35. Erin
CHAPTER 35
ERIN
I n less than a week, this would all be over.
Probably.
It should have been over already, but Jerry had run into some kind of problem on her vacation, and Dusk said half of the team had gone haring off to San Gallicano. Now we were waiting for Cole to come back and officially tell Stanley Fuller that the golf course plan was off. Then the design project would be cancelled, and Kelsey and Selene could escape to Virginia.
Kelsey had decided that promotion or no promotion, she was moving to Richmond, and Selene was going too. Priest said a friend of a friend ran a domestic violence charity there, and they’d help Selene get back on her feet in a more long-term way than we could ever do. Plus she and Kelsey had become friends, so they’d have each other to lean on in a new city.
And me? I’d tidy the house with Rusty before Mav’s return next week, and then I’d go to Santa Cruz to pick up some of my stuff. After that, I was heading for Fresno, at least for a week or two. I’d split my time between the ocean and the San Joaquin Valley, depending on my work schedule and Rusty’s. My life had just turned into one big jigsaw puzzle, and I didn’t mind a bit.
Ari had flown home to see Zach and Haven after Zach returned from South Africa, but now she’d come back to Vegas for a few days, not because of the Galaxy case but to continue her regular work with Rennick. Normal life was gradually resuming, or rather the new normal in my case.
In a strange way, I’d miss all the drama when I returned to California.
But, it turned out, the drama wasn’t over yet.
The yelling woke me, and I bolted upright in bed and shook Rusty.
“Listen!”
“Wha…?”
“Someone’s shouting. In the house.”
And they were close, too close. Upstairs. A man. The words were indistinguishable, but the anger was clear, and Rusty was the only man meant to be here tonight.
He was already on his feet, and he tucked me behind him as he hurried toward the door.
“Stay here.”
And miss all the good parts? No way. If Sin hadn’t been in residence, I might have been more concerned, but she slept with a gun under her pillow and she knew how to use it.
Ari made it to the master suite before we did, and I caught sight of Selene and Kelsey hurrying along the hallway. Selene was carrying a baseball bat.
“Get the fuck off me!” the guy was yelling. “You crazy fucking bitch.”
Rusty peered tentatively around the doorjamb and then sagged back against me. “Oh, fuck.”
“What?”
I took a look myself. Sin had a guy dressed in jeans and a T-shirt cuffed and pressed face-first into the wall. Her gun was stuck in the waistband of her shorts, and somehow, she managed to look more awake than the rest of us put together. Trooper was jumping up and down in his cage, yip-yip-yipping at the intruder. Had the Fullers sent another thug? I thought Alexa was monitoring the dark web?
Rusty stepped forward. “Welcome home, buddy. I thought you were in Norway until next week?”
“What the fuck is going on? This whack job pulled a gun and fucking frisked me.”
A smile flickered on Sin’s lips. “You enjoyed that part. Don’t lie.”
“Shut up. Why are you all just standing there? Someone call 911.” The man I now recognised as Mav Johansen shook his head. “Wait. Who are these people?”
“You said it was okay to have guests,” Rusty reminded him sheepishly.
“Yeah, I said the hot surfer chick could stay, not all the other ones.” Sin loosened her grip enough for Mav to take a look around. “Five women? Man, I didn’t think you were the type.”
“That’s not what this is.”
“Then what the fuck is it? I was climbing into bed, and a lunatic tried to murder me.”
Sin just shrugged. “You shouldn’t creep around in the dark.”
“It’s my damn house, lady. I can do whatever the hell I want.”
“Maybe you could uncuff him?” Ari suggested.
Sin’s smile grew wider. “Maybe I like him better this way.”
“What the hell is going on?” Mav yelled.
I felt as if I should try to explain, seeing as nobody else was going to. “So, it’s a long story. There was a loan, except it wasn’t a loan, and a broken arm, and a golf course, and some ads on the dark web, and then we rescued Selene from her ex because he’s an asshole.”
