Logan nods as he pulls back. “It’s not. I didn’t answer because I’d just put two and two together and gotten poisoned punch. Glory made the punch and spiked it with ketamine.”
“Damn.”
“Yeah. Lot of people headed to the hospital. Daisy’s going to be there overnight. They had to pump her stomach.”
Fuck. Rick’s friend Daisy Blue is a knockout, and a maneater, and an honest-to-goodness porn star. But she’s also a warm and genuine person. She came with Rick to a party Logan had last weekend and we ended up having a long heart-to-heart. I already like her and hate the idea that she’s ended up as collateral damage.
“Can you send me Glory’s driver’s license?” Logan asks. “I’m going to forward it to the NYPD.”
“Sure.” I pull out a phone, access my server, and ping the license to Logan, then fish out the pen drive and offer it to him. “Everything I got’s on here.”
“Hold on to it for now. Whatever happens, we’re not working for Rick anymore.”
I look a question at Logan since the guy’s been Logan’s friend and client for years, even though Manny actively dislikes him. Logan hasn’t needed me on any of Rick’s cases before, which isgood because I could tell within a minute of meeting him he’s both full of himself and full of shit.
Logan cuts his eyes to Emily, who is hovering, looking very anxious. I get it. We can talk business later.
Logan’s explained to me that Emily’s most relaxed when she feels she’s pleasing him in some way. Since I’m the only one in the room without a drink in front of them, I say, “Any chance of a cup of coffee?”
Logan doesn’t even get a glance in at Emily before she’s rushing off into the open-plan kitchen and starting up the coffee maker. I take an empty seat at the table and the wild, blue-dreadlocked tattooist who Logan and Emily call DirtyGurl catches my eye. She tips her chin at Emily and winks at me. Guess I did something right there.
Emily’s just put a cup of coffee in front of me when the doorbell goes. Logan growls that it’s too late for anyone to be calling but Emily patters off to answer the door before he has a chance to stop her. She returns with a huge, black guy I’ve met a couple of times, Austin, a woman who holds herself as straight as a razor, and a thin, black-haired guy who shuffles to the back of the group and looks like he’s trying to hide. Logan introduces the woman as Dana and the shy man as Cappa. They join us at the table and Emily flutters around getting tea for everyone while Austin peels back the bandage on Logan’s face and gives it a professional once-over.
Logan glares at DirtyGurl while Austin’s inspecting the wound and after a long moment, she cracks, throwing up her hands. “He threatened everyone with crucifixion if you were ever injured again and he wasn’t the first call,” she says. “I like to avoid crucifixion when I can.”
“I did, sir,” Austin admits.
Javier, a bald, overbearing, Upper West Side-type that I’ve met several times since Logan was injured, points at Austin.“You, stop threatening the other subs, that’s my job. And you.” He points at DirtyGurl. “Big trouble. We’ll schedule your crucifixion for tomorrow night at nine.”
DirtyGurl sighs. “Master Theo owns my ass until Sunday at midnight. I came without permission.”
Javier chuckles. “Definitely crucifixion, then. Tell Theo I’ll be joining the two of you tomorrow evening.”
“Yes, sir.” DirtyGurl rubs her hand over her face resignedly and takes out her phone.
I flick my eyes between them, trying to understand the interaction. I feel a twinge of alienation, of being the kid at school that no one let in on the joke. The kid who spent Friday and Saturday nights home alone with a book instead of at tailgates and parties because no one invited him.
Before the feeling can bring back too many ugly memories, I pull out my phone and get busy with it, tapping out a quick text to Ty. He should be asleep by now, but he’ll see it when he wakes up, or if his mom kicks him out to bang her dealer.
While I’m typing, Austin, Cappa, and Emily set up a rotation to wake Logan every two hours, just to be on the safe side. When I look up, Logan’s doling out bedrooms to everyone who is staying, and Emily’s slipped over to stand at my side.
“Would you be okay in my little room, Max? Sable’s scared by all the people and you have the feet he likes to sleep on the most.”
I grin at her. Her deranged cat does like to sleep on my feet, that’s true. “Yeah, girlie-girl, that would be great.”
“The bed’s all made up. Could I ask you to help me bring down some pillows and blankets for the playroom and the couches, so Dana and Austin have a place to sleep?”
“Of course, sweetie.” I put away my phone and help Emily make up beds for everyone. Watching Logan haul himself up the stairs, limping and leaning heavily on the banister, makes mygut knot again. I’m about to offer to help him when Austin gets there first.
Standing at the bottom of the stairs and watching their painful progress, I feel movement beside me and glance over at DirtyGurl as she comes to stand beside me.
“I can tell you have a lot of love for him,” she says quietly. “And Emmy. That was a nice thing you did earlier, asking for coffee. It settled her.”
“It felt like the right move. Isn’t your crucifixion imminent?”
She laughs. She has a great laugh, low and warm and somehow uninhibited. It helps loosen the tightness in my belly. “They’re not really going to crucify me, you know. Just in case you were worried.”
“I figured. I mean, I don’t get what the hell is going on between you guys, but I get it’s just a figure of speech.”
