Page 42 of Gluttony
“Peta.” He leaned in and gave her a peck on the cheek. She blushed and sort of twisted toward the line. Tony guessed it was to see if any of her three giggling friends noticed. “Good to see you.”
Peta’s expression drew all businesslike. “I’ve been trying to call you all day.”
“Oh? You want to get on the list?” He whistled to the bouncer, pointed at Peta and then to the door of Hell.
The bouncer nodded and waved Peta’s friends out of the regular line.
“No, um, actually... although thanks... it’s the questions for the press junket tomorrow. I emailed them to you. Donatello wanted you to look them over.”
“Shit. Yeah, sorry. Thanks. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“If you need a hand going over them, just let me know.”
“I think I’ll be fine, thanks. See you tomorrow.”
She bit her lip. “We also need to know if you’ll have a plus one for the premiere next week.”
Premiere.
Fuck.
While his life went to shit, the world kept turning without him.
“Yes, I’ll have a plus one.”
For a moment, Peta’s eyes flashed with some unnamed emotion that made him feel a little awkward. She seemed to want to add something, but thought the better of it, and relaxed.
“You’re not coming in?” she asked, pointing back to Hell.
This was his chance. If he was going to forget about his responsibilities, avoid Bailey and everything else, this was his opening. Easier to fuck up now and never face the failure he knew was inevitable. The drink was calling. Peta’s perfume smelled heady. He could so easily…
He shook his head and stepped away, out of Peta’s scented cloud. His body already sensed Bailey in there. Another scent tugged at his memory. Bailey’s coconut shampoo.
“Not tonight,” he said to Peta.
“Oh. Okay. Tomorrow, then.”
He waved and headed into the lobby.
Fourteen
Bailey watchedTony talk to the leggy brunette and couldn’t help the irritation swimming in her chest. Having no idea where he’d gone after she’d snapped at him, it had tied her in knots all afternoon. The man had just disappeared. He’d saved lives, and then he’d disappeared before she had the chance to thank him.
And to ask what the hell he was hiding. She kind of knew, but needed to hear it from him. She wouldn’t let him leave her sight tonight until she found out.
“I’m clocking off for the day. You okay to keep waiting, Miss Haze?” Gus the doorman asked. The older man had kept her company while she waited for Tony to arrive home.
Bailey had become friendly with Gus over the past few months. The first time she had been in the lobby was when Max was kidnapped, and the Lazarus family had tried to hide it from her and the rest of the Nightingale crew. She’d all but burst down the door demanding information. While Damien and Tomas had believed Parker’s lame excuse about Max being on a sudden secret assignment, she wasn’t nearly as trusting.
That same niggling suspicion picked at her nerves. Tony was hiding something. She knew it. No one had the combat skills he had unless they kept up to date with training, and a movie star simply did not train the same way. They trained in slow motion. It was all fake.
“Miss?” Gus asked again.
“Sorry, Gus. I was lost in thought. Tony’s here. I’m sure I’ll be fine letting myself out after I have a word with him.”
Gus saluted her with his aviator cap and then headed out. He passed Tony coming in at the same time. They said a few cordial words, Tony clapped the man on the shoulder, and then it was just Tony and Bailey alone in the small, cold lobby.
He wore the same jeans and T-shirt he’d worn earlier that day, and with his baseball hat now off, his brown hair still looked like he’d just gotten out of bed. He’d not returned home since he’d left Hudson House. Bailey folded her arms.
