Two Weddings and a Fugitive (The Chanel Series Book 4) (14 page)

Nick leant over the seat and grabbed my handbag, spinning it over his head and down onto Boris’s hand. Something hard must have made contact because Boris let out a roar and let go. His lips pulled back in a grimace, revealing his pointed teeth.

‘Step on it, Big Bird,’ Nick yelled.

‘I am.’ Martine’s voice came out in a terrified shriek.

‘Give me my bag,’ I yelled at Nick.

‘Why?’ He swung it at Boris as he tried to grab the cart again.

‘I need my phone.’

‘You’re going to make a phone call? Now?’

‘Yeah. I need to book a manicure.’ I leaned over and grabbed the bag, feeling around inside it for my phone.

Nick watched me in disbelief until I turned the phone toward Boris. ‘Hard evidence?’

I nodded my head.

All of that had taken place in the space of maybe twenty seconds. Of course, that was unfortunately the length of time it took us to reach the foot of the hill. The buggy’s top speed dropped dramatically and Boris, who had begun to drop off, let out a triumphant yell and started to close the gap.

I aimed my phone’s camera lens at him but just as I pushed the button, Nick’s head popped up in front of me. He held three golf balls in his hands and, as I watched, he pegged them at Boris.

The first ball whizzed past Boris’s head, but the next two smacked him in the forehead. His head rocked back slightly and Nick let out a war cry of excitement.

‘Video,’ Martine said, ‘get video.’

I flicked my phone onto video mode and hit the record button.

Boris sprinted towards us, growling as he reached for the cart, his lips drawn back in a smile of triumph. And that was when Nick let him have it.

Ball-after-ball left Nick’s hand, all of them aimed precisely at Boris’s face. He set up a rhythm as he grabbed them out of the bag, and those balls kept pounding the huge mobster.

Boris roared in anger and sprinted faster, blood oozing out from one of his nostrils.

‘Take that,’ Nick yelled. ‘And this one’s got your name on it as well.’

‘Little man,’ Boris growled. ‘When I get my hands on you….’ A ball smacked him in the mouth before he could finish his threat, and his free hand went to his throat as he stumbled.

We started to pull away from him as our cart laboured up the hill. I was
really
wishing we had stolen Matt and Tara’s cart that morning.

Boris coughed and the ball flew out of his mouth. One of his eyes was swelling shut as he resumed his pursuit.

‘He’s like a Terminator,’ Martine squealed. ‘He just keeps coming.’

But Nick’s aim from that distance was just as good. The balls zoomed towards their target, thwacking into his head and neck.

‘Woohoo,’ I yelled as a ball popped Boris in his remaining good eye. ‘Go Nick.’

‘Did you get that?’ He turned and held his thumbs up to the camera.

‘Getting it all buddy,’ I said.

Boris slowed to a walk as we reached the top of the hill.

‘Eat our dust,’ Nick yelled.

I waved at Boris as he disappeared from view.

‘Man.’ Nick sat back down in his seat. ‘That was intense.’

‘That was awesome,’ I said.

‘Shame you guys aren’t carrying guns,’ Martine said. ‘Would have solved all our problems.’

Nick and I looked at each other. I knew
I
was packing and I was pretty sure he was as well. ‘Yeeeaaah,’ I said. ‘Real pity that.’

‘Yep,’ Nick said. ‘Real shame.’

Martine looked over at me and then swivelled to look at Nick. ‘Geez Louise,’ she said. ‘You guys are unbelievable.’

We were silent the rest of the way back.

Martine parked the golf buggy and the three of us jumped out and trotted to the apartment. I was hoping Billy was there so we could show him our evidence. We may not have
shot
shot Boris, but we had video shot him.

‘Billy,’ I said as we opened the door and barged into the apartment. I froze, staring at the doorway to Sal’s bedroom.

Billy and Sal stood in the doorway. She was wearing a strapless, blue and white striped dress that finished well above her knees. But that wasn’t the problem.

She had her hands on her hips as if pushing the dress back and Billy had
his
hands on the top of the zip.

They froze when they heard us, the slow smile of a Cheshire cat spreading over Sal’s face. Billy stared at me with a guilty look on his face and I waited for him to say, ‘This isn’t what it looks like,’ but he didn’t.

