Mine to Keep (NOLA Knights #3) - Rhenna Morgan Page 0,31
they’re perfectly fine. It’d be just like those goobers to turn a bad deal into some freakish gold mine and end up sucking down frou-frou drinks on some private island somewhere.”
“What makes you say that?” Roman said so sharply the woman right next to him jumped.
Bonnie smiled at the girl and waved her back to her own business. “Hell, I don’t know what I mean. Maybe just wishful thinking. Better that than entertaining the alternative. The truth is, it’s beyond me and out of my hands, so I’m just trying to accept things the way they’ve always been—crazy.”
Cassie sighed. “I’m really sorry, Bonnie. Kir and Roman have been looking for leads, too, and haven’t found anything. We were hoping you might have something else for them to go on.”
She frowned up at Roman. “I told you I’d handle it.”
Not the least bit ruffled, he smirked back in response. “So, I recall. Though it appears you’ve made no progress, and I did not agree to drop it.”
“You’re nuts,” she said to Roman, then shifted her attention to Cassie and Kir. “Seriously, there’s no point in y’all getting involved. Doesn’t look like there’s anything for anyone to do anyway.”
“You’re my friend,” Cassie said. “Your family is missing, and I want to help you. We all want to help you.” Her gaze narrowed and roamed Bonnie’s face. “And from the looks of things you could use that help. How much sleep are you getting?”
Between jumping at every noise outside her apartment and the hours she’d been keeping at work, about an hour and a half each night. Not that she’d admit that out loud. Avoiding Cassie’s eyes, she grabbed a few empty lowball glasses and started washing them. “’Bout the usual. I’m just worn from shifts the last three days. Worked three doubles in a row—which kinda worked in my favor since my landlord finally got off his ass and decided to fix some stuff in my place this week.”
“She is also still walking to work,” Roman said to Cassie, all matter-of-fact.
Bonnie snapped upright. “How do you know that?”
Roman smiled back, all smugness. “Because you just said your car is not fixed and it’s not in the parking lot.”
“And how do you know what car I drive?”
“Do you think I would commit family resources to assisting you and not know basic facts, malen’kaya koroleva?”
“Hmmph.” Not the most powerful retort, but it beat gaping up at him the way she wanted to. She stacked the glasses in the drying rack, wiped her hands on her bar towel and pinned her attention on Cassie. “You guys gotta let this go. God himself hasn’t kept my family out of chaos at any point in my life. I doubt any of you are gonna do any better.” She pulled the phone she’d kept in her back pocket free and handed it over. “And take this, too. I feel bad enough jerking you guys around on Monday. I tried to give it to the big lug, and he wouldn’t take it.”
Cassie smiled.
Actually smiled. Then beamed that huge grin up at Roman. “You told her to keep the phone?”
He shrugged. “I did not need it. She did.”
“Uh-huh.” A pronouncement from Cassie that sounded like she’d read a whole lot more into his response than Bonnie had. She faced Bonnie and crossed her arms on the bar like some monumental decision had just been made. A satisfied glint sparked behind her pretty blue eyes. “Well, if he says you need it, then you need it. And you’re the one who called, so you’ll have to be the one who talks him out of helping you.”
Jesus.
These people might be kind, but they were stubborn as hell, too. “Right. And after I get that through his thick head, I’ll round up all the government bigwigs and get the deficit sorted.” She rolled her eyes for added effect and stuffed the phone back in her pocket. If they wanted to throw around big money like confetti, so be it. At least she’d tried to do the right thing.
Behind the trio, Trixie sauntered past and assessed Roman and Kir in turn.
Bonnie sighed and said to Cassie, “Better watch your guys. Trixie’s eyeballing them like prime cuts of beef.”
Cassie’s eyes widened and she spun, surveying the crowd behind her. “Who’s Trixie?”
Kir chuckled, slid his arm around Cassie’s waist and pulled her tight to his side. “Relax, liubimaja. Any attention on me is wasted.”
Bonnie couldn’t help it. She cocked an eyebrow at Roman and shook her