I stuck with the amaretto sour because it was delicious. If I didn’t know any better because it was sweet and delicious, I’d think there was no alcohol in it at all, but my head and body begged to differ. I felt good.
We sat in our seats at the round table where we’d had dinner. Some people were taking a break, but most were still out on the dance floor. “Thank you for inviting me,” I said and took a sip of my drink.
“Are you having fun?”
I grinned. “I am. You’ve made this the best birthday ever.”
He smiled. “Good. I’m glad.”
I turned my attention back to the dance floor. “Is Vinny still an escort?”
Bradley chuckled. “No. He’s actually a teacher.”
“Really?”
“He was an escort—obviously—but most women tend not to approve of the lifestyle, and he wanted a monogamous relationship.”
That made sense. “So, Gabe, Paul, and Seth aren’t escorts anymore either?”
“Seth is actually a cop. He was never an escort.”
My gaze cut to his quickly. “A cop?”
“Yeah. He worked in DC but came here to help Joss out on a case for the FBI.”
“The FBI?”
“Yep. She’s an FBI agent, and Paul is actually leaving in a week to train to become one too.”
My heart started to beat faster in my chest. A cop? An FBI agent? I didn’t understand. I thought they were all escorts. Was Brad trying to get close to me because they were working the robbery case for The Velvet Box? He couldn’t have known that we were going to get robbed that day, but what if he was working undercover? Was it random that he had come in and took me to lunch? Was it all a ploy? Was he just trying to get closer to me so I would tell them that it was Keith and his friends who robbed us?
I instantly didn’t feel well. I stood. “I’m going to the bathroom.”
“Okay. Do you know where it is?”
“I do.”
I walked away from the table, not sure what to do. What if I was right and everything Brad was doing was to get closer to me so I would open up? But if he were undercover, would he tell me his friends were cops? I didn’t think he would, but then I didn’t know him. We’d only been friends for a couple of days.
After I used the bathroom, I washed my hands and then stared into the mirror. What if Brad lied about everything? I was really starting to like him, and that kiss … fuck, that kiss was everything, but now I didn’t know what to think. Could I trust Brad? I didn’t know if I could trust anyone.
A knock on the door snapped me out of my daze. Not wanting to hog the bathroom any longer, I opened the door to find Brad was standing there.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
I swallowed. “I’m not feeling well.”
He wrapped me in a hug, and I tensed. “Maybe we should have started with just one drink on your first night of drinking.”
“Maybe.”
“Do you want to go home?” He pulled his head back and looked down at me.
“Yes, but I can get an Uber or something.”
“I’ll drive you.”
“I can’t let you leave your friend’s wedding,” I stated. “They haven’t cut the cake yet.”
“Well, I wouldn’t feel comfortable with you leaving in a stranger’s car.”
“I’ll be fine. I promise.”
“Princess, I’m a gentleman. There’s no way I’m letting that happen.”
I wasn’t sure if I could be around him any longer. What if it was a trick somehow? What if the wedding wasn’t real? Every possible thing was going through my fuzzy head.
“Come on,” he continued. “Let’s go say goodbye, and then I’ll drive you home.”
“Okay.”
“DO YOU know who the fuck that was?” Micky yelled as soon as the door closed behind him. We were the only ones home because our other roommates were out doing whatever it was they were doing.
The guy did look familiar. “Who?”
“The guy I shot!”
I balked. “The jewelry store wannabe hero?”
“Yeah, that’s the only guy I’ve ever shot.”
“Technically, you shot me, not him, fucker.”
“Whatever. Why the fuck is Cassie hanging around with him?”
I took a deep breath. “I don’t know.”
“What if he’s a cop?”
I started to walk toward the kitchen for a beer as I spoke. “And you think Cassie is spilling the beans?”
“Maybe.”
“She wouldn’t.” I opened the fridge and pulled out a Bud.
“Then why the fuck is she with that guy?”
“Let’s ask her when she gets home.”
He followed me back to the living room. “And what if it’s too late? What if she’s singing like a fucking canary right now and any second the cops are going to bust down the door?”
I laughed. “Singing like a canary? Are you in the mob now or what?”
“Why aren’t you more upset about this?”
“Because I trust my sister.” I sat on the couch and turned the TV on. She was my blood, and I knew I could trust her.
“I don’t like this. She shouldn’t be hanging out with that guy.”
“Maybe she knew him before the robbery.”
“Exactly!” he boomed. “He got shot, so why wouldn’t she tell the cops who shot him?”
I thought for a moment. Micky was right; Cassie hanging with that guy was weird. I had done more shit to her in her life than she deserved. What if this was her revenge on me for taking her insurance money? What if this was her revenge on me for robbing her workplace? What if it was part of her plan to get us out of the house?
“What the fuck do we do?”
Micky sat on the other end of the sectional and sighed. “I don’t know, but if we go to jail tonight, I’ll be pissed.”
I grabbed my bong off the table and took a hit before passing it to him. Blowing out smoke, I suggested, “Maybe we should go across the street to Rose’s and hang out until Cassie gets home. Then we can see if the cops show up.”