The question was, had he zipped her dress up, or had he been about to unzip her?

We had just been chased by a knife-wielding maniac, but
now
I felt sick. Billy’s hands were touching her skin. Had they been kissing? Had she seduced him with her brain and her beauty?

I wouldn’t have blamed him if she had. I mean I knew I was cute in a girl-next-door kind of way, but Sal was something else.

‘We got Boris.’ Nick pushed me to the side and ran towards Billy with his hand in the air for a high-five.

Billy let go of Sal’s zip and stepped away from the doorway to meet Nick’s hand with his own. ‘What do you mean you got him?’

‘He attacked us and Chanel got video footage of him. Show him Chanel.’

‘Ummmm.’ I shook my head trying to get the vision of him and Sal together out of it. ‘Yeah. Here.’ I stuck my hand out towards him with the phone in it.

He didn’t meet my eyes as he took it.

Sal pressed in close to him as he started the video, the side of her breast skimming his arm. I tried not to look but I couldn’t take my eyes off them. Had they morphed from a fictitious to a real couple?

A smile crept onto Billy’s face and Salindra let out a laugh. ‘Good shot,’ she said.

When it got to the end Billy shook his head. ‘I’m impressed with how calm you all remained.’

Was he kidding? All you could hear as the video played was squealing and screeching.

‘He was prepared to use that knife and yet you both resisted the urge to shoot him.’

I snuck a look at Nick. His face had the same perplexed look on it I was sure mine did.

‘If you had shot him, and not killed him, he would have been taken to a local hospital. The authorities here don’t have the manpower to put a proper guard on him at such short notice. His men would have had him out within the hour. Now we have the hard proof we need to bring the Bureau in.’ He grinned as he looked me in the eyes for the first time since we had arrived home. ‘Good work. Both of you.’ He strode to the kitchen table and started the process of moving the video from my phone to his.

‘Come on.’ Martine pushed me towards my room. ‘Hair, make-up. We have a new dress, remember?’

Oh, I remembered all right. It was just that now, I didn’t really care
what
I wore that night.

Martine waited till we were in my room with the door closed before she rounded on me. Then she took me by my shoulders and shook me.

‘Ahhhh. What’s that for?’

‘For being stupid.’

‘You heard what Billy said. If we had shot him he would have just escaped again.’

She snorted. ‘I don’t for one second think that
that
was your reason for not shooting
at
Boris.’ Her use of the word ‘at’ showed that she knew my marksmanship skill was non-existent. ‘But that’s not what you are being stupid about. He was zipping her
up
, not undressing her.’

I slumped onto the bed. ‘You think?’

‘That’s why her hands were on her hips. She was holding her dress back to make it easier for him.’

‘Either that, or pushing her breasts out so he could see them better.’

‘She doesn’t need to shove them out to see them.’ She lifted her hands out in front of her and made squeezing motions. ‘You can’t miss them. Besides he was behind her. He couldn’t see them from there.’

Perhaps she was right. But I couldn’t shake the feeling I’d had.

Why wouldn’t Billy hook up with her? He was single. She was stunning. They were hanging out pretending to be a couple. And just as I couldn’t imagine that any woman wouldn’t want to be with him, I also couldn’t imagine that any man would turn her down.

I was looking down the barrel at defeat.

‘Stop it.’ Martine’s hand slapped my face gently. ‘You need to get ready.’

She was right. I had a job to do. I nodded and pulled the dress out of the bag, lying it on the bed while I admired it.

‘Thank you for this.’ I trailed my fingers over the soft fabric.

‘Don’t forget these.’ She pulled the magic tape and earrings from her handbag. ‘I’ll get Billy to drop me home. You concentrate on looking stunning.’

‘Pick you up just before six.’

She nodded her head. ‘For my…date.’ Her lips pulled up into a little smile. ‘Is Alex going to be there? Seeing me with another man might give him the courage to ask me out. Nothing like a bit of competition to spur a man into action.’ Her eyes sparkled with anticipation.

I had to give her full marks for her optimism. If only I could borrow a bit of it, I might just make it through the next few days.

I didn’t have time to curl my hair so I straightened it instead. It turned out it was the perfect hairstyle for the dress.

