Page 37 of Privileged (Adrenalin)

The snort comes out before I can stop it. She stops dead and gives me a cold stare. “Seriously.” I hold up my hands. “A good solution, too. I think.”

“I’m listening.” She crosses her arms in front of her chest and taps her foot, waiting for me to continue.

“A few weeks back I had a client. A local. Newish, so he doesn’t know many people in town yet. He’s about the same size as Blake, so the costume could still get used.”

The frown she’s wearing gets less pronounced as her anxiety starts to level off. “Sounds promising. Who is it?”

I take a deep breath and will my voice not to crack. “Carter Quinn.”

Ally’s eyes morph from little slits to giant saucers, but it happens in a weird slow-motion way that makes me think her head might spin around. Either that or steam will shoot from her ears.

“No. Absolutely not. I would’ve happily played welcome committee when he moved herelast yearbut he wanted no part of that. I won’t do that to Finn either. He deserves to have fun on his day off and hanging out with his boss isn’t his idea of fun.” She starts pacing again.

“Offering to get together out of the office might work in Finn’s favor.” I’m grasping at straws since the costume substitution didn’t have the effect I hoped for.

“Maybe if Carter wasn’t such a closed-off jerk they’d have hung out outside work already.” She slams her hands to her hips and sends me a frosty glare.

“That’s fair. I’m just saying it must be hard to become part of the town if you don’t know anyone. I had you and Finn to help me get settled when I got here. Carter didn’t have anyone.”

“That makes it okay for him to sit up there in his fancy office and ignore the people who work for him?”

“No. But it does make him human.”

“What does that mean?” Ally’s top lip pulls up as she wrinkles her nose.

“He’s not immune to the things people say about him. He’s aware he played a role in that, but knowing a whole town sort of hates you doesn’t make you want to come out of your office.”

“Hate’s a strong word.” She starts to soften. Ally may not be as forgiving as me, but she knows I wouldn’t defend someone unless I thought they deserved it. “I’d say more skeptical.”

“Either way, I think he’d like to change that. The bike race is the perfect opportunity, and he solves your costume problem in the process.”

“We should’ve dressed as ‘Man in the High Castle’ if he’s joining us.” The corner of her lip ticks up in a partial smile. A peace offering of sorts.

“He’s not that reclusive.” I roll my eyes.

“He kind of is. But not with you it seems.” Her eyebrows climb up to her forehead and stay there, a not-so-subtle hint that she’s waiting for an explanation.

“I told you, he’s a client. A nice one. Nicer than I expected him to be anyway, and I get the impression he didn’t set out to isolate himself, it just sort of happened, and then he didn’t know what to do about it. When Blake told me he couldn’t make the race, the pieces sort of fell together.” Ally doesn’t need to know things didn’t exactly happen in that order.

“Well, I suppose since he did finally bring Finn in for a meeting, we can reciprocate by having him join the cast. He has to wear the costume though.” She points a finger at my chest.

“Duh.”I’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.

“Finn still has to say yes.”

“Of course.”No way he’ll deny Ally her full cast.

“And you still have to work on Lennon. That man works too much. He needs to come out for at least a few laps.”

“I’ll do my best.”

The slight shake of her head says she can’t believe she’s agreeing to this. “Okay,” she sighs heavily. “I guess we’ve got our Spiderman.”

Chapter fourteen

Carter

Ipark behind Murphy’s—no easy feat since half the roads in town are blocked for this damn race—wondering how the hell I let Sloan talk me into this. He may have a point about getting to know the townspeople, but I didn’t realize he meant all of them at once. Based on the crowds I had to navigate to get here, I think that’s what this is.

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