Page 45 of Last First Kiss
She watched him avert his eyes and crack his knuckles. Shit. What the hell had she said? He cracked his knuckles when he was frazzled or introspective. She searched her memory bank. Glimpses, like still photos, played back: he handed her pills, he rubbed her back, he carried her to the bed. Shit. Shit. Shit. He had felt warm against her, had taken care of her, had smelled so delicious . . .
“You said that when I call you Tiger it makes you both sad and happy.”
Oh. Interesting. She’d never said that to anyone before. Surprisingly, she didn’t feel weird about having told him. Actually, it felt nice to share something with another person, even if it didn’t make much sense to him, it was still a little bit of her truth. Of her past. Of things she never spoke to anyone about.
He was looking at her expectantly but she wasn’t ready to go into all of that. “That’s a long story.”
“Will you tell me about it, later?”
“It’s depressing. I prefer to let it go.”
“I prefer to know,” he said sweetly, smiling down at her.
“Annie. Annabelle.” The voice was low and urgent behind her. She looked back, the hair on the back of her neck standing at attention.
“Ben?” Julia’s bodyguard was rushing to her and her whole body went on alert.
“We have a problem.” He didn’t say it loudly. They were trained not to cause panic, but the way he looked—tense shoulders, surveying eyes, rigid arms—there was definitely a crisis occurring somewhere.
She gave Rocco a hard look that she hoped told him to stay put before following Ben to the lobby area.
“This bag. It came out of nowhere.” There was a black backpack set against a marble column. It looked completely out of place in the formal setting. “It’s probably nothing, but . . .” Ben trailed off. She felt, rather than saw, Rocco following behind. Why couldn’t the man follow simple instructions?
Without touching the bag, she crouched down to inspect it closely. One of the handles had a patch with a yellow, blue, and red circle. “It’s the same emblem. The guy who threw the brick through the window had a tattoo with that same circle.” She stood. “Ben, get Julia and take Rocco too. I’ll call this in. Meet me in two minutes at the west emergency entrance.”
“Annabelle—” Rocco hissed.
“Out. Come on, hurry.” She pulled Rocco with her to the door, trying not to look panicked. “Please. Do as I say. No lip. This is my job. Get the hell out of here, right now. Go with Ben. For all I know this could be some sort of diversion.”
“What if it’s not? You can’t stay here. What if it’s a bomb?” The bag was dead center in the middle of the lavish lobby. It just sat in the marble floor looking out of place and ominous as hell. People walked past them as she stood up and looked down, Rocco standing close to her.
“I can’t leave all these people here,” she said quietly, not wanting to cause panic. She turned to Ben. “I need to call this in to the police and I need to get everyone out. You, Ben, need to get Julia and Lawrence out now,” she barked.
Before there was any additional protest, she ran back into the ballroom, phone in hand. “Joey, there’s an unidentified bag in the lobby. Get a team around the area. Call the cops. I’m clearing everyone out.”
Joey started throwing orders around while on the phone. “What kind of bag?”
“Black. Backpack. Canvas. Yellow, blue, and red circle patch on one of the straps, just like the tattoo from one of those kids.”
“Fuck. Okay, get out of there. Cops and SWAT are on their way.”
She ran toward the nearest security guard and explained what was happening, and he immediately began to mobilize. One of them ran to the stage were the band was still playing and took the microphone.
“Sorry to interrupt, folks, there seems to be a little problem. If you’d kindly make your way to the emergency exits.”
People didn’t move at first, all looking confused and then slowly a few began to disperse. The first police officers began to arrive and one jumped up on to the stage and made an announcement. “Need everyone out. Quickly. Be careful, but start making your way right now to the exits. There’s one to your right and one to your left. Please avoid the front.” Then other officers began to shuffle a confused mob out.
“Corporal Annabelle Clad of the US Army, I’m the one that called this in. I was here as a bodyguard and my colleague noticed the bag.”
The man extended his hand. “Captain Hill,” he said by means of introduction. “Let’s get you out of here. SWAT is checking on everything, we need to go outside.”
She followed the captain outside. “Another member of my team saw the bag. What caught my attention was the yellow, blue, and red circle on the strap. My client, Rocco Monroe, has been receiving threats.”
“I’ve seen it on the news.”
“There was some vandalism done to his property and the kids who did it had a tattoo that matched the symbol on the backpack. I’m pretty sure it’s all related.”
“We’ll look into it. As far as you know are the kids in jail?”