By the time I slithered the black fabric down my body and checked my make-up, I was almost back to my old self. Almost.

‘Come on Toots.’ Nick banged on my door. ‘Time for Big Bird to meet her Prince Charming.’

‘Her name,’ I said as I opened the door, ‘is Martine.’

Nick’s mouth fell open and he let out a low whistle. ‘Got to tell you Princess, you scrub up okay.’

‘Okay?’

‘Meh.’ He shrugged. ‘A little better than okay.’

‘Thanks Nicky.’ I ruffled his hair as I walked past.

Billy was waiting by the front door. His eyes widened as he saw me. ‘You look very….’ He cleared his throat. ‘Very nice.’ He pushed the door open and gestured for me to go first.

‘So do you.’ Nice didn’t come anywhere near how delicious he looked. As I brushed past him I caught a whiff of his aftershave and only just managed to resist the urge to sink my teeth into his neck. What
was
it about that scent? Musky, manly, powerful. It was as if they had captured every element of Billy that I loved and turned it into a fragrance.

Thoughts like that weren’t helping.

‘Where’s Salindra?’ I was surprised she wasn’t jammed up against him.

‘Gone to watch Matt and Tara.’

‘Oh right.’ I shook my head. Time to put all the whole Billy and Salindra thing aside and concentrate on the problem at hand. And our current problem was getting Martine to her date so he didn’t decide to lodge a complaint against me.

We were silent on the way to get Martine. Well, that’s not entirely truthful.
I
was silent. Nick and Billy chatted about American football, a conversation I couldn’t have joined in even if I had wanted to.

Martine wasn’t out the front waiting for us like normal. A flutter of worry started up in my belly. Where was she?

I jumped out of the cart and trotted around to the hotel entry.

‘Chanel, wait,’ Billy called.

She wasn’t in the foyer either.

He grasped my arm as I headed for the elevator. ‘After this afternoon I would think you’d be more careful.’

I looked around the hotel. People were everywhere. I waved an arm at them. ‘Witnesses,’ I said.

He tugged my arm and I let out a squawk as he dragged me sideways into a dark, empty room. He pressed me up against the wall behind the door and murmured, ‘And how many of them are rushing to your aid right now?’

My breath caught in my throat. He loomed in front of me, all lean muscle and ominous strength. I felt my breathing quicken and my heart racing like a frightened rabbit. Except, I wasn’t frightened at all. I was totally turned on.

He put a hand onto the wall behind me and leaned in. ‘You would already be dead.’

Wow. Way to break a mood.

I pushed him away from me. ‘Not funny.’

‘Just making a point. Trouble follows you. You’d think you’d be more careful.’

I tried to still my wildly-beating heart as I waited for the elevator. I fussed with my hair and straightened my earrings, and did anything I could to stop myself from thinking about the feel of Billy’s body.

Damn him and his rock-hard abs.

‘Where’s Nick?’ I asked as the elevator doors opened.

‘Making sure nobody puts a bomb on our buggy.’ He shook his head. ‘A week ago, I would have placed money on my never having to say that sentence.’

We were silent the rest of the ride to Martine’s floor. I was praying she had lost track of the time. If something happened to her I would never forgive myself.

It was a tense walk to her room. I knocked on the door and then tapped a foot as I waited for her to answer.

Please let her be all right.

When she didn’t answer. I knocked again.

Panic was just starting to work its way up from my stomach to my brain when I heard the sound of a safety chain jingling. A moment later the door opened.

Martyn stood on the other side of the door. ‘Martine can’t come out to play,’ he said in his monotone voice. His bald head looked remarkably like an egg hovering above his tweed pyjamas.

Oh shit.

‘Hey Martyn.’ I went for friendly but ended up with chipper.

‘Chanel.’ He looked past me and pushed his glasses further up his nose. ‘You must be Billy,’ he said. ‘Martine told me all about you.’

If the situation hadn’t been dire, the look on Billy’s face would have made me burst out laughing. He’d never met Martyn before.

‘Martyn,’ I said in as calming a voice as I could muster. ‘Why can’t Martine come play with me?’

He flicked a nervous glance past us down the hall and whispered, ‘It’s too dangerous.’

