Chapter 17 Simon #2
“Yeah? I told her we’d get back to her after we’d dealt with the luchd-òl fola. But she didn’t make it sound like it was urgent.” Couldn’t we just stay home and make sweet, sweet love?
Reno leaned forward, his eyes alight with excitement. “Alyssa Laurent and her parents are gargoyles.”
We met the Laurents at a slightly upscale Mexican restaurant near the bayfront. I’d had a bag of blood before we left to make sure I didn’t get too tired. I would’ve felt even better with some of Reno’s blood, but that would’ve led to things we didn’t have time for.
It was cute how revved up he was for tonight. Alyssa Laurent had told us her boyfriend’s name was Milo—“he pronounces it mee-low”—Duran. We were about to confront the guy with the gargoyle costume.
On the way over we debated how to bring up the topic of the costume, but in the end we’d had to agree to wing it.
Aimee and Bernard Laurent appeared to be in their early forties but were probably closer to a millennium than not.
Alyssa passed for being in her mid-twenties, but she also could’ve been any age.
Emiliano, or Milo, was twenty-six according to his DMV records.
Like in his photos, he was tall, dark-haired, and slender but with a nice set of shoulders.
He appeared relaxed and friendly, and all three Laurents seemed happy with him.
Reno and I shook hands with everyone.
“Thank you so much for joining us.” Bernard gestured to the empty seats at the table, and Reno and I sat down. My wound was itching again, but I figured scratching my head at the table would be uncouth, and I didn’t want to embarrass Reno.
When was the last time I’d sat down to dinner in a restaurant with multiple people?
Hell, I couldn’t remember dining out with anyone since Davi.
Every time I thought about not having to chase down the luchd-òl fola anymore, I felt almost lightheaded.
The future was unknown, but I had Reno to share it with.
Reno, who’d chosen me, exactly like I’d hoped he would.
He returned my sappy smile, then he addressed Alyssa. “I’m sorry we’ve never met in person before.”
Her face lit up. “Me too. But now you get to meet Milo at the same time.” She hugged his arm, and he seemed content to just be next to her.
“How long have y’all been dating?”
She and Milo exchanged glances, and he was the one to respond. “Almost eighteen months now.”
Her parents were at ease and smiling. No worries about him from their end.
We placed our orders, and Milo looked between me and Reno, probably trying to figure out our relationship. “What do y’all do for work?”
Trying to flex my jaw to see if it helped with my wound itching, I picked up Reno’s hand and kissed it. Then I grinned. “We’re private investigators.”
Milo didn’t react to the implication that Reno and I were involved romantically. Instead his eyebrows went up and his face creased into a delighted smile. “Really? That’s so cool!”
After our food arrived, Milo asked several questions about being a private investigator. Alyssa, however, was eyeing us suspiciously. She’d no doubt guessed that we’d investigated Milo.
Throughout the meal, my head wound continued to itch.
I imagined it was trying to close but the bullet wasn’t out yet, so it couldn’t.
Finally, after I took my last bite of enchiladas and set my utensils across my plate, I couldn’t take it anymore.
Using only my forefinger, I pretended I was tucking my hair behind my ear and rubbed gently down the side of my head.
Unfortunately, the bullet was on its way out, and my finger dislodged it.
It fell, bouncing off my chest and clattering onto my plate, misshapen and a little bloody.
Too bad the lighting in the room was fairly bright.
Everyone turned to stare at my plate. Reno looked down at the bullet, then up at me. His face crinkled up like he was trying not to laugh.
“Rude.” I stuck my tongue out at him and threw my napkin over my plate.
I turned to the others. Bernard and Aimee, at the very least, knew what had happened with my injury.
It’d been all over Discord, and their wide eyes said they didn’t know how to explain the bullet to Milo.
I bumped shoulders with Reno. “This one’s always tying crap in my hair. ”
He didn’t even pause to think. He just chuckled and put his arm around my shoulders as he kissed my temple. “Because it gives me an excuse to play with it.”
