Fit for the Job (33 page)

“You called the police?”

“I did.” Bodie said. “This man had that girl bound and gagged. I work for Eben Wright. She’s his daughter, Sassy. My name is Bodie Vick.”

“The police are on their way,” the guard said. “Is she hurt?”

“Can you watch this guy?” Bodie asked.

The guard nodded, looking down at Andre.

Bodie went to the bed and climbed up next to Sassy, taking her in his arms. Sassy curled into him, her body jerking with sobs.

“Hey,” Bodie said. “You okay?” He reached down and took her hand, examining her wrist. “Are you hurt?”

“No,” she squeaked. “Not really.”

The security guard asked Andre a lot of questions, but the man refused to answer, whimpering and saying he wanted a lawyer. “You can talk to the police when they get here,” the guard said. “I’m just trying to figure out what happened.”

Sassy pulled back from Bodie, wiping her eyes. She looked up at Jay, her lip trembling. “The computer on the desk,” she said. “Will you bring it to me?”

Jay started toward it, then hesitated. “Why do you need the computer, Sass?”

“I need to delete the file,” she said. “They...” She trembled. “I didn’t send that email. They did. They wanted my trust fund.” She whimpered. “It’s my fault.”

“It’s okay,” Bodie said. “Take it slow. Tell us what happened.”

Sassy cast a wary glance over at Andre, then leaned into Bodie, and he wrapped his arm around her. “Before, before you came, Jay, I asked Libby to take my jewelry, the way I did with you. I...” Her face broke. “I told her some things I shouldn’t have.”

Jay moved over to the bed and sat on the other side of her. “Okay,” he said.

“She said no.” Sassy wiped her nose. “But earlier, when we got back from the cabin, she came in my room and said she’d do it. I told her I didn’t think I wanted to anymore. I said that my dad.” She hiccupped. “That when my dad talked to me at the cabin, I started to change my mind. I didn’t want to do it anymore. I didn’t want to do that to my dad.”

Bodie stroked her hair. “You didn’t want to release the tape.”

She nodded. “Libby told me that she overheard my dad talking and that he was gonna send me to a mental hospital. Have me committed tomorrow.”

“That’s not true,” Bodie said.

“I know,” Sassy said. “I know that
now
.”

“How did you get here?” Bodie asked. “How did you get to the hotel?”

“Libby told me she could sneak me out when her shift ended. She said she knew when you and Tate would be away from the door. I went with her.” Sassy’s back jerked and she sobbed. “I fucked up. I went with her.”

“It’s not your fault,” Jay said, taking her hand. “Try to calm down, you’re breathing funny.”

“Take deep breaths,” Bodie said. “Don’t talk. Just take a minute and breathe.”

Sassy inhaled deeply, and let it out.

“Couple more,” Bodie said.

Sassy breathed deeply several times, then rubbed her wrists. She looked at Bodie. “She told me she’d make sure dad didn’t have me committed. She said I could come here and use a computer, access the file. I had...” Sassy’s head fell forward. “I had told her about the tape. When I was mad one time. Dad and I had had a bad fight, and I was just so upset. I didn’t tell her what was on the tape. I just told her I had it, stored online, and that it would ruin his career.”

“So she knew,” Jay said. “She knew you had blackmail material on Eben.”

Sassy looked at Jay. “When we got to the hotel, I told her I didn’t want to do it anymore. I told her I changed my mind, and didn’t want to release that tape. She said I should bring up the file, just to check it, make sure it was still there and intact.” Sassy hiccupped. “In case I needed to use it as evidence to keep out of the mental hospital. I’m so
stupid
, Jay.” Her lip trembled. “I should never have believed her.”

“It’s not your fault,” Bodie said. “You’re not stupid. You had no reason to suspect Libby was lying.”

“I know but...” She shook her head, wiping tears. “It’s still my fault.”

“You’re a kid, they’re grownups, this is not your fault, Sassy,” Bodie said, glaring over at Andre. “What happened after that?”

“That’s when Andre came to the room,” she said. “I didn’t think anything of it. Libby said he was there to pick her up, and that they’d leave me alone to use the computer, then she’d be back later to bring me some food. But when I brought up the file, Andre grabbed me.” She hunched over, moaning. “He threatened me with a knife, and I let him tie me up. I’m so stupid,” she said. “I’m so, so stupid,” she whispered.

Bodie glared over at Andre, and started to get up.

