Jude blinked at him. “I don’t have your number.”
Emilio smiled a little wider at that, then snatched Jude’s phone from the table and dropped it on his lap. “Easy problem to solve.”
Jude was too startled to do anything but unlock the phone and hand it over, and he pretended like he didn’t hear a small buzzing vibration in Emilio’s pocket after a second.
“Day or night, got it?” he demanded.
Jude clenched his jaw, but he took the phone back with a single, sharp nod. “Fine. Forgive me if I don’t show you out.”
He didn’t answer, instead flicking two fingers from his forehead in a sort of mock-salute, and the door shut quiet enough that Jude wanted to get up and slam it just to disturb the gentle quiet that had settled over his lounge. He was frustrated and irritated. Things weren’t settled, but they were getting somewhere, and he didn’t want to think of that man missing him or caring about his well-being. He didn’t want Emilio to think about him, because it meant that night in the cabin might have meant something to more than just him, and he wasn’t sure he could handle the weight of it.
11
Another week passed before Jude was given the okay to manage the stairs on his own, and the doctor suggested a walk on the beach because the sand would give him some decent resistance training. He considered calling Eliah to see if he was free to join him, but Jude didn’t want to put that burden on his brother, so instead, he managed the short stroll from the building to the beach on his own.
He leaned heavily on his cane when his feet touched the sand, his eyes drifting out toward the endless stretch of ocean. It was peaceful in the middle of the day, a handful of people strolling by, but he still felt entirely alone. And he realized that being by himself wasn’t always as suffocatingly lonely as it had been back in his old life. Or even during the first part of his recovery. He was grateful, in that moment, to be able to take in the sudden rush of peace the sea brought.
Shuffling along the sand, Jude reached the water’s edge, and it was out of the corner of his eye that he noticed something. A lone person, just sitting on the low stone wall near his condo building. He was almost nondescript, but there was something about him that was unsettling. Maybe it was the way his eyes were fixed on Jude or the way his lips seemed to curve in something like a wry grin.
And he told himself he was just being paranoid, but there were nights he blinked and saw the face of the man who had tied him up and had come too damn close to killing people he cared about.
His hand reached into his pocket, a slow movement. He tried to make it look like he wasn’t staring, though he knew he was probably failing at it, but he took several more steps closer to the water before dialing Eliah.
“I wasn’t expecting to hear from…” Eliah started.
“When you were being followed,” Jude interrupted in a rush, his voice low, hoping that the gentle crashing waves muted his words, “was the person obvious?”
Eliah was quiet for a long moment. “Where are you?”
“Just outside my building,” he said, “standing on the beach.” He glanced again at the man who hadn’t moved. He looked like he was staring at the water again, and Jude tried to get some detail off him, but there was little to see. He had light brown hair, pale skin, dark glasses. He had tattoos, but that wasn’t rare where they lived. “I’m probably just being paranoid.”
Eliah scoffed. “That’s what I told myself right before a man followed me into my work and then shot Aaron a few hours later.”
Jude winced a little, then swallowed thickly when he saw the stranger’s mouth widen into a bigger grin. “I’m being stupid. This is nothing.”
“I’m going to tell Aaron,” Eliah argued.
“No.” Jude heard the panic in his voice, but he was helpless against it. His brother’s boyfriend was a kind man, but he was hyper-reactive and would have half the bloody club sitting outside his condo if it meant making Eliah happy. “I’ve already spoken to Emilio, and he said he was coming by.” A small lie, but one he could remedy with the truth.
Eliah gave a small hum. “When I saw him last, he was doing some construction work on the bar.”
“Yes well…we’ve been in touch, and he said…” Jude started, then stopped and squeezed his eyes shut when he swore he saw the man shift a little closer to the sand. “Listen, I have to go. That’s him trying to ring through.”
He hated lying to his brother, but it was easier to cut Eliah off, and he used a trembling finger to scroll through his contacts and make the call. Swallowing his pride was hard, but he didn’t want to die. And he didn’t want to be in the position where it was an option. Not when he was feeling weak and off-kilter.
“You wanna tell me why I just got an SOS text from your brother?” Emilio said by way of answer.
Jude let out a small sigh. “I think I’m being watched, but I also think I’m probably just a bit paranoid.”
“We ain’t seen shit in town for a while,” Emilio said, and then Jude heard the sounds of a bike revving, and then the sound of the man’s voice changed like he was on some sort of speaker, “but that don’t mean they haven’t slipped by us.”
Jude closed his eyes for a long moment. “What do I do?”
“Where you at, rabbi?”
Jude gritted his teeth a little, even though deep down he knew his title wasn’t meant as a mockery. “On the beach, right in front of my building.”
“Yeah? There people around you?” Emilio’s voice had taken on the quality of someone trying to soothe a skittish animal, and Jude hated it. Desperately. Mostly because it was helping.
“A few. Not a lot,” he admitted. Never in his life had he wished for a crowd as much as he did right in that moment.
“That’s fine. I’m on my way, only about ten minutes from your place. You think you can hang that long?”
Jude snorted. “Provided he doesn’t take out a gun and shoot me?”
“He’s not going to do that. Fucker wants you scared, babe. He wants you to know he knows where you live and that he can find you. He wouldn’t be out in the open like this if he planned on doing anything now.”
Anything now. Which meant they were probably planning on doing something later. Jude let out a shaking breath. “Tell me what to do,” he pleaded very softly.
“Just stand there—or sit, if your knee’s hurting.”
Jude let out a small, strained laugh. “If I did that, I doubt I’d be able to get up again on my own.”
“You won’t be on your own for long,” Emilio promised, and Jude felt something warm rush through him. “I’m making good time, okay?”
“Mm,” Jude said softly. He shuffled a few more feet away from the man who still wasn’t moving, but Jude was still being watched. Intently. He felt rage prickling up his spine, and he wanted to hobble his way over to him and beat the man unconscious with his cane for putting him through this.
He didn’t know how people did it. He had no idea how Eliah had come back from everything he’d gone through before Jude arrived. He’d seen a man killed, then he’d seen his lover shot. He’d been stalked, and eventually he’d pulled the trigger of a gun on a human being.