But Dick clucked his tongue. “Never mind.”
“Got it.” Brian clicked open the ring around Lizette’s wrist and let her free, then closed it again.
Lizette’s eyes lit up and she bent her arm and clutched her now-free hand to her chest. “Oh, thank you. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate this!”
Wow. That sounded like eager relief to be rid of her attachment to him. Johnny felt a little bitter.
“Oh, shit, we’re late!” Dick glanced at his phone. “Benny, we have to blow. Brian, let’s go.”
“I never said I would blow you,” Benny said.
Dick rolled his eyes, his fake eyelashes fluttering. Glittery eye shadow floated down to land on his flawless cheeks. “Trust me, I wouldn’t want you to. It would be like—”
Johnny cut him off because truthfully, he didn’t want to know where that statement was going. “Brian, can’t I at least buy you a drink for your help?”
But Brian shook his head. “Sorry, Richard is right. We need to take off. Since I only got your friend free, don’t worry about it.”
Hold up. “You’re not going to get me out of the cuffs?”
“Sorry, got to run.” Brian started to move away from the bar. Dick was already almost at the door.
“Can’t you at least leave me the pick?” he asked.
“No, this is custom-made. Look, I’ll catch up with you in an hour or so, okay? See ya.”
Then they were gone and Johnny was left staring at the door as it swung shut behind them. So he was no longer attached to Lizette, but he still had a metal bracelet on. He sighed.
Benny hung up his phone and said, “Saxon isn’t picking up.”
Johnny could have told him that. He’d been calling the guy all night and he hadn’t picked up. Lizette said something in French. Johnny was getting a headache. It was like his hangover was reappearing.
Maybe it was time to come clean. “Lizette, I have to tell you the truth. I don’t really speak French. I have no fucking idea what you’re saying. Or have been saying.”
It wasn’t that big of a deal, right? Just a minor fact he had forgotten to share with her.
“Uh!” She gasped in indignation. Then she threw her glass of wine in his face.
The cool liquid hit him before he could react, and Johnny blinked, droplets on his eyelashes blurring his vision. He licked his lips and found her taste in wine was too sweet for his liking.
“How dare you!”
Johnny wished he had a counter to keep track of how many times she had said that to him in the last eight hours. It would make a fun drinking game, if he were in the mood for fun. Which he wasn’t.
“Pretending to understand me all this time! I feel humiliated.”
“Yeah, a whole whopping eight hours. The breadth of my deception is enormous.” And yes, that was sarcasm. “At least you’re out of the handcuffs now.”
He wiped his face with his hand and flung wine onto his jeans. That had not been a drink-in-the-face offense, he had to say.
“Which is excellent news because it means I can walk away from you.” She rose from her stool, head held high, slapping down a pile of ones to pay for her drink.
She was leaving? Where was she going? Johnny stood up, the loose end of the cuffs dangling and hitting him in the thigh. “Is everything okay?” he asked, because it seemed like a safe enough question to ask. If you asked a woman what was wrong, she either said she was fine or she jumped your shit for thinking something was wrong. This way, it sounded more polite.
Which did not explain why Lizette, the most by-the-book woman he had ever met, flipped him off as she strode out of the bar in her stapled T-shirt, expensive handbag firmly on her shoulder, his shorts sagging on her narrow hips.
Flipped him off.
What was that?
Chapter Fourteen
GIVE ME ALL YOUR LOVIN’
DRAKE cast Josie Lynn an almost confused look over his shoulder, but then nodded. “Oh right. Sure.”
He paused at the first door, gently placing a hand on the doorknob. He hesitated for a second, then whipped it open and flipped the wall switch. The room illuminated to reveal a roomful of guitars and other music equipment, but no signs of anyone.
“Everything looks fine here,” he said, and Josie Lynn immediately pressed a finger to her lips. If anyone was there, they probably already knew someone had entered the apartment, but she didn’t want Drake to make it so easy for the intruder to know exactly where they were.
He looked puzzled for a moment, then whispered, “Right. Better to keep it down.”
Exactly, she thought. Why wasn’t he worried?
He went to the next door, this one open but dark. He reached around to the light switch. The light turned on and revealed a white-tiled bathroom. Drake stepped inside, glanced around, then shook his head.