Page 76 of Touch in the Dark

“Don’t you think she needs to have a say in this?”

“Catch up, Chambers,” Jenna says, taking out her phone.

“I wasn’t aware you’d sprinted ahead, Montanari.”

“You don’t need the details, just think of me as your Fairy Godmother.”

Jenna starts tapping away on her phone. I sit back and watch people around us, noticing Stone has attracted the attention of a couple of older ladies at the table beside him. The guy is as hard as his name suggests though and no matter how they try to catch his attention, he is steadfastly avoiding making eye contact with them. I don’t know his story, he is intensely private, but he spends most of his time with us, Adam specifically, so I’m not sure if he is in a relationship. He’s a good-looking guy though, in his mid-forties and buffer than any guy I’ve ever met in real life.

After a few texts, Jenna sets her phone down, slurps up more of her coffee then smiles at me.

“Brooke is in, she has three days because she is between cases right now, so she is going to come along. Meg is asking for the time off work, but Joey was there with her when I messaged and thinks it’s a great idea, so he is paying for her to go.”

I stare at her in confusion. Why is she talking to me about her friends?

“I just have to convince Adam he needs some time to work on this music he’s writing. The best way to do that is without any distractions, so he won’t even miss me really. We’ve just spent a week together, he has to be sick of me by now.”

I glance at Stone who is watching and listening. “Are you following any of this?” I ask him.

“She’s planning a girl’s trip to L.A. so she can trick Elsa into going there when you’re there. Dumb ass,” he adds.

Jenna beams at Stone.

“Adam will lose his shit,” Stone also points out.

“It’s for a good cause.”

“I’m a cause?” I ask, affronted.

“Yes,” she doesn’t care what I feel about that. “Okay, that’s the plan. We’ll stay at Adam’s place, you’re near to there, right?” she starts gathering her things.

I just nod, Stone’s look says he’s dreading what is going to come when he deposits Jenna back home with Adam.

“Great, and we will also be there if you need us over this thing with… that person. You know I’ll do anything I can to help you with that, right? Okay, good. I have some packing to do, oh and I’ll need to convince Adam that he isn’t a man baby and lived fine for many years before I moved in with him.”

She grabs her things and claps her hands again. There is no point stopping this. Jenna is on a roll.

Chapter Nineteen

“She is about as subtle as a rhinoceros on a bounce house,” Brooke comments.

“But look how happy she is,” I smile at Jenna as she pops the cork on a bottle of champagne.

“Was the sex really enough to overlook the other issues?” I don’t answer right away so Brooke elbows me right in the ribs. “I’ll take that as a yes. Lucky bitch. But you can’t let yourself be blinded by a good dicking. Remember, it’s been a while. You can’t go letting the first person who has tickled your tonsils for God knows how long, blind you to their personality flaws.”

Meg giggles beside us. She had been goggle-eyed for the first twenty minutes, staring around like she couldn’t believe how she found herself here.

We arrived at Adam’s beach side mansion an hour ago. I protested saying I have my own place where I should go anyway, to check on my apartment, but Jenna was adamant we all stay here. And that was when I learned Nick is in L.A. too. Jenna’s great idea for a girls trip out here became that much clearer. She asked me late Sunday night if I wanted to tag along with her, Brooke and Meg. I jumped at the chance because I’ve already agreed to go to Sandy’s Christmas Eve party. That means I need to take the opportunity to see my dad, or I’ll miss spending time with him over the holidays. Plus, I can check in on Reggie and the salon too.

“So why is Nick here anyway?” Brooke asks Jenna as she passes her a glass of champagne.

Jenna just hums in response then dances away to turn up the music. Brooke exchanges a glance with me that says she won’t be appeased by that.

Brooke stands and walks to the windows at the rear of the house in the sunken living room to look out over the beach. Even she had been speechless when we all first saw Adam’s house. But she hid it better than Meg did. I’ve been in Nick and Archer’s houses way back when, but never Adam’s. He was always really private about his space. On a scale of one to Archer’s though, this place is a low three. And that said a lot for the secured, gated and beach front property.

“I’m just saying, how can we assist in this plan, which I am not one hundred percent on board with by the way, if we don’t know the full story.”

“You don’t need to know everything, all of the time, you know,” Jenna tells her. “Besides, we’re not here because Nick is here.”

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