“Was that a bullet?” Milo leaned across the table as if he could see through the napkin on my plate.
“Yes.” I made sure to sound aggravated as I lifted the edge of the napkin and swiped up the bullet before putting it in my pocket. I hoped Reno had some stain remover at home. “We do target practice a couple of times a month.” It could happen.
“Huh. Have you ever had to shoot anyone?”
Before Reno and I had to make up some bullshit answer, Alyssa slapped Milo on the bicep.
He rubbed his arm. “What was that for?”
“Because it was a disrespectful question. What if they did have to shoot someone? It’d be incredibly personal, and I can’t imagine it would make for pleasant dinner conversation.”
I grinned. I liked Alyssa. Milo wasn’t getting out of this dinner looking good though.
He slouched in his seat and sighed. “You’re right. Sorry.” That last was tossed in our general direction.
Reno chuckled. “No problem. It’s fine to be curious, but Alyssa’s right, it’s not a topic most people want to discuss. Um, but we did have a real interesting case recently.”
Everyone perked up. The server came by to clear our plates, and we all asked for coffee, except Milo who asked for hot chocolate.
Reno picked up my hand. “We’d been hired by a guy who thought his wife was cheating on him.
” He rolled his eyes. “Spoiler—she was.” Everyone grimaced.
“I took pictures of the apartment building she went to with her lover, and when I reviewed the pictures later, I saw something weird. It wasn’t in the woman’s lover’s apartment, though.
It was in the neighbor’s apartment next door.
” The entire table was on the edge of their seats.
“It was a costume. Hanging on the closet door. Would you like to see a picture of it?”
They all eagerly nodded. Reno unlocked his phone and found the photo. Then he handed it to Aimee, who was sitting next to him. She gasped, covering her mouth and staring at Reno with horrified eyes. Bernard took the phone and had a similar reaction.
“What? What is it?” Alyssa practically snatched the phone out of her father’s hand. She peered at the photo and slowly paled. “Milo.... Milo, this is your apartment.” She shoved the phone at him.
He frowned down at it. “Yeah, yeah it is.” He looked at Reno, and I could’ve sworn his confusion was real. “Why’d you take pictures of my apartment?”
Reno was faking his calm. He was tense, coiled and ready to react depending on what Milo did next. “I was trying to figure out which apartment belonged to your neighbor.”
“Milo.” Alyssa wasn’t touching him now. “Why do you have that costume?” You could’ve cut glass with her tone.
Milo rubbed his face. “It was supposed to be a surprise. I was waiting for your birthday.”
We all took a beat to process his statement.
“What?” Now it was Alyssa and the rest of us who were confused.
He gave an exaggerated sigh. “I came over one night, but it was late, so I peeked in your window to see if you were still up.” He shrugged.
“You were wearing a costume just like that, so I figured you were either into cosplay and were embarrassed to tell me, or, uh....” He glanced at Alyssa’s parents.
“You just liked wearing stuff like that. I took a picture and got a cosplay designer to make one exactly like it.” He shifted in his seat.
“So you’d know I accept you and love you just the way you are. ”
Alyssa gasped. “Milo....” Her face crumpled and she threw her arms around him. Bernard and Aimee were holding onto each other with their heads together.
“Awww.” I pressed my hands to my heart. “Reno, you’re going to let her tell him, right?”
He smiled, not taking his eyes off the couple.
“You bet.” He pushed his chair back and stood.
“Aimee and Bernard, thanks for dinner. Milo, sorry about the confusion with the costume. Alyssa, don’t forget to show him the campaign compendium, and let me know if there are any questions you can’t answer. ”
She nodded tearily and mouthed, Thank you.
Reno didn’t let go of my hand until it was time to get in the car. When we were on the road headed for home, I sighed dramatically. “That was wonderful. I can’t wait to do something like it again.”