Claire
I walked back to the locker room. Maddie was getting dressed. “Good massage?” She gave me a wicked grin.
A blush crept up my neck, and I started laughing. Opening my locker, I pulled out my dress and threw it quickly over my head.
“Ouch,” Maddie exclaimed.
My head snapped over to hers. “You okay?”
“Yeah, this baby is a little kicker.”
I looked at her stomach in awe. “Maddie, you can see her foot!”
She laughed. “See, I think it’s a girl, too! But Jack keeps saying it’s a boy.”
I reached out and touched her stomach where the baby’s foot was, and it quickly disappeared. “Oops—sorry! I guess she doesn’t like me.”
Maddie waved her hand at me. “Nonsense. She’ll be popping back out any minute, I’m sure.”
We finished changing, grabbed our purses, and started walking out.
“So I hear Vegas was pretty wild.” She raised her brow at me.
I took my burner phone out and pulled up the picture of Phil.
Maddie threw her hand over her mouth. “No way!”
“I wouldn’t have believed it if I didn’t see it myself.”
“Phil?” She looked at me with wide eyes.
“What happens in Vegas… Well, I guess in Phil’s case, that saying doesn’t apply.”
We got outside, where Casey was waiting. He opened the door, and Jack was inside.
He got out and helped Maddie into the car. He waved his hand for me to get in. “Claire, after you!”
Once we were all situated, Jack gave us a sly grin. “So, how were the massages?”
Heat crawled up my neck at record speed.
“Jack.” Maddie slapped him across the gut.
“What?” he cried out, trying to pretend he was innocent.
“It’s a nice spa,” I recovered.
He grinned. “Maybe now that you know about it, I can get Maddie to use it more often.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice. I’ll be going there only to hang out in the sauna rooms all day!” I gushed, and held up my card.
Maddie clapped her hands. “I’ll go more if you’re going!”
“Deal!”
“Ok, ladies. I told Laura and Blake we would meet them for dinner. Claire, assuming you don’t have any plans tonight, want to join us for dinner?” Jack asked.
“If you assume that because I’m unemployed, can’t be with my lover in public, and am the main suspect in a five-point-eight-million-dollar embezzlement case that I have no plans, you are correct.”
Jack put his hands in the air. “Hey, if anyone knows how FBI investigations impede your personal life, it’s me.”
“Good point.”
“I heard Piper and Creedie are your investigators?”
“Oh, is Creedie still in love with you?” Maddie blurted out.
I laughed. “I can’t tell anymore. He didn’t like it when I disclosed that Ethan and I were sleeping together.”
“Ouch!” Jack made a face.
“It was kind of fun telling them to get off their lazy asses and do their job before I walked out of their interrogation today,” I admitted.
Jack reached out to fist-bump me. “That I would have loved to see.”
“Speaking about what to see—Claire, show Jack your picture of Phil.”
I grinned at Maddie. I pulled out my burner phone and showed Jack the picture.
He started laughing so hard tears streamed down his face. “What the fuck happened to Phil?”
“You didn’t hear about his party with three women?” I volunteered.
Jack’s eyes opened wide. “No! Not Phil!”
“Apparently Meg and Laura had to go rescue him.”
Jack gaped at me. The car stopped outside of Maloney Tavern. “Well, I’ll have to hear more about that story later. I hope you ladies are hungry for burgers. Blake claimed he needed some grease for his first meal.”
“Grease?” Maddie questioned.
“It sounds like Blake got to know the bathroom on Tom’s jet pretty well last night,” Jack reported.
“Ethan forgot to mention that part.” I stepped out of the car door.
Jack helped Maddie out, and we made our way into the lobby, where the hostess quickly led us back to where Laura and Blake were sitting. We exchanged hellos, and everyone sat down.
“Blake, you don’t look too bad,” Jack observed.
Laura snorted. “That’s because after hugging the porcelain god all night, he slept until an hour ago.”
“She’s not going to let me live this down,” Blake drawled with a grin.
“It’s not as bad as what Phil has to live through now,” Maddie joked.
“Phil?”
Laura looked at Blake. “You don’t remember?”
Blake shook his head.
Jack nodded. “Show him.”
I pulled out my phone once again.
“What the... Oh holy Texas!” Blake exclaimed.
“You should have been the one to pull the girls off him,” Laura laughed.
Jack did a double-take. “No!”
“Yep. They were all over him, and not too happy when Meg and I intruded.”
