Auf'd (The Belinda & Bennett Mysteries, Book Two)

by Amy Saunders

  To her relief (and she had to admit deep down, annoyance), Aidan didn't seem much more enthusiastic about her. Mrs. Sykes beamed as she reintroduced them. They shook hands and Mrs. Sykes "left them to it," taking off back into the house. Belinda thought she saw a shadow of a person inside—a guest?—but had to ignore it to be polite.

  "So it's been about ten years since I saw you last," Belinda said. They probably crossed paths at the dozens of grad parties senior year, but she honestly couldn't remember. "What've you been up to?"

  Aidan dug his hands in his pockets and swayed back and forth. "College. Then work. You?"

  "About the same." With a few more dashes and exclamation points, but this wasn't the time to get into it. "What do you do for work now?" Not that she knew what he did for work then, but she wanted to be nice.

  He puffed out air in a very disinterested fashion. Sheesh. He could at least pretend! "I'm a graphic designer."

  Belinda and Victoria glanced at each other and nodded. Before, that would have seemed completely random, but after Mr. Sykes told her about them both being art majors, it made sense. "Sounds fun."

  He scratched his jaw. "It can be."

  Well, this conversation was all well and good, but it was time to ditch Aidan Sykes. "I don't mean to be rude, but I have a couple things to do before everyone gets here."

  "Oh, yeah. Sure." Aidan held out his hand again. "Good to see you, Miranda."

  Belinda shook his hand, unsure if she should yell at him or burst out laughing. "You too, Ethan."

  He quirked his head. "Um, Aidan."

  "Ooohhh, right. Aidan. Sorry." She gave a little shrug and smiled, dashing over to the tiki bar with Victoria behind her, barely containing her laughter.

  "Miranda?" Victoria whispered, looking back to make sure he wasn't following. Aidan hiked his sockless, loafered feet back indoors.

  Belinda rolled her eyes. "I have bigger problems than Aidan Sykes forgetting my name. The bartender I hired canceled last minute. I don't suppose you moonlight?"

  "Somebody say they need a fill-in?" Sawyer slid in behind the bar, checking out the selection. "Nice."

  When had he shown up? Belinda checked the guests starting to drift in. "I don't suppose–"

  Sawyer put up both hands. "I got this. Bartending is how I avoided starvation for a long time." He smiled and started prepping.

  Belinda hated to feel so indebted to him, but she couldn't help it. She couldn't do everything. And about the only drinks she could mix came in a pre-mixed formula.

  With the May air still having a bite to it, everyone avoided the pool, even though it was heated, and stuck to the loungers around the sides, or the tiki bar.

  The atmosphere was subdued and people chatted quietly in small groups. Belinda ripped open another sleeve of crackers at the bar, spilling them out onto a tray, free of some of her anxiety now that the party was in-progress. Just when she thought things had calmed down, Sawyer leaped onto one side of the counter and ripped his shirt off, swinging it around his head a couple times before hurling it at one of the female assistants. It wrapped right around her face like a bat.

  "The bar is officially open!" He hopped down next to Belinda and winked. Crackers spilled off the bar as she got an up-close and personal view of his abs. Belinda bent down feverishly to pick them up, nearly knocking heads with him. He was skinny, but cut. He set the soiled crackers on the back bar and brushed his hands off and grinned. "Dangerous assignment you have there."

  Belinda felt red and hot and sure everyone had seen that and was now snickering. Of course, when she dared to peek, people were more interested in Sawyer's abs—or drink offerings—and lined up by the bar. Belinda managed a weak smile as Sawyer shook and blended and flirted. He'd probably made a killing when he did this professionally.

  Belinda gave him space to work and did her hosting thing, moving around the pool in a horseshoe pattern to say hello and direct people to the heap of food near the bar. Someone tapped her shoulder and Caleb shifted uncomfortably, looking pale and unkempt and tired.

  "Caleb! How are you?" Belinda had called his inn, but never heard back, so she could only assume he was still alive.

  Caleb shrugged a response, but Belinda's assessment was that he didn't look like he felt too good. "I don't suppose you have any news on April..." His voice faded, but he sounded and looked pained.

