Page 59 of Fangs and Fudge

His gaze lingered on me as I quickly set my portion on the bar and followed her out.

Doc was already waiting by the back door. He didn’t say anything as he got into his car. Neither did we. He did frown a little as Vena got in behind the wheel. I smiled and waved as I buckled just like normal, though.

As soon as she started out, she handed me her phone. I turned off the tracking. Then I did the same to mine. When she was almost to the highway, she coasted through a yellow and smirked as Doc stopped for it.

My phone buzzed.

Doc: Wait for me.

“Shepard is going to be so mad,” I said as Vena sped up and took a turn that would lead us to After Curfew.

“It’s always easier to apologize later than to ask ‘Daddy’ for permission to go,” she said.

I rolled my eyes at her. “Did Cross confirm that he’ll meet up there?”

She looked at me. “You just said to tell him someone was asking about him.”

“I said as long as he’s with us, I was okay with this meetup.” My tone conveyed my frustration and disbelief.

“And I thought that’s why he was coming to the house. To discuss how to time this. Not my fault the conversation was cut short.”

She wasn’t wrong, but it still annoyed me. I started typing up a text, but Vena stopped me.

“Everly, if you tell him now, he’ll run straight there. What do you think will happen if the guy they’re asking about shows up with us? They won’t tell us what we need to know. You know that. The club is a public place. We’re going during peak hours. We can get the information and text Cross on our way out.”

“Blur is a public place, too,” I said. “Remember how that almost wasn’t safe?”

She sighed–a defeated sound. “You’re right. Your call.”

I hated it when she left stuff in my court. I couldn’t blame her when things went horribly wrong then.

“Fine. We’ll at least drive by,” I said and watched the phone for the text or call I knew was going to come as soon as Doc rolled up to the house and discovered we were MIA.

It took less time than I anticipated. By the time we got to the club, I had five missed calls and the same number of texts. But, at least, the club didn’t look like a shady cover business like Juicy.

Feeling guilty for making everyone worry, I sent a reply text as Vena searched for a parking spot.

Me: We’re running an errand. We’ll head home soon.

Shepard: An errand at 1:30 a.m.?

I cursed under my breath as Vena zipped into a parking spot before anyone else could steal it.

“What?” Vena asked. “I parked fine.”

“No. I told Shepard we are on an errand, and he’s questioning it because of the time. We better hurry. It looked like a long line waiting to get in.”

She grabbed my arm to stop me from getting out.

“Tell him we’re going to the adult store, and ask if he has a preference on toys. It’ll buy us time. And here.” She dug into her meager cleavage and pulled out her knife. “Hide this for me. It looked like they were doing pat-downs to get in.”

“Texting Shepard that we’re going to an adult toy store is not helpful,” I said, unbuttoning my top two buttons and tucking the closed blade between the girls.

“Oh, it could help a lot.” She opened the door and stepped out.

My phone rang.

“It’s Shepard,” I said.

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