Page 131 of Pucker Factor

The door slammed open behind me and I spun around, already pulling my weapon, but it was only Cash. And boy did he look pissed.

“What the fuck happened?”

“We had to knock you out,” Kavanaugh said. “Well, technically it was Eli. Blame him,” he said, literally pointing his finger at me.

“Boss, you were losing it. It was bad.”

“I don’t remember,” he said, shaking his head.

“Well, let’s put it this way. You basically threw Betty out the window. If there was a box nearby, she wouldn’t have been sitting on it. There was no place for her anywhere in the hotel.”

“Yeah, I got it,” he grumbled, walking further into the room and flopping down on the couch.

“Um…there’s one more thing,” Kavanaugh cleared his throat. “Eva…sort of knows.”

“Fuck,” he grumbled, leaning forward to rest his face in his hands. “Any chance she thought it was all a joke?”

“Not likely,” Red snorted, then schooled his features when Cash glared at him.

“But the good news is, we have the footage from the hotel.”

“How the fuck did you get that?” he asked, standing suddenly and stalking toward me.

“Apparently, Simon the bomber stopped by and just handed it over.

Cash’s gaze slid to Sarah questioningly. “And I suppose he just wanted to help you.”

Apparently, Sarah didn’t like his tone of voice. “Why does no one believe me that Simon is a genuinely good guy?”

“Because he tried to kill you,” Cash said automatically.

“Yeah, but only because he was ordered to. I’m telling you, under that rough exterior is a man with a heart of gold.”

“Can we lay off the sentimental hogwash?” I snapped. “Remember who you’re supposed to want to be with.”

She rolled her eyes dramatically at me. “I never said I wanted to be with him. I just think he’s misunderstood.”

“Where’s the footage?” Cash asked, switching gears.

“Right here,” IRIS answered. “Fox saw it and…”

“And what?”

We all looked at each other, wondering just how much we should tell Cash.

“Well, he went all Fox and stormed out of the room.”

“Fucking great,” Cash muttered, throwing up his hands in frustration. “Just what I need. Another fucking mess to clean up.”

IRIS snorted. “You know Fox never leaves a mess. He’s very thorough.”

“Just another reason for me to get out of here,” Sarah muttered under her breath.

I was about to question her about just what exactly she meant when Cash went into full work mode. “Alright, we need to get back. Sarah needs to meet with the local LEOs in the case, and we need to find out just who this is and see if there’s anything left of him by the time Fox is done with him. IRIS—”

“I already have Dash tracking him.”

“Good. Eli, we’re taking Sarah back to Chicago now. Book us on a private jet and get us the hell out of here. The rest of you will return with Scottie once he gets my fucking plane functional.”

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