Page 34 of Deserving Cora
“We’ll see if Tex can get us some satellite images of the estate and some sort of schedule of the comings and goings of the people who work there. Maybe we’ll get lucky and figure out Michaels’s routine, or actually see Lara out and about,” Tonka said. He’d been mostly quiet, but that wasn’t unusual for the man.
“I’d love to find out if Lara goes for coffee, or to a gym, or to do yoga every morning or something, so we could catch her away from the estate,” Stone agreed.
Cora snorted. “She hates coffee and is allergic to working out.”
“Right. Of course she is.” Stone grinned.
Pipe hadn’t said much during the discussion, but he couldn’t keep quiet anymore. “We’re going to get to the bottom of this, Cora,” he told her.
She turned to look at him. He could see the worry in her eyes, but she simply nodded. His respect for her rose. What they were doing wasn’t exactly dangerous, at least he didn’t think it would be, but she’d need to control her emotions if she wanted Lara to talk to her. That would be Cora’s biggest struggle. He knew that without a doubt.
“Okay, so…Cora, are you okay with staying with Pipe?” Tiny asked. “He mentioned he’s volunteered the spare room in his place while you’re here. We’d offer you one of the cabins, but we’re completely booked.”
“That’s fine. I can’t afford your prices anyway,” she said with a small smile.
“That’s not what I hear,” Spike said, grinning. “Heard you had six K at your disposal.”
“Oh, but that’s to pay you guys,” she said with a straight face. “It’s in my bag, which I left in the car. I can go get it now and—”
“No,” Brick interrupted her. “Did you not hear Spike when he said we weren’t paid mercenaries or bodyguards?”
“Yeah, but—”
“No buts. We aren’t taking your money,” he said firmly.
“Especially not after we heard you sold all your stuff to raise it,” Tonka added.
“Any chance you can get everything back?” Spike asked.
“Or maybe you can buy better stuff,” Stone said. Then he actually blushed. “I mean, I don’t know what youhad, so that might’ve been a stupid thing to say.”
“Wait. Is it cash? You shouldn’t be carrying that much money around,” Owl interjected.
“We can exchange it for a cashier’s check,” Brick offered.
Cora looked from guy to guy, seeming a little shell-shocked at the concern being shown to her—and it pissed Pipe off. No one should have cause to be that surprised when people were being nice.
“I…I’ll need it to get Lara and I back to DC, when I get her away from that prick,” Cora finally said.
Pipe couldn’t help but smile. She was so sure she’d be able to convince her friend to return to DC. He just hoped it would be as easy as Cora wanted it to be.
“No, you won’t,” Pipe blurted. “I’ll take care of it.”
“You can’t do that,” she told him.
“I can, and I will. Consider it part of the deal of winning me at the auction, since you never got your fancy dinner.”
“But Ididn’twin you,” Cora said with a frown.
“Didn’t you?” Pipe asked, raising a brow.
She stared at him for a long moment, and Pipe felt like they were the only two people in the world at that moment. He would’ve given anything to know what she was thinking right then.
He was ninety-nine percent sure that she wasn’t playing him and his friends…but what if she was? What if showing him an empty apartment, the cheap dress and shoes she’d worn to the auction, even the nasty confrontation with Eleanor that he’d overheard…what if it was all part of some elaborate plan?
But as soon as he had the thought, Pipe dismissed it. Cora’s emotions were too real. No matter how good an actress she might be, there was no way she could fake everything. Besides, he couldn’t come up with a single good reason why she might lie about her friend. If she wanted to get to Arizona for some reason, there were a hundred easier ways to go about it.
“I’msosending those flowers to Eleanor,” Cora finally whispered.
