“All right, dude. You win.” Pic fell back on the bed then turned on his side as he swung his legs up. “Damn, but this bed feels awesome. I’ll rest for a few more hours.”
“Nope. If I win, I win more than a few hours. I get a full forty-eight hours out of you,” Gabe said. “Besides, the rule is you need to hold down food for forty-eight hours before going outside in the elements.”
Pic shifted to his side, and narrowed his eyes as he studied Gabe. “Who says?”
“Black Raven Rule 15.2.3,” Gabe said. “Which I’ve adapted to you. Rule says sick agents who are puking their guts up need to hold down food for forty-eight hours before returning to the field.”
“Really?” Andi asked, a slight scowl indicating her disbelief. “You have rules like that?”
Pic laughed. “He’s bullshitting, Andi. Sounds like my mom telling me to wait an hour before going swimming. Believed that till I was eight.”
“One day, I’ll show you both the handbook. For now, why don’t you tell us what’s so urgent, and maybe we can find a way to give you enough peace of mind to at least sleep through the next few days?”
Pic nestled his head further into the pillow, and glanced at Gabe with eyes that, touched with a bit of sleepiness from the cough syrup, seemed so honest and pure, the expression torqued Gabe’s heart. With none of the street-tough, cocky attitude he put on for show, the kid’s lopsided smile and big blue eyes made Gabe feel a hot blast of urgency behind getting this kid on the right track. If Pic lived on the streets much longer, a good person was going to disappear. Permanently.
“Need to work, man. My cash is low. I spent a big chunk of money on that bus ticket, and I need to build it up again. This is the pre-Mardi Gras stretch. Last season, in the week before Mardi Gras, I made over a thousand bucks. It cushioned me for a few months.”
“Okay. I get that.” Gabe cringed inwardly that such a small amount of money meant so much to the kid. “But I have a feeling your living expenses aren’t going to be the same now as they were in the past, if you’ll just accept a bit of help.”
As a frown crossed Pic’s face, Andi added, “I’m hoping you wrap your mind around the idea that this place is yours for as long as you need it. It’s time for you to think about the rest of your life.”
“Andi, I usually go with just a few hours at a time,” Pic said. “And I don’t want handouts.”
“I know that,” Andi said. “Look. I’m all for charging rent. If you want me to start an accounting of what you owe me, I’ll happily do it. We’ll work out details later.”
“But it isn’t just me I’m worried about today,” Pic said, sitting up, shaking his head as though trying to will away the sleepiness. “Sure, I’d love to lay around all day. But Tank and Honey need me to play the guitar. Monica and her guitar were part of their threesome. If she doesn’t show up again this morning, it’s just the two of them. Tank isn’t all that much on vocals. He plays a tambourine, while Honey sings. They need the money as badly as I do, and they won’t bring in the big bucks if they don’t have a guitar player. Without Monica there, I’m it.”
“Okay, that’s fair,” Gabe said, getting an eyeful of the worry in Andi’s eyes at Pic’s mention of Monica. “Nice of you to be so concerned about your friends. Can you estimate how much they’d make if you were there today?”
“Today they’re going to start early. At ten. So upwards of two hundred dollars. More if it’s really crowded.”
“Holy crap,” Gabe said, “really? Maybe I should pick a corner and start playing.”
“You gotta be good, dude.” Pic gave him a roving head to toe glance. “What? You play guitar and sing between dumbbell sets?”
Gabe chuckled. “Trust me, if I sang on Royal Street, no one would give me money.” He paused, thinking. “Would you rest easier here if I made sure Tank and Honey made that kind of money each day this week?”
Pic nodded, but a frown played at his lips. “I guess so. But how?”
“One of my agents goes to their corner and drops money in their hat a few times,” Gabe offered. “Simple enough.”
Pic’s eyes flooded with gratitude, which was quickly replaced with worry. “Not sure when I’ll be able to pay you back.”
“Don’t worry about it for now,” Gabe said. “Besides, Andi’s paying for this. It’ll be in her accounting that she’s doing for you.”
“Can your agent let them know I’m safe?”
“Sure.”
