“I had other things going on,” Devon said. “Important things.”
“Did you disarm a nuclear device?”
“No.”
“Did you discover a cure for cancer?”
“No.”
“Did you realize you’re a stuck-up pain and that you’re hurting my cousin?” I pressed.
If Eliot was surprised by my demeanor shift he didn’t show it. He remained impassive and mutely watched the exchange.
“I am not hurting your cousin,” Devon shot back. “None of this is your business. What I do doesn’t concern you.”
“I don’t really care about your business,” I said. “Your business means about as much to me as whatever moron wins Dancing With the Stars this cycle. Derrick is important to me, though, and he was upset.”
“Derrick told me you and Eliot were fighting and all you cared about was making up with him,” Devon countered. “He said he thought you two were going to break up. Why didn’t you?”
“I bribed him with sex,” I replied. “He couldn’t stop himself from forgiving me.”
Devon shifted her contemplative gaze to Eliot. “Is that true?”
Eliot shrugged, noncommittal. “She’s gifted … and surprisingly nimble.”
I fought the urge to smile. I didn’t want Devon brushing me off if I lost track of the conversation. “Derrick is a good guy,” I said. “I know we fight, and I truly like messing with him sometimes, but he doesn’t deserve to be used by you. If you don’t like him, you should break up with him.”
“It’s funny that you’re worried about Derrick’s well-being when you usually can’t be bothered to pay attention to anything but yourself,” Devon said.
“I’m trying to grow.”
“Whatever.”
“You’re trying to distract me,” I said, looking Devon up and down. Something was different about her, although I couldn’t put my finger on it. “Something else is going on. I wouldn’t generally bother playing this game with you – because, well, I don’t care enough to waste the time – but I think you actually care about Derrick and I know he cares about you.
“You don’t like me and I don’t like you,” I continued. “Some of that is professional and some of it is a difference in personality and overall lifestyle choices. You’ve decided to care what other people think about you, and I’ve decided to encourage people to hate me so I don’t have to engage in mindless chitchat when I don’t feel like it. That’s fine. You don’t need to like me.
“I’m not going to sit around and watch you crush Derrick, though,” I said. “He’s the closest thing I have to a brother. He drives me crazy and I want to smack him sometimes, but he’s important to me. You either need to shape up or I’ll make you ship out.”
“Are you threatening me?” Devon was incensed.
“Yes,” I replied. “I don’t know what I’ll do to you if you play games with him, but I will crush you. I’ve been known to get inventive when taking on enemies. I promise to be inventive with you if it comes to it.”
“Do you really think you can hurt me?” Devon’s tone was mocking but there was legitimate fear lurking behind her eyes.
“Yes,” I said. “You may think I’m flaky … or mean… or outright nasty given a certain set of circumstances. That’s definitely true. I will use all of that to get back at you if you hurt Derrick.”
“So, what? Do you want me to bow down and beg you not to go after me?” Devon challenged.
“I want you to fix things with Derrick or cut him loose,” I answered. “There’s nothing worse in this world than living in fear. Losing someone is easier to deal with than the fear of losing someone. You’re making Derrick live with the fear, and I don’t like it.”
“Maybe I don’t care what you think.” Devon’s eyes flashed.
“We both know that’s not true,” I said, shifting my eyes back to Eliot. “Do you want to wait inside until the conference is over and then get lunch?”
Eliot nodded. “I’ll even buy if you promise not to use those evil powers of yours on me.”
“Consider it done,” I said. It took me a moment to realize Devon was still watching. “Oh, I’m sorry. Devon, you may go.”
“Did you just dismiss me?” If Devon was irritated before, she’d shifted to blatant outrage during the intervening moments.
“I did,” I confirmed. “Go forth and sin no more.” I lowered my voice. “Either fix things with Derrick or let him go. Don’t torture him for your amusement, because if you do I’ll start torturing you for my amusement. You won’t like it. I promise you that.”
Eliot and I watched Devon shuffle over to the congregated reporters, twice earning dirty looks before she joined into conversation with some of the other television personalities. Eliot moved behind me and slipped an arm around my waist.
“That was pretty impressive,” Eliot said after a moment. “You terrified her. She’s trying to act brave, but she’s afraid. Good job.”
“Something else is going on with her,” I said. “We need to add that to our investigation list. I think she genuinely cares about Derrick. I’m guessing something else has happened and she’s afraid to tell him.”
“Like what?”
I shrugged. “Maybe she got a job in another city,” I said. “Detroit is only a last stop for old people in television. The younger ones dream of moving to Los Angeles, New York City, Orlando and Chicago.”
“How do you know that?”
“I’m a fountain of useless information,” I answered. “Speaking of that, can you find out when Kendra’s next shift at the strip club is?”
“Sure. Are you really letting me go?”
“No,” I replied. “I do know someone who would fit into that scene, though. In fact, I know two people who could help me, and I plan to use both of them.”
“I’m almost afraid to ask what you’re doing.”
“Just find out when she’s working,” I instructed. “I’ll handle the rest of that … and reward you after lunch.”
