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His eyes sliced from Mel back to Sapphire as the woman pulled away.
“Oh… Thanks. It’s been… difficult.” A warning, even by text, would’ve been nice so he wouldn’t have walked into an unknown situation.
Mel gave him a thumbs up and a grimace.
“I can only imagine. Well, hopefully she’s not in too much pain.”
For fuck’s sake. “Fortunately, she’s not.”
“Oh, that’s a relief.”
As soon as Sapphire went back through the metal detector, Mel swapped places with her. She grabbed him by the elbow and turned him toward the door. “Phire, can you keep an eye on things for a few minutes? I need to grab some fresh air.”
“Of course. Take your time.” She gave them an exaggerated wink.
He raised his eyebrows at Mel and only received a slight shake of her head in response before she shoved him out the door. She kept them moving until they were far away from the entrance.
When she finally stopped, they stood at the corner of the building in the shadows where no one could overhear them.
“Hello, girlfriend,” he greeted, then leaned in and pressed his lips to her cheek. “So, what was that about?”
“Let me preface this by stating that I hate lying to my friend and best employee.” She blew out a breath. “To set up the whole dating scenario, I told her we hooked up last night and we’re going to see where things go between us. I also instructed her to not confiscate your phone when you come in. However, when she balked at that, I had to quickly come up with an excuse. Other than the real reason, of course. I explained your mother’s very ill and her nurse needs to be able to contact you at a moment’s notice.”
He narrowed his eyes on her. “How sick?”
“Like hospice-type sick.”
Damn. “While that’s a good excuse, my mother would most likely disagree. Did you tell her with what? I don’t want to be caught off guard if she asks me any questions.”
“No.”
It kind of creeped him out to say this but… “Even though she’s never smoked a day in her life and is the healthiest woman I know her age, let’s just say she has end-stage lung cancer because she was a chain-smoker.”
Mel pressed a hand to her forehead. “I feel like I need to apologize to your mother, even though I’ve never met her.”
“If, for some reason, you ever do meet her, let’s not tell her we were planning her demise.”
Mel let out an awkward laugh.
“And while I’m sure you don’t like lying to your friend, it’s best to keep her in the dark about what’s going on with the investigation. If she sees any suspicious activity with the Demons, will she come to you about it?”
“Of course. And if she does, I’ll pass that on to you.”
He tilted his head and studied the woman with her face half hidden in shadows. “Just out of curiosity, is Sapphire her real name?”
This time her laugh was more genuine. “No, that’s her stage name. She still uses it to keep her anonymity. Just like everyone knows me as MJ. None of us use our real names while here.”
“That’s smart. But if anyone wanted to find out who you really are or where you live, all they would have to do is find a way to run your Chevy’s registration.” Just like he did with the Astro Van.
Or, worse, follow her home.
“I realize if they’re that determined, nothing will stop them.”
Too fucking true. Whackos always found a way. “Speaking of safety, I tried to get in the back door but it was locked.”
“It’s kept locked. I’ll give you the code. But since Taint’s here tonight, maybe it’s better that you didn’t come in that way. He doesn’t know about you yet.”
The keypad was a much better idea than handing out keys as long as the code was changed on a regular basis. “How often is the code changed?”
Mel answered, “Monthly, unless there’s a reason to do it sooner.”
“What kind of reason?”
“Disgruntled employee. A violent boyfriend. Typical threats.”
“Is anyone other than employees given the code?” he asked next.
“The cleaning people, that’s it. The employees aren’t supposed to give the codes to anyone, but you know how that goes.”
“And you’re giving it to me.”
“Right. That might not go over well.”
“If anyone complains, let me know and I’ll just use the front entrance. The other issue besides me not wanting to give up my phone is that I’m carrying.”
“Carrying what?”
The corners of his lips twitched. “I’m wearing an ankle holster.”
Her gaze automatically dropped to his feet. “Oh.”
“That’s why I didn’t step through the metal detector right away.”
“I don’t think I can come up with a good excuse for you to carry your weapon into the club.”
“To be expected. I’ll use the employee entrance when I can and lock the gun in the car when I can’t.”
