Page 172 of Keeping Kasey
“Is no one else worried about the three of them being alone together?” Damon mumbles, just loud enough for everyone to hear him.
“A disaster waiting to happen,” a lower voice—Ryder’s, I presume—confirms.
Their soft chuckles follow us as we disappear down the hall.
“We can talk in my office,” Logan offers.
“No,” I say, stopping in my tracks.
Logan doesn’t even slow. “Damon’s office it is.”
Moreno turns to look at me, probably for some explanation, but I avoid his gaze.
Damon’s office is more of a billiards room. Sure, there’s a desk against the back wall, but the poker table is the main focus of the room, and a pool table sits beneath the big windows overlooking the front lawn. There’s a bar in one corner, but it’s only stocked with water bottles and energy drinks.
When the door closes behind us, Moreno pulls his phone out. “He’s yours?”
He turns the phone to show a picture of Mark. He’s walking out of a bar with crutches under each arm and a thick cast on his left leg. It’s the first time I’ve seen him since the interrogation, and the sight of him moving around—alive—is more comforting than I expected.
When Moreno’s words process, all I can bring myself to say is, “He’s… Mark.”
“Well,Markis giving me a headache. He’s got a cousin with ties to one of the motorcycle clubs in Phoenix. He’s telling anyone who will listen that the Consolis kidnapped his girlfriend. They know better than to get involved in our business,but they gave me the heads-up that he seemed intent on finding a club that would.”
He’s telling people I’m his girlfriend?
I glare at Logan. “You said Ryan would make sure this doesn’t happen. That was hisonlyreason for staying.”
“Ryan made sure Lover Boy didn’t go to thepolice, which must have made him decide to go to more extreme lengths.”
“If you can’t get him to back off, I will,” Moreno says, and there’s no ambiguity in his meaning.
“I’ll talk to him. I’ll convince him to stop.” I look at Logan, expecting him to shoot down the idea. It was one of his conditions, after all.
But his face is impassive.
“Wait here,” he says as he leaves.
Once we’re alone, Moreno says, “Lover Boy, huh?”
He wears the most slappable expression I have ever seen. The smugness makes every nerve in my hand itch to hit him.
“You people are insufferable,” I say, ignoring his laugh.
Logan comes back in, holding something out to me.
“You’ve had my phone this whole time?”
He shrugs. “You never asked for it.”
“Insufferable,” I murmur with a shake of my head, and point to the door. “Go. I’ll talk to Mark and get him to back off.”
Neither of them moves an inch.
“Seriously?”
Moreno points between Logan and me. “You two might have some deal, but I never agreed to one. I’ll be staying right here.”
I look at Logan, but I already know he won’t leave. If Moreno isn’t going anywhere, then Logan definitely isn’t.