  "No, I'm sorry." Belinda reached out and rubbed the side of his arm. "I'm sure they'll learn something soon though." She smiled to try and reassure him.

  Caleb fiddled with his hoodie ties.

  "Would you like a drink? Sawyer's going crazy." She caught his eyes when she turned, and Sawyer winked again. Belinda flushed and turned away, but Caleb had vanished and Bennett stood in his place.

  He crossed his arms over his chest, his face hard.

  "You came," she said, her voice unsettled.

  She wanted him to come. But now it was looking like a really bad invite on her part.

  Bennett's eyes cut to Sawyer, pouring something out of a shaker and chatting. "I suppose you didn't ask him to do that either."

  Belinda's cheeks burned still redder. "He–"

  "Offered?"

  Kori sauntered up, waving some blue drink around. "I don't suppose there's any hope of that detective showing his abs at this party?"

  "You mean face?" Belinda said shortly.

  Kori smiled. "Face. Abs. Whichever."

  Belinda saw the lines around Bennett's mouth crease. Whether he was amused with Kori or Belinda's sharp reply, she wasn't sure.

  Kori sipped her concoction. "I may not think much of him personally, but Sawyer does have his talents."

  Belinda and Kori peeked behind them. Well, he could flash a smile and shake a martini at least. Sawyer smiled at her and waved her over, pointing to the cracker plate. "Oh, it's empty. Be right back." She risked a glimpse at Bennett, who glared across the pool at Sawyer.

  She fast-walked over, planning to throw more crackers out, then run back over to Bennett and try and salvage the situation. How, one might ask? No idea. But something would come to her. It had to.

  "We make a good team," Sawyer said when she joined him behind the bar. Brooke set a pair of empty glasses on the end of the bar, looking none too happy about playing server. Belinda might have imagined it, but she thought she saw Brooke slip Sawyer the evil eye. "We should go into party planning together."

  Not on his life. This had been the most stressful part of her week!

  He moved in closer, leaning in conspiratorially. "I think we look good together too."

  Belinda wondered what part of him bought this, because he managed to look sincere.

  Bennett, nostrils flaring, spanned the distance between them in a few long strides and grabbed Brooke, dipped her like in old movies, and kissed her.

  Belinda dumped an entire sleeve of crackers on the ground as her assistant kissed back, not even making a show of pushing him away. The world spun in slow motion until he finally put Brooke upright, her glasses askew on her nose, looking ready to swoon.

  Bennett turned to Belinda and smiled. And not the lip-curling thing he usually did either. It was.... Belinda's heart flipped. It was a compartment smile. Bennett had secret compartment smiles like her brother! This one was...challenging. A I-dare-you-to-top-that smile.

  Every inch of her body felt like it was on fire. Fists clenched and her heart about to explode, Belinda did the only thing in her grasp at that moment to do. She screamed.

  She could push Bennett into the pool, but that felt so benign compared to what she felt. Belinda turned to Brooke, who visibly shrunk back. She could chase that wench around the pool and throw her in. She could, and Brooke wouldn't stand a chance with the adrenaline rushing through Belinda's veins. But then Belinda's eyes zoomed in on the computer tablet sitting helplessly on a nearby table. Evil Belinda cackled. Yes! Take your anger out on the machine!

  She took one step toward her evil intent, when Sawyer screamed "Don't touch her!" an
d practically jumped over the bar and tackled Bennett, slamming them both into the table with the device.

  Kori looked through her martini glass and set it down.

  Bennett didn't struggle much at first, probably digesting what had happened. But once he came to, Bennett's eyes flashed and he took a shot at Sawyer's face.

  Stunned out of her daydreams, but not entirely sure she'd woken up, Belinda watched the two men wrestle around on the stucco, fighting for supremacy. Bennett finally got the best of Sawyer's leaner frame, grabbed him firmly by the shoulders and hauled them both to their feet. Despite Sawyer's attempts to push Bennett back to the ground, Bennett had the upper hand now.

  "Then keep your hands off Belinda!" he said through clenched teeth and pushed Sawyer into the pool. But as Sawyer fell backward, he pulled Bennett off balance just enough so he belly flopped into the water after him.

