Page 23

When he woke again hours later, the bus had stopped moving and Kat was gone.

Beckett tugged on a t-shirt and his glasses and emerged from the bedroom, disoriented. The curtains were still drawn on all the bunks except Gideon’s and the sound of Zach’s soft snoring filtered through the air. Gideon sat at the banquette, constructing an elaborate house of cards on the small built-in table. Beckett took a seat on the nearby couch and watched as Gideon added another level to his card palace.

“Where’s Kat?” Beckett asked.

“Checking in at the hotel,” Gideon said, lining up another pair of cards.

“When are we meeting that guitar maker?”

“Noon, sir.”

Beckett bristled at the formality, roughing his hand through the hair at the back of his neck. “Something bothering you, Gid?”

“No, sir.”

Beckett snorted. “Sir. You’re a shit liar.”

The security guard set the pair of cards in his hands down flat on the table and shot a stony glare at Beckett. “In Vegas, when Jackson was in trouble, you didn’t get me. You got Nico.”

Beckett grimaced. “That was about not causing a scene.”

Gideon’s frown deepened. “You thought I’d cause a scene?”

“Showing up to a party like that with a bodyguard makes heads turn.”

“Nico makes heads turn.”

“Not the same way.”

Gideon considered this, tapping the edge of a card against the table. “I can’t do my job if you don’t trust me.”

It was so like the things Kat had said to him, it knocked him off balance. “I trust you.”

“You didn’t trust me with Jackson. You didn’t trust me enough to tell me about you and Kat.”

“That’s— It’s not—” Beckett exhaled harshly through his nose and scraped his hand over his jaw. “I trust you.”

Gideon nodded, but his furrowed brow spoke to his lingering skepticism. “I hope so. You’re not the only one who cares about them. Sir.”

“Get out of here with your ‘sirs.’” He swung his bad leg up on the couch beside him, wincing as he lifted his knee. Maybe spooning all night hadn’t been the best idea. Not that he had any regrets.

Gideon reached across the narrow aisle and pulled an ice pack out of the freezer, tossing it to Beckett just as the door to the bus opened.

“I know you said you didn’t want anything, but I got you a coffee anyway.” Kat appeared at the top of the steps, a cardboard tray in hand. She faltered, her cheeks immediately turning pink. “Oh, you’re up.” She blinked a few times, as though clearing away the surprise, then pasted on one of her bright PR-friendly smiles. “Great. I got you your usual.”

“You didn’t have to get me anything,” Beckett said, accepting the vanilla sweet cream cold brew she held out to him.

Her eyes darted to the ice pack balanced on his knee, then away again. She set a cardboard to-go cup in front of Gideon. “Cream, no sugar. Just the way you like.” The security guard accepted the cup with a grateful nod.

“Where’s my coffee?” Zach asked, pulling back the curtain on his bunk and rolling out into the aisle, his hair sticking up in every direction.

Kat planted a hand on her hip and arched an eyebrow at him as she stabbed a straw into her Dr. Pepper. Beckett hid his grin behind his coffee. This woman and her Dr. Pepper fixation.

“I don’t know,” Kat said in that tone of voice that meant Zach was about to regret asking the question. “Maybe it’s with the giant bottle of lube you left in my room.”

Zach grinned. “That was all Nico’s idea.”

“Traitor,” Nico grumbled as he, too, exited his bunk.