“Like I told you guys yesterday, everybody’s looking out for each other.”
“That isn’t a problem.”
“Well, that will take care of them. But I need to see whether Monica shows up to play with them. Can your agent check on that, too?”
Gabe nodded. “Sure. Corner of Chartres and Conti, right?”
“Yeah. If someone beats them to that corner, they’ll be further down Chartres. At the first spot they can grab towards Esplanade. And if Monica doesn’t show to play with them,” Pic said, frowning, “then I need to go to the clinic and see if she shows up for an appointment. I was going to take the bus over there today. Monica has an appointment at two. It’s for her and the baby. Honey says Monica’s waited weeks for it, and wouldn’t skip it.”
A worried glance appeared in Pic’s eyes, matched by concern that flooded Andi’s eyes. Gabe knew that she was worried that what she might have seen on Friday was Monica’s abduction. He hoped he was able to dispel that concern sooner, rather than later. “Okay. You describe her for me, and I’ll send an agent there.”
“No. I need to talk to her,” Pic said, blushing bright red. “I want to tell her some things I should’ve said before I left for Texas.”
“There’s no way you can go sit at a crowded hospital clinic and wait for someone to show up,” Andi said. “You might pick something else up. Or spread your germs to sick people.”
“Nothing you say will keep me from there,” Pic said.
“I’ll go in your place,” Andi said. “She’ll come back with me.”
Pic’s jaw dropped. Gabe focused one hundred percent of his attention on her and tried to keep from looking stunned.
“But you never go anywhere,” Pic said, saving Gabe from having to voice that very thought. From her file, Gabe knew it had been years since Andi had left the boundaries she’d established as her safety zone.
“What are you talking about?” Indignation crept into Andi’s voice. “I go places all the time.”
“French Quarter. Marigny. Bywater. Treme. Tell me when you last went somewhere else,” Pic said. “In a car.”
“Just because I haven’t done it lately,” Andi said, her cheeks flushing an adorable shade of red, “that doesn’t mean I can’t. Nothing’s been important enough, and I know how important Monica is to you, and how important it is to me that you stay here. I know it won’t be easy, but I’ll have Black Raven with me.” She glanced at Gabe, slipped her hands in the back pockets of her jeans, and her voice fell to a soft, hopeful whisper. “And I’ll be perfectly safe. Right?”
“Right,” Gabe said, so proud of her he wanted to reach out, pull her to him, and hug her tight.
She gave him a small smile, then refocused on Pic. “Monica knows me, Pic. If she shows, I’ll tell her you’re here and that you’re worried sick about her. I’ll persuade her to come home with us so the two of you can talk. I’ll tell her she’s welcome to stay here, if she’d like. If it makes you feel better, give me a note and I’ll give it to her when I see her. Okay?”
Pic’s eyes were locked on Andi. In his gaze, Gabe saw thoughtful consideration. He was looking at Andi as though he absolutely understood how important it was that she do this for him. For that, Gabe loved the kid.
Come on, Pic. Let her do this for you.
“Yeah. Thanks,” Pic said.
Andi drew a deep breath. For a moment, the air in the room was heavy with the sea of change that had taken place.
“So we’ll wake you again when it’s time for your meds,” Gabe sai
d. “Maybe by then, you’ll be hungry.”
As Andi and Gabe walked towards the stairs, Pic said, “Don’t know how I’ll ever thank you guys enough.”
Andi turned, and shrugged. “Just get better and stay here while you do.”
Gabe smiled at the kid. “For now, just focus on that.”
As they left the guesthouse, they had two hours before the nine thirty a.m. meeting with his agents. Pausing in the courtyard, Andi glanced at him with worried eyes. “Friday’s girl,” she said. “She could have been Monica. If I saw what I think I saw.”
Mist fell in the cold, damp air giving a surreal, otherworldly look to the stone and brick courtyard. Micro drops caught on Andi’s dark hair and eyelashes and sheened her cold-flushed skin. Gabe wanted to kiss the moisture on her eyelids, especially when he saw the worry build in her expressive eyes. Instead, he shoved his hands into his pockets to prevent himself from wrapping her in his arms. It would be too much, too soon. He got it, but damn, he’d never met a woman who needed loving more than Andi Hutchenson.
