In Plain Sight

by Sherryl Hancock

  “Maybe once David goes down, the rest will just plead out,” Sierra said, her tone hopeful.

  Memphis nodded, not looking very comforted.

  Before Midnight and Sierra left, Memphis hugged Midnight, thanking her for everything. “I know this wasn’t your fight,” she said. “And I heard that you were risking your career by doing it.”

  Midnight tilted her head. “I made it my fight, Memphis, because you’re important to people I love, and now you’re important to me too.”

  “Why?” Memphis asked, incredulous.

  “Because no one should ever go through what you did, Memphis, and the fact that you did and were able to overcome it, is something that not just anyone can do. You’re an example of the perseverance and the strength of our gender. That’s always important to me,” Midnight said seriously.

  She reached out and hugged Memphis again. “My number as well as Rick’s, Kana’s, and Tiny’s are in your cell phone now. If you ever need anything, you call one of us. Okay?”

  Memphis smiled, nodding. “There is one thing.”

  “Name it.”

  “Having a party next Friday—it would be cool if you and all of your people could come, the ones that were there for me that day.”

  Midnight smiled. “We’ll be there. Send me the details and we’ll carve it into my schedule.”

  Memphis smiled again, nodding.

  “Kash and I are already planning on it,” Sierra said when Memphis looked at her.

  “Good,” Memphis said, hugging her. “Thank you.”

  Later that same day, Memphis was sitting out on her patio when she heard the back slider open. She glanced back, expecting it to be either Remington or Kieran, who’d been keeping constant watch on her for days. She was stunned to see her father standing there with her older sister, Celeste.

  She turned in her chair, her face reflecting her shock. She stood up as her father walked closer, his smile warm, his hair the same white-blond as Memphis’. He opened his arms, his expression cautious.

  Memphis bit her lip for a long moment, but then stepped into her father’s embrace. He hugged her gently for a long time, his head bent as he pressed his lips against the top of her head.

  “I’ve missed you so much, honey bee…” he said, his voice tearful.

  Memphis cried at the endearment, only then remembering it was what he had called her when she was little. He held her while she cried. Eventually they sat down and talked.

  She found out that Celeste had left The Family once she realized Cassidy was never coming back.

  “They let you leave?” Memphis asked, shocked.

  “I wasn’t a chosen one,” Celeste said. “They didn’t care about me.”

  Memphis nodded, remembering what Celeste had said before about being less important than she was.

  The three talked for a long time, and it was decided that rather than staying in a hotel, Celeste and her father would stay with her. Oliver had moved out and back into his own place by that time, so there was room.

  A few days later, Remington showed up at the house, looking a bit stunned.

  “What’s up?” Memphis asked as she sat on the couch and gestured for Remington to do the same.

  Kieran sat next to Memphis, worried at the look on Remington’s face.

  “I wanted to come tell you this in person before you hear it on the news,” Remington said, her expression pensive.

  “Okay…” Memphis said, feeling a chill go up her spine.

  “David Ronning was killed in prison last night,” Remington said. “Somehow he ended up in general population, and even criminals hate child molesters…”

  Memphis’ eyes widened as Remington’s voice trailed off.

  “They tore him apart,” Remington said evenly, her eyes glittering with subdued malicious glee.

  Memphis blinked a couple of times, nodding.

  She received a call from Midnight Chevalier later that morning.

  “After Mr. Ronning’s rather violent death,” Midnight said, doing her best to sound subdued and not happy as hell the bastard was dead, “his cohorts have all clamored for settlements out of court.”

  “So what does that mean?” Memphis asked hopefully.

  “It means you won’t need to testify, Memphis. It’s over,” Midnight said, smiling.

  “It’s really over?”

  “It really is. Now you just need to live your life and be happy.”

  The next morning, Memphis woke Kieran with kisses to her lips. It was the day of the party at The Club to thank all of the people who’d rescued her.

  “Mmm…” Kieran murmured. “Good morning.”