Rose was the old lady across the street who made sure we had food after my parents died. I made sure to cut her grass once a week, and she gave me money whenever I needed it.
“Yeah, let’s go over there,” he agreed.
I took another hit before we walked across the street to wait.
It was late by the time I saw the truck pull up outside of my house. Luckily, it was only a truck. Micky and I watched from the front window of Rose’s living room. She was sleeping in her recliner and not privy to what we were doing. She thought we had come to help her around the house—which we did by changing light bulbs and taking out the garbage.
The guy got out of his truck and walked Cassie to the front door. I could barely see what was happening, and the guy didn’t stay long or go inside.
Once he drove away, Micky and I waited a few minutes to make sure no one else showed up, and when it was clear, we walked back to my house. Cassie was nowhere in sight.
“She’s probably in her room,” Micky stated.
We walked up the stairs, and I knocked on her door. She opened it. “Can we talk?” I asked.
She took a deep breath and averted her gaze. I wasn’t sure what that meant. Was she hiding something? Was she about to betray me? “Can we talk in the morning? I’m not feeling well.”
“No!” Micky snapped. “We need to talk right now. That guy—”
“This is because I went out with Brad?”
“Is that his name?” Micky questioned.
“Yes, that’s his name. Why do you care?”
“Is he a cop?” I asked.
She sucked in a breath. “I …”
“So he is a cop?” Micky pressed.
“I don’t know,” she whispered.
In a blink, Micky grabbed her throat and pushed her against the wall. “What the fuck do you mean you don’t know? Don’t fucking lie. We know you
’ve turned on us.”
I tried to get Micky off of her, but he wouldn’t let go. “Let go of my fucking sister, dude.” She struggled against his grasp as I tried to get him off of her. I’d never seen him so pissed. He wanted to kill Cassie for just the thought of betraying us.
“Dude, let go of her!” I shouted. He was starting to scare me.
He still didn’t let go. “If you betray us, Cass, I will kill you. I won’t fucking hesitate. And I will hunt down your boyfriend and kill him too. I’m not going to jail.”
“I’m—” She tried to speak, but his hold on her throat prevented it, so I did the only thing I could think of. I kicked Micky between the legs and straight against his balls. He groaned, dropping his hand and doubling over before falling to the floor. Cassie rubbed at her throat and tears pricked her eyes.
“Are you okay?” I asked and pulled her into my arms. I hated seeing her cry even if we didn’t get along.
“Why?”
“We’re suspicious about that guy. We know who he is.”
“I’m suspicious too,” she admitted.
I pulled back and looked into her eyes that matched mine. “You are?”
She started to cry harder, sobs shaking her chest. “He’s friends with a cop and an FBI agent.”
“Fuck,” I groaned. “This isn’t good.”
“You …” She sniffed. “You have to believe that I wouldn’t turn you in.”
“I know, Little Dove.” I hugged her tighter.
Micky groaned on the ground. “Dude, you fucking kicked me in the balls.”
“You were choking my sister.”
“I wouldn’t have hurt her.”
“You were hurting me,” Cassie cried.
“It’s okay,” I consoled. “We’ll figure this out.”
“I just want to take a shower and go to bed,” she admitted. “This birthday has been a rollercoaster.”
Aw, fuck, I’d forgotten it was her birthday. “Take a shower, and when you get out, I have a surprise for you.”
“You do?”
“Of course. It’s your birthday.” I smiled. I let go of her, and she grabbed her pajamas and headed to her bathroom. Micky started to stand. “If you touch her again, I will kill you.”
He got to his feet. “She knows more, Keith.”
“And I’ll find out, but you don’t need to put your hands on her. That’s not cool.”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t like this.”
“Then fucking leave!” I shouted as I made my way to the stairs. “There’s no reason for you to be here if you don’t want to be.”
“We haven’t sold the jewelry.”
“I don’t think we should now that we have heat from the cops on us.” He was silent as he followed me to the kitchen. I grabbed chocolate ice cream from the freezer.
“I can’t sit around and eat fucking ice cream,” he groaned.
“Then leave,” I barked again.
“You gonna turn me in?” He crossed his arms over his chest as I scooped the ice cream into a blender.
“No,” I stated, though if it ever came down to it, I would. He was the one who’d shot a fucking gun that wasn’t supposed to be loaded.
“Then I’m out of here until things settle down. Don’t do anything with the jewelry without me.”
“Peace.”
While he stormed out the front door, I finished making Cassie’s favorite milkshake. It was the least I could do since I’d forgotten her birthday.
As I blended the ingredients, I kept thinking that maybe Micky was right. From what I knew, cops usually made their busts in the mornings, sometimes just as the sun was coming up. What if the guy went back and told the cops everything he knew, and they were preparing the warrants for our arrests? I couldn’t let that happen. But I knew Cassie wouldn’t leave with me, but I wasn’t going to leave her behind even if she had betrayed me. She was my sister, and my parents would be pissed, even if they were dead.
