Page 10 of Glamour and Grit

We step out into the night. He’s still holding my hand. We both sort of realize this at the same time and awkwardly release our grip. His face twists up in annoyance as he looks up and down the street.

“What’s wrong?”

“Bastian gave me a ride. My car isn’t here.”

I chuckle softly as the night wind stirs my hair.

“I also got a ride, so I guess we don’t have a set of wheels.”

He grunts, giving the matter some thought. A street light buzzes overhead, mingling with the sounds of distant traffic. The breeze has stolen the heat from the city. It feels like a great night for a rooftop party, or dinner on the beach.

Instead, we’re going to my apartment to look for clues as to whether Justin is alive or dead.

“Okay, I have an idea.”

He leads me back inside. Jax’s office door is now closed and we can hear him talking softly on the phone. I follow Dane through a door exiting the lobby and into a room filled with server towers covered in blinking lights. A woman sits at the keyboard, her gaze flicking over to us as we enter.

“Dane! I haven’t seen you in forever. Oh, thank goodness, you finally got a girlfriend,” she says, taking off her headset and standing up. I get a glance at the screen. There are about a hundred windows open and all of them are filled with programmer code.

She hugs Dane and then thrusts her hand out at me. I take it on instinct, trying to correct her but she steamrolls over me.

“Can you please help me get him to eat something beside Little Debbie snack cakes and bar food? I’m not asking you to cook for him, understand, just get him to diversify his palate?—”

“She’s a client of the firm, Harlowe, not my girlfriend,” Dane says with a smirk. “This is a professional call, and I happen to like bar food.”

Harlowe blinks in confusion. “Wait, you mean you finally wised up and took a job with the firm?”

“It’s a one-off. Harlowe, this is Selene. Selene, this is my sister, Harlowe.”

“I’m so sorry, Selene. I made assumptions.”

“It’s all right,” I say, trying to wave away her concerns. “It’s hard to believe that he eats like a twelve-year-old, though, with that body.”

As soon as the words come out of my mouth, I feel like an ass. I could have put that another way. Harlowe gets a knowing smirk at the corner of her mouth. Dane’s sudden intake of breath is the only sign he heard.

“Anyway,” he says, pointedly not looking at me, “I need to borrow your car.”

“Borrow my car? I didn’t bring my car. No one drives in LA, there’s too much traffic.”

“Then how did you get here?”

“Bastian gave me a ride. But why don’t you just use one of the company cars?”

He perks up. “There are company cars?”

“Yeah, our operation is growing and expanding. Duh.” She rolls her eyes. “Thanks to all the publicity from taking care of Charlotte and Emory, the firm is doing great.”

Harlowe takes us out through the back, where a freshly paved parking lot holds several black SUVs. One of them bears the Platinum Security logo, but the rest of them wouldn’t look out of place on any road in the Valley. Which I guess is the point.

“These are some ugly ass trucks,” Dane says with a snort. “Who picked them out?”

Harlowe crosses her arms over her chest and glares at her brother.

“Oh shit, did you…sorry, I didn’t know.”

“Whatever. Here’s the keys. Don’t bring it back without a full tank of gas.”

“A full tank of gas? This monster? Can I at least expense account it?”

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