The Cupid Touch

The Cupid Touch Chapter 22 - Clubbing

 I could hear the ringing coming through Joe-Moe's cell-phone the whole way to the car. It must have rung ten times by the time we got there, with no sound of interruption. It was an ominous sign, and I could see Joe-Moe trying to control his panic as much as I was trying to control mine.

And then, as he pulled his car-key out, the ringing was interrupted, and I could hear Axel's "Joe?" from where I stood.

"Axel? Where are you?"

Joe-Moe sounded angry, but I knew it was fear making his voice tight.

I could have cried with relief that Axel was still in a position to take a call, but there wasn't time. Instead I ran around to the passenger side and let myself in with shaking hands.

"Wait, wait," he was saying into the phone as I closed the door. "You're going to..."

There was a burst of hurried talking, and Joe-Moe nodded.

"OK. Do it. I'm coming to pick you up in around thirty minutes. I'll call you when I'm outside. Come out with someone, ok?"

He hung up, and started the engine with a roar.

"He's in a night-club," he said, answering the question I hadn't needed to ask. "He was on the road home and a car crawled up alongside. He recognised one of Lucas's guys, and he turned straight into the door of the club. He used to date one of the bar staff, so he's going to get behind the bar where they can't man-handle him out."

I nodded, my heart a painful thump in my throat. I hoped Joe-Moe was right, and they couldn't simply threaten Axel's ex to get him out of there. The world of organised, violent crime was not one I'd ever had a particular interest in getting to know.

"What are you going to do?" I asked Joe-Moe, holding onto a handle on the door briefly as he took a corner at speed. "I mean - not right now. In the long-term."

"I don't know," he replied, in a low voice. "I'll do everything I can not to make things... bad, but -"

He didn't have to explain any more. I knew that Axel meant more to him than the life of a drug-dealing ex-boyfriend and his stooges. And I didn't expect him to have a lot of sympathy for his boss, either.

"It's going to be hard controlling it if they're threatening him," he added.

I slid my hand around his elbow and rubbed his skin with my thumb. "I'll do what I can to help."

He turned a very serious gaze on me for a moment. "Don't come inside. I know you'll want to be there, and won't appreciate me being over-protective. But I'm probably about to really piss these guys off, and I'd prefer it if they didn't have someone else to aim at."

It's pretty crappy to admit it, but a large part of me was relieved. I didn't want to walk in there. But at the same time, I didn't want him walking in there, either.

"If you're sure," I said, and then added, "but I'm going to be right outside with the car, whatever you say. You're going to need a fast exit strategy."

He grinned, slightly. "Hidden depths," he said.

"What, as a criminal mastermind?" I asked.

"No, I just didn't know you could drive..."

I shoved him gently, trying to hold on to the humour while that urgent note of alarm pulsed in my mind.

Axel called again once we were on the edge of the city, telling Joe-Moe to come to the back of the club.

"That's good," Joe-Moe said, once he'd hung up. "There's a staff entrance to an alley where they get rid of the trash. You can't get in that way, only out. Which means you can drop me close by and drive round to the alley-way. We'll come straight to you, and it keeps you out of sight."