Chapter 36
Thirty-Six
THEO
My phone rang just as the cab pulled up to the Lute. I answered it as I shoved twice as much cash at the cabbie than was required.
“Someone spotted Quinn Gray in Covent Garden two hours ago. We’re on our way to that bar,” Rick announced without preamble.
Fuck.
“I’m already here.”
“If you see him, do not engage.”
“If he’s anywhere near Sarah, you’ll be lucky if you don’t take him out of here in a body bag.” I hung up, charging into the crowded bar, searching for a familiar dark blond head.
I spotted Liz by herself at a bistro table near the back.
“Fucking move,” I muttered belligerently under my breath as I tried to get through the crowds.
“Hey, watch it!”
“Rude, bro, rude!”
I ignored them until I’d woven my way out of the crush and around the tables.
Liz spotted me, her dark eyes widening as I approached. I didn’t like to think how I looked, but whatever my expression was, she stood up. “Theo, is everything all right?”
“Where is Sarah?” I practically yelled.
She blinked in surprise. “She went to the restroom about five minutes ago. I was just about to go in search of her, actually.”
“Oh, fuck.” Nausea rose with my fear as I pushed past Liz and shoved like a bulldozer through the crowds around the bar. As soon as I was free, I ran down the hallway. The ladies’ restroom was out of order. I pushed inside, kicking at the door stalls.
Nothing.
I checked in the men’s, but there were just two guys pissing.
Heart racing, I zeroed in on the door at the end of the hallway.
I ran, realizing on approach it was the exit door to the alley. Then I swore I heard a scream.
“Sarah!” I shoved outside.
Light spilled across the alley only so far and on the edges of the shadows, I saw two figures. A man astride a woman, his arms raised above her as she wriggled and fought beneath him.
Just a hint of light glinted in the darkness.
Off a knife.
Her hair spilled across the ground in dark blond strands and the light caught on a blue shirt. The blue shirt Sarah was wearing.
I processed all of this in two seconds, leaving me just enough time to run like my world depended on it.
Toward him.
Toward Gray.
And the knife he was about to bring down on my fucking reason to exist.
I roared with rage at the thought of what he’d done to Sarah before I’d gotten here and I tackled him off her.
Pain sliced into my side as I wrestled Gray to the ground.
The knife in his hand was now covered in blood, and the agony scoring up my side told me it was mine.
Fighting through the burn, I grabbed his wrist and slammed it down on the ground over and over until he released the knife.
We grappled and wrestled as sirens filled the air.
And then I pounded my fist into his face over and over.
Blue and red lights flashed around us, and I glanced up in time to see the police cars blocking the end of the alley. No. I wanted to kill him first.
But suddenly, we were surrounded and I was being pulled off the murdering psycho.
Police pulled Gray to his feet, cuffing him as he wobbled unsteadily in their hold. Blood dripped down his nose and over his mouth, staining his teeth as he grinned maniacally at me. “You know this isn’t how it ends. We’ll see each other again.”
“I see you again, you sick fuck, and I’ll kill you.”
He choked on a laugh as the police dragged him off.
Suddenly, the pain in my side registered and I felt something warm and wet drip down my torso. Black spots crowded in on the edge of my vision as my knees began to give out.
“Sarah!” I yelled hoarsely as an unfamiliar voice asked if I was hurt.
Then she was in front of me, her beautiful face tear streaked, bruised, and bleeding as she grasped at mine. “Theo, Theo,” Sarah whispered. And then her eyes filled with horror as she looked down. “Theo, you’re hurt.”
“I … Sarah.”
She looked up at me, panic in her eyes.
“I … I love you,” I choked out just before everything switched off.