I nodded my head. There was no refuting that danger was involved. And if it wasn’t for vampire boy I would have quite happily left Martyn in control of their body. But I needed Martine’s help on this one. ‘You’re right,’ I said. ‘But I know Martine was excited about doing the world a big service.’

‘She was?’ Martyn’s hand twitched toward his glasses again, but he managed to restrain himself from adjusting them.

‘Yeah. But I understand if she has changed her mind. Would you mind just checking with her for me?’

This time he lost the battle with his hand. He pushed his glasses so far up his nose that for a second all we could see were the pupils of his eyes magnified through the lenses. ‘Okay. I’ll ask her.’ His shoulders slumped as he turned away from us and pulled the door shut.

‘What was…?’

‘Shush.’ I put my hand up before Billy could finish his question and pressed my ear up against the door. I didn’t know which way this was going to go and we were running out of time. I took my head away and looked back at Billy. ‘Can’t hear anything.’

‘What’s going on?’

I sighed. ‘Martine must have had enough of a fright today that Martyn was able to take over for a while.’

‘Oh, right.’ His tone said that he didn’t get it at all.

A few minutes later the door rattled again, but this time Martine opened the door. ‘Sorry about that.’ She smiled brightly. ‘He’s such an old fuddy duddy.’ She was dressed in a red cocktail dress with matching shoes and bag, and was wearing her black, bob wig.

I could feel Billy trying to look past me into her room. I backed up to let her out. ‘You look great.’

‘
I
look great? You look sensational. I knew that dress would be perfect for you.’ She rifled around in her bag, pulled out the room key card, nodded her head and tucked it back into her bag. As she pulled the door shut she said, ‘Billy, tell her how sexy she looks.’

There was an awkward moment of silence during which I contemplated seeing if
I
could also fit into her handbag. Then she cleared her throat and said, ‘Oh no. Look at the time,’ and took off towards the elevator.

If I hadn’t already set her up, I would have done it now on purpose.

The awkward silence continued all the way down in the elevator and throughout the walk to the golf buggy.

‘Finally,’ Nick said, throwing his arms in the air. ‘What took you so long?’

‘You don’t want to know,’ Billy said.

Once we were all in, he backed the buggy out and headed for the bar. We were already ten minutes late and I was praying the albino would still be there.

I let out a sigh when I saw him sitting at a table for two, overlooking the ocean. His hands nervously stroked the stem of a red rose.

Martine looked from him to me and back again.

I nodded and said, ‘What are you waiting for. Go get him.’

The albino stood up and held out the rose.

Martine took a deep breath and then, in a performance worthy of the stage, pasted a wide smile on her face and wiggled the tips of the fingers of her right hand at him. ‘One drink?’ she said out of the corner of her mouth.

‘Just the one.’

She nodded and then sashayed towards him. ‘Well hello handsome,’ she said in her deep baritone.

His face broke into a genuine smile as he held the rose out to her. ‘It’s not as beautiful as you,’ he said. ‘But then no flower could be.’

Martine lowered her head and looked at him through her fluttering lashes. ‘You flatterer, you.’ She took the rose from him and held it to her nose, inhaling its scent. ‘It smells almost as good as you,’ she said.

‘I think I’m going to be sick.’ Nick mimed sticking his fingers down his throat.

‘Oh shush,’ I said. ‘It’s sweet.’

‘I’m Martine. My friend wasn’t able to supply me with your name.’

‘Albert.’ He pulled her seat out for her.

‘Well Albert, why don’t you tell me a little about yourself?’

No sooner had her bottom touched the chair than a waiter appeared with a bottle of champagne and an ice bucket.

‘Come on.’ I led the way to the other side of the bar.

‘Is he for real?’ Nick asked.

‘What about?’ I picked up a menu and studied the mocktail selection.

‘Albert?’

‘What?’ I shrugged my shoulders.

‘Albie the Albino? You’d change your name wouldn’t you?’

Billy let out a laugh. ‘He’s obviously got a strong sense of self.’ I looked up in time to watch his face change from amused to annoyed and then I felt fingers trail up the bare skin of my back.

I turned around and found myself face-to-face with Sergeant Alex Thomas. I hadn’t realised how intensely blue his eyes were. His face quirked into a half-smile and he said, ‘You look edible.’

