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“We were all shitting our suits, and Lake, here, looked like he was about to put a leash on the damn thing and take it home.”
“It wasn’t that big of a shark,” Noah said to me, as if sensing I wasn’t impressed.
Deacon laughed. “Liar. This man was a legend.”
Noah winced again at thewas. Deacon didn’t notice but I did, and I felt the joy of the morning dim a little.
“Goddamn, Yuri is going to blow a gasket to know you’re here!” Deacon cried. “Are you going to stop byPXHQ? You have to! The whole gang will flip to see you walk through the door!”
“Aren’t they out on assignment?” Noah asked. “Our gang, I mean? Billy and Logan and all those guys?”
“Billy’s in Iceland, Logan’s in…New Zealand, I think? And Polly’s gearing up for the X Games in August. They’re the last to trickle in to the city.”
“Everyone’s coming here?”
“Dude! The Global Ball is in two weeks, and this year it’s going to behere. The Grand Empire Ballroom in the grand fucking Empire State Building. Hell, I almost guessed you were here for the party.”
“I don’t work atPlanet Xanymore,” Noah said, and I heard the longing in his voice, faint but there.
“Hey, you took a nasty fall, bro,” Deacon said, instantly solemn. “The fact that you’re still alive is a goddamn miracle, and I know it wasn’t easy on you, the whole recovery. I also know you didn’t mean any of that shit you said to me back at the hospital. You had some issues to work out and I respect that.”
Deacon looked at me and winked, all solemnity flying out the window. “But you got this luscious little gal taking care of you, and you’re better, right? You gotta come! It is going to be one crazy rager. And who knows what might happen on the job front? I’m telling you, Yuri will cry to see you. He can’t stop talking about how great your articles were, and he won’t stop bitching at the rest of us to step up our game.”
“It’d be good to talk to Yuri again,” Noah said.
I said nothing but sipped my water, my stomach leaden with dread. I couldn’t say why exactly, but I didn’t want Noah having anything more to do withPlanet X.
It’s not the magazine; it’s only because Deacon’s a scumbag, I told myself, but it didn’t do a thing to dispel my unease. I looked uncertainly to Noah, wishing I could get a look from him—some hint about how he was absorbing all of this, but his eyes were hidden behind the sunglasses.
“Yuri wants to see you,” Deacon was saying, ticking off names on his thick fingers. “Jonesy says you’re the only reason he survived Cabo that one year…remember? He drank himself stupid on the roof of the hacienda? Would’ve croaked if you hadn’t talked him down.”
Deacon turned to me. “We always gave Noah shit because he never drank, but that night, Jonesy was lucky one of us was sober enough to help the poor bastard out. None of the rest of us knew what to say.”
“You mean you talked him down? From…jumping?” I asked Noah, but Deacon answered.
“Oh, who the fuck knows? Jonesy’s always so dramatic, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was just doing it for the attention.”
Now I wished Noah could readmyeyes, but Deacon was still going.
“Who else? A shit-ton of the usual hotties… Ooh la la! Valentina will be there. I’m sure she can’twaitto see you again, good buddy. But hold up, are you off the market?” He looked between Noah and me and wagged his eyebrows.
Noah started to reply when Deacon jokingly elbowed him. “That just means more for me. Hell, poor Lake! Can’t even look-but-don’t touch!”
He waved his hand in front of Noah’s eyes again and my knee involuntarily bumped the table.
“Stop doing that,” I snapped.
Noah jerked his head. “Doing what?” The scowl that had been absent from his lips was back and I sort of hated Deacon for that.
“Ooh, she’s a spitfire!” Deacon laughed. “I like that. Hey, I’m just playing. Noah knows how I roll. You got a feisty one on your hands, my man.” He glanced at the window where the two friends he’d ditched were impatiently waiting. “Shit, I gotta bail.” He fished a card out of his wallet and gave it to me. “Charlotte, this is HQ’s main phone. If you want to go to the ball—you and your plus-one,” he added with a wink, “just call and tell them, and it’s a done deal. Okay?”
I knew Deacon was teasing, but I didn’t feel up to humoring him. “That’s up to Noah.”
Deacon swiveled. “What’ll it be, Lake?”
“I’ll think about it,” Noah said, and to my dismay, I could tell he meant it.
“Fuckin’-A,” Deacon said, and then he studied Noah for a moment again, shaking his head. “After those photos I saw of you in the hospital, bro? With your back all torn up and shit? You’re one tough bastard, but don’t go disappearing on me again, okay? I miss you, man.”
