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“Ruined.”
With that, I get out of the truck. He joins me after a moment, still trying to figure out if I’m fucking with him or not. It feels good that I can take him off his guard. The invulnerable titan, vulnerable to little old Twinkletoes. Can’t believe I let him get away with calling me that, but I kind of like it.
Cole catches up to me at the door, putting his hand on it and holding it closed. I spin around and give him a mischievous grin. He laughs, and moves in for a kiss.
His phone rings. He stops, and then sighs.
“Damn it, what now?”
He continues to gripe and moan as he digs his phone out of his pocket. When he sees the screen, his face contorts in confusion.
“Why is Jax calling?”
“You’d better answer it.”
For just a second, I get a flash of fear that somehow, Julian isn’t really dead. That he rolled off of the ambulance taking him to the morgue like a horror movie villain and is on the lam again.
I know that’s impossible, but the fear is still there. Cole sees my reaction and stops before taking the call.
“It’s all right. He’s dead, and he can’t hurt you anymore. No one could have survived a headshot at that range, and the coroner pronounced him dead at the scene.”
“I know, it’s just hard to believe I don’t have to worry about him any more.”
“Believe it, Emory. It’s true. You’re safe.”
We’ve talked so long, the phone stopped ringing. It starts up a second later.
“Damn, he’s persistent.”
Cole takes the call, and Jax sounds excited when he speaks.
“About time you picked up. Listen, you won’t believe what they found on Whippleton’s computer.”
“Do I even want to know? And there’s a lady present, just FYI.”
“It’s not anything gross. Well, it is and it isn’t.”
Cole looks at me, and I can see his urgent need burning in his eyes.
“Jax, can we speed this up? It’s been a long day for some of us.”
“Sorry. I’ll cut to the chase. The cops showed up with an arrest and search warrant for Whippleton’s place. Whippleton lawyered up and is denying everything. But they discovered he was planning to capitalize on Emory’s abduction to sell tickets to the Boys R Us tour.”
I shake my head in disgust. “That’s messed up, but I don’t see how it’s evidence of him being in cahoots with Julian.”
“I’m sure they’ll be able to track the financial transactions, but you’re not getting the picture. There were promotional materials, including graphic mockups about the abductionbeforeit happened.Pretty horrid stuff.”
“That’s proof he’s an asshole, but not a criminal.”
“Yeah, but Cole, they had a prior relationship. Whippleton was a frequent attendee of Lovejoy’s seminars. He had a signed copy of Lovejoy’s book. That’s probably why Lovejoy reached out to him in the first place. Then Whippleton tried to twist things to his own advantage. This guy wanted to use the whole media circus surrounding Julian and Emory to bolster ticket sales and internet clicks. There’s also evidence he was planning to kill the band.”
“What?” Emory gasps.
“Whippleton scheduled the last stop of their world tour for Colombia. Imagine the downloads and merch sales if the band never made it back to America.”
“Now that’s dark,” I say. “Thanks for the update, Jax. I hope they nail Whippleton’s little ass to the wall. But it really is late…”
“I understand. Enjoy your days off.”
