here… I’ll do it.” He fastened the strap together and stepped away. “Leave the visor up until we get going. Then just flip it down.”

“Okay.”

“After I’m on the bike, step on the peg, here, and swing your leg over the back.”

“Sure.” I waited while he got on the bike. Ready, he held out his arm for me to grab, and I stepped on the peg. I had to brace both of my hands on his shoulders before I could swing my leg over the seat.

It took me a second to find the peg with my other foot, but once I did, I settled down behind him. Glad to have that part over, I flipped my visor down and carefully placed my hands on the sides of his waist. I wasn’t sure how tight I’d need to hold on, but I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of me wrapping my arms around him.

He started off slow, giving me a chance to get used to the bike. After winding through the parking garage, we came to the exit. He stopped to look both ways before crossing the sidewalk to the street, where he stopped again to merge with traffic.

He smoothly pulled out and began to accelerate. I swallowed, and my grip on him tightened. A little thrill of excitement sent butterflies through my stomach, and a grin spread over my face. I liked this… a lot.

Soon, my arms were tightly wrapped around him, and I was molded to his back, my inner thighs touching his legs. I peered over his shoulder to see where we were going and leaned with him around every turn. I didn’t know if he was showing off, or if all motorcycle rides were this great, but I was hooked.

Several minutes later, we drove past an old building with yellow crime scene tape across the entrance. The police were still there, along with a fire truck, and I knew we’d never get past them.

That didn’t seem to matter to Stone. He drove the bike around the block and parked in an alleyway across the street from the back of the building. After he turned off the engine, I knew I had to get off before him, but I wasn’t sure how to do that.

“Stand up on the pegs,” he said. “Then swing your leg over.”

“Okay.” I put my hands on his shoulders for balance and swung my leg over the back of the seat. He held out his arm, and I grabbed onto it before stepping down, grateful I hadn’t fallen over.

He slung his leg over the bike a lot more gracefully, and pulled off his helmet. After shoving his hair back from his forehead, he turned to me, and I sucked in a breath. Holy hell… how did he get even more handsome?

His dark brow rose, and I realized I still had my helmet on. Reaching for the snap, I couldn’t seem to find it. Taking pity on me, he stepped close and pulled it apart.

“Thanks.” I tugged off the helmet and ran a hand through my hair, hoping it didn’t look too terrible. He took my helmet and set it on the bike with his before turning my way .

“See that alley at the back of the building?”

“Yeah.”

“There’s a window on the fourth floor, just above a fire escape on the west side of the building. That’s the room with the bomb. I’m hoping some of the debris might have shot out of the window and fallen into the alley. With the police still here, that might be our only way to find something you can touch.”

“Oh… okay, let’s go.” At least the police were on the other side of the building, so we should be okay to walk over there.

We hurried across the street and into the alley. “Where’s the window?”

Stone pointed to the fourth floor with the fire escape hanging off to the side.

“You came out that way?”

“Yeah, but the fire escape was still attached when I started down.”

“Sheesh! I’m amazed you didn’t fall.”

He huffed. “Yeah… it was close.” He turned his attention to the debris on the ground. Broken glass, a few bricks, and building material littered the alley.

“So are we looking for wires or something?”

He shook his head. “No… I’ll know it when I see it. But if anything stands out, go ahead and pick it up.”

I wasn’t sure this would work. I needed something a lot more concrete than a piece of the building. But I didn’t want Stone to complain that we were wasting our time. We spent several minutes combing through the junk, but nothing looked promising.

I found a piece of metal that could have been from a desk and picked it up. “What do you think this is?”

Stone came to my side and took it from me. “Looks like part of a chair. You get anything from it? ”

I wrapped my hand around the metal rod and waited, but, after running my fingers over the entire surface, nothing came to me. “Sorry… I’m not getting anything.”

“Try this.”

He handed me a piece of wood, but I got nothing from that either. A second later, he picked up a pencil and handed that over. I took it, and got an instant vision of a man holding it between his teeth. It faded away before I could see his face, but I noticed that his bottom teeth were a bit crooked. “I saw something. A man was holding this pencil in his mouth.”

“Was it the guy you saw in the truck?”

“Uh… I’m not sure. I only saw his teeth.”

He raised a brow. “That’s it? Nothing else?”

“No.” I almost apologized, but held back. “It’s possible he didn’t touch anything but the bomb. That would explain why I haven’t picked anything up. If I could get inside the room, I might have a better chance.”

Stone glanced up at the window, and his lips flattened. “Without the fire escape to get up there, we can’t risk it. I guess we could come back after the police are done.”

“Yeah… that’s a possibility.”

“Okay. Then we might as well go.”

His tone lacked conviction, and I hated disappointing him. Stone strode to the street, and I followed, more discouraged than I liked to admit. For the first time, I began to doubt myself. What if my abilities weren’t enough to figure this out? Stone didn’t seem impressed with me, and now I wondered if I’d over-sold myself.

Stopping at the bike, Stone pulled out his phone. “You’re sure you want to meet the Shadow Serpents ?”

