Page 93 of Saving Ian Pope

Matt brushed past me and opened the front door. Holding it ajar, he made a half turn. “You coming, Ivy?”

“Maybe in a minute. I have to answer this text from my editor. You guys go.”

Matt’s step faltered over the threshold of the door, and I held my breath, my eyes glued to Scruffy’s picture. Matt finally moved. “Alright. Hurry up, and don’t touch any of my shit.”

As he and Chloe stepped outside, they bumped into someone. Matt said, “Hey, Buzz. Whaddya need?”

“Nothing, man. Just dropped by to see if you wanted to have a beer.” Buzz poked his head inside the apartment, his long hair swinging over his shoulders, and I lifted my hand in a wave.

Go away.Go away.

Matt gave Buzz a fist bump. “Hit me up in about a half hour. My sister and her friend are here, and we’re gonna look at my car.”

“Sweet ride.” Buzz tucked his hair behind his ear. “I’ll come by later.”

Matt and Chloe turned to leave, but Buzz hovered in the doorway. I stretched my lips into a tight smile. “Yeah, nice to meet you.”

“You wanna have a beer with me while we wait for Matt and your friend?”

“No, thanks.” I clutched the Tesla pamphlet to my chest as if it were an important document. “Actually, my brother and I have a little business to discuss. Like he said, we’ll be done in about thirty.”

“I gotcha, I gotcha.” He held up his hands and backed away from the door.

As soon as the screen door slammed, I rushed to the poster. Reaching over the bookshelf, I felt along the bottom of the glossy paper with my fingertips. I lifted one corner, peeling the sticky putty away from the wall. I slid my hand behind the poster, running it along the plaster. No luck.

Standing on my tiptoes, I smoothed both of my hands across the slick paper from Bob’s elbows down to the bottom of the poster. I didn’t feel any lumps or bumps, and I couldn’t reach above his elbows.

I twisted around and spotted a kitchen chair pulled up to a round table. I tripped across the room and grabbed the chair by the back and dragged it to the bookshelf. I stood on top of it, and leaning forward, I reached for the poster again. I started at Bob’s elbows and ran my hands upward. My fingers tripped over a lump just under Bob’s chin—dead center in the middle of the poster.

I’d have to peel it back from the very top. My fingers crawled up the paper to the top edge, and I loosened one corner. If I could just get a little higher. I glanced down at the bookshelf. I put one foot on the top shelf, bracing my hand against Bob’s crotch.

The screen door banged open, and Matt yelled. “I knew it! I knew you were up to something.”

I jerked to the side, my hand grabbing at the flash drive beneath Bob’s throat through the paper. I curled my fingers around it and ripped. With the flash drive and a bunch of poster paper in my hand, I teetered backward.

Matt charged toward me and finished the job. He tackled my legs and took me down from the chair, falling on top of me. I formed a fist around the drive. He’d have to pry it from my cold, dead hand ‘cuz there was no way I was giving this up.

As he grabbed my wrist, the screen door bashed open again, and I screamed. “Come and get the flash drive, Chloe. I have it in my hand.”

Instead of Chloe’s voice, I heard the sweetest sound in the world and figured Matt must be choking the breath out of me, causing me to hallucinate.

That low voice with the English accent shouted, “Get off my girl.”

Chapter 31

IAN

The man sitting on top of Ivy cranked his head around. “Who the fuck are you? Oh, hold on, you’re the popstar. This was all a setup.”

“Ivy, are you alright?” My adrenaline was pumping hard and fast through my system, and every one of my senses was on fire.

Ivy’s round eyes took up half her face, but she didn’t look like she was in any pain. The guy on top of her was pinning her down, but he didn’t have his hands on her, except his fingers circled around her small wrist. “I’m fine, sort of. What are you doing here?”

I lunged forward, fists at the ready. “Get off her, mate, or I will fuck you up.”

Matt, I’m assuming it was Matt, laughed. “Come at me, pretty boy. I’ll fuck up your face so bad, you’ll never sing again—not that you can sing now. Total shit.”

I advanced and loomed over him and Ivy on the floor. Matt didn’t have any weapons, so I closed my hand around the back of his neck to pull him away from Ivy. “You don’t wanna try me, bro. I trained with Marky Mark.”

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