  Instead of answering, Memphis deepened the kiss, pulling Kieran closer to her. Within minutes they were both excited and breathing heavily. They hadn’t made love since before the incident, so their bodies were extremely excited at that point. Still, Kieran held back, not wanting to push things. It was Memphis that broke that resolve.

  “Make love to me, Kier,” she said into her ear, her voice a soft plea.

  For the first time, Kieran made love to Memphis, bringing her to release before Memphis did the same for her. Afterwards they lay together, with Memphis leaning slightly over Kieran. She pulled up, looking down at her.

  “I love you,” Memphis said, staring down into Kieran’s eyes.

  “I love you,” Kieran said, smiling softly.

  “Stay here with me.”

  “I am,” Kieran said, her voice indicating her confusion.

  “No, I mean forever.”

  Kieran looked back at Memphis, blinking a couple of times, sensing that she was serious.

  “Memphis…” Kieran began, trying to formulate the explanation of how a visa worked and that she’d need to apply for citizenship and all of that.

  “Marry me,” Memphis said simply.

  “I,” Kieran stammered, shocked. “I would love to marry you.” She smiled. “But who am I marrying?”

  Memphis gave her a quizzical look.

  “Would I be marrying Memphis McQueen or Cassidy Lassiter?”

  Memphis looked back at her for a long moment, her look pensive. She smiled softly then.

  “I think I’m more Memphis than I am Cassidy now,” she said. “But I think I want my dad’s name back, so would you be okay with marrying Memphis Lassiter?”

  “I absolutely would,” Kieran replied, grinning.

  Memphis smiled. “Good. ’Cause I wasn’t really askin’ ya. You were marrying me one way or the other.”

  “I was, was I?” Kieran said, her blue eyes twinkling.

  “Yep.”

  They kissed again, enjoying each other for a while.

  Memphis moved to lie on her back. “You know what I want to do today?”

  “What?” Kieran said, thrilled that Memphis seemed to be in a really good mood.

  “I want to go to the studio.”

  “Really?” Kieran looked pleased by the idea.

  “Yeah. I need to get back to the other things I love,” Memphis said, smiling fondly. “Now that I’ve gotten back to the important person I love.”

  Kieran pressed her lips together, thrilled by the declaration. “Should we invite your father and sister?”

  “Yeah. I want them to see my work.”

  “I think they’d love that.”

  She was right about that. Larry and Celeste were excited at the prospect of seeing Memphis at work. While she was getting ready to go to the studio, Memphis had her music on loud. It was music that she listened to when she was happy—dance music, upbeat. Kieran was also thrilled to note that Memphis was dancing as she moved about the room. Walking downstairs to start coffee, Kieran texted Quinn and Remington to let them know about Memphis’ mood.

  In the kitchen, she smiled at Memphis’ father and sister, pointing toward the ceiling. “This is what the Memphis I’m used to is like,” she said.

  They both nodded, smiling. Memphis came downstairs, her phone playing music as she moved to fi
x her coffee. Kieran glanced over at Larry, seeing the way he was watching his daughter with an amused smile on his lips. He caught Kieran’s glance and winked at her, nodding. Unaware she was being observed, Memphis continued to dance to the music as she moved around the kitchen. Finally she turned and looked at the three people watching her.

  “What?” she said, perplexed.

  Kieran smiled. “Nothing.”

  “You guys ready?” Memphis said.

  Everyone nodded.

  “Let’s roll then,” Memphis said, picking up her travel mug of coffee.

  Out in the garage sat a 1970 Dodge Charger.

  “Is this yours?” Celeste asked, looking surprised.

  “No,” Memphis said. “I had a Porsche.” She grinned. “I parked it in David’s office at the compound,” she said as she opened the trunk of the Charger and put her bag inside, then closed it. “This is Quinn’s Charger. She’s letting me borrow it till I can buy something else.”

  “Is this the one that tied?” Kieran asked, referring to the race between Harley and Quinn a couple of years before.

  “No, this is the one that’s yet to race Harley’s Z,” Memphis said, grinning.

