Page 81 of The Paranormal Investigation Bureau
“My uncle had his people drop off the boxes. If Santiago has been in New York this entire time, he’s old enough to have made sure any newspapers that had photos of him got rid of them. So this might be our only shot at finding out what he looks like. I’d understand if you wanted to stay here and go through them instead of getting there early.”
Beyla bit her bottom lip and looked at the boxes. We were alike in many ways—we both knew damn well we needed to look through these photos before Santiago started getting cursed and homicidal—neither of us would have a good day unless we had our alone time in the studio.
“Would it be totally shitty if I said I wanted to go to the studio but definitely go through the boxes as soon as we get done with rehearsal?”
“If it’s shitty, then we’re both shitty people… because I feel the same.”
“Oh, good. I feel much better when I’m being shitty with someone else.”
I slung my arm around her shoulder and led her out the front door. Was that okay? I wasn’t technically her boyfriend. I didn’t know if she wanted me to touch her. She let out a little sigh and nestled in a little closer. She wrapped her arm around my waist. She smelled like sex and Bevan.
“Have you eaten?” she asked.
“There’s a food truck that is open twenty-four hours on the walk over. They sell amazing egg sandwiches in the morning. I usually stop by there if I don’t feel like cooking.”
“Oh, good, because I really need to shower. Do you mind if I hop in and take a quick one?”
I really wanted to join her, and would have if it wasn’t so early in the morning and we needed to be dancing.
“Of course not.”
“I usually soak in the tub at night, after rehearsal, but I didn’t get a chance to last night. Every shifter in the company is going to know what I got up to last night if I don’t.”
I let out a dark chuckle.
“Even if I didn’t already know, I can tell.”
“Wait here. I’ll be back.”
I’d give it to Beyla. She didn’t take long at all. She was showered and dressed in no time at all. She soon appeared in her living room, wearing sweats, with her dance bag slung over her shoulder.
“Ready?”
“In a minute,” she said.
She walked over to me and just stood there for a moment. I didn’t know what she wanted until she stood on her tiptoes and pulled me down for a kiss. I let out a little growl and crushed her close to me. I didn’t know why she was kissing me, but I wasn’t about to say no. Beyla pulled away and smiled at me.
“What was that for?” I asked.
“Because I wanted to.”
“You can do whatever you want to me,” I blurted out.
Smooth.
She just laughed.
“So, show me this food truck.”
She slipped her hand in mine, and we walked the streets of New York until we found it. They were used to me, but not Beyla. They were friendly with her and recommended the best sandwich. We were laughing and eating the rest of the walk.
We stopped as soon as we walked into the studio. It wasalwaysempty this early, unless Madame Lucinda was here. Bellatrix and Marsden had already arrived. I didn’t peg her for being an early riser. She had been in this company much longer than I had. Bellatrix had long moved out of the apartment building most of us lived in. I was sure she spent the night with Marsden often, but she didn’t live with him.
When had they cooked this up? We all heard her say she was busy and couldn’t be with him last night. I knew she was up to something, but being here this early wasn’t it. She looked pretty unhappy about it until she saw Beyla wanted to use the studio. Bellatrix looked pretty damned smug when she laid eyes on her.
“Sorry, guys. I booked the studio before class for some extra rehearsal with my star. One of the other studios should be available if you want to dance.”
Beyla grabbed my hand and yanked me out of the studio. She pulled me to another rehearsal studio and threw her dance bag in the corner.
