VIP area of the club after the show. All of Brooklyn Dawn and their significant others, some of Warning Sign and same. I went to the bar to buy drinks for Teagan and myself, though I ended up just getting one for her. I ordered a Blue Shark instead of a Blue Lagoon, which she was already drinking at the table. The bartender started flirting with me. Blond and brown, five-six, approximately one-twenty. Said her name was Priscilla Jones.”
“Got it.”
I heard the scratch of a pencil and knew he was taking notes. “I mentioned something about being in the band, and she got excited, and then she asked about Teagan. Fucking hell, she asked about Teagan specifically. I didn’t mention her, but she made it seem to Teagan like it was a coincidence she was in the band. How could I be so damn stupid?”
Noah wisely chose not to comment.
“My head wasn’t in the game.” I braced my elbow on my knee and scrubbed my hand over my face.
“The fire.”
“Yeah, but not just that. This isn’t really any of your business, but I want to cover all my bases. Teagan and I hooked up that night.”
“Congratulations. Do you want me to put that in the case notes?”
I didn’t know whether I wanted to laugh or punch the guy. Possibly both. “Look, put whatever you want. I’m not telling you to brag. It’s private. But what happened with us influenced the other events.”
Quickly, I told him the rest. How Zane was dared by Jamie to drink Teagan’s left-behind drink when we were dancing. Why we didn’t return to the table. Waking up the next morning to bail out Zane from jail after he’d stolen a car, gotten a tramp stamp, and God knows what else.
“And at no time did you think you should tell your manager what was happening?”
“She called us before we could.”
“Right. I’m certain you didn’t have time to pick up a phone after your active night and morning.”
“Look, I just said Zane interrupted us. We didn’t know shit was happening during our so-called active night. As far as we knew, Priscilla had stopped by to say hi to an old friend, and then she went back to tending bar.”
“As far as you knew, the band was under siege, and an act of such had probably happened that morning. You know better than to believe in coincidences. You also knew that this was not the time to be starting something with an understandably vulnerable woman. And you proved it with your very dangerous miss at the bar. You brought that stranger over to Teagan. Presented her with a drink that could have potentially killed her and caused serious harm to Zane’s reputation, if nothing else.”
Rage simmered in my blood. Worse than that was the shame layered underneath it.
“I’m sorry, I must’ve missed where the sex lives of my bandmates and I fell into the purview of Roth Security.”
“Cut the BS. Teagan’s a sweet girl. She has enough to deal with right now without—”
“Without a fuckup and deserter messing up her life? Is that what you really want to say? By the way, I thought you were supposed to keep it professional.”
Suddenly, I could think of nothing but our club party not that long ago when Teagan had been fawning over Daisy’s pictures of Noah and talking about how he had to be well-hung. Everyone had thought it was so funny. Except me. And obviously except Noah, who’d walked up at just the right time despite Teagan trying to play it off.
“And sweet girl, huh? Did knowing she had a thing for you get your rocks off, Jordan? Are you disappointed her little bout of hero worship is over now?”
“Are you sure that it is?”
That low question might as well have been a blade stuck in my ribs.
“I don’t know why I fucking called you. I thought you could see this unemotionally.”
“One of us is emotional, and it’s not me. From what I’ve seen, Teagan is sweet. Does that mean I fully trust her? No. It’s actually better for her if I don’t. Then I can keep my distance and my professionalism.”
“Yes, no one would dare doubt your almighty professionalism. I wonder what you’d do if one day you meet someone you can’t keep your distance from.”
“The job comes first. Always.”
“Yeah, so far.”
“It’s not going to change.”
“We’ll see.”
“The arson investigator will be looking at everything to evaluate who started that fire. Including Teagan.”
Little did he know I’d already been given