Eliot poked my ribs. “Are you going to reward me with food or sex?”
“Why is it always one or the other with you? Think outside the box.”
“You really are sick,” Eliot muttered, although he kissed my forehead and moved to go back to his shop. “Don’t tick anyone off so badly they want to kill you. I’m going to be busy inside and can’t watch you.”
“You know I survived years without you babysitting me, right?”
“Yes, but isn’t it more fun this way?” Eliot challenged.
“Only in your world.”
ELIOT WAS SITTING at his desk in the back office when I let myself into his shop forty minutes later. The girl at the front counter, Trixie – I’m not making it up – gave me a dirty look when I told her where I was going and tried to stop me. I ignored her and barreled through the closed door even though she tried to bar my entrance with her inflatable boobs.
“I tried to make her wait so I could call you and announce her arrival,” Trixie huffed, shooting me a dirty look as Eliot raised a questioning eyebrow at our appearance. “She doesn’t follow the rules.”
“I don’t believe in rules,” I shot back.
“The rules don’t apply to her,” Eliot clarified. “She doesn’t have to be announced.”
“But you said no one could come back here,” Trixie whined, batting her eyelashes. “I’m doing what you said.”
“I know you are,” Eliot said. “I’m changing the rules. She can come back without being announced.”
“Hah!”
“Don’t be a pain,” Eliot chided, wagging his finger. “Was there a reason you couldn’t wait?”
“I don’t like to wait.”
“That doesn’t sound like a very good reason,” Trixie sniffed.
“It’s a good enough reason for me,” Eliot said, leaning back in his chair and rubbing the back of his neck. “How did your news conference go?”
“The owner of that Chrysler place on Grat
iot pledged $25,000 for information that leads to Sierra’s safe return.”
“That’s generous of him,” Eliot said. “He probably figures she’s been gone for more than a week and she won’t make it back, so he won’t have to pay.”
“And people say I’m cynical,” I muttered.
“I think it’s wonderful,” Trixie said. “That’s a man with a caring nature, just like you, Mr. Kane.”
I rolled my eyes and made a disgusted face. “Thank you so much for your time, Dippy. We can take it from here.”
“My name is Trixie.”
“They sound the same to me,” I said, pushing her back through the opening and closing the door. “I don’t like her.”
“You know she’s probably listening, right?” Eliot asked.
“I don’t care. I’ll tell her that to her face.”
Eliot sighed. “I found out Kendra has a shift tonight. What are we doing?”
“You’re not going to a strip club,” I said.
“Believe it or not, I don’t want to go to a strip club,” Eliot shot back. “You’re all I can handle. Actually, you’re more than I can handle. You’re like love handles. I try to handle you and there’s always some overflow.”
I scowled. “Did you just call me love handles?”
“I meant that I love to handle you,” Eliot clarified. “Tell me what we’re doing tonight, because I know we’re going to be doing something. You’ve got ‘I’m going to get in trouble’ face, and that never ends well.”
“Well, I’m sending two people to the strip club to question Kendra,” I said. “I figure with two of them there they can’t get in too much trouble and hopefully one of them will focus long enough to ask the important questions before being completely sidelined by boobs.”
“I’m guessing one of them is Marvin.”
“Yup,” I said. “The other is Mario. I worry Marvin is too old and will freak Kendra out. Mario is closer to her age, and people like him. That reminds me, I have to come up with a hundred bucks in singles. You don’t have that here by any chance, do you?”
“I’ve got that,” Eliot said. “It freaks me out that you’re giving Marvin and Mario money to stuff in g-strings, but I’ve come to the conclusion that arguing with you when you have a feeling about something is fruitless. What are we doing?”
“We’re watching Daniel Jackson’s house,” I replied. “Now that Danny is with his grandparents, I’m hoping that we can spy and get information on Sandy and Daniel.”
“Why?”
“Because I can’t shake the feeling that Sandy has something to do with this.”
“Okay,” Eliot said, giving in. “You’d better be prepared to do something naughty to amuse me if we’re stuck in the truck all night, though.”
“I’m going to buy a sex book on Audible and play it to get you in the mood.”
“I know you were joking, but I can live with that,” Eliot said. “Is that everything you’re coordinating tonight, mastermind?”
I shook my head. “There’s one other thing.”
“Do I even want to know?”
“Probably not, but I’m going to tell you anyway,” I said. “I think Devon is up to something, too. The more I think about it, the more her attitude bothers me. I’ve assigned Lexie to Devon detail.”
“So you’re running three operations with five different people on a Monday night,” Eliot mused. “You’re like the godfather of gossip and eavesdropping. I guess I should just go along with this so I don’t wake up with a shredded newspaper in my bed, huh?”
“Exactly,” I said. “I am the queen of my little world, and I plan to get some answers tonight. Anyone who isn’t with me is against me, and they’d better duck and cover.”
“It’s going to be a long night.”
22
“You take me to the nicest places.” Eliot leaned back in the driver’s seat of his truck and reached for the knob on the radio. After going through all of his favorite stations he settled on a sports talk station, which caused me to turn the radio off and him to frown. “I’m ready to go home.”
