Page 33 of Grip Me Tight
I look over to see Tanner leaning a hip against the table behind Emil. He tips his chin at me. “I’m going to grab a shower in the dressing room and call your mom, seeing as how neither you nor Noah is going to do it.”
I shake my head. “It’s late. It’ll be better to call in the morning.”
“She knows there’s a concert tonight. If she’s scrolling and sees something, she’ll be worried.”
“She’ll be worried if her phone rings at midnight.”
Emil’s head swings back and forth between us.
“Just stay here and do your thing. I’ll grab my stuff and meet you back here.” He crosses his arms over his chest.
“I can get a ride with Emil. We need to work tonight anyway.” I’m distracted by the definition in his forearms, and I hate that I’m noticing anything about him. “Why don’t you see if Lexxie needs a ride anywhere?” I nearly bite my tongue. Why did I say that? Next to me, Michael starts furiously tapping away at his keyboard, and Emil smirks while he fiddles with his lens.
Tanner gives me a patronizing look. “I’m going to take a shower and I’ll meet you back here. If anyone else needs a ride, Emil, you’ll sort them out, right?”
The smirk falls off Emil’s face and he shifts away from me. “Yeah, sure. No problem, T.”
My phone rings. It’s Vera and I haven’t put my notes together yet, but I answer as confidently as I can.
A tickling sensation at the back of my neck is the only warning I get before I hear Tanner’s low rasp in my ear. “Tell Vera I said ‘hi’”. His warm, spicy scent is mixed with smoke and clean sweat and my legs tighten involuntarily.
“Is that Tanner, I hear?” Vera asks. “Tell him I say ‘hi’ back.” Her husky chuckle makes me wonder how much of a work relationship they have and I’m angry at myself all over again.
“He’s gone, “I say, knowing without turning that it’s true because I feel like I can breathe again. Whenever Tanner is in the room it feels like he’s sucked all of the oxygen out of it.
There’s a pause at the other end and I wince, not certain if my response came out as abruptly as I think it did. Then Vera gets down to business, firing questions at me that I don’t have all the answers for. I quickly take notes, giving information where I can, and she asks what direction I’m going in for the socials.
“I’ve had a chance to review some photos from last night and tonight. I honestly think we should play up the concert and the after-party from last night. It was a huge success. The spin I would take on tonight is that Ajax saw a woman being manhandled in the crowd and tried to assist.”
“Why wouldn’t we just hype the show and play it off as Ajax doing a crazy stunt?”
Vera sounds skeptical and I swallow down my nervousness. “Well, Laird doesn’t want there to be any speculation about drugs or some kind of, quote-unquote, exhaustion. Ajax’s involvement with women’s rights and support of women’s shelters is well-known. If he witnessed a potential domestic assault, he’d intervene. I think it runs better than him being caught up in the energy of the show and deciding to toss his guitar and crowd-surf.”
“Hmmm.”
I hold my breath.
“I like this. Those are good instincts, and it ties in with an upcoming charity event Ajax will be attending.”
My shoulders relax a fraction. “I imagine we’ll be giving some of the crowd shots where this couple is visible to the police, but some of them can be funneled to one of those gossip-drop sites. A blurry photo of the couple with a lead from a concert-goer who was near the front can plant the story without us having to do much more than focus on the success of this stop. Then the Kingmaker page can make an official statement once we know what kind of information we can release. Even if it’s something along the lines of Ajax seeing the incident and tried to help, and how we’re assisting the police by providing a description. Then we can send out public service links for domestic assault reporting and support.”
“Got it. I’ll work on getting that info and putting together some statements. Please put some quick frames together and get them over to me so we can review them. We have placers for the gossip-drop socials, so I’ll take that direction if you can have a few photos sent over. Ones that preferably look like they could have been taken from the floor.” Vera’s voice is warm. “Great job on thinking of a different angle. That’s some quick creativity.”
I smile, relaxing a little. Maybe I can do this. I make some notes about the photos and show Emil. He nods and flips open his laptop. I disconnect the call and make some more notes on potential posts, then I open my tablet and start scrolling, checking around for posts about the show.
A brush of cool air ruffles my hair and my breath catches as I hear people turn to greet Tanner. I force myself to sit in my chair and pretend I’m engrossed in whatever Emil has on his screen, but honestly, fifteen-foot blue aliens could appear right in front of me, and I wouldn’t notice.
All of my attention is on the prickly feeling at the back of my neck. Next to me, I hear Michael greet Tanner, but I still don’t turn. I am strong, I am unfazed, I am… undone as a warm, spicy cedar scent tickles my nose. There is no way I can sit in a vehicle with him and not beg him to kiss me like he did the other night.
“Did the call with Vera go well?”
I stiffen. Is he sorry he didn’t get to speak with her in person? “It did. I think she’s probably busy right now, but I’m sure she’d love to hear from you later.” God I am terrible at trying to play it cool.
Tanner kicks the leg of Emil’s chair. “Move over, Emil.”
Emil’s chair scrapes the concrete and I grind my teeth. “Tanner, I need to work.”
“Which you can do back at the hotel.”
