Page 28 of The Main Event

“I’ve got you covered. Trust me.”

8

EIGHT

The way Daisy smiled when dragging me through Salem had made my insides clench. It was dumbfounding to me how such an irritating woman could also be so fascinating. This whole outing was a way for her to keep a very obnoxious piece of art. It shouldn’t have even been a question—I was the one who owned the hotel after all—and yet here I was considering keeping the famed Sabrina Sutton original.

It wasn’t because of Daisy, I told myself. I wasn’t considering keeping it because of her. The things she said about catering to both the light and the dark in Salem made an odd sort of sense, though.

I would just think on it a little bit longer. It couldn’t hurt.

I wasn’t familiar with Cauldron Bubble Bistro, the restaurant Daisy selected for us. It looked interesting, though. The entire space was decked out in twinkle lights, and there were light-up bubbling cauldrons hanging from the ceiling, as well as ghosts and what looked like shadow monsters. They should’ve been creepy, but they were kind of cool.

“See,” Daisy said smugly. “Light and dark.” She gestured between the grinning ghosts and the dark shadows.

“I still maintain that’s different from a painting where a bunch of guys have been beheaded.”

“Not really.”

“Yes, really.”

“Yeah, I’m gonna say no.”

Surprisingly, I found I was amused at her reaction. She was annoying—she could win a gold medal in it if it were an Olympic event—but she was also kind of funny. Before I could decide how I felt about that, a happy blonde appeared behind the hostess stand.

She was tall, pretty, and seemed totally at ease.

“Hey, Daisy,” she said by way of greeting.

“Hey, Lux,” Daisy replied. “Do you have one of the cool booth tables we can have? I want to show my boss how you guys do everything right here.”

Lux—and what a unique but somehow fitting name that was—flicked her eyes to me. She seemed interested, and yet somehow leery at the same time. “You’re George Hunter’s grandson?”

Now I understood why she was leery. “I am.”

“You don’t look much like him.”

“I’m sorry to disappoint.” Really, what else was I supposed to say?

“I’m not disappointed in how you look,” Lux replied as she grabbed two menus. “You look fine. In fact, you look better than fine. We can always use fresh beefcake in this town.”

Daisy snorted. “I’m sure your fiancé will love to hear your take on that.”

Lux didn’t look all that worked up about the statement. “You might think that would bother him, but he’s secure in my love. That’s what he told me last night anyway.”

“Were the two of you about to do it?” Daisy asked blandly.

“How did you know?”

The two women eyed each other for several seconds, then burst into laughter.

“This way,” Lux said when she’d recovered. “We’re not all that busy yet, so I have no problem giving you a booth.” She led us to one of the booths in question. It had curtains that could be pulled to give the ultimate sense of privacy. I settled quickly, then looked up and saw the ceiling light directly above us was covered in glittering bats.

“Wow,” was all I could say.

Lux followed my gaze. “Yeah. I did the decorating myself. Cool, huh?”

“It definitely makes a statement.” I cocked my head. “Do those bats have blood smears around their fangs?”

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