We’d only been in position to spy on Daniel and Sandy Jackson for five minutes. This promised to be a long night.
“We could talk,” I suggested.
“Okay, I’ll play,” Eliot said. “What do you think about the situation in the Middle East?”
“I think it sucks.”
“Good to know,” Eliot said. “How do you feel about the financial situation in Detroit?”
“I think it makes me glad I don’t live in Detroit.”
“Well, this has been fun,” Eliot said. “We’re officially out of things to talk about.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “That’s not what I meant,” I said. “I thought we could talk about ideas for the house.”
The lighting in the truck wasn’t great, the only illumination coming from a streetlight about twenty feet away. I didn’t miss Eliot’s grin despite the dimness.
“It’s cute how excited you are,” Eliot said. “If I knew you were going to have this reaction I would’ve asked you three months ago when I first thought of the idea.”
I stilled, a mixture of surprise and confusion washing over me. “What do you mean?”
“Nothing,” Eliot replied, keeping his gaze on the Jackson house. “I just like how excited you are.”
“Not that,” I prodded. “You said you wanted us to live together three months ago. Why did you wait until the other day to ask?”
“Oh, that,” Eliot said, exhaling heavily. “I don’t suppose you could just let that go, could you?”
“Did you just meet me?”
“That’s what I thought,” Eliot muttered. “I knew I wanted to live with you three months ago – maybe even sooner – but I was afraid to ask you.”
“What? Why?”
Eliot slid his eyes until they locked with mine. “Because you’re a tough nut to crack and I never know what you’re going to love, hate, or hate until you have time to think about it and then realize you love it.”
That sounded complicated. “Why did you think I wouldn’t want to live with you?”
“Actually, I thought living with me was something you were going to hate until you had time to think about it,” Eliot clarified. “I thought it was going to be like that hard root beer I brought home that you swore was going to be gross until you fell in love with it three bottles in.”
I rubbed my eyebrow to smooth it as I considered what he said. “Were you really afraid I would say no?”
“I was afraid you’d pick a fight and not speak to me for two days and then we would find a clumsy way to make up and decide to live together,” Eliot clarified.
“We kind of did that anyway,” I pointed out. “We didn’t argue about moving in together, but we did find a clumsy way to make up.”
Eliot smirked. “We always do,” he said. “Are you upset because I didn’t ask right away?”
I shook my head. “I’m more upset that you were afraid to ask right away,” I admitted. “You’re right, though. I probably would’ve freaked out and picked a fight until I had time to think it over.”
“It all worked out, Avery. Don’t get all introspective and melodramatic.”
“It hasn’t officially worked out until you tell my mother,” I pointed out.
“I am not telling your mother anything,” Eliot argued. “She’ll kill me. She’ll sneak into our house and cut my hair while we sleep. She’s always on me about cutting my hair. That’s the thing she’ll use when she wants payback.”
“Don’t you dare,” I warned. “The thing that terrifies me most is you cutting your hair and me finding out you’re really not handsome after all.”
“Have I told you how glad I am that you’re not shallow?”
“No.”
“There’s a reason,” Eliot said, turning his attention back to the house. “How long do you want to sit here staring at nothing?”
“Twenty minutes,” I r
eplied. “Then we’re going to sneak into the back yard of the house I was at the other day and look over the fence. If we still can’t see anything, you’re going to give me a boost over the fence so I can crawl through the yard and listen at the windows.”
“Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”
“Why not?”
“I’m not letting you run around a potentially crazy man’s yard when I can’t reasonably get to you within three seconds,” Eliot replied.
“Three seconds?”
“That’s as long as I’m willing to be separated from you if things get ugly.”
“Oh, so cute,” I cooed, grabbing Eliot’s cheek and giving it a hard pinch. “You are pathetic with need where I’m concerned.”
“You suck,” Eliot said, slapping my hand away. “I thought we were going to spend an hour listening to a dirty book and then do what came naturally. You want me to break the law and leave you vulnerable. I’m not doing either.”
“I did buy a dirty book on Audible,” I said, digging in my purse. “I loaded it on my iPad. We can play it through the stereo.”
“I don’t want to listen to that with you.”
“Do you want to listen alone?” I challenged.
“Not when I know where your filthy mind is going,” Eliot said. “I … look.”
“I’m not going to look if your mind is going somewhere filthy and you’re trying to pay me back for the listening alone crack,” I shot back.
“Look,” Eliot hissed, pointing toward the Jackson driveway. I followed his finger with my gaze and knit my eyebrows as a furtive figure slipped out the side door of the house and headed toward the car parked in the driveway. “Is that … ?”
“Daniel Jackson,” I supplied, reaching for my seatbelt. “Get ready to follow him.”
“Why?”
“Because he’s sneaking out of his house while his daughter is missing and I want to know where he’s going.”
“How do you know he’s sneaking?” Eliot asked, although he snapped his own seatbelt into place.
We watched as Daniel backed the car down the driveway, not turning on the headlights until he was far enough away from his house that no one inside could notice.
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