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“We won’t be here.” Puck grinned. “We’re going to the game.”
Doom frowned. “What game?”
“The Super Bowl.” Buck’s pearly whites showed through his bushy beard.
“Since when?” Doom asked doubtfully.
“Last night.” Puck provided the information with a side look at his brother.
Doom smelled shit, and it wasn’t on his shoes. “How you score tickets?”
“Blue offered us the tickets.”
Doom’s eyes went to Arden, who was chatting with Kat.
“Blue, Arden’s brother?” Doom asked to make sure they were talking about the same person.
“Yep. Isn’t it great?” Puck beamed.
“Sure is.” Doom narrowed his eyes on the two brothers, whose expression remained unchanged under his scrutiny. “How Blue score tickets?”
“They were his father’s tickets. He’s too sick to go.”
“Lucky you.”
“We think so.” Puck’s grin grew wider.
Doom turned his head to stare at Wizard, who was listening. He noticed the same doubt in Wizard’s eyes as he was experiencing.
Doom pivoted back to the brothers. “Who was the third ticket for?”
The telltale sign was when they stared at each other, as if they were trying to come up with a believable lie.
Buck, who had always the better liar of the two, shrugged. “Didn’t ask.”
“Arden!” Doom called out. “Come here a second.”
Arden broke off her conservation with Kat to make her way down to where they were sitting. “Yes? You need something?”
“No, I’m good.” Doom pinned his steely gaze on hers. “Buck and Puck were just telling us they are going to the Super Bowl.”
“My brother gave them the tickets,” she hastily explained. “My dad is too sick to go.”
“That’s what they said. I’m curious… Your dad bought three tickets?”
“I don’t have any more, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“No, I was just wondering who the third ticket was for?”
“Me. My mom hates football.”
“Then why didn’t your dad just give Blue two tickets and give you the third one, as he intended to do?”
Doom could see the wheels turning behind her eyes.
“Oh… Because with Luc gone, I need to stay at home to be on hand in case of an emergency.”
“I hate for you to miss out,” Doom told her magnanimously. “You should go. I’ll foot the bill for a licensed nurse to stay with them.”
Arden visibly paled. “Thank you for the offer, but I would feel uncomfortable leaving my parents with someone I don’t know. Besides, I was only going to make my dad happy. I’m not really into football.”
Doom almost rolled his eyes. Arden had the loudest mouth in the club when a game was on. She was practically as bad as Buck at commentary about players’ mistakes.
Doom winkled his nose. “You smell that, Wizard?”
“I do.” The brother wriggled his nose too.
Confusion filled Arden’s face while Buck and Puck started shifting on their stools.
“Smell what?”
“Pure bullshit,” Doom ended her confusion quickly. “You gave them Super Bowl tickets for their votes, didn’t you?”
“Of course not.”
“You did.”
Arden shook her head. “Nope.”
“Liar.”
Her shoulders arched up stubbornly. “Prove it. Since you weren’t in the room with us, you can’t.”
“Or we could all go back to Buck’s room, and you could give a repeat performance.”
When she glared at him, Doom didn’t have to imagine the names she was calling him in her mind.
“I’m not in the mood.”
“Buck and Puck are pretty good at putting women in the mood.”
Steam was practically coming out of Arden’s ears. “There are some performances too magical to repeat, and you don’t want anything to spoil the memory.” Her voice turned insulting. “Then there are others you just plain try to forget.”
Doom had to take a drink at her disparaging tone.
“I’ll take a cold one,” Wizard told Arden.
After Arden handed him the beer, Wizard stopped her before she could move away. “I left some dishes in the office. Mind getting them for me?”
It was written all over her face that she wanted to tell him to go get them himself. Doom admired her restraint when she did actually leave to go get them.
Doom waited for her to reach the hallway before he slid off the stool.
“Thanks,” he muttered aside to Wizard.
“Have fun…” Wizard raised his hand to meet Doom’s fist halfway for a fist-bump, “getting the truth out of her.”
“Oh… I will. Count on it.”
CHAPTER 36
THE TRUTH
Arden glanced around Wizard’s office but didn’t see any dirty dishes.
“What the heck?” Spinning around in irritation, she was faced with Doom standing in front of the closed office door. She hadn’t heard him enter, much less the door being closed.
“Someone else must have already taken the dishes.” Breaking eye contact to double-check in case she had missed any, Arden was determined to remain aloof and pretend last night had never happened.
“There weren’t any.” Crossing his arms, Doom made it plain she wouldn’t be leaving the room until he allowed her out.
Pretending an indifference she didn’t feel, she mimicked him by crossing her arms over her chest. “Say what you want to say; I have things to do.”
