Paxton's Promise (Gloves Off #3)(47)

“It’s just the trackers,” I said, pulling one out. Since I drove the Hummer around, I placed one under the seat, just in case. That left us two each to put on our person.

“Okay, so that leaves two for you and two for me. Make sure you hook them on something you’ll have on you at all times.”

I sealed up the envelope and put it back in my bag, so they were secure until we got to Paxton’s house. It was closing in on midafternoon and still no word from Cliff. I was worried about him.

“What’s wrong?” Paxton asked.

I pulled out my phone and texted him again. “Cliff still hasn’t gotten back to me.”

He sighed. “Do you want to ride by the apartment and see if he’s there? We can check out yours as well.”

“Yeah, let’s do that.”

Paxton turned the Hummer around and started toward my place. My nerves were shot. I had no clue what we were going to find, and I prayed it wasn’t going to be anything bad. Knowing my luck, it would be.

Paxton drove us into the parking lot. “Fuck,” I hissed. “His truck isn’t here.”

After we parked, Paxton and I both got out and went straight for the stairs. “Just because his truck isn’t here, doesn’t mean he’s not.” When we got up to the third floor, I rushed straight to his door and knocked. A minute went by and I knocked again. Nothing.

Paxton put his arm around me. “Come on, Gabby, he’s not here. Let’s go check out your apartment and get out of here.”

Reluctantly, I let Paxton lead the way. Luckily, there was nothing amiss at my door. No notes or black roses. I half expected to see a dead cat, or a horse head hanging by my door. Since Rage got his name for a reason I could see him taking his anger out on animals. I bet he killed them when he was younger. What made me sick was, people actually did that shit and enjoyed it.

When we got inside, everything seemed to be in place. It was strange being back there, since I hadn’t really been by in a while. Oddly enough, it didn’t feel like home anymore.

“Does everything look okay?” he asked.

The bananas on the counter were brown and mushy, so I threw them in the trash. “Yeah, it looks the way I left it. Let me check my room and then we can go.”

As soon as I hit the hallway, I knew something was wrong. The door to my bedroom was shut. I hadn’t left it like that. Paxton stopped and stepped in front of me. “What’s wrong? You tensed up all of a sudden.”

I nodded toward my room. “I didn’t shut my door. Someone else did that.”

Paxton’s gaze narrowed and he pushed me back toward the kitchen. “You stay here. I’m going to check it out.”

Instead of arguing, I nodded and let him go. While I was at it, I went and locked the front door. Nervously, I stood there tapping my foot, waiting to hear Paxton say something. When he called for me, I rushed back there. Inside my room, everything looked the same. My bed was made, the blinds were down, and everything was still on my . . .

“Something’s missing,” I pointed out. There was a spot on my dresser where a framed picture used to sit. You could even see the empty spot where the dust had collected around it. Someone had come in and taken it.

“What was it?”

“A picture of me and Ashleigh,” I growled. “And that f*cker stole it.” I remembered the day we took it. Ashleigh and I were at the beach with Colin and Bradley. Colin was the one who took the photo because we were covered in seaweed. It was my favorite picture. “So help me God, this shit needs to end. I can’t imagine what would’ve happened if I was here.”

“Do you see anything else missing?” he asked. Paxton walked around my room, but I knew he wouldn’t know if anything went missing. My heart sank when I noticed my jewelry box, moved to a different spot. When I opened it, there was indeed a ring missing. It was my high school graduation ring.

“He has a ring too,” I hissed low, slamming the box closed. “There’s no telling what all he took. He probably took some of my underwear. Sick bastard.”

Paxton put his hands on my shoulders and squeezed. “We’ll get your stuff back. I’m going to make this f*cker pay for what he’s done.”

I traced the place where my picture used to sit. I was going to make him pay too.





BY THE TIME we got back to Paxton’s house, Mason had called back with an update. I put him on speakerphone so Pax could listen in while I made us club sandwiches.

“My guys are looking up information on Josh Davenport. I should have something on him later tonight.”

“Speaking of him,” Paxton spat, “it looks like he broke into Gabby’s apartment and took some of her things.”

“It’s escalating, sooner than we expected. Thank f*cking God she wasn’t there,” Mason thundered. “After studying the timeline, I think it’s what you thought all along. When this guy sees you two together, it sets him off. Take for instance, the night at the race. He knew what you two were doing in the announcer’s box and then the next day they want you to fight.”

“So what do you suggest?” I asked. “If he watched us today all he saw us do was go to the gym and to my apartment.”

“Or are you saying we need to do something scandalous?” Paxton cut in.