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Braden was hanging out on the couch in the front parlor when I got home. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” he said after taking one look at my face. He held up his phone. “Does it have to do with why Director Atkins just canceled rehearsal?”
“Ryan found another trap from the saboteur.”
Braden leaped off the couch. He was wearing grey sweatpants showing off a little bit of his bulge, and a black Pumpnation 2018 concert t-shirt with short sleeves showing off his arms. “What was it?”
“Sandbags tied up in the rafters. They were attached to some sort of electronic release system that could be remotely activated.” I swallowed the bile at the back of my throat. “They were positioned to hit Tatiana at the end of More Than Money.”
“Oh my God.”
“We called Atkins to show him. He said I should leave before the detective got there, because otherwise I would be a suspect.”
Dorian’s voice sounded on the stairs behind me. “You kind of already are the prime suspect.”
I smiled awkwardly at him. “You guys know I’m innocent.”
Dorian shrugged. Yeah, there was definitely an uncomfortable air between us after the kiss. “I know you’re innocent, but will a jury?”
“Please don’t mention anything like that. It’s bad enough worrying that a spotlight might fall on my head at any moment!”
Dorian held up his hands in apology. “You know, this would be exciting if it wasn’t all so, you know, deadly.”
“Danger is always more interesting when it’s happening to someone else,” Braden agreed.
Dorian grimaced, lingered for a moment, and then went back upstairs. When I turned around, Braden was looking at me funny.
“Everything okay between you two?” he asked quietly.
“Yeah, why?”
He narrowed his gorgeous eyes at me. “Not all leads are as clueless as Tatiana.”
I chuckled nervously. “I’m just shaken up. Between the sandbag trap, and the street performers who tried to kick our ass… Did Dorian tell you about that?”
Braden slumped back into the leather couch. “He did. My favorite part was when you tried to fork them to death.”
I flexed an arm. “Don’t mess with a poor girl from Queens. She’ll fork you up.”
“A valuable life lesson. I’m sorry you’re shaken up. I would be too if I were you.”
“You should be regardless,” I replied. “A lot of your scenes are with Tatiana. If a saboteur is trying to hurt her, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll be collateral damage.”
“Nah, nothing is going to happen to me.”
“How can you be so sure?”
He flashed a white smile at me. “Because I’ve chosen to be in denial about all of it. My life isn’t in danger and I have nothing to worry about. I’m good at compartmentalizing.”
“Ignorance truly is bliss.”
I went upstairs. While rounding the stairs from the third to the fourth floor, I passed Dorian’s open room. “Hey, hold up a sec,” he called out.
I paused, already cringing about what the conversation might be like.
Dorian jogged over to the door and put a hand on the frame. His hair was down rather than in a man-bun, like a silky curtain around his head and shoulders. “I wanted to make sure things aren’t weird between us.”
“Of course not,” I lied. “Nothing weird at all.”
The relief on his face was palpable. “I’m really glad to hear that. The last thing I would want to do is fuck things up.”
