Page 32 of Spies Like Us

“Yeah, I can wing it. I’m not sure what kind of excuse I can give the Standishes for not being at the house. Get Dad to send the jet. I’ll need a blonde wig. Can you arrange that and an outfit for me? I’ll literally be able to appear and then leave as soon as possible.”

The house door opens, and Anders and Dayton come out. Anders has a travel coffee mug in each hand, and Dayton also has one. He’s carrying some towels too. They climb in, and Anders passes one of the cups back to me.

“Yeah, that shouldn’t be a problem. We’ll check out the closest private strip to Summerville. We wouldn’t want poor little foster girl Mackenzie seen getting onto a private jet.”

“I’ll come up with some excuse as to why I won’t be home that night. Hell, I haven’t made any female friends, so I can’t even use a sleepover excuse, and there’s no way the Standishes will let me sleep over at a boy’s house, so I can’t use Lathan as a cover either.”

“What about a college visit? You could get an early admission with a tour of the campus as an incentive.”

I sit up. “Hey, that’s a great idea, and they are both so pro college that they will be enthusiastic. Can you get someone working on it? I need to receive it this week.”

“We’ll send it through the guidance counselor at school so there’s no question,” she assures me before we hang up.

“Thanks for this, I really needed it. Operating on little sleep is not fun,” I say to Anders as I take a sip of the coffee he passed me.

“No problem.” He turns slightly so he can see me as Dayton gets us back on the road. “Dayton told me you and Lathan saw them with Bishop’s body.”

“Yeah. They are going to weigh him down and dump him in the springs,” I confirm before taking another sip of my coffee, the warmth and sweetness perking me right up.

“You’re leaving town?” Dayton asks, his eyes meeting mine in the rearview mirror.

“Just for twenty-four hours. I committed to a gallery opening before I got this assignment. Sometimes people pay for wealthy patrons and socialites to come so they get more media coverage. It’s a great cover for Katie and me. How can we be killing people when we’ve been seen at these events by hundreds? But this one is a friend of my mother’s, and the funds raised are going to a battered women’s shelter that my mother is a patron of, so we volunteered.”

“When is it?” he asks, and I look at the information Katie just sent me on the phone.

“Next Wednesday in New York. I’ll leave first thing in the morning and be back Thursday in time for my shift at the bar.”

“Matthew had me meet him at the bar earlier. He had three wine barrels we needed to move into the cellar downstairs. I can confirm that the elevator does go down there. I didn’t get a chance to poke around because he was with me,” he tells us.

“Lathan and I managed to steal a card that should allow us to use the elevator. He’s making a copy of it so we can poke around after work if you want,” I offer, and he nods.

“He told me about a private party that he was throwing and that they require a hot young bartender to serve at it. He thought I would be perfect for the job and that I would earn three times as much as I would in one night at the Life Lounge.”

“And you jumped at it, right?” I ask, and he shakes his head.

“Nah, I didn’t want to seem too enthusiastic. I told him I thought it sounded too good to be true and asked what the catch was.”

“And?” Dayton asks, not taking his eyes off the road.

“I have to lure you into the storeroom and fuck you. They want to catch you in the act so they can hold it over you. They want to blackmail you into serving topless and possibly doing more. He wasn’t blatant, but I think they want to pimp you out.”

“He told you that?” I ask, sounding skeptical. “What if you hadn’t agreed?”

“I probably would have wound up floating face down in the hot springs too, but with the work I’ve put in, I’m pretty sure they knew I’d be a sure thing.”

“Well, okay then,” I agree, and he narrows his eyes.

“Are you okay with that?”

“Please, it won’t be the first time I’ve been walked in on. It will be fine, and it will get us both where we need to be,” I reassure him, but then I have a moment of doubt. “As long as you’re okay with it. I’m not sure we’ll be able to get away with faking it like Max and I did. I think you’re actually going to have to fuck me.” Jesus, here I am waving off any concern because it’s standard practice for me, but I’m almost certain it’s not standard practice for these guys. Lathan all but confirmed Miller was fine with it, but what about the rest of the team?

The concern in his eyes disappears, and they sparkle with excitement and no small amount of desire. “Trust me, sweetie, it will be no hardship giving you an orgasm or two to secure our cover.” His lips curve up on one side, showing me a dimple I hadn’t realized was there.

“Well, that’s ah… good.” I feel awkward all of a sudden, and I want to slap myself. I know this is for a mission, and I feel like this should just be standard protocol, but I kind of feel like it’s more.

We’ve all been dancing around what’s between us, and this is just one more step toward something. What it is, I’m not sure, but after my afternoon delight with Lathan, my previous swim date with Dayton, and the incredible sex with Max, I’m going to be four out of six with Team Basilisk. Then there’s whatever is going on between me and Ryland, but that’s a whole other problem. I am wary about our interactions because of what he has with Miller. Lathan told me they are definitely a couple and they are solid. He also implied they would like to have a girlfriend but haven’t found one to fit their dynamic. Ryland seems to be looking to me to fill that role, but Miller? Miller is so wishy-washy. One moment, he’s aggressive, and I think he wants to slit my throat and shove me into one of the tunnels below the town where I’ll never be found, and then other times, he’s professional and job oriented. Then there’s what he did to me last night after I got home from the club. I’m discombobulated by him, and that’s so disorienting.

We fall into a comfortable silence as the car accelerates, heading toward the hot springs. Dayton has the radio tuned into some local station that’s playing old country music. I close my eyes and let the soft sounds sooth me.

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