“What did he say at work today?” Maddie asked.
Laura laughed. “He took a personal day. Tom, too. Apparently, Derek and Tom came home and continued to play their Truth or Dare game. Tom was hugging the porcelain god at some point, too, and Liv had to listen to Derek crying over Maria until four a.m.”
“Jeez. Poor Liv!” I laughed.
“Wow! I guess it was quite the adventure,” Jack laughed.
“I told you that you should have gone,” Maddie piped up.
“Shh...nonsense.” Jack gave her a peck.
The waitress came over and took our orders. Laura glanced at me. “So how did your interrogation go?”
I gave everyone a recap and got to the end of the story. “I need to set up a trap.”
Laura stared at me for a minute.
“What?” I asked.
“We’ve set up traps before. I think we should all put our heads together and figure this out.”
Blake looked at her, smiling. “Yep, this isn’t our first rodeo.”
“Ethan is adamant that I’m not involved in a trap, but it’s going to be the only way out.”
“Why do you think you have to be involved?” Jack asked.
“I don’t see any other way. Do you?”
Jack shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe if we all get together, we can figure this out.”
“At this point I’ll take all the brainpower I can get,” I told them. “I can’t be around Ethan, though, so he or I will have to be on the phone.”
Blake laughed. “Don’t worry about that, Darlin’. You just show up when and where we say, and we’ll do all the sneaking.”
I grinned at him. “Okay, then. You have yourself a deal.”
Ethan
It was Friday night. Jack and Maddie invited me over to their place for dinner. I felt kind of guilty that I was going to hang out with our friends without Claire.
“It’s okay. You go have fun,” she insisted cheerfully.
“Why don’t you go instead?” I offered.
“Don’t be silly. Tom dropped off some Ben and Jerry’s. I’m going to try out all the different flavors.”
“What is with Tom and his Ben and Jerry’s obsession?”
She gasped. “How dare you question the power of Ben and Jerry’s!”
“Ha, ha!”
“Seriously, have you not had it?” She lowered her voice like it was some big secret.
“I’m sure at some point…”
“Hmm. I guess next time we're together, I'll have to show you the power of B&J’s.”
“Oh, I know the power of your BJ,” I teased her.
“Not what I was referring to.”
I smiled. “Claire, you sure you don’t want to take my place tonight?”
“One-hundred percent! I’m going to snuggle up in my jammies and lick spoonfuls of B&J’s all night long!”
My dick went hard. “Claire, you’re killing me with the visuals.”
She gave me her sexy laugh. “Go have fun, Ethan. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” She hung up.
I sighed. All week I sat in meetings with Ben, and we weren’t any further along than Monday. I hadn’t seen Claire since our spa escapade, and I was antsy to see her. I was wracking my brain with the where and how.
Ben and JJ decided that Claire and I were not to leave the state, or even the city, until we at least figured out a plan. Neither Claire nor I were happy, but Claire claimed she understood why they’d made those demands.
Around and around Ben and I went, trying to figure out how to trap Dan into admitting he’d set Claire up. While Ben and I had started to respect each other, we weren’t coming up with any viable options. Everything involved Claire, and I wasn’t willing to allow that to happen.
I was lost in thought when my buzzer rang—Jack calling. He was going to pass my house and would pick me up. His place wasn’t that far from my apartment, and I was going to walk, but he insisted.
I quickly left and met him in the car. “Jack.” I nodded as I got in.
“Ethan, how are you hanging in there?”
I shrugged. “Same old shit, different day.”
“I know that all too well.”
“Hey, thanks for helping out on Monday and taking Claire out to dinner.”
He waved at me. “No thanks needed. Claire and Maddie have been good friends ever since she handled Piper and Creedie’s questioning session.”
I rolled my eyes.
Jack saw it and laughed. “No love lost for Creedie, right?”
“Are they both idiots, or is it only me?”
Jack raised his eyebrows. “I spent over a year with them. Let’s say I have mixed feelings about them.”
The car stopped, but we weren’t outside Jack’s building.
“Hey, look at this building with me first. I need your opinion on something.”
“All right.” I got out of the car.
Jack and I went into the building and got into the elevator. Jack pulled out his elevator key and hit the B.
“You’re taking me to the basement?”
“Yes.”
“What exactly are we looking at?”
“You’ll see.”
The elevator stopped and opened. We were the only people in the basement…at least, it seemed so. A musty odor filled my nostrils. Rows of cages where the tenants kept storage lined the walkway.
