Page 67 of The Pursuit of Happiness

“You’re welcome, Rogan,” I grin back.

Everyone leaves except for Brody, Ivory, Harvey, and Sly. We’re all getting our own items together so that we can all go home. I’m putting my guitar back in the case when I see a shadow looming from behind me. I turn to find Harvey hovering over me. I look around to find everyone completely oblivious and raise a brow at Harvey. He squats to his knees so that our faces are only about five inches apart and he asks, his voice low, “Did you really buy that apology?”

I know he’s talking about Rogan. Harvey never inserts himself into other people’s business unless it involves Brody in some way, so I’m confused as to why he’s acting so out of character now. I’m also wondering why he’s asking me when nobody else is watching or listening. “I thought it was sincere.”

Harvey shakes his head at me in disappointment, “That man is full of shit. I’d watch my back if I were you.”

My brows rise in shock. What did Harvey see that I didn’t? “What do you mean?”

Harvey looks over his shoulder again to make sure there are no listening ears, “In the military they taught us how to interrogate people. They taught us the signs to look for, thepsychological signals to read. I watched him talk to you and I’m telling you, he’s full of shit.”

I shake my head in complete shock. Harvey continues, “His body language was a dead giveaway. I’m not saying he’s out to kill you, but I’m just saying you should watch your back.”

I nod, absorbing the entirety of his words, “Thank you.”

He dips his chin at me, “You’re important to Brody.” That’s the only explanation needed. We all know if I wasn’t important to Brody, Harvey wouldn’t give two shits about me.

He rises from his position and walks across the room to his girlfriend. I turn and focus on fastening the clasps on my case, my hands suddenly trembling as I trace over Harvey’s words. On one hand, I trust his opinion. Harvey is a smart man with a lot of experience and has no reason to misguide me. On the other, I truly felt Rogan was being sincere.

Chapter 15

Aria

“You know, I’m reallygetting sick of being summoned,” I grumble from my seat in Selene’s pristine office.

She summoned all of us here for a meeting and by all of us, I mean myself, Ivory, Brody, Harvey, and Sly. Harvey stands by the window, overlooking the city while the rest of us sit before Selene’s desk. “This is starting to feel a lot like when you sprung this one on me,” Brody hooks a thumb at Harvey over her shoulder. A sense of nostalgia washes through me. It feels like an entire lifetime ago that we were being reprimanded for all the fucked up and very illegal shit we used to do. It feels like an alternate reality where Selene demanded we change our ways and announced that Harvey would be moving in with Brody against her will to straighten her out.

Harvey scoffs and shakes his head, smirking at his girlfriend who practically stares at him with hearts in her eyes. My lip curls in disgust. Is that what I look like when I look at Sly?

“This is a very important meeting. We’re waiting on one more person,” Selene informs.

“Who?” Sly asks, suspicion in his gaze. I think part of him has been on edge since Rogan apologized to me two days ago in the studio. He didn’t seem one hundred percent convinced that Rogan was sincere, but I reassured him that everything was fine even though I’m not entirely sure it is. Not after the warning that Harvey gave me. The warning I haven’t mentioned to anyone.

As if on cue, the door to Selene’s office opens and DallasCarter enters with his gloomy aura of doom. I swear the guy walks around with a dark cloud of shadows above his head. I thought Harvey was intense, but Dallas is a different kind of intense. His hazel colored eyes take quick inventory of attendance, but linger a moment longer on Ivory and where her skirt rests on her leg.

I look at her to see if she notices, but she doesn’t. She seems completely oblivious to Dallas’ gaze and doesn’t think much of his presence. He shifts his gaze to Harvey, whom he exchanges a nod with, and then shakes hands with Selene. I know it strokes Selene’s ego that she has the respect of both Harvey and Dallas. I can see it in the devious gleam in her eyes. “Thank you for coming,” she thanks him, seating herself back in her desk chair.

Dallas nods, “I have information on the tape that may be of interest to you,” he speaks to the room, but focuses his eyes mainly on Sly and I.

Sly’s hand rests on my thigh and he squeezes it in encouragement and comfort. I grab his hand with both of mine and squeeze to steady myself. Are we about to find out who’s responsible for our public humiliation? My breath catches in my chest as we wait for Dallas to give us a name.

His face is unflinching, void of emotion as he announces, “The video was recorded and uploaded to social media through a prepaid burner phone.”

I wait for him to say more, but he doesn’t. “That’s it? That’s all you have?” I was expecting a name. I want to know who the fuck did this to us.

Dallas raises an annoyed brow at me, “It was prepaid which means there’s no way of tracingwhopurchased it. But I was able to get a few other details.”

“Which are?” Sly leans forward in his seat, his face blank.

“We managed to trace the model of the phone. It’s a small, blue metallic phone and is not a smartphone,” Dallas adds.

Ivory lets out a sarcastic laugh, “How does that help us figure out who did this to them?”

Dallas’ gaze on her is so intense and I watch as she starts to fidget with her fingers in her lap, her gaze suddenly trained on the floor. She seems intimidated, but judging off of the way he’s looking at her, I don’t think he’s trying to intimidate her. I think he’s more intrigued by her.

Dallas raises his chin and doesn’t remove his eyes from Ivory as he says darkly, “If you know someone with a phone that meets that description, it was them.” I almost don’t notice the sarcasm because it’s coming from someone who’s most likely never laughed before, but it’s there.

Harvey asks, “You can’t trace the IP?”

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