  “Oh.” Kieran grinned as they all got into the classic muscle car. “Your daughter beat two of the best drivers in the group on a race track in Las Vegas a few months ago. It was very impressive.”

  “I was also driving someone else’s car,” Memphis said with a grin. She started the Charger with a roar, smiling. “This is very Quinn…”

  Kieran laughed softly, nodding.

  At the studio, Kieran went to see BJ, and Memphis showed her dad and Celeste around. Later Memphis was in the sound studio, working on mixing songs when BJ walked in, smiling at Larry and Celeste as he walked over to Memphis. She stood up immediately, accepting BJ’s hug.

  “Thank you for everything,” Memphis said, having heard what all he’d done to help the rescue mission for her. She was ever astounded by this man’s generosity.

  “Nothing to thank me for,” BJ said. “We love you, and we needed you back.”

  Memphis pressed her lips together, hugging BJ tighter while she fought back tears. She couldn’t get used to so many people caring about her; she wasn’t sure if she ever would.

  “So I need you to do something for me,” BJ said, grinning as they parted.

  “What?” Memphis asked, immediately wary as she glanced at Kieran, who’d come in with him.

  “I want you to sing something with me,” BJ said, narrowing his eyes slightly.

  Memphis narrowed her own eyes. “Why?”

  “Because I want to hear what you can do.”

  Memphis looked back at him for a long moment.

  “And if you do, I’ll give you this.” He held up a manila envelope.

  “What is that?”

  “It’s the proposal I’ve been working on for you,” BJ said.

  Memphis gave him a sidelong look, considering. “What do I have to sing?”

  “Duet, something like ‘Broken,’” he said, his look benign, even though his eyes sparkled mischievously.

  Memphis took a deep breath, then blew it out, nodding. She felt like BJ had earned this from her after all he’d done for her, proposal or not.

  “Let’s go,” BJ said, nodding toward the other side of the sound studio.

  “In there?” Memphis said, looking surprised.

  BJ smiled. “Better acoustics, you know that.”

  “For recording,” Memphis said, narrowing her eyes at him.

  “So maybe I want to record it,” BJ said, his look contemplative.

  “Were you gonna tell me that part?”

  “Not if I didn’t have to,” BJ said, grinning unrepentantly.

  “We’ll talk about invasion of privacy later,” Memphis said with a grin as she queued up the music BJ asked for, then followed him into the studio.

  Kieran sat down at the sound board. “I just hit record, right? Because that’s all I know how to do.”

  “Hit play on the left-hand button first, and then yes, babe, hit record,” Memphis said as she and BJ put on the headphones in the studio. “Can’t believe you’re makin’ me do this…” she said to BJ, grinning all the while.

  The music started, and Larry, Celeste, and Kieran watched and listened avidly.

  The words to the song had a ring of relevance to them at that moment in time. As BJ began to sing the first lines, Memphis moved with the music, her expression serious as she listened to the lyrics. The section Memphis sang seemed particularly poignant, and the meaning wasn’t lost on Kieran as Memphis sang directly to her, her blue eyes staring into Kieran’s. The words were about the worst being over, and how she wanted to hold her and take the pain away.

  The line that followed went straight to Kieran’s heart as BJ and Memphis sang it together, talking about being broken and not knowing if they were strong enough to go on. Kieran held back tears as they sang the rest of the song. It was absolutely beautiful, and BJ and Memphis’ voices blended so perfectly. It had Larry and Celeste in tears as well.

  As the music faded away, BJ smiled at Memphis.

  “I knew it,” he said, shaking his head in wonder.

  “Knew what?”

  “I knew you were a natural. And you have the voice of a siren.”

  Memphis grinned, wondering how BJ knew not to tell her she had the voice of an angel, since she absolutely hated that term. They went back to the other side of the studio then, and BJ handed her the envelope. Memphis pulled out the thin sheaf of papers, and as she started to scan the proposal, her expression become more and more stunned. When she’d finished reading the first page, she looked up at BJ.

  “Are you serious about this?” she said, her look telling him she thought he was crazy.