I almost smirked at his emphasis on their name, but resisted. “Yes. It’s our only real lead. ”

His lips twisted, but he gave me a nod. “Then I’ll need to let Razor know that I’m on my way.” He sent a text, and, a few seconds later, his phone chirped. He read it and nodded. “He’s at the shop, so we can talk to him.”

“Great.” I got my helmet on, but still couldn’t figure out the strap. I was going to leave it undone, but Stone noticed and snapped it for me. I thought he muttered something under his breath but I couldn’t make it out. Had he just compared me to a two-year-old? “Did you say something?”

He met my gaze, his eyes wide and innocent. “ Me? No. Not at all.” As he turned away, a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. I chose to ignore it and waited for him to climb onto the bike.

Squashing my frustration, I stepped onto the peg, grabbed his shoulders, and swung my leg over the seat. I started to sit down, got a cramp in my leg, and jerked back up. Could this get any more embarrassing?

His head twisted toward me. “You okay?”

“Uh… yeah… just give me a second.” The painful cramp finally went away, and I slowly sat down. Grateful it didn’t come back, I slipped my arms around him, and he started up the bike.

Not sure where we were going, I relaxed into the seat and let myself enjoy the ride. We ended up driving to the other side of town, and I realized that riding the motorcycle was perfect. It saved me from the awkwardness of making small talk with a guy who, for all intents and purposes, was forced to be with me and hated my guts. Probably.

It reminded me of my ex and his penchant for ruining my life. His stupid accusation that I owed him for mental abuse was bad enough, but now he was dragging his feet and wouldn’t agree to anything. How stupid was that? At least with this job, I’d have enough money to pay my lawyer’s fees .

Stone glanced down at my hand, and I realized I’d grabbed hold of his jacket and was clenching it in my fist. I quickly let go and tried to smooth the jacket out, which left me rubbing his side and stomach. I froze, hoping he wouldn’t get the wrong message.

A few minutes later, we pulled into a run-down auto-repair shop, where we continued around the lot to the back of the building. Stone slowed the bike in front of a double garage-door opening, where two men were tinkering on a car, and pulled to a stop.

They both glanced up at us, and one of them hurried inside the garage. The other guy crossed his arms and leaned against the side of the car. He wore his long hair in dreadlocks, and a black bandanna was tied around his forehead. His sleeveless tee showed off the tattoos that covered the dark skin on his muscled arms.

Stone held out his hand for me, so I did my best to climb off the bike without falling over. He got off right after I did and pulled his helmet off. After setting it down on the seat, he stepped toward the muscled man. “Hey, Joint, Razor tell you I was coming?”

“Yeah. He’ll be ready in a minute.” Joint glanced my way and his lips twisted. “Look like your woman needs some help.”

Stone glanced over his shoulder to find me struggling with my stupid strap. I’d tried everything to get it unsnapped, but nothing worked. I’d just about given up when Joint nodded at me. Had he just called me Stone’s woman? Heat flooded my cheeks. Maybe I should just leave the helmet on.

Stone pursed his lips and stepped my way, tugging on the strap and popping it open. I managed to pull the helmet off, but my hair flopped forward into my face, and I had to shove it back. Damn. This could get worse.

Wanting to be careful about what I touched in this dirty place, I pulled my leather gloves from my purse and put them on. I glanced up and found Stone watching me, a frown on his face. “What?”

“Nothing.” He shook his head. “But it seems like you’re not doing your job with those on.”

“I don’t want to pick up every little thing, so I have to protect myself.”

Stone shrugged. “Whatever.” He turned back to Joint. “So… how’s business these days?”

“We keepin’ busy.”

“Good to hear.”

The man who’d run off came back out, stopping beside us. “Razor says to come to his office.”

Stone nodded, but his shoulders tensed. He glanced my way, looking at my hands, and spoke under his breath. “Maybe you’d better wait here.”

My brows rose. I wasn’t about to let him go in there without me. I had a contract to uphold. “I’m sticking with you. Remember? Twenty-four seven? I can take these off anytime, you know.”

Stone’s mouth twisted, but he didn’t argue, so I followed him inside. The garage smelled of oil and grease, and we passed a couple of cars that were on lifts, with men working on them.

Continuing down a hall, Joint led us to a large office, where a man wearing a black tee with several holes in it sat behind a desk. His long, dark hair was tied back and a bushy beard covered his lower face. He held a rag in his hands, and wiped off his dirty fingers.

With our arrival, he motioned toward the chairs in front of his desk. “Hey, Stone. Good to see you in one piece.” He looked my way before glancing back to Stone. “What can I do for you? ”

Joint stayed at the door, blocking us in, and the other guy sat down behind us. The hairs on the back of my neck rose, but I tried not to show any fear. Besides, Stone could take them all out, right? After his greeting, Razor sat back in his chair like he was a king holding court.

Stone didn’t seem fazed by any of this, and his voice had a hard edge to it. “I’m looking for the guy who sent me the text that nearly got me blown up. As you said before, it wasn’t you. But it had to be someone who knows we have a working relationship.”