I shuddered. “This place is straight out of The Silence of the Lambs.”
Jack laughed and walked to the end of the row and turned right.
“Why are we down here, again?”
“You’ll see.”
We got to a door. Jack took out his key and unlocked it. He fumbled on the inside wall for a light switch. “After you.” He motioned for me to walk in front of him.
I furrowed my eyebrows at him.
He laughed again. “Go on.”
I stepped into the room, and Jack shut and locked the door behind us. “Walk, Ethan.”
I walked for a few hundred yards. Another door stood in front of us. Jack unlocked it, turned off the light, and told me to go through.
“Are you going to tell me why you’re giving me the tour of New York's creepiest basements?”
He looked at me, amused. “Keep walking.”
We walked past more tenant cages and got to an elevator. Jack pushed the button. We waited. I gave him my What is going on? look, but he didn’t give me any hints. The elevator opened, and he hit the P.
“Are we in your building now?”
Jack laughed. “You’re a quick learner. Well done, Ethan!”
I glanced at him in surprise. “You have a secret tunnel?”
“Yep. And when you own both buildings, you get to use the secret tunnel to your advantage.”
“Well, that is cool. But why did you give me a tour?”
The elevator opened up. “Only to freak you out a bit.” Jack laughed.
“Thanks, man. I think I’m going to have nightmares now.”
We stepped out of the elevator. “Go make yourself a drink.” Jack pointed to his bar room. “I’m going to tell Maddie we’re here.”
I nodded.
I walked down the hall to the bar and opened the door to see Claire sitting on the chaise lounge, licking a spoonful of ice cream seductively. “Ready to see the power of B&J’s?”
Claire
After a heavy makeout session, Ethan and I pulled ourselves off each other and went into the living room. Everyone was there—Liv, Tom, Meg, Collin, Laura, Blake, Phil, Derek, Ben, JJ, and of course, Jack and Maddie.
“What’s going on?” Ethan looked around, confused.
Collin came over and patted him on the back. “It’s trap time!”
“Trap time?” Ethan looked at me.
“We can’t sit around and let Piper and Creedie try to figure this out. There’s”—Collin quickly scanned the room—“fourteen of us and one of him. Time to put our heads together.”
“Why didn’t anyone tell me about this?” Ethan asked.
Jack laughed. “Because it was way more fun to see your scared ass in the Silence of the Lambs basement.”
“Don’t worry, I snuck into your house again and packed you a bag for the weekend.” Meg smirked.
“The weekend?”
“Hey, you’re free to leave at any time...through the basement, that is,” I teased.
He gave me a sly look. “We’re staying here all weekend?”
“Only if you want…”
He gave me his fuck-me eyes and licked his lips.
“Seriously? You know there’s a roomful of people here,” Liv teased.
“Actually, that was kind of hot.” Meg smirked again.
I turned to her. “I know, isn’t it?”
Ethan’s face got all red.
“Ok, leave poor Ethan alone. He hasn’t seen his woman since...what day?” Derek asked.
“Monday,” Ethan muttered absentmindedly, and pulled me into him.
“Since Monday. Now Phil, on the other hand…” Derek gave Phil a sly grin.
Phil’s face turned beet red. “Go ahead...get it over with.”
“Has everyone seen the picture?” Maddie asked.
“The picture?” Phil’s eyes went wide.
Ethan pulled his burner phone out of his pocket and held it up for Phil to see.
“Oh my God,” Phil muttered, and put his hands over his purple face.
“Let me see that!” Tom grabbed it. He started laughing and turned to Laura. “Looks like Dad had a good time.”
Laura gave Tom a fist-bump.
“Ugh!” Phil rolled his eyes.
The picture was soon passed around the room, and everyone was laughing.
“Wow! Phil, you’ve got quite the six-pack going on there!” Liv teased him.
“No wonder those girls couldn't keep their hands off you,” Meg chimed in.
“Your biceps are looking pretty good, too,” Maddie chimed in.
“Do they have a senior discount at your gym?” Laura teased.
Tom grinned and gave her a fist-bump.
Phil looked mortified.
“Okay, I think we’ve harassed Phil enough. Ethan, put your phone away,” I told him.
Ethan put it away.
Maddie grinned. “Everyone get comfy. We’ve got food, drinks, and extra bedrooms if anyone else wants to stay. Let’s figure this out.”