How do you respond to something like that, e
specially
when your ‘brother’ is listening? ‘Thanks. I was going for lollipop. Guess I pulled it off.’

‘You certainly are lick-able.’

I resisted the urge to smack myself in the head. Lollipop? I mean
really
, where else was he going to go with that?

Billy cleared his throat. ‘Chanel, what did you want to drink?’

What I wanted were a couple of shots of White Sambuca. ‘Ahh, just get me something virgin.’

Alex’s smile broadened. ‘I could be a virgin if you wanted to….’

‘Alex.’ Billy interrupted. ‘You want a drink?’

‘I’ll have whatever she’s having.’ Alex nodded his head at me.

Nick gave Alex a wave and scampered off after Billy to the bar.

I looked over at Martine as she let out a laugh. It looked like she might actually be enjoying herself.

‘So,’ Alex moved so that he was in front of me, ‘hear you got the hard evidence Milano needed.’

‘Did you just emphasise the word, hard?’

His smile gave me his answer.

‘Is everything a sexual innuendo with you?’

‘When what I am looking at is sex-on-legs? Yes.’ His eyes crinkled around the edges.

‘Let me give you a tip. While it’s nice to be found attractive, it’s annoying to be treated as a sex object. I have a brain you know.’ Huh. When had I decided that? Once upon a time I’d have enjoyed being treated as a sex object.

I looked over to the bar and found my answer watching me.

Billy.

Billy saw more in me than just my body and looks. He saw my mind. While others saw a ditzy chick, he saw the girl who got there in the end.

And although my attraction to him was mental and physical,
that
was what had made me fall in love with him. He was the first man
ever
to get the real me.

Annnddd
he thought he was my brother. That put a major dampener on the realisation.

‘Of course you have a brain.’ Alex held his hands up in surrender. ‘It’s just not what I’m interested in.’

I smiled at him. ‘Well, I’ve got to give you ten-out-of-ten for your honesty. Thanks for making turning you down so easy.’

He pouted and trailed a finger down my arm. ‘You’re on a tropical island. Live a little.’

‘Today I watched a dwarf fend off a knife-wielding maniac with golf balls. I’d say I’m living a little more than most people.’

He threw back his head and laughed. ‘Perhaps you are at that.’

Martine let out another giggle as Billy returned with our drinks. Alex gave him a little salute as he took his and said, ‘Next round’s on me.’

Billy’s phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket, looked at the screen and then walked over to a spare table. I was really hoping it was the Bureau and not Sal.

I tried to convince myself that
that
was because Sal was currently guarding Matt, in which case a phone call might mean bad news, and
not
because I was insanely jealous.

‘Think Martine’s digging him.’ Nick pulled a piece of mint out of his drink and put it on the drink coaster. ‘Don’t know why they have to put foliage in them.’

‘It makes it taste good.’ He was right. Martine did seem to be genuinely enjoying herself.

As I watched, the waiter appeared by their table and topped up their champagne flutes.

‘This isn’t as fun as I thought it would be,’ Nick complained.

‘What did you think it would be like?’ I picked his mint up and added it to my drink.

‘Excruciating.’ He gave me an evil grin.

‘It’s a little voyeuristic isn’t it?’ Alex said.

‘What is?’

‘Watching an albino date a transvestite.’

‘She’s not a transvestite.’ I put down my drink so I could put my hands on my hips while I glared at him.

‘Well, what is she then?’

‘She’s…Martine.’ That was all there was to it.

‘Yeah, well he’s going to get more than he bargained for if he gets her back to his room.’

I watched as Martine fluttered her hands at Albert and giggled. ‘I think he knows,’ I said. ‘I think that may be his thing.’

Alex shuddered. ‘My creep metre just overloaded.’

‘I’m hungry,’ Nick complained. ‘What time’s dinner?’

I checked my phone for the time. ‘Forty-five minutes. Get some chips.’

He jumped off his chair and stood next to me with his hand out.

‘What?’

‘I’m only here because of you.’

I sighed. The little man was insufferable. He was here because he had wanted to watch Martine, but I dragged my wallet out and gave him a twenty dollar bill. ‘Get us all some chips.’

He skipped off towards the bar.

‘When he behaves like that,’ I said to Alex, ‘it’s hard to remember he’s a fully-functioning adult.’