Tipsy (14 page)

“
What the hell happened
tonight?” I said, making myself uncomfortable on the
couch.

“
Besides you beating the
crap out of the crew’s leader?”

“
He deserved it,” I said,
hard.

Slater inclined his chin. “I won’t
argue. That was a ballsy move, taking him on like that. Could’ve
backfired.”

I knew too well how bad things could
have gone earlier. If I had been thinking, I would never have done
that. But I wasn’t thinking. The minute he started putting his paws
all over Julie, my brain left the building.

Lucky for me my little lapse in
judgment got me some respect.

“
Who is she to you?” Slater
asked.

I stared at him stoically. I wasn’t
bringing Julie into this any more than I already had.

After a few very long silent minutes,
Slater chuckled. “Okay, I get it.”

“
You gonna tell me why
you’re really working this case?” I said, turning the tables on
him.

“
What makes you think I’m
not here for the same reasons you are?”

“
Something tells me you
already have more than enough evidence to bring down Dom and some
of the crew,” I said slowly. “What gives?”

“
We both know if we bust
them on possession, or even selling, they’ll do a couple years,
then get out and take up their place right back on the street like
they never left.”

Unfortunately he was right. “So are you
saying you’re going to get him on something else?”

“
Something that will put him
away for a long time. Once he’s gone, we can clean house with the
drugs.”

Had I underestimated Dom earlier
tonight? He seemed like such a pansy ass to me. He didn’t come off
as someone I should be afraid of.

“
You going to fill me in?” I
asked impatiently.

He sat forward. “Why not? You managed
to get some shit out of him tonight that no one else
has.”

“
I did?”

Slater nodded. “You know the member of
his crew that’s gone? The one he mentioned you could take the place
of?”

I nodded.

“
I think he killed
him.”

So we were talking murder. Julie was
dancing with a murderer tonight. The thought made me sick inside.
“Murder,” I said thoughtfully.

“
His name was Milo
VanMeeter.” Slater explained. “Worked with Dom for years, he was
his right hand. Then one day he ups and leaves. No one hears from
him again. Dom stops mentioning his name. It’s like he ceased to
exist.”

“
But he brought him up
tonight.”

“
First time I’ve ever heard
him mention Milo.”

“
And he said he’s never
coming back,”

Slater glanced at me. “He killed him. I
know it.”

“
Why would he kill one of
his own?”

“
Judging from the gossip I
hear through the crew, Dom was pissed because he got word that Milo
was trying to nudge him out and take over with the supplier. And we
both know whoever controls the supply…” He trailed off.

“
Controls the job.” I
finished for him.

Slater sat back and looked at
me.

“
So where is the supply
being funneled from? Where are they hiding it?” I
wondered.

“
I can’t figure it out. I’ve
been working this case for a year. At first I thought it was all
happening in Myrtle Beach, but then LeBraun moved some of his crew
up here, put Dom in charge, and I realized we’d been looking in the
wrong place all this time.”

“
We’ll figure this out,” I
vowed. It had only been one night and already I was anxious to be
done. I wanted to wrap this case so I could get back to real life.
Before Julie had the chance to move on completely.

“
You need to be careful,”
Slater said. Something in his voice told me it wasn’t a casual
warning.

“
I’m always
careful.”

“
Dom threatened you
tonight.”

I shrugged and sat back against the
couch. “Maybe I’m just too confident, but his little ‘I’ll kill
you’ threat tonight didn’t seem all that serious.”

Slater’s eyes met mine. His gaze was
steady and clear. “In the past year, I’ve never heard him actually
threaten someone like he did tonight. Dom doesn’t like to get his
hands too dirty. He usually has his thugs take care of his
business.”

“
See? No worries,” I
replied.

“
You don’t get it. He
doesn’t make idle threats. According to the gossip, the last person
Dom ever verbally threatened was Milo.”

And now Milo was suspected as being
dead.

I nodded slowly. Being precautious
wouldn’t hurt. In fact, it would be smart.

“
You get under his skin,
Gray,” Slater said, using my undercover name.

I wondered if he even knew my real
name. Hell, I didn’t know his.

“
He’s going to be watching
you. He’s going to look for a reason to take you down,” he said,
then studied me for a moment. “You might be just what this case
needs.”

“
Why’s that?”

“
I have a feeling your
presence in the crew is going to stir things up. It’s going to push
Dom’s buttons. Push them enough that something slips.”

I felt my lips curve. “Pushing buttons
is what I do best.”

Slater nodded. “Just be careful how far
you push. You don’t want to end up like Milo.”

A little sliver of fear moved down my
spine. I pushed it away. I didn’t have time for fear. I needed to
focus because the cut-and-dry drug case I thought I was working
just turned a little more complicated.

Complicated as in murder.

13

Julie

The next two weeks were like a piece of
chewed meat that lay inside someone’s gut for days. It slowly
rotted away, weighing me down and giving me a bad case of acid
reflux.

(Now you see why I don’t eat
meat.)

I felt Blue’s absence like a rash that
wouldn’t go away. It made me grouchy (can’t you tell with all the
rotting meat and rash talk?). But what made it worse was that I
couldn’t understand how I could feel the absence of someone who had
never been present in the first place. Yeah, we had one date. It
was months ago.

It wasn’t even the date I thought of.
Not anymore.

It was his kiss. It was the feel of his
body against mine. It was that damn lip piercing that I practically
yearned to pull through my teeth.

