A week passed, and I fell into a routine.
Kash woke me up every morning, and after I fell back asleep, fully satiated, he left for work. I woke forty minutes later, went to Hawking. Hoda wasn’t there for the first three days. Rumor was that she found herself having financial problems. She got that sorted out, but I’d taken to sitting with Melissa and Liam. We ate at the same place for lunch every day, and because of that, other people and staff took note. It didn’t take long before my classmates’ pictures were being put on a couple social gossip blogs. Camille Story had remained quiet, but she was on the list for me to hack. Again. She was slippery, though, so I wanted to wait and figure out the best way to go at her.
Matt came over twice. He didn’t ask about Kash. He asked about school, and he had a look in his eye like he wanted to talk about something else, something important, but both times he never brought it up.
I was biding my time before I pushed to get answers from him.
I worried he would close up to me, so I wanted to wait until the right time.
I needed answers.
If he was going to Naveah. If he was going to see a new woman. If he was going to the Chesapeake Estate. But mostly, I wanted to know what was bothering him.
Until then, lots of studying. Lots of coding. Lots of reading.
I wanted to get ahead with my classes, so that meant even more reading and even more coding. Melissa dropped a hint that there was a big internship opportunity coming up. She looked at me as she was talking about it, got all squinty, and then clammed up. I asked Liam later about it and he told me that Phoenix Tech always offered a first-year graduate student in our program at Hawking an internship. That internship sometimes led into a job.
I understood why she clammed up.
Liam added, “Though I don’t think anyone will get too excited about it this year. It’s pretty obvious you’ll get it.”
But he didn’t know, and I didn’t know, and I realized then that I hadn’t heard from my father for almost three weeks. And I further realized I was okay with that. As for Chrissy, she’d been quiet, too. She had texted a couple mornings ago.
Checking in, sweetie. How’s everything going?
I didn’t respond to her. I didn’t know why, but as soon as I put the phone away, my mind was moving on to other things.
I was leaving our afternoon class when my phone started ringing.
Torie calling.
Melissa was with me. We were both watching Hoda, who’d been back the past two days. She stuck to herself, only talking once with Liam, who walked away, looking annoyed. Melissa asked what the conversation was about but he didn’t say. He just got that same annoyed look and left us, too. So we were standing, eyeing Hoda, who was sitting at a table in the hallway, acting as if she didn’t know we were mostly glaring her way. But she did, and we knew she did, and we were still doing it anyway.
I answered, “Hey, Torie.”
Hoda’s head snapped up. Her eyes jumped right to me.
“Bailey,” she breathed into the phone. “Tamara called, and her man broke up with her. We need a girls’ night, stat.”
“Torie—”
She overrode me. “Kash gave me the night off. I’m calling in reinforcements. Get over to our apartment in an hour. You got any girlfriends from school?”
I opened my mouth.
Melissa had heard. She piped up next to me. “She totally does! Me!”
“Well, whoever you are, get Bailey and your asses to our apartment. Just let one of those hottie guards know you’re going to Torie’s place. Now, I have a question. Are you the type of girls who want food before drinks and dancing? Or are you the Taco Bell after drinks and dancing type of girls?”
“Uh…” Melissa looked clueless.
I took the phone back. “We’ll bring something to tide us over—”
Melissa grabbed the phone. “No! Drinking. Dancing. Taco Bell. That’s what we’re doing tonight.”
Torie chuckled, still sounding all smooth and seductive but I was wondering if this was how she was, off duty. “Add in shots, and I’m not talking shots where they can be added into the drinking section. Shots get their own category. Trust me, Tam will be hurting a little less by the end of the night.”
She hung up.
I turned to Erik. He was the closest. I didn’t say a word. He nodded before I could. “We know her place. We’ll get you there.”
“You’re off duty soon.”
“Scott and the new guys know it. You’re covered.” He looked at Melissa, then back to me. “Are we giving your friend a ride to get ready, too?”
Melissa’s eyes got big. “That would be amazing.”
I guess we were now, and I didn’t mean that in a snarky way. I meant that in a belated, I-feel-like-shit way, because I hadn’t even thought about offering. I was glad Erik did, and I felt his eyes on me as I was thinking all of this.
“Where are you going?” Liam had migrated over after the call.
Melissa shot straight up. “Girls’ night. You’re not invited. And I hope we go to Naveah at some point.” She leaned into me, her side brushing my arm. “That would be amazing.”
I gave Liam a grin as we started to head out. “This’ll be awesome.”
He grinned back. “Have fun.”
We went outside and got in the waiting SUV. The guys all sat in the front while Melissa and I were in the back.
“Where to?”
Melissa gave him directions to her apartment and my phone was buzzing as we started going. Kash.
You’re with the girls tonight?
I reiterated about Tamara.
That sucks. How was your day?
He asked the same thing every day, once I got into the vehicle. And it always had the same effect; pure golden warmth washing through me.
Day was good. Did you catch any more Calhoun moves and counter them?
I asked every day. This was another routine I’d fallen into.
Every day. I’ll be working from the Naveah office tonight if you’re there.
My heart fluttered.
I’m sure that’ll happen. Torie said dancing.
And Naveah was one of the hot spots to dance at in Chicago.
If you go to Octavo, tell me. I know the owners, but I want extra security on you if you go there.
Me: Okay. I’m sure we’ll stick to Naveah tho.
Kash: Still.
Me: Okay. Love you.
Kash: Love you. Have fun tonight.
