Page 54 of Provoke You

16

Have a Good Visit

Matt

I should have been exhausted, but instead I felt rested. Ela stirred next to me when I rolled out of bed. She needed the sleep, and I needed to get going on her long list of to-dos for today. I slipped out of her room and rushed toward mine next door. Downstairs, the guys had a meal going. By the mesquite smell permeating the house, I’d say they also had the grill going out on the back patio. Good, because after last night, I was starving.

I washed up, got dressed in jeans and T-shirt, and headed for the kitchen. “Morning,” I greeted Chase and Kitt, who sat at the counter eating grilled chicken.

“Oh shit.” Chase shook his head, reaching for the front pocket of his pants. He took out a hundred-dollar bill and slammed it against Kitt’s chest.

“And thank you,” Kitt said with the biggest grin.

I hated being the butt of the joke. “What now?”

“It’s past noon, Boss.” Kitt bit into his food and chewed, pressing his lips together.

I’d slept all day. When was the last time I did that? I honestly could not remember. I opened my mouth to explain what happened with Ela and me, but I had no words, no apologies. I was not sorry for last night. If I had the chance, I’d do it all over again and change absolutely nothing. So instead, I grabbed a chicken leg off the platter and ate.

“So you heard?” I finally said to be clear about Ela, even if at this point, I wasn’t sure what we were.

“The entire French Quarter heard.” Chase raised his eyebrows. He seemed less pissed about losing money on my account.

I rubbed the back of my neck, still at a loss for words as images of our time together fluttered in my mind. It’d be nice if I could go back upstairs and spend the rest of the day in bed with Ela. “What was the bet for?”

“Chase, the antiromantic, thought you two were just banging,” Kitt said. “But losing track of time—that’s something else.”

“What?”

Chase rose to his feet. “You’re in love with her.”

“Good morning.” Ela practically floated into the kitchen, in her pajamas and a bath robe.

“Good morning.” Chase smiled at Ela, throwing a couple of chicken thighs on his plate before he retired to the back room that was now officially our center of operations.

“Morning.” Kitt winked at her and followed Chase out of the room.

Ela turned to me, her arms across her chest. “I think they heard us.”

“You think?” I reached for her hand and pulled her toward me. She nestled herself between my legs, wrapping her arms around my neck. Her lips pressed against mine, or maybe I did that. Thing was, we just couldn’t stop kissing. “It was so hard to get out of bed.”

She glanced behind her toward the hallway where Chase and Kitt had disappeared. “I wasn’t sure where you stood with PDA in front of your guys.”

“I’m not going to hide you from them. Even if I wanted to, I don’t think I could keep my hands off you.” I nuzzled her neck, and she giggled. “There’s coffee and chicken, if you’re hungry.”

“I’m starving.” She gave me a quick peck and made a beeline for the coffee maker. “So about the note. Do you have any ideas of what it might mean? Is he even asking us to meet?”

“I’m assuming so. Jennifer said to find him. The note is a way to find him.” I fished the paper out of my back pocket and stared at the numbers on it.

She stood next to me, sipping from her mug, while leering at the code Ben left for her. “You know, if he didn’t trust you, he could’ve just called and set up a meet.”

“After all you’ve seen, you still think we’re being paranoid?” I asked.

“This is so Ben. You remind me of him a bit with your conspiracy theories.” She curled her lip in concentration. I turned to face her and waited for her to check her words. “Fuck. Life was easier when you sounded like a madman and all this was like straight out of a mystery novel.”

“It’s better than not knowing.”

“Wait.” She turned the sheet of paper on its side. “This is like a weird sudoku. Ben loves those.”

---