Page 110 of Provocation
Shade tilts his head to the side. 'The jacket—it's designer.'
'How can you tell?'
He squints. 'It’s from a couple years ago. I'm sure of it.'
'So, this guy's probably got money.'
Shade sighs. ‘Narrows it down to about thirty percent of Richmond. I wish we had more to go on.’
‘At least it's something,’ Mav says.
Blake nods. ‘I'll get a still shot and see what I can do with it. I might be able to clean it up, maybe figure out some of the features.'
'Do it,' Shade mutters and then he sits back and holds me close. 'We're going to find out who this asshole is.’
‘We need a real plan regarding the Bandervilles, too,' I say.
Their eyes all find each other, giving each other those looks I can’t understand.
‘I have, what, four months ’til I'm forced to marry into his horrible family. I can't do it,' I say to them. 'I can't marry him. It'll be worse than—' I almost say The Heath,—'anything that I've ever dealt with before,' I amend.
'Maybe Ishouldjust try to disappear,' I say quietly. ‘Even without the money. If I do unexpected things, he might not catch up to me.’
'No,’ Mav snarls. 'Don't you dare talk like that.'
He stands up and takes my hand.
'Promise me,' he says. 'Promise me you won't try. Because I swear to God, if you run, we will go to the ends of the earth to find you. There'll be nowhere you can hide from us either, Tulip.'
My eyes widen, only just realizing that they really would try to find me and not give up until they had. I try to shake off my surprise and reply.
'Then we need to come up with another way to get me out of this,' I say, 'or I'm going to have to, even if I don't get my degree.' I roll my eyes. 'Joe's not going to let me keep going to Richmond U anyway, even though he thinks—in his words—that I'm doing a ‘little art degree’.’
'Condescending asshole,' Blake mutters. 'You're a hundred times smarter than him.'
I smile at him. 'Thanks,' I say, and settle back to watch the movie.
That night, Wrath is actually a little busier than we thought it would be. I guess it's still a weekend, and all the people who live in Richmond still want to party. It’s just the students from the university who are notably absent. There are even some of the VIPs in the Dark Lounge, since it’s Saturday though I’ve noticed that I never see any of them go in or out. I guess privacy is the point of being a member of a secret underground sex room club, though.
The students not being around is kind of nice. The clones and Bennet haven't been anywhere near the club since the night of Envy's launch. I still giggle whenever I think about what I did. I hope they know it was me. From the looks that I've been getting at Grinder whenever Laurie and Jolie pass by, I'm pretty sure they suspect.
That night, Lu comes by the club, too. She looks a lot happier now that Thanksgiving is over. There's a guy with her whose face is covered in bruises, who she introduces as her cousin. He just stares at me with something in his eyes that I’m not really sure I understand. I’m sure he doesn't like me at all, but Lu doesn't seem to notice, so I pretend I don’t as well.
As it's kind of quiet, I go behind the bar with Mav, and he shows me how to mix some more drinks. It's fun working with him, and working behind the bar is a little like the coffee shop, or making Envy.
Mav and I dance around a little bit as Lu sits on a bar stool and drinks the creations we make her. She goes off to dance a few times, and it’s nice being surrounded by the people I care about, and who care about me.
Envy is being sold by the employees, but they only have a few pills on them at a time with strict instructions to put them in the nearest liquid to dissolve if they need to get rid of what they’re carrying quickly. The rest are kept in the lab in the safe and Shade goes down and gets them when we need more, which is a good thing, because around eleven, cops start to swarm in from the front door, headed by the Detective Black.
I see Sandra drop three of the green pills into her beer and then put it with the other bottles in the trash behind the bar as casually as if she was just cleaning up a little.
'Cops!' someone yells, and there's a frenzy of people running, trying to escape the club.
Behind the bar, I freeze, not sure what to do, but Mav grabs my hand and pulls me out from behind it into the fray of people who are screaming.
'Where are we going?' I ask, covering my ears at all the high pitched noises, my heart thudding hard in my chest.
'Downstairs,' he whispers, walking with me in front of him to the cellar door. He opens it, and we both slip in as Shade begins to loudly yell that he wants to see their warrant.
