Chapter 48 Reed
REED
Ilay Georgina’s sleeping, drunken frame onto the bed in her guestroom.
Oh, how I wish I were laying her naked body down onto the four-poster in my room.
But, of course, that’s not an option. When she was perfectly sober last night, she asked for a room of her own, much to my extreme disappointment.
And she didn’t retract that request before passing out in my arms in a lounger by the pool.
I get her situated comfortably in bed underneath a sheet, and then move to the foot of the bed to grab a folded blanket.
.. when my foot bumps into something hard on the floor by the bed.
The room is too dark for me to make out what I’ve bumped into, but it’s definitely not Georgina’s suitcase, the outline of which I can see across the room by the door.
Curious, I head to the nightstand and flip on a small lamp. Momentarily, when the lamp illuminates, I worry the light will awaken Georgina. But a quick glance at Drunken Sleeping Beauty tells me, no, this girl is out for the night.
I return to the mysterious obstacle at the foot of Georgina’s bed and discover it’s a cardboard box emblazoned with Courthouse Copy Service on its side.
The exact same kind of box Leonard always has in his office.
And, instantly, even before I’ve peeked inside the box, I know what I’m going to find inside.
Stephanie Moreland’s lawsuit. But, still, just for kicks, I look anyway.
And, yep. No surprise. There it is. Stephanie’s complaint, sitting right on top a stack of documents.
A puff of air escapes from my nose. I should have known Georgina had it.
There’s no way Georgina would have seen reference on that printout to a settled sexual harassment lawsuit and not beelined to the clerk’s office to get a copy of it.
But why didn’t she tell me she’d read it, when she asked me about the case?
Because she thought, if I didn’t know she’d already read it, then I might lie to her about Stephanie. And she wanted to catch me in a lie.
For a moment, I feel betrayed. Hurt. Angry. I feel the old familiar urges bubbling up. The ones I feel whenever a woman gets too close. When I feel my walls being threatened. The urge to run away, push away, shut down. That’s what I’m feeling. As usual.
But then, I take in Georgina’s beautiful, sleeping face... and I remember the secret she shared with me tonight. The way she laid herself bare to me. And the panic inside me vanishes. The urge to run away, push her away, shut down subsides.
Okay, so she got the printout of lawsuits and noticed I’d settled a sexual harassment case.
Considering what that asshole Mr. Gates did to her, it’s no wonder she was especially determined to find out everything she could about Stephanie’s claims. At least, to Georgie’s credit, she came straight to me and asked me for my side of the story, rather than jumping to conclusions and instantly believing Stephanie’s lies like they were gospel.
My heart rate is slowing again.
This is not a problem.
Georgina is simply doing her job.
And doing it well.
After what she’s been through, I can’t blame her for wanting to know what kind of man she’s been sleeping with. Good for her for following the breadcrumbs. She might be young. And she might be smoking hot. But Georgina Ricci is nobody’s fool.
I grab the blanket from the foot of the bed and gently cover her with it. I bend down and kiss her cheek gently, and turn off the light. Goodnight, Intrepid Reporter.
I stare at her for a long moment, not wanting to leave her side. But, finally, I drag my ass to my room. Which is where I brush my teeth, shower, and, finally, blessedly, crawl into my bed with an exhausted groan. But before flipping off my light, I grab my phone and send a text to Henn:
I need another favor, brother. Find out where Georgie went to high school.
It’s in the Valley somewhere. A guy named Gates is the football coach.
They won two championships in four years.
I need you to hack into his phone and computer and dig around.
See if you find a vulnerability. I don’t know exactly what I’m looking for.
All I know is I want you to find something, anything, I can use to go Left Eye Lopes on the guy’s ass.
I want to burn this motherfucker’s entire life to the ground, Henny.
Just like Left Eye burned Andre’s house. No mercy.