Page 91 of Saving Ian Pope

I hadn’t told my bestie about Ian’s discovery. How had he found out, anyway? I didn’t contact Jack after that single, devastating text, and he never explained further. We both knew what those two little words meant.

Chloe didn’t need to know what was happening with Ian. She’d probably call him and launch into my defense. He’d think I put her up to it, and everything would be worse than it already was, although I don’t know how it could be any worse. I’d lost my man, and he thought I was a piece of shit scammer.

I put down my phone, wiped my hand on the seat of my jeans and grabbed a Diet Coke from the fridge. “I just hope Matt doesn’t call and cancel or get suspicious. It was hard enough to get him to agree to a meeting at his apartment tonight.”

When I called Matt to let him know I was in LA and needed to see him, he’d suggested meeting at a bar. I convinced him that I didn’t want to discuss this subject in public. Then he said he’d come to my place, and I had to assure him that Chloe and I were going to be in his neighborhood, anyway, and we’d drop by. Mentioning Chloe’s name had been the golden ticket.

Chloe pointed to my can. “You need chamomile tea to calm down, not caffeine.”

“I need to be alert and on my game. This is no time for serenity.”

“You wanna go through it one more time?” She wrapped her black hair around one hand and tossed it over her shoulder, as I nodded my head.

She launched into the plan for the hundredth time. “We’ll take my car. I probably won’t be able to find a parking place in front of his building anyway, since this is West Hollywood we’re talking about, but even if I do, I’ll park down the street a bit. He won’t question that.”

I picked up the narrative. “We’ll go to his place, shoot some shit, and then you’ll mention to him that you bought a new car and ask him if he wants to see it.”

“Right. He’ll want to go, of course, because it’ll give him a chance to ogle my tits.” She shimmied her shoulders.

“Ugh.” I covered my ears. “Don’t wanna know.”

“While I’m showing him my...beamers, you’ll be visiting Bob Marley. Grab the flash drive, shove it in your pocket, and then when I bring Matt back, you can make up some BS about your plan. What are you going to say? You can’t drop the ball at that point because he might get suspicious.”

“I’ll tell him that I can get more money out of Ian. He’ll be so pumped at the thought of more cash, he won’t be thinking about anything else. Believe me.”

Chloe dusted her hands together. “We bounce out of there with the flash drive, you can destroy it and go back to the popstar with a clear conscience.”

I chewed my bottom lip. I’d have to explain to Chloe at some point that I wasn’t going back to the popstar. I could just say we broke up over the pressure of the new release. Ian would be touring soon, anyway. He’d forget all about me.

“Matt’s going to realize I took the flash drive.”

“So what?” Chloe shrugged.

“I don’t want him to come around here, hassling you wh-when I go back to England.

“Don’t worry about me, babe. I can handle Matt, and if you don’t tell him he won’t have any proof we took it. I can pretend to be shocked.” She crossed her hands over her chest and widened her baby blues. “You mean the flash drive is gone? Your little blackmail vehicle is no more? Guess the party’s over. The key tonight is to get him out of the apartment and leave you there. Have you thought of an excuse for staying?”

“I could come in limping, but I don’t want to add more lies to the story in case I forget to limp in front of him. I can just say, I don’t need to see your car, or I can get on the phone or use the bathroom at an opportune time.” I couldn’t stand it anymore and picked up my phone.Nothing. “I’ll play it by ear.”

“Okay, I’m going to do some work before show time.” She paused at the entrance to the hallway. “Have you heard from Ian lately?”

I almost dropped my phone. “Uh, no, why?”

“I texted him yesterday about Project BlueFin, and he didn’t get back to me. I think I squelched all that nonsense. I just wanted to give him an update.” Chloe smacked the wall with her hand. “He did pay me already, though. I should switch my clientele from Fortune 500 companies to celebrities. The celebs pay a lot better.”

“I’m glad it worked out. He’s really busy with the release, but I can pass on the update.”

Once Chloe disappeared into her bedroom to work, I collapsed on the sofa. Ian had paid off Chloe to get us both out of his life. His actions couldn’t be any clearer. I expected it, but the knowledge only twisted the knife even more.

After staring at my phone, almost comatose, for thirty minutes, I shook myself into action and vacuumed the house, cleaned my bathroom, and went out to pick up groceries for dinner. I didn’t feel like eating anything, but Chloe could eat through an alien invasion.

She didn’t emerge from her room until I was well into cooking the pasta. She strolled into the kitchen, stretching. “I thought I smelled garlic cooking out here. You didn’t have to make anything. We could’ve gone out to eat in West Hollywood, made it worth our while to trek out there.”

“Getting that flash drive is going to make it worthwhile.” I stirred the linguine in the pan with the tomatoes, basil, onion, and garlic. “It’s not a big deal. Nothing I cook is a big deal.”

She poked me in the back. “You’d better expand your repertoire. Englishmen do not live by spotted dick alone.” She couldn’t get enough of that joke, but I didn’t feel like smiling.

“Oh relax.” She massaged my shoulders. “This is going to work.”

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