Page 155 of The Puck Stops Here

‘I was only joking!’ Harry blurted when he clocked Blake’s expression. ‘Well, about you scaring her off, not the rushing, she was definitely rushing.’

‘Do you know where she was heading?’

‘Beats me, but V was chatting up one of the women on the concierge desk the entire time I was out. He might have heard something.’

‘Thanks, buddy.’

He started to move off and Harry called after him. ‘V was still in the lobby last I checked.’

‘Great.’ He hit the stairs; no elevator was worth waiting for, not now. He had a bad feeling about this. A bad, bad feeling.

‘V!’ he hollered when he saw him at the bar across the lobby, sneaking a shot. The guy tensed, choking it up until he saw who it was.

‘Blake,dude, thank God it’s you.’ He gave him a lazy grin as he leaned back against the polished surface. ‘You joining me for one?’

‘Do you know where Astrid went?’

‘Well hello to you too.’

‘I’m serious, V. Harry says she got in a cab.’

‘Yeah, she got the concierge to sort her one, said she was in a hurry, money no object. Poor move if you ask me.’ He crooked a finger at the bar staff for another drink. ‘Bound to get ripped off.’

‘And?’

‘And what?’

‘Did you hear where she was heading?’

He shrugged. ‘Might have done.’

‘Mighthave done?’

‘I was distracted.’

‘Think, buddy,think!’

He screwed his face up. ‘Something Falls? Ashton, Ash?—’

Blake’s gut rolled. ‘Ashbury?’

‘Yeah, that’s the one.’ He nodded, all smug now. ‘Ashbury Falls.’

Fuck! Why would Astrid go there without telling him? Why not mention it that day when they were out together? What possible reason could she have to keep it a secret? Unless…

Dad.

No-no-no-no-no-no.He needed a car and he needed one now.

‘You coming to dinner with us? Larsson’s chosen some?—’

Blake was already racing away.

‘I guess that’ll be a no, then,’ V muttered into his fresh drink. ‘Bloody women, they’re more trouble than they’re worth.’

This one wasn’t… and he didn’t want her within a mile of that man without him there to protect her.

25

---