  Belinda and Brooke slowly approached the edge of the pool as the men resurfaced while everyone else just stared. Caleb adjusted his glasses, his mouth ajar.

  Brooke colored as all eyes settled on her. She backed up and ran for the house. Belinda felt guilty for her evil intentions and considered chasing after her. But this was her gig, thanks to Mrs. Sykes, and nothing was going right. She'd just participated in making a scene, and now she somehow had to save what was left of her dignity and this stupid party, and hold out until she could go home and have a good cry.

  Belinda folded her arms, wanting to escort both of them out, but she needed Sawyer to serve drinks. And if she wasn't telling him to get out when he started the fight, then she very well couldn't ask Bennett to go either.

  Sawyer crawled out of the pool, hacking and coughing. At first, Belinda thought he'd inhaled water, but he was right near her and she could hear his lungs wheezing like nobody's business.

  "Sawyer, are you okay?" She bent next to him as he crawled on all fours, his breaths getting shallower and louder with every inhalation. His chest heaved in and out, grasping for air.

  He wasn't getting oxygen. What was going on?

  "Epi..." He wheezed out.

  "Where?" Belinda yelled, her heart pounding as his face drained of color and he collapsed on his back.

  Mrs. Sykes materialized out of the house, moving at a speed Belinda would never have given her credit for. Her hands shook waving something around in the air. "I don't know what to do with it!"

  Belinda's heart raced faster. She didn't even know what it was.

  Bennett grabbed the plastic tube-like object out of her hands, looked it over and after removing what looked like a couple caps, jabbed it into Sawyer's thigh. Belinda sank next to him, her eyes filled with gratefulness as she looked across at Bennett. Sawyer began to breathe easier.

  "You always do show up at the worst times," she said, her eyes tearing up.

  They kept him as comfortable as possible until paramedics swooped in to the rescue. Belinda moved to one side of the pool to get out of the way. Her heart was almost beating regularly again.

  "What are you doing with that?" Mr. Sykes stared at his wife, pointing at the epinephrine auto-injector still in Bennett's hand. Belinda stared at him. When had he shown up? She caught sight of the papers in his hand. Maybe he was adding up how much this party was costing.

  Mrs. Sykes shrugged, slumped on a lounge chair. "He left it upstairs."

  Belinda sat down next to her. Clearly, Mrs. Sykes knew Sawyer better than it seemed. "We should let his family know. Can you do that?"

  Mrs. Sykes nodded. "His phone and everything is inside I think. In the spare."

  Belinda dared a glance at Mr. Sykes and his face was like an angry cartoon. Belinda patted her knee and went to grab Sawyer's phone.

  His wallet was next to the phone on the dresser in the spare on the top floor. Checking that no one was outside, she peeked through it. A few dollars, a license, credit cards. And his inn card. If he was in the hospital for a while.... She slipped Sawyer's inn key card from his wallet and into her pocket. Even if she couldn't use it, she could claim it fell out at the house.

  Then she quickly checked his phone, scanning through the texts between Sawyer and Brooke. They were all cryptic, neither of them spelling out any information, which was terribly curious. Why all the secrecy? And from the comfortable way they texted back and forth in this coded language, she knew they didn't just meet at the show.

  Belinda stopped on one text sent by Brooke. It was four numbers. A date? A time? But it didn't fit either format. She looked at the other texts surrounding it for context, but it was on its own. Belinda grabbed a sticky note from the nearby desk and wrote it down, stuffing that in with the key card.

  Satisfied, she grabbed his phone and exited the room, running straight into Bennett.

  He muscled her back in the bedroom, closing the door partway. His hair had mostly dried and now sat flat on his head. His skin was damp in patches, as well as his shirt, but his jeans still appeared soaked through. "Sawyer and Brooke," he whispered. "Did you know?"

  Belinda huffed. Why did he assume that she knew? How was she supposed to know that Bennett didn't know about them?

  "Well, did you?"

  Belinda stopped her internal stewing over his tone and answered. "Yes."

  His lips tightened before he spoke again. "Did you know when...?"

  "No!" Belinda didn't have to think about what he alluded to. He meant when Sawyer kissed her. Only he saw it as Belinda kissing Sawyer. Two very different perspectives. Which made his question even that more insulting. What kind of girl did he think she was?