Me: Please don’t work so hard.
Kash: I won’t. Love you.
I noticed Melissa watching me as I put my phone away.
“What?”
She had a weird look in her eyes, one I’d never noticed before. She shook her head, her mouth twitching. She kept looking at where I’d stowed my phone away. “Nothing.”
I saw the grin. I also saw the fight to keep it back, and I rolled my eyes. “He’s my boyfriend.”
“He’s one hot boyfriend.”
Melissa’s grin was wide. It kept widening until we got to her place.
She lived in a cute smaller apartment building that housed ten units. There was a buzzing system. The front door was locked, but once we got inside, the only other security was the apartment door. As we walked in, two doors opened and I was staring at two elderly residents. One was a man wearing suspenders, a stained white muscle shirt, and baggy jeans that were only held up because of the suspenders. His hair was a mess, with two days’ worth of beard on his face. The other resident was an older woman. Her hair was wrapped up in a fancy up-do, dyed black, and she had a heavy dose of makeup on her face. Her mouth had eight coats of red lipstick and there was an equal number of coatings of blush on her cheeks. Unlike the guy, she was dressed to impress. A suit jacket and skirt, both a lavender color with white lace fringe. She was just missing lavender high heels. She had pink fuzzy slippers and cotton between her toes.
She was getting a pedicure.
“Liss, who’s this?” From the woman.
“This is a classmate of mine!” Melissa was bouncing, still grinning, and her elbow jostled me. “Get this, Esther. We’re going drinking, dancing, and Taco Bell. I’m going on a girls’ night.”
The alarm faded from Esther and her smile softened. “You deserve it, Liss. You’re a good girl. A night out having fun is something you should’ve been doing for ages.” Her sharp eyes went to me. “You take care of our girl. You hear?”
I opened my mouth.
Melissa got there first, saying, “No. We’re totally covered. Bailey’s got guards on her at all times. I thought it was only three, but we got in her car today and I saw she had a driver too, so four. It was two before, but this week’s been four. We’re safe. Totally.”
Esther’s eyes had started to wander, but at the mention of my guards, they were razor-sharp again. “Four?”
The guy harrumphed, “Guards? Why the fuck you need guards?”
“Harold,” Esther hissed. “Language. They’re still young.”
“Excuse me.” His hands went to his suspenders and he arched his back, then bellowed out, “Four fucking guards? Why the fuck you need four fucking guards?” He aimed a glare across the hall. “That better for you, Est?”
She sucked in a breath and looked to be counting under her breath. After a bit, she nodded at me. “You keep her safe or you’ll deal with us. Don’t care who you are. We’ll get to that another time, and why you need four guards, but I got bridge tonight and need to head out of here.”
Her door was closed and Harold guffawed. “Don’t know why she’s in such a hurry. She’s only walking to A2. It’s the building next door. We’re the B building. And she don’t need to dress so hoity-toity. Only does it to rub it in the other ladies’ faces that her husband was a banker. I know she does it to piss Gail off. She’s married to Henry, who once made a play for Esther. Esther wasn’t having it, but she doesn’t want to quit bridge. You play bridge, and you learn it’s the social hour around these parts for us. Every Friday night together. Damned ruthless over there sometimes.” He took a beat and focused on me. “Why do you need guards on you?”
I was sensing a pattern, so I didn’t even try to speak.
Melissa stepped up. “Because she’s got a hot and rich boyfriend, and her pops is Peter Francis.”
At that, Harold’s eyes widened, and he even stepped back a foot. His hands flattened over his chest, the suspenders smashed in the middle. “Peter Francis?” He paused again, his eyes narrowing on me. “Know the boy who came out that was being half raised by Francis. Kashton Colello.”
Oh, crap.
I swallowed. “That’s him.”
“I follow the sites, know who his grandfather is.” He took in Erik and Connor, who hadn’t changed shifts yet and were standing just inside the apartment building door. Fitz was outside. “You need more guards.”
Connor and Erik both looked away. I saw both their mouths curving up as they did.
“Okay. Alrighty. Seems you’ll be fine and safe tonight, Lissy girl. You have fun. Don’t sleep with any of those guards down there. Those kinds are married to their jobs. You deserve a guy who’ll be married to you. Treat you right.” His gaze went to Esther’s door a second before he harrumphed again and disappeared inside his own place.
Yes. I was seeing why they didn’t need more security.
I asked, “Are all your neighbors like that?”
She laughed, leading the way up to the third and last floor. Her place was above Esther’s. “Most. One of the apartments on the back side is where a couple of developmentally disabled adults live, but they’re sweethearts. A fire alarm went off one night and I met them then. They were worried about everyone. They had staff with them, taking care of them.”
She showed me in, and it was a quaint apartment. The kitchen was still in the fifties era. In the dining room was a metal table with red tile on top. Her living room had modern couches. The television could’ve fit in a box; it was tiny. But she had a full desk setup set up. Four desks, one chair to wheel between all of them, and each desk had a different computer screen on it. The girl was pimping her own tech. I approved.
“Take a load off. I have wine in the fridge, if you want some. Do you need to change before going out?”
If I was remembering how Torie and Tamara took care of me before my dad’s welcoming-Bailey-to-the-world party, I remarked, “I think I’ll be good.”
“Suh-weet! Give me a second. I can get dressed super quick.”
I grinned to myself. “Amazingly quick.”
She heard me and shouted, “Girl! Amazingly quick. You got it.”