Page 77 of Blind Luck

“I mean, we’ve spent a bit of time together, and…”

“We’re fucking dating, Erin. Don’t lessen what this is.”

She shrugged one shoulder. “Okay, we’re dating.”

Dusk clapped her hands together. “Perfect. So we’ll go with option three. Erin was following Jace as her job entailed, and Rusty came along to play the supportive boyfriend. Throw in the fact that Jace gave Kelsey a GHB cocktail, and I think we can get her on our side.”

“You know for certain it was GHB?” I asked.

“The doctor convinced her to pee in a cup and ran a test.” Dusk made a face. “We can draw straws for who gets to clean the bathroom in the morning.”

For Pete’s sake. “I’ll clean the damn bathroom.”

I was a mom. The poop-fest that was Haven’s first year on this planet had made me basically immune to bodily fluids, and Rusty had already had to mop vomit out of Mav’s pickup. It was only fair that I carried part of the load.

“Awesome. I’ll pick up breakfast, and then we can talk with Kelsey.”

“The Galaxy mess aside, Jace Fuller needs to face consequences for this.”

Dusk beamed a smile, and for a split second, I saw a flash of something not quite so sunny in her eyes.

“Oh, he sure will. We just need to come up with a real memorable experience for him.”

CHAPTER 26

ARI

“Ican’t believe it. I knew he was a jerk, but hedruggedme?”

Dusk slid the test cassette across the table. The positive-for-GHB result was clear for all to see.

“I’m afraid it’s true, sweetie.”

Kelsey had woken at nine, groggy and headachy and still feeling nauseous. Her first reaction had been panic, but I’d been waiting outside the bedroom door to explain the situation. While she slept off the drugs in Rusty’s room, Rusty had borrowed Mav’s bed in the master suite, which came complete with a condom dispenser on the nightstand and a collection of abstract erotic art that made me blush just from looking at it.

“Jace Fuller is such a snake.” Kelsey leaned forward, head in her hands. “He acted sleazy from the get-go, but date rape?”

“He probably figured you wouldn’t remember much, and he could pass it off as consensual.”

“One of the servers said he’d done it before,” Erin added.

“I knew this project was going to be a nightmare. Ifreaking knew it.” She focused on Rusty. “Thank you. Thank you so much. I didn’t even recognise you at first, not without the beard. We’ve only met once before?”

“Twice. Once at Hendrix’s end-of-season shindig, and again when I was in town and he dragged me along to Rodrigo Wannamaker’s birthday party. But nobody was there for long, so…”

“Oh, man. The surprise party? The one his wife organised?”

“Where he arrived home with two hookers because he thought she was out? Yeah, that one.”

For the first time, Kelsey smiled. “The aftermath was wild. That girl was fifty shades of petty, and we were all there for it.”

“What did she do?” I asked, not-so-professional curiosity getting the better of me.

“Moved in with her sister. Then cut one arm off every sweater he owned, superglued his gas cap shut, put glitter in his underwear, advertised his car on Craigslist real cheap, put anchovies in his AC vents, got a pile of organic manure delivered to his driveway—she used his credit card for that one—took the washers out of his taps, signed him up to win a bunch of cruises, took all his forks… Every day, Silas came home with a new story. It was kind of a shame when Rodrigo got traded to Toronto.”

“Legend status, huh?”

“Right. I’m sorry, who are you?”

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