if we’re dealing with a pro.” Ian Taggart paced the big suite, still dressed in the button-down and slacks he’d worn to the party. “According to the police report, it went missing earlier this evening. I had Derek contact the local police. They believe it was someone who stole it and was driving drunk. It’ll get buried really fast. You two did a good job talking to them. I don’t think they’ll follow up.”
“Adam will see if he can do anything with facial recognition.” Alex had been waiting with Ian when JT had handed off his truck to the valet downstairs, who hadn’t said a thing about the dents and deep gouges to the back. “The police out in Parker County have already found the vehicle. We’ll let you know if they find any prints, but I suspect they won’t.”
Nina had been relieved to have a distraction since the hour-long drive to Dallas had been almost completely silent.
Silent, and not comfortable. She could practically hear the wheels in JT’s head grinding, and they weren’t coming up with anything Nina thought they should. She was afraid she was about to be introduced to the JT who’d lost his closest female friend. She understood, but she couldn’t allow it to derail the mission, and she worried that’s exactly what JT would try to do.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t get a better shot of him. My impression from the brief glimpse I got was of a male. Not that it tells us anything. I would assume this person was hired.” She stood by the window where only days ago she’d been with JT, letting the night cradle them, pretending nothing in the world could get to them.
She’d known it was a pretty lie even before she’d realized who her new lover was. She’d known her time with him was probably short.
They’d stolen a few days, but now she wondered if it was coming to an abrupt end. She was surprised at how far she might be willing to go to not allow that to happen.
JT stood across the room from her, still quiet, but she could sense the boiling emotions threatening to bubble over. His tension was etched in the hard line of his expression. He might have faced down pirates before and lots of scary situations, but she doubted he’d done it when he was with someone he deeply cared about. It was a different kind of anxiety, and she didn’t think he was handling it well.
“I’m happy you thought to try to get us a picture of the asshole at all. That was quick thinking,” Tag said. “Also it gave me and Alex the rest of the night off. We were pulling into Alex’s driveway to drop them off when we got the call.”
Alex grinned. “I’ve never seen Big Tag move so fast. Apparently the sitter called and told Charlotte that Travis woke up and won’t go back to sleep.”
“Charlie tried to cover it up, but I could hear that kid wailing in the background,” Big Tag acknowledged. “Before you start writing the Am I the Asshole post, I had him all last weekend while Charlie and Chelsea did a sisters thing that I pray was really about massages and mani pedis, because their sister time used to be spent taking over small countries.”
“And I was just making sure Ian doesn’t get in trouble,” Alex added. “It has nothing to do with the fact that we’ll now have to stay over here and make sure no one tries to kill JT again. Nothing to do with the fact that I can sleep in instead of waking up to a dirty diaper in the face because Eve brings the baby into bed with us thinking she’ll be able to sleep a little longer. Vivian never sticks her stinky diaper in her momma’s face. No. It is always mine.”
“Hey, when you and Theo figure out how to breastfeed, that can change for you,” Tag snarked. “But Alex is right. We’re going to bed down here and make sure everything goes smoothly. There’s room service, right? I’m sure this place has killer room service, and I don’t have to fight the girls for pancakes. They’re surprisingly sneaky when it comes to food hoarding. They do not mind licking things.”
Alex had gotten rid of his tie the minute they’d walked upstairs. “And hey, we’ll need to make sure you two make it to the airport. Are you sure they don’t need a bodyguard, because I could