Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 77611 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77611 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
But I’m sure they’re right that the security analysis business he runs isn’t a front for covert activities and surveillance. At all. And I’m absolutely positive Mr. Ken “Batman” Tanaka isn’t monitoring our every move with his own personal satellites.
“Let’s stop talking about him before he gets angry,” I whisper.
She rolls her eyes. “Could you not?”
I stifle a laugh. “I’d rather discuss your moves on the dance floor anyway. I thought you hated crowds and believed line dancing was for sheeple. Where did our nightshift-loving loner go?”
“It’s a job requirement,” she says with a grimace. “I invited you because you love Finn’s and I wanted to talk to you about this break you’re taking.”
It’s official. We’re both worried about each other. She’s worried about my sabbatical and I’m worried about her new job.
Can you call macking on a hot redhead in the corner a job?
I sigh in resignation. C'est la vie, Ponytail Guy. “We might have to save the talking for another time. This party looked fun, but Connor’s already too tipsy to meet the moment, the big guy here is nearing his limit of peopling for the year, and you’ve got a body to guard. We should go and leave you to it.”
That’s right. My pocket-sized friend is only pretending to date Kate Finn for a job she won’t go into details about. It’s frustrating, but since I doubt Mr. Tanaka would put her in danger—and she has a black belt in Taekwondo if he did—I’m sure she’ll be fine.
Maybe he thought Bex needed to get out as much as I did. For the last two weeks, she’s been at Kate’s side for six public events and one live-streamed shopping excursion. Recalling all the times I’ve tried and failed to take her clothes shopping, I’m still a little upset that I wasn’t invited to that.
“Oh, you can’t leave yet!” She looks crestfallen. “We had this plan and… Don’t move. I’ll be right back.”
“Any hints about the plan she’s talking about, Valentine? Is it sinister? Machiavellian?”
“Memorable. She wanted to make tonight memorable for you,” he says to his water glass.
“But you didn’t agree, so you’re trying to depress me by being extra, broody and interrogatory instead?” I tease, nudging his arm with mine.
“I’m sorry, Win.” He runs a large hand over his face and sits up a little straighter. “I really did want to hang with you, but I think this whole situation is fucking me up. Yours and… Well, you know.”
I am aware. “You should have told her sooner. And when I say sooner, I’m talking decades ago, when puberty hit and you imprinted on her like an overgrown baby duck.”
He doesn’t laugh. “She wasn’t ready then. And now she’s so obsessed with paying imagined debts and proving herself that she doesn’t think before she volunteers for things like this.”
“You mean things like making out in public with the infamous and beautiful Queen Calamity?”
“She’s not royalty,” Val grumbles. “She’s an online influencer and party girl.”
And his new nemesis, if his attitude is anything to go by.
“Queen Calamity is her username on social media and her following is now the size of a small country,” I inform him. “In this brave new world we live in, that sort of makes her royalty.”
“Whatever. Bex isn’t making out with her because she wants to. Some online stalker started taking her crazy to the real world and Bex is trying to flush her out.”
That news is a slap in the face I didn’t need tonight. “What the hell? That’s what’s going on? Why didn’t I know this?”
“I only found out today. For some reason all my friends are keeping really important shit to themselves lately.”
“This isn’t the same thing.” I can’t believe her boss actually agreed to this. It doesn’t make sense. “If it’s an online stalker, why didn’t Tanaka handle it himself? I thought there was no one he couldn’t find with an internet connection.”
“I don’t know, but I don’t like it.”
Neither do I. Bex and I are going to have a little talk about her dangerous decision-making as soon as possible. Information gathering is one thing, but making herself bait for some nut job? Val’s right. She takes unnecessary risks. Yet another topic for our upcoming intervention.
That and her new entanglement with the Finns. She knows better. Coming to the pub is one thing, but getting involved with them is a whole different ballgame. One of our favorite bartenders here at Finn’s Pub was blissfully single until a member of that family set his sights on her. Now she’s— Okay, she’s still happy, but she’s also constantly pregnant and we hardly ever see her.
“Do you think it’s just an act?” Val asks, his eyes on Bex and Kate, who are standing in a loose embrace near the stage.
I’m not sure how to answer him. Over the last six years, Kate “Calamity” Finn has gone from working at her brother’s gym to social media stardom because of her wild reputation. She’s so beautiful that companies pay her to wear their clothes and sell their products. So charismatic that people follow her to bars and parties like she’s The Pied Piper of bad decisions. She’s made a career out of being the life of the party, and she’s known for being reckless, thoughtless and, well, calamitous if you’re looking for anything more serious than a temporary fling.