“We’ll go to the clinic at two, and in all likelihood, Monica’s going to be there. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“Come on. Let’s go inside. It’s freezing out here.”
As they walked through the mudroom, on the way to the kitchen, she rested a hand on his arm. “You’re really good with Pic.”
Inaction made his heart swell. Instead of doing the multiple hands-on things he wanted to do, like tracing a finger along the side of her face, he could only focus on the expression in her eyes. So serious. Stubborn. Determined. Thoughtful. “You thought that was good? I was struggling. I’m thinking we should’ve practiced on a puppy first.”
Her brow furrowed. “What?”
“That’s what couples do, isn’t it? Get a puppy before they have their first baby?”
Her eyes changed with a look that was somewhere between annoyance, surprise, amusement, and—maybe—hope. “You have a way of putting things.”
He chuckled. “And I think you like that.”
Uncertainty clouded her eyes. “I should tell you we’re not a couple. The fact that we slept together doesn’t mean…anything.”
“You know it does.” He spoke honestly, his eyes intent on hers, with his heart forming the words instead of his brain, hoping like hell she didn’t start backtracking. “And I sure as hell hope I’m not reading all of this wrong.”
“This?”
“Me. You. Us. This. Because last night, sleeping with you, as you curled towards me, meant more to me than any sex I’ve ever had.”
Like the splash that came with a penny hitting bottom in a wishing well, it took a few seconds for her to absorb his words. Pink flushed her cheeks as she held still, her gaze intent as she studied him. He waited, heart exposed.
“You’re not joking, are you?”
“Not a joke in me right now.”
She drew a deep breath. “Are you trying to make me fall in love with you?”
Of course. It’s no fun to fall alone.
“Not trying at all,” he said, matching her low whisper as he leaned forward to hear her better.
“What am I going to do with you?”
Forcing himself to keep some distance, he realized how hard it was going to be not to crowd her, not to inadvertently spark the fear that festered within her from the sexual trauma he was supposed to know nothing about. He swallowed, hard, and shoved his hands deeper into his back pockets. “My virgin cheerleader could kiss me.”
A frown line furrowed her brow, but a gleam lit her eyes. “Hey, Brad, you’re supposed to be shy.”
“That’s why I offered the kiss as a suggestion, Sandy, instead of just stealing one.”
On tiptoe, Andi planted a kiss on his mouth as he bent his head down to meet her. Digging her fingers into his biceps, her breasts brushed—too lightly—against his chest. A moan formed in her throat, and sounded delicious as it escaped her lips. At first, it was just a brush of two pairs of lips. He held still, praying for more. No. No. And, no. Her call. Her speed.
Fighting the urge to pull his hands out of his pockets and wrap his arms around her, he groaned as she applied more pressure. He parted his lips slightly, tasting her as she slipped her tongue over his, while sizzling electric sparks shot down his spine.
Their breathing fell into sync as he absorbed her small sighs and angled his head to adjust for their height difference. Her fingers tightened on his upper arms. The kiss was tender. Sweet. Innocent. But it lasted long enough for him to enter another dimension, as he focused on the sweet taste of her mouth, the silken glide of her tongue, the softness of her lips.
Each second the kiss lasted brought a fresh blast of promise, as each moment became about the meandering journey to getting there. If this kiss was anything like what lay in store as they worked up to cruising speed, the meandering path to ‘there’ sure as hell had advantages. Wherever ‘there’ might be didn’t matter, because his world had faded to nothing but her.
Chapter Twenty Eight
Andi
“Something’s wrong,” Pic said, digesting the news that Monica hadn’t showed up for her appointment.
“You don’t know that,” Andi said, watching Pic pace the floor of the small bedroom.
“Yes. I do.” He went to the chair where she’d folded his clothes and pulled on his green sweatshirt over the t-shirt he’d slept in. “And I need to find her.”
What if I did see her being abducted on Friday? And when, exactly, should I tell Pic about what I saw on Friday?