“Don’t,” the security guard said, pointing at Bodie. “I’m tired, this is the end of my shift, so please don’t make this any worse.”

Bodie eased back onto the bed, his jaw tight.

A hard knock came on the door.

“I’ll get that,” the hotel guard said. He pointed a Bodie. “Stay put. Don’t make things worse.”

“The computer!” Sassy whispered to Bodie when the guard moved off. “Bring it to me. They’ll confiscate it or something; I need to delete the file.”

Bodie dove off the bed and grabbed the laptop off the desk. He handed it to Sassy, who tapped at the keys.

She let out a relieved sigh, and slapped the lid shut, closing her eyes as three policemen walked through the door, followed by Eben and Tate.

“Sassy, Jesus, thank God.” Eben ran over and grabbed her.

Bodie and Jay slid off the bed, standing alongside it while Eben rocked Sassy.

“I’m sorry, Dad,” she wept. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” he said. “Bodie called me.” He looked over at Andre as the police hauled him to his feet. “You motherfucker!” Eben shouted. “I should slit your fucking throat!”

“Eben.” Bodie sat down and gripped Eben’s shoulder. “Stay calm.”

“Mr. Wright,” one of the officers said. “Please don’t start shouting again, I mean it. We’ve got a lot of questions that need to be answered. We can do it here rather than at the station, but we’ll need you to remain calm. I can’t stress this enough. You
need
to remain calm. Can you do that?”

“There are guests congregating in the hall outside the door,” the hotel guard said, stepping back into the room. “They saw Mr. Wright come in, and they’re curious.”

“Get rid of them,” one of the cops said.

“Will do.”

Eben took a deep breath, hugging Sassy. “I’ll stay calm,” he said. “My daughter’s safe. Let’s get this over with so I can take her home.”

“Dad,” Sassy muttered. “I deleted it.”

“I don’t care,” Eben said. “I don’t care. As long as you’re safe.”

“There’s another one involved,” Bodie said to the officer who was currently watching Eben warily, clearly afraid he was going to dive off the bed and kill Andre. “Libby, Andre’s wife,” Bodie said. “She took off when we got here.”

The cop held a hand up. “We’ll get to that. I need you to all relax and sit down, please.”

And so they sat.

And sat.

And sat.

They answered question after question until the early hours of the morning.

Andre refused to answer anything, but based on Sassy, Bodie, and Jay’s testimony, he was officially arrested once the questioning was over, and taken away in handcuffs.

When they were finally allowed to leave the hotel, a few guest tried to engage Eben as he walked through the lobby, his arm wrapped tightly around his daughter. Tate fended them off, and finally, blessedly, they stepped through the doors and into the outside air.

Tate gave Jay and Bodie a quick wave. “See you guys back there?”

“Yep,” Bodie said. “See you there.”

Tate gave the valet his ticket, then waited until the car came around. He opened the backseat, and Eben climbed in with Sassy. Bodie and Jay stood on the sidewalk, watching as they drove off.

“Shit,” Bodie said. “I never got a ticket for the car.”

“I have it,” Jay said, and handed it to the valet.

Bodie sighed as they waited for the car.

“Tired?”

“Exhausted,” Bodie said. “You?”

Jay chuckled. “Tired, but still kind of wired.”

Bodie shook his head. “What were they going to do with Sassy? If they got what they wanted from Eben. Or didn’t get what they wanted.”

“I...” Jay shivered. “I can’t think about that right now. I just can’t think about any of it right now, I’m so emotionally fried.”

Bodie turned to Jay and smiled. “How ’bout we go home and get some sleep, then we can go get food when we wake up.”

Jay nodded. “Okay. Just come get me. If I’m still sleeping, knock hard.”

Bodie stepped closer to him. “If you think I’m not curling up in bed with you when we get back, you’re out of your fucking mind.”

Jay grinned. “Oh. Okay. I wasn’t sure.”

“Do you really want to sleep alone tonight?” He glanced up at the brightening sky. “I mean this morning?”

“Not after all that. No.”

“Neither do I. So can I sleep with you?”

Jay grabbed his hand. “You can sleep with me any time you want.”

The valet brought the car, and they climbed in. Bodie rubbed his eyes before putting it in drive and heading down the road.

“Do you think they’ll find Libby?” Jay asked.

“Yeah, I’m sure they will,” Bodie said. He glanced at Jay. “I owe you an apology.”

“What the hell for?”

