The Lonely Hearts Club

Chapter 56: Snitch (Hades)

Joey is fucking scary.

That's why I find myself in his office at six in the morning, sitting across from him and Lana.

I can't stall any longer, no matter how much I hate meetings with him.

"We have a lot to discuss." Joey says, downing a glass of whiskey. He must be stressed if he's going back to his alcoholic tendencies.

I think most of us have alcohol problems.

"We do." Lana says. She's sitting on the edge of his armchair, arm casually slung around his neck.

"I am aware of your...adventure with the girl." He says.

Again, he's talking about Bree but trying to depersonalize her as much as possible.

"You mean Bree?" Lana asks him.

"Yes."

"And we have something we need to discuss-ANGELO!"

Angelo swaggers into Joey's office, coming out of that weird, hidden room with all the security screens.

"Tell him."

"We have reason to believe you're being stalked by a dangerous individual," Angelo says calmly.

Which one? Rowan or Heather?

"Is that so?" I wish I sounded scared or worried, but I don't give a fuck. 

"And It's possible Nicks saved your life."

"Yeah, I did!" Nicks says, also coming out of the weird little room.

How many people are hiding in there?

"Even though Coco gave me a stern talking-to after stealing her van, it was all worth it." He nods.

Right.

"And why do you say this?" I ask.

"Someone was watching and following you, the lady at the motel's front desk was brutally murdered and your room was ransacked," Angelo says. "It's possible if Nicks hadn't of kidnapped you first, they would have gotten to you."

I don't know what to say to that.

"This is why we don't run away," Nicks says. "Because then you're out of range from the people who can help you."

"You could have been killed." Angelo scolds.

And I wasn't.

"So was it Rowan or Heather?" I ask dryly.

"We don't know yet," Angelo confesses. "But we're working on it."

"You two go back in there and look at the traffic footage again, there has to be something," Joey instructs.

Two seconds later, Angelo and Nicks have barricaded themselves back in that room.

"Things have been slow these last few months," Lana says. "We haven't had to do as much."

Yeah, which I'm fucking grateful for.

"It's all a blessing in disguise because this means we can fully focus on tracking down the people responsible for this." She says.

This surprises me a little.

"Don't look so fucking shocked," Joey snaps. "You're part of the family, meaning we look out for each other."

"Yeah, I know." I try to stop myself from smiling but fail.

Joey narrows his eyes.

"Have you made any progress?" He asks vaguely.