She had renewed that conversation with Gabe as they’d been in the car on the way home from the clinic. It hadn’t taken much persuasion from Gabe for her to know she shouldn’t tell Pic anything about Friday.
It would worry him needlessly. Because I don’t know whether what I saw, if I saw anything, has anything to do with Monica.
“Not today.” Andi exchanged a long glance with Gabe, while placing a reassuring hand on Pic’s arm. “You’re too sick to roam the streets, looking for her. Let’s sit down and rationally come up with a plan to find her.”
“Good idea,” Gabe said. “This is our problem now, too.”
Pic made a U-turn, and faced them with a look of hope that belied the depth of his fear. Eyes bouncing from Gabe to Andi, Pic asked, “You’ll both help me?”
“Yes.” His expression was Gabe-style serious, meaning there was only a hint of his full smile. His gaze held the reassurance that everything would be okay. “The way it works is this—you’re important to Andi, so you’re important to me.”
And now we’re a threesome. We didn’t even need that puppy.
“Finding Monica is important to you,” Gabe continued, “so finding her is important to both of us. You feeling well enough to sit downstairs on the couch for a while?”
“Yeah. Sure,” Pic said.
“Good. I want you to look at a few maps of the area. Flag every single place she might be. And I want you also to think about that kid, Jake, you mentioned yesterday.” Some of the panic left Pic’s eyes, as he listened to Gabe’s smooth voice. “Andi and I tried to find Banjo Richie yesterday, but we couldn’t. So give me places where we can look for him, too.”
It wasn’t just that Gabe’s voice was calm, or that his plan seemed logical. It was the rock-solid earnestness with which he spoke that sounded so authentic, imparting the solid message of ‘hey kid, don’t panic. You’re not alone.’
Dear God, but this man’s good.
“After you come up with the areas, give me a list, in order of importance, of people who might know where Monica, Jake, and Richie are, and then list where those people might be.”
“You can’t just approach these guys and start asking questions,” Pic argued. “They’re on the streets for a reason, and they don’t talk to strangers.”
“I know that,” Gabe said. “So you’re going to tell me the best way to approach them. That’s another list for you. Black Raven calls this sort of
research local knowledge, and for this project, the local knowledge has to come from you. See how much work you have to do while you recuperate? To develop an organized approach, it’s going to take you a while. Especially since the meds you’re on make you groggy. Meanwhile, over these next couple of days I’ll keep checking in with Tank and Honey to see if Monica shows up with them.”
Pic shoved some hair behind his ears, then folded his arms across his chest. “But it’s the week before Mardi Gras. Nobody’s in their normal places. Even the foot traffic changes.”
“He’s right, Gabe. Everything’s different until Mardi Gras is over,” Andi said.
“There’s nothing we can do about Mardi Gras. We’ll just have to work around it.” Eyes intent on Pic for a few seconds, he said, “We’ll have to stay calm, and go at this slow. I might not get to implement your direction until after Mardi Gras. By then, you’ll be better, and you’ll be able to go out with me. We can’t rush this.”
Pic nodded. “I get it.”
“Monica’s young and pregnant. It seems logical to me that she might just have gone home,” Andi said. “Do you know where that is? Perhaps Gabe could have someone check there.”
Pic shook his head. “She wouldn’t go there. Not in a million years.”
“Put it on the list, anyway,” Gabe said.
Pic shook his head, and Andi knew where he was going with it. “I promised her I’d never tell. And there’s some promises you just don’t break, ya know?”
As Gabe frowned, Andi wanted to tell him not to push. Not on this one, and not now, because she knew Pic took promises seriously.
“Chief?” Gabe glanced at Andi, and pointed to his ear mic. “Tyre’s at the front door. Sonja Long and Jacques Stapleton are here. Fifteen minutes early. Would you like them to freeze outside for a while, or would you like for Tyre to let them into the vestibule?”
Nervous adrenaline raced through her. “Vestibule. But not one step further until I’m there.”
“Tyre. Got that?” Gabe lifted a hand to Andi, gesturing to the stairs. “Pic, I’m sending an agent in with a tablet. How are your internet skills?”
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