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“No one turned on your bat signal,” she sasses in my direction, getting both me as well J.T. chuckling. “How do I get a ride back to the city?” Her pause is short, and I’m tempted to steal a glimpse of why. “Like the city, city. Like the part where I was kidnapped from and work, not the outskirts that I’m pretty sure are only considered Highland because Billionaire Bruce worked up some sort of deal with the city for legality reasons.”
She’s not entirely wrong.
I didn’t have those lines redrawn.
My grandfather did.
Rewriting rules and laws are just the way of the Wilcoxes, I suppose.
“Is there a department I call? Keycard I swipe for a rideshare? Do I have to fill out a permission slip?”
“Why do you need to leave?” Uneasiness pierces my voice more than I care to admit. “Why do you need to go anywhere?”
“Because in order for some of us to get paid, we have to physically show up to our jobs.”
This jab gets J.T. chuckling yet me glaring.
“I need to get to the city to get my car,” she casually announces. “When the Enterprise beamed me up a couple days ago, I wasn’t allowed to follow. Per Captain’s orders, I had to be transported.”
For safety reasons.
I know my vehicles don’t have unapproved tracking or listening devices. The same can’t be said for non-swept transport.
“Can you take me?” Bryn innocently inquires.
“I’ve gotta coordinate some last-minute things for an upcoming in person promotional event – that I practically had to beg to get approved – but Wes is headed that direction,” the man that seems to be aiming to become my ex best friend announces. “You should ride with him.”
“With him or on him?” Bryn unexpectedly flirts, summoning bright crimson shades to my face. Devious giggles precede another taunting question. “How red is his face right now?”
J.T. beams widely against my liking. “Pretty fucking red.”
“I can escort you back to your car,” I huff, although the unhappiness is less about doing that and more about my embarrassment they find amusing. “We leave in fifteen.”
“Perfect!” The minor hand clap furrows my brow. “That’s just enough time to figure out where the fuck I left my phone.”
“How do you not know where you left it?” J.T. criticizes with a disapproving glare. “We just went over the importance of keeping it close by last night.”
“We also went over the importance of mesopredators in a corporate environment, but the fifty-bucks in my back jean pocket says you can’t remember shit about that.”
Culpability briefly twitches itself on his face, wordlessly proving her point.
I wonder if she likes to gamble the way her father did.
I wonder if that’s the real reason money is in short supply.
If that’s why her mother doesn’t or won’t loan her any.
She doesn’t wanna enable her daughter like she did her husband.
Bruno always owed a debt to someone.
Sometimes I like to pretend that’s what got him killed instead of me.
“See you downstairs in twenty,” Bryn warmly states prior to her exiting.
As soon as I’m certain she’s gone, I meet J.T.’s stare and question, “Didn’t I say fifteen?”
“Yeah,” he lightly chuckles, “I’d definitely keep all my jewels locked up, Bruce.”