  "Okay. Sorry." His eyes shifted away. At least he sounded like he meant it.

  Belinda folded her arms. She wanted to talk about anything but that, especially since he was still being so dense about it. "What happened?"

  Bennett glanced around. "Mrs. Sykes dropped that Sawyer is allergic to shellfish, but that's all I know right now."

  That answered one question. One question out of about a million she had. "How did you know what to do, anyway?"

  Bennett shrugged. "I read the instructions on the outside." Then he noticed the wallet. "Anything good in there?" Belinda shook her head. Bennett's eyes scanned hers, but she couldn't see what conclusion he came to. "I'll get in touch with Jonas after this. You going home?"

  Technically, he asked a question, but his tone said it was a statement. "You are going home." Apparently from his eye scan, he suspected she was going to do something stupid. Well, as if she was about to take orders from him after he just snogged her assistant right in front of her. "I'll go home when I please," she said.

  Bennett pushed her up against the dresser. She wanted to look defiant, but it was tough with his chest muscles, outlined by the fit of his shirt, looming under her eyes. His lips were now dangerously close.

  Belinda debated furiously whether she should let him kiss her or adamantly refuse. A harsh whisper from the hallway settled it. "Belinda," Victoria said. "Where are you?"

  Bennett backed away, and she scurried to answer her friend. Victoria looked genuinely relieved, then surprised when Bennett popped up behind Belinda. "Sorry, but you're starting to be missed." She said it like she knew Belinda was up to something. And, of course, she was right. But Victoria's expression now said that Belinda was up to something that did not include investigating.

  And Belinda's return expression said that Victoria may have just interrupted that something that did not include investigating.

  Victoria smiled apologetically and backed off back down the nearby stairs. But the moment was shot anyway, which wasn't her fault. And lip locking wouldn't solve the issues between them.

  When Belinda turned around, Bennett's eyes were fixed on her solidly. "Go home." He practically locked foreheads with her. "I'm not asking."

  She held her breath as he lingered there, boring into her eyes. Physical contact might not solve anything, but she had to admit, it sure would be nice.

  Chapter 16

  Belinda followed Bennett back to the pool, w
here Mrs. Sykes still slumped in a lounge chair fanning herself. Mr. Sykes had skedaddled, but most of the guests still lingered around as if unsure if someone being carried away on a stretcher meant the party was over.

  She straightened her shoulders and tried to walk like she wasn't completely stressed out or about to start fanning herself like Mrs. Sykes, who only needed some smelling salts to complete the picture. Belinda dialed Brooke, who didn't answer, and left a message about Sawyer. She figured Brooke would want to know.

  Bennett walked toward the bar like he had a mission. If there was anything even remotely drinkable back there, Belinda had a mission too. Kori looked their way curiously, but stayed with the cluster of people she was with. Caleb seemed long gone. Bennett checked out the bar area, his face all knitted up.

  "I think you need to do your hosting thing," he said, "and tell everybody to get out of here."

  Belinda happily agreed, went around the bar to get everyone's attention and managed to herd everyone out with Victoria's help, offering restaurant recommendations in the process. She thanked the last person for coming, forcing out an "If you need anything, please let me know," and closed the front door behind them. Victoria helped Mrs. Sykes upstairs, who took some sort of prescription medication and went to bed.

  Bennett was still outside by the bar and waved to get her attention.

  "Go grab some plastic bags," he commanded when she got closer. "We need to try and save everything Sawyer put in his mouth."

  "What about the police?"

  "I left Jonas a message, but we can't risk losing anything." Bennett pulled out the trash can from under the bar. "You wanna do some detective work?" He asked the question like, 'If you want to do some detective work, then you're staying here where I can monitor your activity.' "Go get the plastic bags."

  Unsure that this was really what she wanted to do, Belinda found some plastic bags after going through most of the kitchen. She guessed Aidan must've retreated shortly after she saw him, because he was nowhere to be found.

  Victoria padded down the stairs as Belinda stacked the cardboard boxes in her arms. "How's Mrs. Sykes?" Belinda said.