Page 70 of Trick
King shrugged. “From one cop, anyway. We still need to cover our asses. Remember, we don’t have any pull with the police in Pittsburgh, and Ella will kick my ass if I get arrested for murder again.”
Bull barked out a laugh and pointed out that at least it wouldn’t be a false accusation this time.
“Not helpful, brother,” King growled as he flipped him off, then slapped his hand down on the desk, signaling an end to our meeting. “We’ll regroup to fine-tune the plan once Lucky and Wrangler get a chance to scope things out.”
I started to go back to the VIP suite, but Viking pulled me aside, and to my surprise, thanked me for keeping an eye on Lauren for him.
“I’m happy to do it,” I assured him, then couldn’t resist giving him shit about it. “I thought you didn’t want me anywhere near her, though.”
“I asked you to keep aneyeon her, motherfucker. You’ll keep yourdickin your pants, or I’ll shove my boot so far up your ass you’ll be choking on the bootlaces!”
Since he hadn’t tried to maim me yet, I had a hunch that Viking had no idea I was staying in the VIP suite with her, instead of in my own room.
“Calm down, old man, she’s in good hands with me,” I snickered. Viking eyed me sourly and I left before he caught on to the hidden meaning behind my words.
When I got back to the suite, Lauren was curled up on the loveseat reading, with Elvis stretched out next to her. I was pleased to see that her eyes weren’t red and swollen from her crying jag earlier, and she seemed to be a little more relaxed.
After filling her in on most of the discussion – leaving out the parts about making plans to actually kill Beau – she was relieved to hear that Dustin’s condition hadn’t worsened. She was also happy that Beau was back in Pittsburgh, although she got quiet when I confirmed that Bull had been able to trace the emails to his gaming systems.
“You know, I think there was a tiny part of me that hoped it really wasn’t Beau after all,” she said sadly. “It’s still hard to believe that the man I planned to spend the rest of my life with could do something like this. It makes me question my judgement, because I didn’t see any warning signs that he was capable of this level of craziness and violence.”
I nudged Elvis to get him up so I could sit next to her and hold her. She wasn’t crying, thank fuck, but the sadness and grief seemed to radiate from her. After a few minutes, she asked about going into the studio tomorrow.
“I really need to get the last few chapters finished soon because Ben, the voice actor doing the male voices, texted me earlier to let me know he’ll be done with his part of the book by tomorrow evening. I know that the author is anxious to get it all sent off to post-production, and then we’ll need to do any final edits so she can meet her release deadline.”
“Can’t you tell her you caught a cold or something to stall for a few more days?”
Lauren frowned. “I’d rather not. Audiobooks are expensive for authors to produce, and some barely break even on the cost. That’s why so many of them can’t afford to do it. It’s not fair to her to cause delays if I can help it.”
When I still remained unconvinced, she said, “This is my professional reputation on the line. I can’t have authors or their agents thinking that I’m unreliable, Jase.”
It was her quiet appeal that did it. I couldn’t resist her, especially when she said my name like that.
“Fine, but I’m going with you.” She gave me a huge smile, then kissed my cheek before pulling her phone out of her back pocket.
“I need to check the studio schedule to make sure there’s still a booth available for tomorrow,” she mumbled, tapping away at her phone.
The only available slot was at four-thirty, which mean she would be recording until late in the evening. I wasn’t wild about being there after hours, but it couldn’t be helped.
Elvis made it known that he was ready for dinner right around the time Lucky texted to let me know they were sending Tony to pick up Mexican food.
We gave him our order, then fed Elvis before going to join Lucky, Wrangler, and Viking in the common room.
While we waited on the food, we killed time playing a few hands of poker, which ended with Viking winning every time. Since we were just playing for pretzels and bragging rights, I didn’t mind too much, even though the asshole gloated every time.
“And that’s how it’s done, kids,” he smirked, flipping his cards to show a straight flush.
“Sonofabitch,” Wrangler muttered, watching as Viking gleefully pulled the pile of pretzels in front of him.
He offered a handful to Lauren, then smacked Lucky’s arm when he reached for one.
“Get your own damned pretzels,” he scowled.
The poker game broke up when the food was delivered, and after we ate, I pulled Lauren aside and told her that I needed to run up to my room to get some more clothes.
“I want to go with you to see theforbidden bedroom,” she teased, waggling her eyebrows. I wasn’t wild about the idea in case it triggered her again, but I was glad to see that her mood had improved.
Viking had just gone upstairs for the night, so I didn’t have to worry about him spotting us, and nobody else was paying us a damned bit of attention. She followed me upstairs, and I typed my code into the door keypad then opened my door with a flourish.
