and highly friendly. But I keep my distance, out of respect for Georgina’s wishes. I let her do her job. But when Savage puts his hand on Georgina’s shoulder—and then nonchalantly moves a lock of Georgina’s hair off her shoulder—all bets are off.
My heart thundering, I march through the crowd, and straight to the pair.
“I need to speak with you,” I bark to Savage.
“Can it wait? Georgina and I—”
“It can’t wait. Follow me.”
I grab his sleeve and pull him with me, leaving Georgina standing in shocked stillness, her mouth in the shape of a perfect “O.”
“Reed, come on, man. You’re cock-blocking me.”
Damn straight, I am.
I lead him around a corner and into an empty hallway and whirl around.
“Do not hit on the Rock ‘n’ Roll reporter.”
He shakes me off him. “She’s hot as hell.”
“She’s hands-off.”
“Who says?”
I pause. Fuck. I promised Georgie. “She’s here to do a job. Not to get hit on. I promised her boss nobody would hit on her.”
He scoffs. “I think we should let her decide if she wants to get hit on or not.”
“Go find the other writer. Her name is Zasu. She’s been assigned to do your interview.”
“Georgie and I have great chemistry. And we already have the whole thing figured out.”
“You’re doing an interview with Zasu. It’s not a request.”
He leans his shoulder against the wall of the hallway. “You want Georgina for yourself, don’t you?”
“My motivations don’t matter. The only thing you need to know is the owner of your label is telling you she’s off-limits. Now, go find Zasu.”
He pulls out a cigarette and slips it into his mouth. “Got a light?”
“No.”
He pulls the cigarette out of his mouth, winks at me, and saunters out of the room, throwing over his shoulder. “You’re too old for her, anyway, man. She’s only twenty-one.”
Fuck.
I run my palm through my hair and take a deep breath and leave the hallway.
Quickly, I spot Henn at one of the bars with Hannah, Josh, and Kat, so I beeline over there.
“Old Man Rivers!” Josh calls out when he sees me. He’s been calling me that nickname since our college days, but, in this particular moment, I’m not amused.
“Don’t call me that tonight. And order me a shot of tequila.”
Not surprisingly, everyone but preggers Kat enthusiastically joins me in doing a shot. After which, I lean into Henn’s shoulder. “Have you gotten access to his devices yet?”
Henn rolls his eyes. “Not since you asked me about it at the pool this afternoon.”
“Why hasn’t the bastard clicked on any of your phishing emails yet?”
“Sometimes, these things take time. But don’t worry. There are other ways to skin this cat. I’ll focus on it first thing Monday morning, once Hazel’s party is behind me.”
“Can you work on it tomorrow before Hazel’s party? I’m going to explode if I don’t get the ball rolling on this as soon as possible, Henny. I need you to do this for my mental health.”
“Who is this guy?”
I pause, weighing how much I can divulge to my best friend without feeling like I’m betraying Georgina’s confidence. Henn is one of two people in the world—the other being Josh—I trust completely. One of two people who get me completely. And, besides all that, if I expect Henn, a white hat hacker, to use his superpowers to completely destroy someone, I’m going to have to convince him he’s using his superpowers for good.
“This is confidential.”
“Of course.”
“Not even Hannah, Henn.”
“I understand.”
I pause. “Gates was Georgie’s teacher in high school. Her senior year, he pinned her arms behind her back and kissed her against her will. He tried to rape her, but she ran away screaming.”
“Holy shit.”
My heart is pounding. My blood simmering. “It fucked her up, Henn. I don’t want to go into too much detail, but she’s traumatized.”
“Understandably. There’s so much that’s wrong about all that. I don’t even know where to begin.”
“I want to destroy him, Henny. Well, actually, what I really want to do is strangle the life out of him with my bare hands. But since I don’t want to go to prison, I’ll settle for ending life as he knows it.”
Henn’s jaw sets. “I’m on it. I’m pretty drunk right now, and I’ve got Hazel’s party to deal with tomorrow. But I’ll get access as soon as possible.”
“Thanks, brother. I don’t know how much longer I can keep myself from driving to the Valley and handling him myself.”
“Don’t do that.” He pats my shoulder. “Have a drink. Actually, have several.”