“I’m not stupid,” he said, untying it and carrying it back inside with him while he retrieved his vape, now that the cat was out of the bag. “I waited until I heard someone down there, then asked if I could pop through their hotel room to get to the hallway.”
“And they just said yes?”
“Well, yeah. For two hundred dollars.”
“You paid two hundred dollars to sneak into a hotel bar to watch hockey?” I said. “Make that make sense.”
“It doesn’t have to make sense to you,” he replied as he took a drag. “To me it makes all the sense in the world. Doubt you’d have walked up to me at the bar if I’d had my shadow with me.”
Okay, he had me there. Not that interacting with the band was prohibited, far from it; Sully’s policy was that it was easier to guard people when they knew and trusted you. The one rule he did stress was the no dating policy between guards and their principals, but I wasn’t even assigned to Rebel’s band, let alone him personally, so this and anything else we got up to wasn't in violation of my contract.
“You’re right, I wouldn’t have,” I admitted. “But only because you haven’t given me any indication that I’d be welcome to drop in on you that way.”
“Would you prefer an engraved invitation, or will verbal work?”
“Verbal is fine,” I said. “What you pulled with that sheet isn’t. If it had come unknotted…”
“I could have fallen and broken my neck,” he grumbled, cutting me off. “I know, okay? I don’t need a lecture.”
“Or worse. Let’s not forget that part.”
“No, we mustn’t leave out the dreaded death omens; we have to make sure they don’t feel neglected as we run down the list of worst-case scenarios. That’s a solid knot; I made sure it would hold me before I lowered myself over the edge. Give me a little credit, will you? I don’t have a death wish. Those folks in the room below us were right there to help me onto the balcony.”
“Yes, because we wouldn’t want to drop two hundred dollars onto the parking lot,” I grumbled, completely thrown by his nonchalance.
“I was never in any danger,” he huffed.
“Bullshit. You were in danger the moment the idea popped into your head,” I hissed, forced to keep my tone down so we wouldn’t disturb the other guests. “Don’t you have a shred of self-preservation?”
“Well, yeah. I’m not going to stand in the way of a moving vehicle or stick around after someone pulls a knife out in a store,but this wasn’t that, and you can personally attest to the fact that all my pieces are in the right places.”
How the hell was I supposed to get through to him when he made cracks like that? Groaning, I slapped a hand over my eyes and stood there sifting through words, searching for ones that might make a lasting impression.
“If you want me to keep playing with those pieces,” I said when nothing else came to mind, “you’ll keep them that way.”
Chapter 3
(Kit)
“Your phone’s ringing.”
I rolled my eyes at my best friend’s blatantly obvious statement, considering the heavy metal drumbeat my phone was currently broadcasting across the room.
“No bull, I’ve kind of got my hands full here.”
“Yeah, you might want to put that down.”
Grumbling, I stood there with a platter full of sizzling wings in my hands and absolutely no place to put them, since Brady had yet to dig out the cooling rack I’d asked him to find, like, ten minutes ago.
“Dude, either find the cooling rack or find some damned potholders so you can take these.”
“You’re wearing the only ones that aren’t in the wash,” he shot back as he knelt to rummage around in one of the lower cupboards. “Gotcha.”
He emerged waving it triumphantly, even while the phone kept on blaring out the drumbeat I’d set for Ozias Watson, drummer of the metal band Blissfully Immune, who also happened to be my mentor and the man who’d given me the opportunity to play in his stead for several shows, including a third of their setat Rocktoberfest. The longer we played this ridiculous game of where to put the fucking wings, the more my anxiety revved up over not being able to answer him.
“Great, wonderful, now put it on the table and celebrate about it later,” I snapped.
"Oops, yeah, sorry about that.”