Page 87 of Illusive
“Because I know you, Gail.” His eyes were bright with anger. “Keeping you out of trouble is a goddamned full-time job! And you never told me there were conditions on where I could go, or I never would’ve signed that damned agreement.”
Gail set his drink on the edge of the stage and took a long swallow of her own.
Teller shook his head. “This whole thing was your idea, and now you’ve fucked it all up.”
“I can fix it, baby,” she said calmly. “But not if I don’t know what’s in that letter.”
“It’s not a letter! It’s some legal bullshit.” Teller crouched again, bringing himself nearly to eye level with her. “You apparently didn’t read or understand the agreement, so what good would reading this breach crap do?”
Gail’s foot started tapping again, but her tone remained sweet and cajoling. “You didn’t think you’d ever even bein a roomwith Gideon Cross, let alone force him to do what we want, but I made it happen, didn’t I? And I’m not the one who screwed this up. That bitch must’ve gone crying to her brother after she saw us together. How else would he know?”
Claudette leaned closer again. “I think we should get out of here.”
“But it’s just getting interesting,” Ronan drawled. Anger was beginning to sizzle in his blood and he let it, his mind taking the various pieces of information he had to form a much larger picture.
“She wouldn’t have seen us together if you hadn’t insisted on rubbing it in!” Teller threw the papers at Gail’s chest.
Gail caught them with her free hand. “She borrowed my man for weeks. Do you know how it felt, waiting around, knowing you were giving it to her instead of me?”
“Youtold me to fuck her!” He stood again and hopped off the stage.
“Don’t act like you didn’t like it. And you should appreciate what I’m willing to do to see you make it big. I doubt you’d let some rich dick plow me for weeks to make me famous.”
“Whatever.” Teller grabbed his drink and tossed it back, his throat gulping the liquid until it was gone. “You want me to make it, soI’llbe your rich dick.”
Gail sidled up to him, pressing her body against his. “I want you to make it because you’re gorgeous and talented and deserve to be a star. And this isn’t over. I have other things in the works, I told you that.”
Teller gave her a nasty smile. “But you won’t tell me what, so you’re probably full of shit.”
Pushing her drink into his hand, Gail reached between them and rubbed his crotch with her palm. “You’ll see.”
Claudette made a faint gagging sound and stood. “We’re leaving, Ronan. Now!”
Looking up at his sister, Ronan saw her tight face and thinned lips, and got up. “Bon. I’ve seen enough.”
He stepped back to let her pass him, then followed her. As they reached the doorway, Gail turned her head and caught sight of him, her coaxing smile for Teller turning into startled recognition. Ronan set his hand on Claudy’s back and urged her to a quicker pace.
“Hey!”
They exited out to the muggy, oppressive late-afternoon heat. Claudette stepped to the curb, searching the one-way street for a cab.
“You!” Gail’s voice called out behind him.
He glanced at her. She and Teller had spent their time in Jazzie’s taking selfies and scrolling through their phones, with hardly a glance at the stage. He hadn’t expected that they might recognize or remember him. “Are you talking to me?” he drawled.
Pedestrians were thick on the sidewalk, moving in a steady surge between where he stood at the curb and Gail’s position just outside the bar.
She gave him a wide smile, her eyes twinkling in an odd and slightly off-putting way. The papers were still in her hand, rolled into a cylinder. She used them to point at him. “You work at Vidal Records.”
Ronan’s brows rose. “I think you have me confused with someone else.”
“Oh, no. I’m not confused.” She muscled her way through the stream of walkers to reach him. “I’ve seen you going in and out of there.”
Tension slipped into his muscles as he looked down at her. “Is that so?”
Claudette touched his shoulder. “Is there a problem?”
Gail grinned at Claudy in a way that had Ronan stretching out his arm to urge his sister behind him.