Even though he told me I wouldn’t see
him around, I still looked for him. Every car that passed by me on
the street, I searched the driver’s seat. Every man that walked
into the salon, my heart would skip and I would seek out his face.
When the phone rang, I secretly hoped it was him.

Disappointment was a sour taste in my
mouth every single time it wasn’t him.

I knew I wouldn’t see him. It only made
me want to see him more.

I stayed late to restock the
display and update my running list for the inventory so I would
know what to order next week when I made my call to the suppliers.
I took my time. I wasn’t really in a hurry to get home anyway. I’d
just end up thinking about things—
about a
certain person—
I didn’t want to think
about.

When all the stylists were gone for the
day, a still silence blanketed the salon. It was quite the change
from the normally bustling atmosphere. Knowing that I’d stalled
enough, I made my last notation on my paperwork and then put it
away for later. After slinging my bag over my shoulder and grabbing
my empty water bottle off the counter, I shut off the lights in the
back room and pulled the door around on my way out.

All the stylist chairs were empty and
lined up perfectly facing the mirrors. The floors were swept free
of hair. A few lights still shone overhead, illuminating the space
enough so it wasn’t dark.

As I walked from the back of the salon
toward the front, I noticed Susan was still in her office. The door
was partially ajar and a sliver of light stretched out across the
tile floor.

But even if I hadn’t noticed the light,
I would have known she was still here because her muffled voice
caught my attention. Even though I couldn’t make out what she was
saying, I could hear the tone behind her words… the
frustration.

Curious, I crept closer.

(What? You would eavesdrop too and you
know it.)

“
I told you not to call me
here,” she ground out, her voice low.

There was a pause as she listened to
whoever was on the other end of the line, and then she made a
strangled sound. “I told you I would take care of it.”

She paused again. I could hear papers
ruffling around on her desk.

“
There isn’t room!” she
insisted, and I jumped when a banging sound caught me off guard. It
was like she slammed something down on her desk.

Holy moly, I thought I was having a bad
day.

“
Fine,” she snapped. “Let me
know when it’s taken care of.”

The phone slammed down and she blew out
a frustrated breath. Like the sneaky gal I was being, I rushed back
up the salon and pulled the back room door all the way around so it
made a slamming sound. Then I walked down the center of the room,
practically stomping my boots so she would hear me
coming.

Susan appeared in her office door, a
slightly nervous twitch about her. “Julie, I didn’t realize you
were still here.”

I smiled. “Yep, just taking some
inventory and restocking the display. I’m all finished now so I’m
heading out.”

“
You were in the back
room?”

Duh. That’s what I said. “Yeah, I was
making notes on my inventory sheet. I restocked the front earlier
before everyone left.”

“
Oh.” Susan relaxed. “Well,
thank you. You’ve been doing a wonderful job.”

Something about the way she delivered
the compliment seemed sad. I couldn’t imagine why me being good at
my job was a bad thing.

“
Is everything okay?” I
asked hesitantly. I knew we were friends, but it seemed wrong not
to ask.

Susan gave me a bright smile.
“Everything’s great! Now go on. Get out of here. Have a great
night.”

I wasn’t going to press. She was my
boss after all. “You too,” I replied and walked toward the front
door. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

On my way to the car, I wondered about
Susan’s personal life. I wondered if she had a personal life. It
seemed like she was always at the salon, like Razor’s Edge was her
life.

Of course, I knew it couldn’t possibly
be the only thing, so it made me ponder what or who Susan spent her
time with when she wasn’t working.

I thought about it the whole drive
home, until I walked into my comfy townhouse and kicked off my
boots. I went straight upstairs, avoiding the bed and the memories
it now held, and straight for my sweatpants. They were purple, too
big and insanely comforting. I pulled them on, knotted the
drawstring waist, and then folded the waistband over itself so I
didn’t trip and fall on my way back downstairs. With my pants, I
put on a baggy gray T-shirt with sequins on the pocket and then
padded barefoot downstairs.

In the kitchen, I made a huge bowl of
popcorn with real melted butter, scrounged around for a box of
peanut M&Ms and a bottled water, then carried my haul out into
the living room to take up residence on the couch.

Once all my snacks were
settled and a fuzzy blanket was waiting on the cushions, I put in
my favorite movie,
Pride &
Prejudice,
and then settled down for a
night of munching and romance.

Thank goodness Mr. Darcy didn’t look a
thing like Blue.

Sometime during my movie and copious
amounts of sugar and butter, I fell asleep curled up inside my
blanket. I dreamt about a man with intensely blue eyes, who spoke
with an accent and kissed me in the pouring rain. I became
extremely irritated when someone started knocking… trying to make
my swoon-worthy dream boyfriend pull away from my lips.

I gave a growl and it brought me enough
out of sleep to realize I wasn’t dreaming the sound. Someone was
knocking on my front door.

I jolted up, squinting at the TV and
the blue screen, and wondered what time it was. It was completely
dark in here except for the light coming from the television. It
had to be the middle of the night.

I glanced at the door. Who would be
knocking at this hour? I got up, pulling the blanket around my
shoulders like a shield, and crept over to the door.

The knocking had stopped.

Leaving the chain across the top, I
unlocked the door and pulled it open just enough to see out. Cool
night air leaked through the open space and weaved around my bare
toes, causing them to curl against the floor.

Someone was retreating down the steps
off my tiny porch. He was wearing a black leather jacket and a gray
knit cap.