Page 14 of Royally Ruined

Thatwasa problem ... but something Scotch had said during the drive gave me an idea. It was such a good excuse I started to laugh.

My brother groaned in exasperation. “What’s so funny?”

“I was just thinking about how crazy club music is these days.” The motel room’s doorknob had gone ice cold. Twisting it, I cast one final look at my brother. “It can soundjust likegunshots.”

- CHAPTER FIVE -

SCOTCH

The window was too greasy to allow me to see Costello and Thorne outside. Even if it had been clear, I didn’t have a good enough angle, and it wasn’t like I could read lips. I cursed all the times I’d turned down my uncle when he’d suggested teaching me for fun.

This isn’t fun,I reminded myself.This is life or death.If someone had told me I might be killed because of a thwarted blow job, I’d have told them they were nuts. Life is too fond of its little curveballs.

The door rattled; I jumped back onto the bed, settling on the rock-hard mattress as Costello entered. He fixed his eyes on me, shutting the door behind him. “Is Thorne not coming in?” I asked, doing my best to act casual and not like I had been trying to spy on them.

His long index finger pressed to his lips.He wants me to be quiet?I wondered, reading the universal sign forshut up. Like a great cat he prowled around the room. It wasn’t a big space, but with him in it, it became smaller.

The browned bulbs over the stained bathroom mirror cast a halo around the door, allowing me to watch as Costello meticulously squinted into every cobwebbed corner.

He stepped onto the bed, forcing me to lean away so he had enough room to stand and reach the ceiling’s light fixture. When he unscrewed the cap, peered at the wires, then efficiently put it back together, I realized what he was doing.

He’s making sure the room isn’t bugged.I doubted it was, but that was just the kind of person Costello Badd was.

Meticulous.

Sharp.

Someone who made no mistakes.

Until me,I thought morbidly. He should never have rescued me from the club tonight. I was sure he had to know that, and yet ... so far ... all he’d done was take more measures to keep me safe.

That could change at any moment. I don’t know what he talked about with his brother.His slinking around—soundless as the night—put him in a less positive light.What if he’s decided to get rid of me?My eyes shot around at the barren walls that were the color of old coffee. Could this be the last place I’d ever see?

Holy shit, stop being so morbid!I told myself with disgust.

He’d gone into the bathroom; I heard him fiddling with the lights and the showerhead, and then he came back toward me. He sat on the mattress, the springs squeaking like he was as heavy as the incessant weight crushing down on my heart.

“Sometimes the cops use these places for drug stings,” he explained. “We don’t need anyone catching us chatting about a gunshot victim.” He spoke as if his mouth were full of warm syrup. I wanted to roll around in it like a sugar glutton.

I cleared my throat. “Okay, good to know.” After I’d been quiet for so long, my voice sounded strange to me. “Are you going to tell me what Thorne didn’t want me to hear?”

Costello bent his head nearer, getting a better angle to ... smell me, or something. But that was a crazy idea. Even when he breathed in loud enough for me to hear it, I knew I was imagining things. “How do you feel about Vermont?”

An awkward snort escaped me—I hadn’t been expecting such a weird question. “Come again?”

“We’re going to head there in the morning.”

“Are you being obtuse on purpose? Why the hell are we going to Vermont?”

His gaze rolled from my eyes to my collarbone. The jacket had fallen open; the zipper could do only so much, it was huge on me. “Someone saw you go into the champagne room at the club.”

My ribs became too tiny for my lungs. “I—someone saw me? Who?”

“Doesn’t matter who. What matters is that we get you out of the city until Darien wakes up and calls off the dogs.”

It sounded good ... but really, this man could makeanythingsound good when he spoke just above a whisper. “But why Vermont?”

“There’s a wedding I need to attend. If I bring a date ...” He trailed off, bouncing his dark eyes from my cleavage to my face. I was sure I was making a very stupid expression; he’d just told me I was supposed to be hisdate. Tightening his jaw, he turned away, pretending to see out the blinds covering the window. “It won’t look suspicious. You’ll be safe.”

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