Page 150 of Sapphire Sunset

It was a chilling prospect, but not an irrational one.

And he’d thought of it himself multiple times.

But the reward, if Rodney came through, outweighed all thenegatives.

“Nasis coming for dinner. Care tojoin us?”

“Well, it just so happens I’ll be around,” she said.

“Oh yeah?”

“Yes. I’m staying at the hotel now that you’ve had a bunchof rooms open up. That way, it’ll be impossible for you to ignore my calls.”

She pulled him close and kissed him on the cheek.

“I wasn’t ignoring them,” Connor said. “I was preparing forthem.”

“Likely story.”

23

Logan couldn’t decide which thing was worse,his father’s yelling or the high-pitched squealing coming from the giant deviceLogan couldn’t figure out how to turn off.

“Are you out of your goddamn mind, son?”

Two days after he’d resigned and both nights since he’dmanaged about three hours of shut-eye tops. Maybe because he was staying lateat the gym and crashing on his dad’s office sofa to avoid going home, reachingfor Connor in his fitful dreams and palming scratchy office carpet instead.He’d filled the largely sleepless hours by reviewing all of his dad’s files,without his dad’s permission. And that morning, courtesy of gas station coffee,he’d driven hell for leather to Los Angeles and returned with the contraptionthat had turned Chip’s Kicks Irvine into a nightmare of squeals, beeps, andKlaxon bursts.

A few grizzled-looking customers stepped through the gym’sglass doors and saw the new metal detector blocking their path. One of themstopped and threw out his arms. “You running flights to Puerto Vallarta out ofthis place now, Chip?”

“Go around the thing, guys.” But as soon as he said it, Chiprealized that would require them to move the giant trash cans Logan had set upon either side of it. So he did, giving Logan looks that said he wanted to tearhis head from his neck.

Finally, Logan found the manual override switch and killedthe screaming. “It’s got a reserve battery, apparently. That’s why it didn’t gooff when I unplugged it.”

“Why did you buy a metal detector without talking to me?”Chip growled.

“For the last time, I didn’t buy it. It’s on loan from a buddyof mine who owns the company. You have security issues, Pop.”

“Says who?”

“Your insurance files. I found payouts for two fights.”

“When did you go through my files? Jesus! They weren’tfights.They were sparring matches that spilled off the ring and the guys got hurt andthreatened to sue, so insurance settled because it was barely anything. Nobody’sever drawn a weapon here. This isn’t some dive bar.”

“Well, once we figure out the settings, I’m sure we can makeit work,” Logan said.

“A metal detector in a boxing gym is never going to work.Eighty percent of our members have metal plates in their heads. This thing’sgoing to scream all day like a robot getting murdered. And there’s no lobby, soeveryone on the floor’s going to hear it. Does that sound likemaking itworkto you?”

“I said I’ll figure it out.”

“Take it back and get your money back.”

“For the lastfreakingtime, old man,” Logangrowled. “I didn’t buy it. It’son loan.”

Chip recoiled from Logan’s teeth-clenched rage. But hedidn’t look scared. He looked satisfied, as if a suspicion of his had beenconfirmed.

“In my office,” Chip said, “now.”

Feeling ten years old again, Logan followed his dad acrossthe floor, past clients working with trainers and others pumping iron on theweight machines.

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