  “No, I put shit in writing all the time for fun,” he said, deadpan. “My lawyers love it,” he added, his light blue-green eyes sparkling.

  Memphis blinked slowly. “You want me to run the sound studio,” she said, waving the papers around to take in the sound booth and the other rooms around it. “The whole thing?”

  “Yeah,” BJ said, nodding. “Chief Sound Engineer.”

  “People work their whole lives and never get this much control,” Memphis said. “I’m twenty-five.”

  BJ winked. “Early bloomer.”

  Memphis pressed her lips together as a new thought occurred to her. “Beege… this isn’t because of… what happened…”

  BJ narrowed his eyes slightly. “Let me make something clear,” he said seriously. “I’m a businessman. I make a lot of money knowing the smart play. Now, if I want to donate to charity, I donate to charity. If I want to hire someone who is the best fucking sound person I’ve ever had, then I do that. Don’t get the two mixed up again,” he said, his expression telling Memphis she was bordering on insolence.

  Memphis looked back at him, seeing the deadly serious businessman who had made himself into a billionaire all on his own. She nodded slowly, then looked back down at the contract. When she read her salary, her eyes widened once again.

  “BJ, no one makes this much in this business,” she said, shaking her head.

  “Best paid is more likely to stick.”

  Memphis nodded, her expression flickering. “Guessin’ I’d be givin’ up my DJing,” she muttered, mostly to herself.

  “Read page three,” BJ said simply.

  Memphis turned to that page and read the addendum. “This says I’m free to spin whenever I want,” she said. She looked surprised and confused.

  “That’s your creative outlet,” BJ said. “I’m an artist, I get the need for that. It makes you a better sound engineer. I take it away from you, I lose what’s incredible about you.”

  Memphis blinked a couple of times, feeling overwhelmed by BJ’s confidence in her and his understanding of her needs. It was a very rare gift indeed to have someone understand an artist’s needs. Then she looked pensive.

  “If I’m going to do thi
s,” she said, her tone reasoning, “I mean, really do this, I’m going to need to do some revamping in here…”

  BJ nodded. “Give me a list of what you want to do and we’ll talk about it.”

  “I’d want all new stuff, BJ,” she said, shaking her head. “It won’t be cheap.”

  “I don’t want cheap—I want good, and I want you, so whatever it takes.”

  Memphis looked shocked. Finally she shook her head. “I think you’re certifiable,” she said, grinning as she picked up a pen. “But you got yourself a deal.”

  BJ grinned, nodding. “We’ll see who’s crazy.” He smiled as she handed him back the contract.

  “So this covers the work I’m doing on the mixes too, right?” she said.

  “No,” BJ said. “That’s a separate deal, Memphis. That’s a record deal—this is a job.” He indicated the contract. “Once you’re done with the mixes, you and I will make a deal on that.”

  Again, Memphis looked shocked, but she nodded, wondering whether the surprises were ever going to stop that day.

  “So you coming tonight?” she asked when she’d recovered her composure.

  “Oh yes,” he said. “If nothing else, so I can see you spin.” He winked. “But Allex, Tabbie, Devlin, and I will be there.”

  Memphis smiled. “Good.”

  Later that night, the party was in full swing. Memphis had her headphones on and was DJing part of the time, but also enjoying herself as well. She’d made the rounds to thank everyone for their part in her rescue. Everyone had heard about David Ronning’s murder and the ensuing pleas for settlements; it definitely added to the celebratory air.

  BJ was talking to Devlin when Midnight walked up.

  “AG Chevalier,” Devlin said, inclining his head to her.

  “It’s Devlin, right?” Midnight said, rolling her eyes. “Rick always knows all the rock stars’ names—I suck at that part,” she explained with a self-effacing grin.

  Devlin laughed, nodding. “Yes, ma’am. It’s Devlin.”

  “Well, it’s Midnight,” she said, smiling.

  He returned the smile. “Okay.”

  “So,” Midnight said, looking at BJ. “You hear that news about David Ronning?”