Thinking about what I had on hand, I ran up to my room and grabbed a capsule of Molly. Before I exited the room, I realized I needed a downer. She needed to be able to walk and talk but not be lucid. Plus, I didn’t want her to remember because the less she knew, the better. I grabbed the sedative and went back down to the blender, where I pulled the Molly capsule apart, and threw the powder in with the sleep aid tablet.
After putting the milkshake into a glass with a straw, I went upstairs just as Cassie was exiting the bathroom. “Happy birthday, Little Dove.”
She grinned. “You made me a milkshake?”
“It’s a little treat before bed.”
“Just like Dad used to give me sometimes as our little secret.”
I smiled even though I was about to flip her world upside down again. “Yeah, just like Dad used to give you.”
Sun shined across my face, causing me to wake, and instantly, my head started to pound. When I opened my eyes, I realized that I wasn’t in my bed, but instead, I was in the backseat of a car. I didn’t remember getting into a car. The last thing I remembered was Keith giving me a milkshake. I didn’t remember falling asleep or even finishing the drink. Panic started to race through my entire body as I sat up.
“Keith?”
“Hey, sleepyhead,” he said, looking at me in the rearview mirror.
“What’s happening? Where are we?” I couldn’t see anything for miles except the open road. It looked like a desert.
“We’re almost to New Mexico.”
“Wait. What?” I balked.
“I know you have a lot of questions, and once we get to Albuquerque, I’ll explain it all.”
“Albuquerque? Why are we going to Albuquerque?” My head was throbbing from the bright light.
“That’s only our first stop.”
“What does that mean?” I rubbed my temples as I tried to process what he was saying.
“We’re headed for Nashville.”
I blinked. “Nashville? I can’t go to Nashville. I have a job, Keith!”
“You might want to call them and tell them you aren’t coming back.”
“Aren’t coming back? What the hell? Turn the fucking car around!” I yelled, causing my head to pound more. Was this what happened when you drank alcohol?
He sighed. “Cassie, shit is getting crazy. You have some sort of relationship with the guy who had me in a chokehold, and you said that he has friends who are cops and FBI agents. We had to get away.”
“We? We don’t even know if he was working on the robbery.”
“It’s too coincidental.”
“You need to turn the car around. This is crazy.” I rubbed my head again.
“I can’t do that.” He shook his head. “You’re my baby sister, and I need to protect you.”
“I can take care of myself,” I snapped.
“I’m not letting you go back. If you turn me in—”
“I’m not going to turn you in.”
“That may be true, but that guy is too suspicious.”
Of course, I had my doubts about Brad too, but it wasn’t enough for me to run away. When he drove me home because I wasn’t feeling well—and because I really needed to clear my head—I decided that I was going to play it by ear and see if he started to fish for any information about the robbery. So far, he hadn’t, and that gave me a little hope that he wasn’t trying to get close to me so he could get evidence against Keith.
I crossed my arms over my chest. “So, what’s the plan? We’re just going to live in Nashville because you think he can’t find us there?”
“I have a friend from high school who lives near Nashville, and he said we can stay with him until we get on our feet.”
“Get on our feet? You’ve never had a job!”
He blew out a breath. “Being shot has really opened my eyes. I’m going to change. I don’t want to end up in jail.”
I rolled my eyes and then looked around the backseat for my belongings. I couldn’t believe him. “Where’s my phone so I can
call my work?”
“I left it.”
“Then how am I supposed to call them?”
“When we get to Albuquerque, we’ll get you to a payphone.”
A payphone? Was there even such a thing anymore? “When we get to Albuquerque, I’m taking a bus home.”
“How? Do you have money?”
I looked around the backseat again and saw nothing. “Did you pack my clothes? Bring my purse?”
“No. I got us into the car and left.”
“What is wrong with you?”
“I’m trying to save us, Cass.”
“I didn’t need saving, Keith. You could have left me and just disappeared. I did nothing wrong.” I looked out the window and wondered where we were. I didn’t know how long I’d been asleep or how far Albuquerque was from Las Vegas. I’d only ever been to California when my parents took us to Disneyland and Universal Studios a few times.
“You’re wrong,” he stated.
“How?”
“You’re an accessory.”
“How am I an accessory? I had nothing to do with the robbery.”
“But you know it was me and the guys.”
“So?”
“If I get charged, so will you since you never reported it.”
Was that true? I had no idea, but it scared me. I was quiet for a long time as he drove several miles. If my boss—or anyone—found out that it was my brother and his friends who robbed the place, it would look like an inside job. I hated the situation, and I wanted to go home. I wanted to call Brad and ask him straight up what his motives were.
I wanted all of this to go away.
Since I had nothing to do, and my head was still pounding, I laid back down and slept, hoping that when I woke again, I would have a clearer head.
The car came to a stop, waking me. When I sat up, we were at a pawnshop. “What are we doing here?”
“The less you know, the better. Lay down so they don’t see you.”
My heart started to race. “What?”
“Just do it, Cass.” Keith slammed the car door.
I hated this. I hated feeling as though he was running my life, and like I had no say in what was going to happen. I still didn’t remember anything after the milkshake. And where was Micky? Did he skip town too?
Gin & Jewels Page 8