Razor set the rag on his desk and leaned toward us. “You think it’s one of my men?”

Stone shrugged. “Who else would use your number? That’s why I’m here. I’m sure it’s not someone loyal to you, but I’m wondering if you have anyone new… say… in the last month or so.”

Razor glanced behind us at Joint. “What do you think?”

“We have a couple of newer recruits, but I doubt they’d be dumb enough to go against Stone.”

I sat forward. “Do any of them have short hair and a beard?” Glancing at the men around me, I realized they all wore beards, and my eyes bulged. “Uh… and who also wears a ball cap?”

Razor smirked. “Not everyone’s here today, but you can talk to the guys out there.” He shook his head. “But I don’t think it would be any of them.” Rubbing his beard, he pursed his lips and met Stone’s gaze. “I can’t imagine any of my crew setting you up.”

Stone nodded. “I get that, but it only takes one.”

Razor scowled. “Fine… do what you gotta do. Let me know if you figure it out; that way I’ll know how to handle the situation. ”

He was warning Stone to let him take care of it, and the way Stone grumbled under his breath, I knew he didn’t want to do that.

Stone glanced my way. “Anything here you want to touch? Like that rag?” He motioned to the greasy rag sitting on Razor’s desk.

“Uh… no.” I narrowed my eyes at him so he’d know it wasn’t funny.

He shrugged. “Fine.” He turned to Razor. “Thanks for your help. We’ll go talk to the others.” Pivoting, he faced Joint. “I might want to meet your new recruits. When would be a good time for that?”

Joint glanced at Razor for his okay before answering. “Come to the park tonight around eleven. They’ll be there then.”

“Thanks.”

Joint moved aside to let us pass, and we stepped into the garage. Stone leaned close to me and spoke in a low tone. “Feel free to touch anything you want out here.”

My lips turned down. “I know how to do my job.”

He ignored that and continued around a couple of cars to one on the opposite side. The man working on the engine glanced up, then did a double-take. He grabbed a rag and wiped his hands. “Stone… what are you doing here?”

“Hey, Cash. I’m looking for someone. This morning, I got a text to meet Razor at a condemned office building. But Razor didn’t send me the message, so I’m asking around if anyone knows who sent me the text. Was it you?”

“Me? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Stone glanced my way and lifted an eyebrow. I knew he wanted me to touch that dirty old rag Cash was holding. Knowing I couldn’t put it off forever, I held out my gloved hand.

“Can I see that rag for a minute? ”

Cash wrinkled his nose. “This thing?” At my nod, he handed it over.

“Thanks.” I took the stinky cloth, but didn’t take my glove off.

Stone raised a brow, so I beckoned him a few paces away and lowered my voice. “I’ll check it in a minute.”

His eyes narrowed. “Why not now?”

“I don’t like having an audience. I’ll check it before we leave.”

He opened his mouth to object, but shook his head instead. “Fine… whatever.”

We made the rounds to the other workers, and I picked up two more rags. I kept them in order so I wouldn’t get them mixed up, and hoped there weren’t many more. I was probably doing this all wrong, but it was too late to change direction now.

Luckily, those were the only men with rags I had to check. Once we got to the bike, I laid them on the seat and pulled off my glove. Stone stood beside me with his arms crossed, and I picked up his impatience.

“Here goes.” I touched them in reverse order, since that was easier to remember. The first one showed me an argument between the guy and Joint, but nothing about Stone.

I moved to the second and saw a poker game, and the guy losing all his chips. He was pretty upset, and I wondered if I should warn him. Of course, it could have already happened, so I let it go and picked up the last rag.

At first, nothing came to me. Then I got the impression of Cash holding a phone to his ear. He spoke, but I couldn’t hear the words clearly. I closed my eyes and concentrated, finally hearing Cash’s words that the guy owed him some money and he’d better pay up before Stone got wind of it .

My eyes flew open. “Cash was talking to someone about paying up before you found out. We’d better get back in there and ask him who he was talking to.”

Stone didn’t waste any time, and I had to run to catch up with him. Unfortunately, Cash wasn’t there anymore. Shaking his head, Stone grabbed a worker’s arm. “Is there another way out of here?”

“No. Just the way you came and the main entrance.”

We hurried through the building and out the main entrance to the street, but there was no sign of Cash. Frustrated, Stone stormed back inside, straight to Razor’s office. “I need to know where Cash lives.”

“He’s your guy?”

I stepped closer. “Not for sure, but he might know something about it.”

Razor huffed out a breath and tapped on his computer. A few seconds later, he found the address and gave it to Stone.

“Thanks. I owe you.”

With a small smile on his lips, Razor nodded. “Good to know.”

We hurried back to the bike, and Stone had his helmet on and the bike started before I could get my chin strap snapped. He glanced my way and shook his head.

Leaving it undone, I stepped on the peg and managed to sit down before Stone took off. I wanted to tell Stone that Cash probably didn’t go to his house, but I just let out a breath and kept my mouth shut.