Page 24 of Flick

“Just because he’s your best friend doesn’t mean he can’t be more. You’re my friend, but Hennessy, besides being my man, is my best friend. He’s the one I want to tell everything to first,” Ellie said.

Beth didn’t say anything for a bit, and Ellie stayed on the phone, waiting to see if Beth needed her.

“I mean, I’ve always thought he was hot and sexy with his hair and that body, but I didn’t consider we could be more.”

“Beth, there’s nothing that says your relationship has to change. But if it’s something you want, I can tell you that there’s nothing better than falling in love with your best friend. You have to do what is right for you.”

Beth grinned even though Ellie couldn’t see her. Ellie had said it perfectly. Nothing had to change about their relationship, but Beth owed it to herself and Flick to seriously consider if he was the one for her.

“Thanks, Ellie,” Beth said.

“Anytime. Stay safe and take care,” Ellie replied and hung up.

Beth had hours left to get back to Texas and too much time to think. Should she take a chance? She loved her life, but what if it could be better? But then again, what if she lost her best friend?

Chapter Sixteen

Beth sat in the car, keeping an eye on the nightclub. Flick was taking a couple pictures before they got out to walk around and check out the place. The line to get in stretched down the sidewalk to the end of the block and around the corner.

In their disguises, Beth was positive no one would recognize them. She was wearing a black wig styled in a bob and a low-cut sparkly top. She had one of the special bras to give her a large amount of cleavage. She’d applied a beauty mark to the side of her breast to draw any eyes there.

Since she had Flick with blonde hair when he was playing the novelist, she’d given him light brown curly hair, shoulder-length, with a matching beard. She’d also added some prosthetic teeth with imperfections because Flick’s teeth were bright white and perfect.

It had been five days since she’d driven back. Changing her relationship with Flick was all she thought about when she wasn’t actively researching the case.

Della had pulled police reports and started matching them up to calls in the same area. She’d found discrepancies between the amount of calls involving women in danger and the amount of calls actually filed in three areas of the city. Beth didn’t believe it was a coincidence that the three areas included this nightclub, the bar where Rose was taken, and the apartment building.

They’d concentrated on these places for surveillance and had cut back on the around-the-clock surveillance on everywhere but the appliance warehouse because, for some reason, it was still bothering her.

Rose had noticed that her former partner had taken to working all the weekend shifts on Fridays and Saturdays. He also had changed where he covered. Wonder of wonders, his shift covered this nightclub and the apartment complex a large number of their cohorts visited.

No matter what, Beth wanted to wrap this up before July. The Fourth of July was her favorite holiday, and these jerks in Texas weren’t going to keep her from celebrating in Bluff Creek.

“Are we ready?” Flick asked, sliding the camera back into the console to hide it. They didn’t need their vehicle broken into while they were out on reconnaissance.

“Yes. Shall we walk around back and act like we’re looking for the line?”

Flick nodded. “Sounds like a plan. Let’s do this, Chrissy.”

She chuckled. Chrissy and Leo even had their IDs matching their names and disguises. It was amazing how fast Blue, Cider Creek’s Secretary, and Cowboy had put the IDs together. If Cider Creek ever wanted to dabble on the illegal side of things, they had plenty of ways to make money. She didn’t see it happening under Bootstrap’s leadership. He didn’t mind dirtying his hands when needed but said he didn’t want the constant fighting for territory and portions of the funds from illegal enterprises that they’d have to participate in to carve out their portion.

Beth got out as Flick opened the door for her. He led her down the street and through a parking lot to put them on the wrong side of the nightclub’s entrance. There had been a lot of movement from back here—more than Beth would expect on a normal Friday night. If it was only an employee entrance, why did people in cars keep leaving the parking lot?

She and Flick chatted about partying as they walked down the alley and into the large lot. Flick was doing a fantastic job of acting as if he was already inebriated. As they walked close to the back entrance, she saw a man walking out.

She grabbed Flick and pushed him up against a car.

“Go along with it,” she whispered against his lips before she claimed them. She leaned flush against Flick, sliding her hands along his shoulders because she didn’t want to tug on his wig.

She tried to keep track of the man who walked out, but the taste of Flick, combined with the way he made her feel when he started kissing her back, had her forgetting she was doing this as a cover.

Her nipples hardened, and she wanted to rub against him to assuage the ache building in her. His hand slid down her back, grasping her hip and tugging her closer. At least she wasn’t the only one affected by this kiss because she was flush against a very hard object in Flick’s pants, and she was positive it wasn’t a gun.

She shivered, wondering why she’d waited to do this because, friggin’ hell, the man could kiss. Each touch of his mouth had her wanting to say screw this, do we really need surveillance?

“Hey, you! You’re not supposed to be back here,” a voice yelled right by them. Beth reluctantly pulled away from Flick.

“Sorry, we were searching for the club entrance, and I got a little carried away with how my woman looked tonight. You know how it is, buddy, right?” Flick cajoled.

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