Unleash Me, Vol. 2 (Unleash Me, Annihilate Me Series) by Christina Ross Page B

gave it to him, and then he moved the
martini out of my reach.   “ Where
was this gentleman sitting? ” he asked the waiter.
    “ He didn ’ t dine here tonight, ” the waiter said.   “ Not long after you and Ms. Ward
entered the restaurant and were seated, he came in.   He paid for the drink, and asked me to
wait until you were about to leave before I delivered it and the envelope to
Ms. Ward.   Now seemed the appropriate
time. ”
    Tank took the envelope and held it up to the light above
him.   I watched him squint his eyes,
and saw the frustration that crossed his face.   He then pressed the envelope together,
likely to get a better view of what was inside.   Tank was a master at concealing emotion,
and he revealed nothing to anyone now.
    “ What is it? ” I asked.
    “ Don ’ t touch that martini, ” he said to me.   He looked at the waiter.   “ You took the order? ”
    “ I did. ”
    “ Then we need to talk.   Front desk? ”
    “ Of course. ”
    “ Tank, ” I said.
    But he ignored me.   He got up from his seat with the envelope clutched in his hand, and left
the rear dining area.   He parted the
curtains that separated the two dining rooms, and cut through them,
disappearing from sight.
    “ What ’ s going on? ” Blackwell said.
    “ I don ’ t know, but I ’ m
going to find out.   Excuse me. ”
    I got up from my seat, and stepped past Jennifer, who
squeezed my hand as I passed her.   I
followed Tank through the curtains into the first dining room, and then stepped
into the small reception area, where Tank already was questioning the waiter.
    “ What ’ s the problem? ” I asked.
    When Tank saw me, he looked irritated.   “ I ’ d like a moment alone
with our waiter.   Would you mind
giving us that moment? ”
    “ I would.   If
this involves me, I want to know what ’ s going on. ”
    “ Please? ” he said.
    “ Sorry, but no.   Something ’ s wrong.   It
obviously involves me.   I have a
right to know what it is.   What ’ s
inside that envelope? ”
    “ It doesn ’ t matter, ” he said.
    By the guarded look on his face, I knew he was trying to protect
me from something.   But if he knew
me at all at this point in our relationship, then he knew I wasn ’ t
one to walk away from any sort of situation.   “ You need to respect me now, ” I said.   “ I ’ m no fool.   Neither are any of our friends.   Something isn ’ t
right.   What ’ s
the issue? ”
    We respected each other enough that he knew that he needed
to give in and come clean with me.   And so he did.
    “ You ’ ve received a threat, ” he said.
    Given the way he was acting, I sensed that was the
case.   But who sent it?   “ What kind of threat?   What ’ s in the
envelope?   Let me see it. ”
    With reluctance, he handed it over to me.   I removed the piece of paper that was
inside, and unfolded it.   For a
moment, I just stared at the words.   Spelled out in the middle of the paper in letters clipped from magazines
and newspapers, someone had glued the words ‘ Enjoy your final
drink, bitch, because it ’ s your last. ’
    Shaken, I handed it back to Tank, who tried to console me
by placing his hand on my arm.   But
there was no consoling me.   “ Who
did this? ” I
asked the waiter.   “ Who
bought me that drink and gave this envelope to you? ”
    The man look flustered. “ I don ’ t
know, Ms. Ward. ”
    “ How can ’ t you know?   How did he pay? ”
    “ In cash. ”
    “ What did he look like? ”
    “ Solid build.   Brown hair. ”
    Immediately, I thought of Kevin, who had brown hair.   Had he followed us tonight?   Someone had.   “ Did he have a beard? ”
    “ He didn ’ t. ”
    That caught me off guard — Kevin
had a beard.   Or at least he did the
last time I saw him.   Could he have
cut it off?   Of course he could
have.   “ Describe
him to me, ” I
said.   “ What
was he wearing?   What did he look
like? ”   I looked around the