Page 78 of Blood and Bonbons

“Nothing wrong with playing with oiled balls. I wonder if Anchor will smell them on me again.”

I debated telling her what Cross had confirmed about Anchor and Shepard this morning then decided against it. Vena tended to fixate, and she was already over the top flirting with Anchor. If she knew he was a wolf, she’d never let up. She was as obsessed withThe Other Houseas I was.

“Let’s not test it,” I said. “If you get fired from Blur in the first week, I swear I’m getting you a job on the assembly line at a toothbrush factory. And not the vibrating kind.”

She held up her hand in a solemn promise gesture that I didn’t believe for a second and took a bite of her pancake.

I’d barely managed a few bites before my phone rang.

“Answer!” Vena said, seeing the screen before me.

Her enthusiasm made sense when I saw the pawn shop’s number.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Everly. Mr. Davies accepted your counteroffer. He’s willing to purchase the coin tomorrow morning at ten.”

“Okay. We’ll be there,” I said, hoping I wasn’t over-committing for Cross.

“See you then.”

I looked at Vena after I hung up.

“What did he say?” she asked.

“Mr. Davies accepted your counteroffer.”

Her grin was huge. “We’re rich.”

“No,Crossis rich. I’m not touching a dime of his money. Do you not remember how mad he was about the ring?”

“Do you not remember my negotiation skills? I did at least fifty percent of the work. If not for me, he’d have a measly few grand in his beautifully bulged pocket.”

“Are you seriously going to ask him for fifty percent?” I asked in disbelief.

“Yep. It’s not like he doesn’t have more coins.”

I took another bite of pancake, trying to console myself that her boldness was going to put us in a grave someday, while she inhaled hers.

“Hurry up. We have a lot to do today,” she said, picking up her plate.

“Not really. All we have to do is go to the strip club, which I’m not happy about. And then go to work.”

“I think a reconnaissance mission might be in order.”

I paused the fork halfway to my mouth. “You know I hate it when you use that word.”

She smirked as she walked into the kitchen. “This will be easy. I say that we go to the strip club before our appointment and look around.”

“They won’t let us in.”

“Not unless they think we’re applicants.”

“I’m not applying to be a stripper, Vena.”

“My beautifully bosomed best friend, we’re not actually applying. We’re just using what your grandma gave you to get us in the door so we can see things we might not otherwise see. We’ll have more of an advantage than we do right now. We’d be going into the meeting blind otherwise.”

“What happened to waiting for Cross?” I asked. “He said he would see us in a few hours…”

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