Mav just stared at me. “You’re crazy. You’re all fuckin’ crazy.”
Okay, perhaps I shouldn’t try to speak while I was asleep.
“Go back to bed,” Sin instructed. “We can talk about this in the morning.”
“The hell we can. This is?—”
Sin gripped Mav’s arm as she leaned forward to whisper in his ear. I was too far away to hear the words, but he stopped struggling.
“Bed,” she ordered. “Now.”
“I’m not arguing with her,” Rusty muttered.
Boy, tomorrow was going to be an interesting day.
The five of us sat in a row at the kitchen table, condemned soldiers waiting to die. I’d actually expected Mav to come and yell at us sooner than eight thirty, but so far, there’d been no sign of him.
“You think he’s still alive?” Selene asked nervously. “I have to agree with him on the ‘whack job’ part.”
Oh, definitely. “Maybe she drugged him?”
Ari was sitting closest to the door. “Shh, I hear footsteps.”
Sin slunk in first, said nothing as she put Trooper’s travel carrier down by the door, and strolled to the coffee machine. Then Mav appeared, his hair wet from the shower, barefoot in jeans and a different T-shirt to the one he’d worn yesterday. This one said “Let’s Get Together and Feel All Night.” Rusty scrambled to his feet.
“Buddy, I’m sorry about this. Damn sorry. We’ll clean up. I don’t think anything’s broken, but if it is?—”
Mav cut him off with a hand. “Forget it. We’re good.”
“We are?”
Mav nodded toward Sin. “She explained.”
“I’m so fuckin’ sorry. If I’d known you were coming back early, I’d have rented another house.”
“Like I said, forget it.”
“You want me to find someplace else for tonight?”
“Nah, stay here. It’s only for a couple more days, right?”
“Right.”
I looked at Rusty. Rusty looked at me. Mav’s capitulation was welcome but really freaking strange, seeing as he’d been so furious before. Was Sin the Mav-whisperer or something?
“So, uh, in that case, it’s good to see you, buddy. You get kicked out of Norway early?”
“More like let off the hook. Grandma Anna came up with a schedule for us to distract Katherine from ‘the day happiness stopped and hell took over’—her description, not mine—but the bridesmaids decided to send her on the honeymoon instead.”
Rusty had rehashed the Katherine saga over breakfast, so we all knew just how big of a prick Elias had turned out to be.
Selene gasped. “They sent her on a vacation alone? When she was so sad?”
“No, not alone. But they couldn’t change the name on the airplane ticket, so they put out a call on social media for any man named Elias Bergen and found a replacement.”
Kelsey’s turn to gasp. “They sent her on vacation with a stranger?”
“I understand there was an interview process and some kind of background check.” Mav wasn’t selling this. “Look, the new guy was definitely an upgrade. He’s a doctor who lives in Sandefjord, no arrest record, and he owns his own home. Good hair, goes to the gym a lot. If I wasn’t straight, I’d date him.”
Rusty raised an eyebrow. “Good hair? You sure you’re straight?”
Sin answered for him. “Oh, he’s definitely straight.”
Five heads swivelled to stare at her. Was it me or did she look slightly flushed?
“What the hell did you do last night?” Ari asked.
“What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.”
“I’m not sure that rule applies when you both live in Vegas.”
Sin clipped the lid onto her travel mug and shrugged. “Pretty sure it’s not an official law, so… I’m going to work.”
Mav jumped up from the stool he’d settled onto. “You need a hand backing your car out the driveway?”
“I think I can fucking manage.”
He slumped back down again. Man, Sin was a real piece of work. She picked up Trooper and glided out into the hallway, serene as always, and disappeared out of Mav’s life. I felt a little sorry for the guy. He looked quite forlorn.
“Wow, I thought she just tied you to the bed and gagged you,” I said.
“She did that too,” Mav mumbled. “I need caffeine and sugar.”