Page 50 of Suspicions on the Stage
“We shouldneverconsider becoming spies,” she hisses. “We definitely just blew Iggy’s secret, if nothing else.”
“N-no, ma’am!” Our hostess slaps her palm on the table. “I’m no snitch, an’ I’m not for sale. I don’t have a lot, but integrity is somethin’ you can’t buy back.”
Slade gives me a knowing smile, and I sigh inwardly. That girl just said the absolute best thing she could have and sealed her own fate. Morgana eyes me and I finally say, “Dixie… Pending a full background check, I’d like to offer you a way out of this place that doesn’t involve giving up your morals or doing anything illegal. Are you interested?”
The squeal she lets out nearly shatters my eardrums, and I cringe at the same time as Slade and Lucas.
Guess that’s a ‘yes’.
dirty little secret
MORGANA
“Now that Li has saved the girl and Iggy outed himself, can wepleasefigure out where that damn dragon is?”
I look at Lucas curiously, and he shrugs. “If we’re going to be out, I’d like to enjoy ourselves, not be hunting for shit.” He grins broadly as he shrugs. “We should go dancing sometime. That would be fun.”
My young mate is an absolute font of surprising things, and I adore it.
“Your Nana made you take lessons, didn’t she?” Iggy says knowingly. “I’ve been there.”
Liam nods in agreement. “Same. Slade?”
“No, that wasn’t one the Finns gave a shit about. However, I’ve worked with the theater department since I arrived and I think I’ve picked up enough to not be embarrassing.” The siren smiles shyly and my heart squeezes.
“We should definitely come to one of the performances of the musical to hear you play, just like we should go to one of Lucas’ games.” Liam looks delighted as he says it, and I sigh happily. They get along so well that I almost worry about when it will stop—except I know. When we find that damn dragon, he’ll be a fucking pill and ruin everything.
Dixie comes back with a punky looking girl who I believe to be a shifter. Narrowing my eyes, I sniff the air—ah, she’s aquatic. If I hadn’t sniffed out the scent of the sea, I would have figured it out when her eyes widen as they land on Slade. “Morgana, Your Highness… and guests… this is my colleague, Jayda Thanneer. She’s able to assist you in your other requests…only.”
I laugh when our new friend gives the pretty shifter a firm glare. Dixie didn’t want to lose our table, and she certainly believes that this woman will try to snatch it away. “Thank you, Dixie. We are very satisfied with your service; your friend is here solely to provide extra recreational options.”
That makes Jayda frown, her lip sticking out at the guys. Now I’m giving her a warning look because fuck if I’m going to let her assume she can use her feminine wiles to contradict my edict. Liam snorts behind his hand, trying not to show it, and Iggy sits his glass down hard to get everyone focused.
“Miss Thaneer?—”
“Oh, you can call me Jayda, Professor Briarton. I’d behonored.”
For fuck’s sake…
“Jayda, knock it off,” Lucas says abruptly. “We’re not interested, and you’re wasting our time with the Bambi act. Give us the menu so we can order, or we’ll ask Dixie to bring another provider.”
The girl straightens up immediately at his dominant bark, and I lean against his arm to murmur, “Very nice, babe.”
“I’ve seen this situation in the past, and I knew she wouldn’t stop until we made it clear.” The bear shrugs, turning to drop a kiss on the top of my head. “It behooves the middlemen and women to sexualize themselves if they think it will help them sell more services. Their commission is based on cost or the service, so every add-on they can peddle will get them more bang for their buck.”
“Great. Not newbies atall.Thanks, Dixie,” the server grumbles before sighing heavily. “Okay. Here’s the tablet. I’ll buzz off to greener pastures while you look. It will ping me when you’ve selected and I will assist with anything I need to at that time. Have fun, kids.”
That said, the shifter stalks off in a huff, and I blink. “I guess she didn’t have any interest in trying to up-sell us if we weren’t easily manipulated.”
Slade wrinkles his nose as he swipes over the screen. “I’m fine with that. Sirens and rusalkas do not get along. We have competing interests, for one, but also they are usually associated with eastern European gangs and mafias in the States. My mother has many nemeses—you can imagine why—and one of them works for a mafia that controls the ports in Northwestern Russia.Thatrusalka is fucking terrifying, by the way. Her name is Koral, and I’d rather deal with fifty orcs than be in her presence.”
“I didn’t know that,” Liam says thoughtfully. “You are a fount of knowledge about the criminal element, Slade. I’m fascinated by it; it’s like watching a true crime documentary.”
Lucas clears his throat. “While that’s definitely true for me, too… Pop that thing open and tell us what you see, man. I may have been around this before, but every rich kid's playground has a unique system and offerings. What are the owners of Howl allowing to infect this joint?”
I nod, scooting over to Slade to peek at what he’s doing. “The opening page is pretty standard ‘Here's a fancy rich person secret club’. You need to open it and see what the menus are.”
Iggy frowns at me. “Notallof us, you know.”
