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I let out a grown and snatch up the water, chugging it down like I’m at a frat party and in some kind of drinking contest. Before Amelia’s even had time to move away down the bar to other customers I’m slamming the empty glass on the wood, letting her know I’m ready for another drink.
I see her eyes skip to something behind me but before I can turn and check I hear her say, “You want to get your friend under control here, Jake?”
I furrow my brow at her. “I’m not out of control.”
“Well, you’re something, Jake.” With that last imploring statement, she takes off to the other end of the bar where more sober patrons are seeking her attention.
Jake’s hulking mass settles on the bar stool next to me and I hear Hollie mutter, “Thank fuck,” under her breath. I shoot her a scathing look, but her face is all innocence. Instead of sayinganything back to her, I grab the drink out of her hand and down it in one gulp. “Hey!” she yells indignantly.
“Come on, you know I need it more than you do right now. You with your perfect boyfriend who gives me presents worth tens of thousands of dollars.”
Hollie just rolls her eyes at me and turns to Jake. “Can you watch her for a second while I use the restroom?” He nods and she takes off leaving Jake and I alone.
“So what are you doing here?” He asks.
“What does it look like I’m doing here? Letting loose. Having fun. Enjoying the single life. I think the better question is, what areyoudoing here?” I lean forward to poke his chest with my finger and almost fall forward out of my seat. He grabs me and rightens me on the stool.
“Can’t a guy come out and get a drink?”
“Yeah, but I thought you were on the straight and narrow. Doesn’t that mean no hanging out in bars by yourself looking for tonight’s hookup?”
“Who says I’m looking for a hookup?” I notice his eyes track Amelia as she works her way from one end of the bar to the other before she approaches us both. She places a beer in front of Jake without him having to ask and she slides another vodka soda over to me which I promptly pluck off the bar and begin drinking.
“What’s going on, Bianca? I’m not sure I’ve seen you so determined to get plastered so quickly before.”
“Nothing’s going on. I’ve just decided your whole idea of settling down is idiotic. You’ll realize it soon enough too. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“Why do you say that?”
“We’re just not built that way, you and me. We’re two sides of the same coin.”
“I don’t think that’s the way it needs to be, Bianca.” I see his eyes go back to our bartender and I want to slap some sense into him. He might think he has a chance with her, but she’d crush his heart soon enough. Believe me, I know.
“Bianca, I think we better go. You have to work in the morning and you know how Margot is. If you come in too hungover to work she’s going to be pissed.” Jenna gently pries the drink from my hand and settles it on the bar before pulling me out of my seat.
“I’ll have Archer come give us a ride home,” Hollie says as she returns from the bathroom. I’m not exactly thrilled with the three of them talking about me in front of my face but at least I don’t have to put the effort in to keep up conversation.
“It’s okay, I’ll take her home,” Jake offers. I just shrug my shoulder. I don’t give a fuck how I get home. In fact, I’d rather stay here. At least here there isn’t a certain somebody in the house next door that’s happy to be rid of me.
“Thanks Jake. If you take her home, I’ll make sure her tab gets settled.” He nods to Hollie then he and Jenna help me outside to his truck. Jesus, maybe I had more to drink than I thought because walking is suddenly a very difficult task. Both he and Jenna help me into the passenger side of the lifted truck, and I manage to crawl in without flashing anybody. I think. They close the door and I lean my cheek against the cool glass of the window, letting their hushed whispers from outside cover me and help me slowly drift to sleep.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Carson
“Let’s go over them again.” Rafe paces back and forth in front of my desk in the bowels of the substation.
“This is bullshit. It’s not getting us anywhere,” I bark at him. It’s been a week since I received the photos and we’re not any closer to finding out who’s been threatening my family. I feel like I’m about to snap.
“We’ll keep going over them until something makes sense.” I didn’t mean to snap at Rafe. He’s been right here with me every day trying to figure out what’s going on. It feels like he’s almost as invested in it as I am. We’ve gone back six months and have come up with a few people that could motivate some kind of vengeance plot against me, but for one reason or another, none of them really seem to fit. “We’ve got Oscar Mendoza,the eighteen-year-old kid you witnessed commit a murder that’s been put away for twenty to life.”
“It’s not Oscar. Well, it’s not his family at least. He’s got a grandmother but she’s on the bad side of seventy, the only real family he has is the Rolling Sixties and this kind of thing isn’t their style. If they wanted to get back at me for putting one of their members away they’d just come after me, maybe do a drive by. There wouldn’t just be one guy and he definitely wouldn’t be hiding for my cameras. They’d want me to know who they were. These kinds of cat and mouse games just aren’t their style. Plus, they’re too comfortable operating in Los Angeles, they wouldn’t travel all the way up here for a vendetta relating to one of their footmen. Mendoza had barely even joined up, he certainly wasn’t high up enough for the big dogs to care about what happened to him.”
“Okay, so it probably doesn’t have anything to do with Mendoza. Who’s next?”
I let out a sigh and sift through the papers on my desk. “Janet Howard.”
“That was your CI, right?”
