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“I—I don’t know, ma’am.” The kid sought out Trick for help, but before he could intervene, more unexpected company appeared outside of Rylee’s office.
“Trickster!”
No, no. No, no, no.
Trick stepped into the corridor as his friends, Todd, James and Rusty, were barreling toward them. Todd grabbed Trick’s shoulders and shook. “You owe us a beer!”
“How did they get in here?” Rylee directed that question to Trick.
“I don’t know.”
“You know.” James nodded. Then to Rylee said, “He knows.”
“I don’t know.” Trick shrugged off Todd’s hold. “What the hell, you guys?”
“You said we were having beer. We’re here for beer.”
“It’s barely noon,” Trick said, which sent the three of them into fits of laughter.
“And to discuss our plans for Saturday,” James said, not bothering to hide his intentions. Trick was supposed to meet with them today to explain that no one would be crashing the Noble-Ramos wedding. He hadn’t expected them to ambush him at the TCC.
“We understand if you’ve been busy.” Todd scanned Rylee top to bottom. “But you can’t avoid us forever. We are here. We are ready to party.”
“Get yourboysout of here before I call security. On all of you.” Rylee’s tone was borderline lethal. She was already convinced that Trick had lied to her about paying off the brides and grooms of the weddings he crashed, and now his so-called friends were making it seem like he’d planned to include them in just that.
Rylee locked her office and clipped away from him, young Rodney at her heels.
Out of options, Trick pointed his friends to the nearest exit so he could handle at least one of his problems. “Let’s go.”
Twenty
After Trick and his guests had rolled out of the TCC in a plume of cologne, Rylee had followed Rodney back to his manager to discuss the flatware issue at length. The catering company had scoured their own inventory and had come up short, and the vendor they typically used for the gold cutlery hadn’t been able to locate any backup sets as of yet.
Rylee was trying not to panic. A voice in her head reminded her that mismatched flatware wasn’t the end of the world. Annoyingly enough, that voice sounded a lot like Trick.
He’d claimed to leave money for the couple anonymously. It irked her that she’d instantly given him the benefit of the doubt. She was trying to be mad at him, dammit. After the way he’d left last night, she should be upset. Right?
Cellphone in hand, she was tempted to contact a friend and ask her opinion. Dee came to mind. Ariana came to mind. Even Keely. New friends, but they would be honest with her. But she didn’t want to burden them with her problems.
Instead she tapped in the phone number she’d secured earlier for the vendor. When a woman answered, Rylee introduced herself. She calmly explained the flatware issue, ending with a request. “If you could give me any information you have about the brand, style, and where and when you found it, I’d appreciate it.”
Her friendliness had gone a long way. Rylee jotted it down the details the vendor shared onto a pad of paper on her desk. She finished the call, opened up her laptop and set her fingers to the keys. She wanted this handled by the time she met with Ariana and Xavier for their interview with Trick later. She would find the missing gold cutlery for the couple’s wedding reception before they knew it’d been an issue.
The hours passed in a blink and Rylee, after several frustrating phone calls and redirects, hadn’t come up with a solution. She’d even reached out to Colin Reynolds, who was using his fame and reach to contact his friends in the restaurant world. He’d struck out as well.
Shuffling along the hallway, Rylee paused to adjust her right shoe. Her pinky toe throbbed painfully, but she did her best to ignore it. A quick glance around the lounge showed no sign of Ari and Ex, or Trick.
A text from Ari pinged Rylee’s phone. It read:We’re at the Silver Saddle. Where are you?
Rylee responded that she was waiting for Trick in the TCC lounge, where she thought they were supposed to meet. She apologized and promised to be along shortly. Ari’s “No problem!” seemed sincere, but Rylee was angry with herself for dropping the ball. It was ultimately her responsibility to double and triple-check the details to avoid miscommunication of any kind.
Halfway through typing a text to Trick, she heard his voice. He was twenty minutes late. She assumed he’d been partying with his friends this whole time.
“What’d I tell you about those shoes, Peaches?” He stuffed his hands into his pockets, and watched her through clear, hazel eyes, which made her question her assumption.
“Ari and Ex are at the Silver Saddle waiting on us. I must have had the location wrong.”
“I saw them as I was leaving the Bellamy.”
