Page 39 of Dr. Do-Right
“Call Callihan, too,” Grayson added.
“We’re on a secure chat now,” Asher nodded. “Boss says cut ties with the contracting company and make that asshole wish he’d never learned to speak.”
“Then let’s make it so,” Grayson commanded. Asher was already bringing his phone up to his ear. A perfectly oiled machine.
Sonia gave me awhat the fuck lookbefore turning her head to watch Asher pace behind the couch. I wasn’t sure what it meant to make a guy wish he’d never learned to speak, but I didn’t want to ask too many questions.
Grayson had been gone most of the morning, personally running surveillance around the building and doing whatever needed to be done outside the apartment. Asher, it seemed, was going to stay with us. He’d parked himself in the far corner of the room where he could see everyone and spent the last few hours typing a lot and talking to someone named Dex about tapping surveillance feeds.
It seemed like a lot of action, but they both had that same steady, confident presence Asher had shown when he’d picked me up at the hospital. They went out of their way to explain what they were doing, giving us updates and working to make us feel comfortable in the least comfortable situation known to man.
I liked them. Over the last twenty-four hours, I’d felt safe with them. Getting this peek into the more ruthless side of their business was chilling.
“Did you really try to bribe that guy to forget he heard you talk about…” I trailed off, fairly certain that Sonnie wouldn’t want to hear about Mal’s plans to bend me over the couch.
“I promise I was just trying to protect your virtue.” Mal sighed, still staring at the TV. “Though, I’ll admit, it sounds pretty sinister in this context.”
The entertainment reporters had moved on to some other story about an heiress and her recent divorce, but I could see him reliving the footage again and again in his brain. I cupped his neck, turning him to look at me.
“Hey. It’ll be okay.” I’d repeated it so many times it was practically a mantra this morning. “It’s like Asher said. She’s just trying to get a rise out of you so she can get to us. All this will die down soon and we’ll just go back to our lives. Walking Siggy and threatening to throw the espresso machine off the balcony.”
His smile didn’t reach his tired eyes. “For the record, I’ve never threatened to throw the espresso machine off the balcony.”
“Well, don’t be surprised if it’s missing one day. Soon. Once we can open the patio doors again, it’s game over for that thing.” I knew I was being ridiculous, but it was the only thing I could think of to wipe that pained, broody look off his face.
His hand reached for mine. His expression softened into something calmer. Fond. “Rija, I—” His phone vibrated on the table between us, Adam’s face popping up on the screen. Mal sighed. “I have to get this. He could be having an aneurysm or something.”
I watched Mal walk away to answer the call and make another coffee. Despite all the excitement from yesterday and my dragging exhaustion, both of us had woken up before the dawn, when we’d felt the air conditioning kick back on. Asher assured us they’d mounted motion sensors throughout the ducts, so it was safe to open the vents again.
Even with his reassurance, I hadn’t been able to fall back asleep. Sonnie had joined us as soon as she’d heard the coffee machine running, so we’d all had a front-row seat to the first news clip of Christine and her lies dropping on E News.
“This makes me want to throwheroff the balcony,” Sonia seethed into her espresso. Her nose wrinkled in a way I recognized. She was getting emotional and trying not to be. “I can’t believe she was my friend once. I mean, she’s so…I couldn’t imagine doing something like….”
“Don’t beat yourself up.” It was Asher, not me, who offered the advice, even though almost the same words had been on the tip of my tongue. He paused on his way back to his post in the corner, flipping his phone around and around in his hands. “Of course you couldn’t imagine someone doing this. She has severe behavioral health issues and you…” His eyes flicked over Sonnie, lingering on her short cotton sleep shorts. “You don’t know what that’s like.Doyou?” His mouth twisted in a smirk, teasing.
I had to applaud his attempt at distracting her. Especially when it worked.
“I’ve been told my whole dominatrix thing is more of a hobby than a diagnosis.”
Asher’s smirk vanished, eyes sharpening. “That didn’t come up in our background check.”
“I’m happy to give you a one-on-one interview, if the information is necessary.”
“Critical,” he glowered. My eyes ping-ponged between the two of them. Sonia was as much of a dominatrix as Siggy was, but apparently the truth didn’t matter when she was trying to seduce our personal security.
I would have said their flirting was weird, since it was happening right in the middle of a major crisis, but after he walked away and Sonnie’s gaze followed him, I couldn’t help but notice the tense set of her shoulders had relaxed just a smidge. When she bit into the bagel Asher had conveniently left at the table, right in front of her, I wondered if Asher was really into the flirting, or if he was just really good at knowing how to put my friend at ease. Or both.
“Maleficent alert,” Sonia warned, glaring at my phone. My mother’s name scrolled silently across the top.
I cursed, swiping the device off the table to glare at the screen. I’d called my mom last night to briefly tell her we weren’t going to make it to dinner because of the active threats. As expected,she’d had more questions about the dinner than the stalker. She’d texted and called so many times last night, no doubt hoping she could bully us into reconsidering our attendance, that I’d flipped my phone to silent.
Her name vanished from my screen, the phone helpfully informing me of theMissed call from Rosalia Sanchez. I only saw the words for a second before her name popped up again. I cursed again.
“Here, give it to me. I’ll tell her to fuck off.”
I yanked the phone away before Sonia could grab it, knowing she was dead serious about following through.
“I’m just going to answer. I don’t want to dodge her calls all day.” I tapped on the screen, bringing the phone to my ear, ignoring Sonia’s huffy sigh. “Hi, Mom.”