“You were right. About Libby. About someone else sending the email. All of it.”

“You can praise me for my cleverness later. All I can think right now is what if we
didn’t
go to Libby’s. And then I feel like throwing up.”

Bodie grabbed his hand. “Sleep first. We can talk about it when we wake up.”

Jay wrapped his fingers around Bodie’s. “I’m not sure if I mentioned this,” Jay said. “But I really like you.” He laughed. “I’m totally wired and exhausted right now, so I guess I’ve moved on to babbling honesty, but I don’t care. I really,
really
like you, Bodie. So much it hurts.”

Bodie smiled, keeping his eyes on the road. He squeezed Jay’s hand. “We can talk about that when we wake up, too.”

Chapter Sixteen

Bodie woke sluggishly, turning over to grab his phone off the nightstand. Just after eleven in the morning. Not too shabby, since it was four a.m. when they finally got into bed. He checked for messages from Eben, but found none. There was a text from Tate, telling Bodie to take his time, that Eben was home and looking after Sassy.

He’d call over in a bit to check on Sassy, but Bodie had other priorities at the moment.

He rolled over and looked at Jay, who still slept deeply. The sheet was tangled around Jay’s knees, showing off his red and white checkered boxer shorts and the pale curve of his bare back. They’d been too tired to do anything but pass out when they got in, and now the need to touch Jay was overwhelming. He nearly reached out and ran his fingers through Jay’s blond hair, mussed up from sleeping. But Bodie chose to let him sleep for the moment, content to lie there beside him. He smiled as Jay twitched, mumbling in his sleep.

What am I going to do about you?
The question plagued him as his eyes drifted over Jay’s sleeping form
.

He sighed, remembering Jay’s heartfelt words from last night.
So much it hurts
. Bodie felt the same way. He liked Jay so much it hurt. But was liking someone supposed to hurt? Probably not, but it did. The thought of leaving here for good hurt even more. It wasn’t the kind of hurt he’d experienced in the past, the type of pain that came from betrayal or hard words from someone else. This was a whole new feeling. It was an ache, like an empty cavern inside that only felt full while he was in Jay’s company.

Love hurts
.

The phrase popped into Bodie’s mind, and he was stunned for a moment. He’d heard it dozens of times, always assuming it referred to being slighted or rejected by a lover. But now he realized he’d been interpreting it wrong. It was about this feeling he had right now. This ache that was there simply because he loved something so hard it made him vulnerable.

Holy crap. I’m in love.

Why now? Why with someone who lived so far from him? It was both the best thing that had ever happened to him and the worst suckfest ever.

He stretched back on the bed, rubbing his eyes, trying to come up with a solution. But he kept drawing a blank. In romantic movies, stories always culminated in tossing everything else aside for love. You never saw the characters having to pay bills or deal with the day to day worries of not finding a job, not having enough cash to survive. Bodie wasn’t Eben. He couldn’t just snap his fingers and make things happen, simply because of who he was and how many zeroes showed on his bank statement.

And so he was stumped, unable to think beyond the desperation of what he felt for Jay and the worry of keeping himself solid and gainfully employed. The only thing he knew for certain was he didn’t want to lose touch with Jay, no matter what happened. Maybe they couldn’t have the fairytale, but there had to be
something
, some way of keeping Jay in his life. It had only been a short time, but already Bodie couldn’t imagine not being able to talk to Jay, to feel that soothing balm of his presence in his life.

Jay stirred and rolled onto his back, stretching. He blinked, then his head turned, looking at Bodie. “Hi,” he said, rubbing his eyes.

“Hi.”

“How long have you been awake? What time is it?”

“Not long. It’s just after eleven.”

“Oh. God, I slept like a rock.” He slid over and snuggled next to Bodie.

Bodie wrapped an arm around him. “Are you hungry?”

“I don’t know. I only know I need to pee.”

Bodie chuckled. “So go pee.”

“I’m tired, can’t move yet. Can you do it for me?”

“Sure, I’ll go pee for you. Anything else?”

“Yeah,” Jay grumbled. “Make Eben stay in Rhode Island so you don’t have to leave.”

Bodie’s gut sank. He forced a soft laugh out. “Yeah. If only.”

Bodie’s phone rang on the nightstand, and he turned over and grabbed it. It was Eben. “Eben’s calling,” Bodie said. “Go pee. Then we’ll get some food.”

Jay climbed out of bed. “Okay.”