“Cricket,” Jazz replied, just as agreeably. “Don’t worry about it. We’re not friends, so manners aren’t expected or necessary.”
The waitress picked that moment to reappear and Jazz ordered her beverage. Cricket ordered a salad and diet soda while smiling and laughing with the woman serving them as if she couldn’t be having more fun.
The moment the waitress left, Cricket leaned back in the booth and crossed her arms. “Out with your little proposition. My time is valuable and right now you’re wasting it.”
“You’re the one who ordered lunch like we were old pals.”
The corner of Cricket’s mouth lifted. “I enjoy their salads here. I’m surprised you didn’t get something too.”
“I’m on a diet.” She wasn’t, but there was no damn way she’d ever eat with this woman.
“Oh.” Cricket gave her a quick onceover. “Well, good luck. I always believe in being proactive and not letting a situation get too far out of hand before I deal with it.”
Jazz set her teeth. “How much does Gray owe you?”
“Gray. Hmm. Now, that name does sound familiar.” She placed a hand over her heart as she pretended to think it through. “Oh yes, I do remember him. He has a lot of…energy, doesn’t he? I imagine you know that intimately.”
“More intimately than you do, since you never slept with him.”
“Is that what he told you?” Cricket smiled and thanked the waitress as she set their drinks down. She waited to continue until the waitress had moved away. “I’m glad to hear that you’re so trusting. It’s sweet, really.”
“Cut the bullshit. If you know anything about his cock, it’s because you played stalker and cut pictures out of a magazine. Don’t bother trying to goad me.”
“Hardly. I had my hand on it. That, darling, is sterling truth.”
Which Jazz well knew, because she’d seen Cricket groping him on New Year’s Eve. She pulled the wrapper off her straw and stabbed it into her iced tea, splashing some on the table. “Is that why you had your goons rough him up? Because you didn’t get to do more than touch?”
“Goons. What an adorable word.” Cricket laughed and unwrapped her own straw before sliding it into her soda much more delicately than Jazz. “What makes you think I have any idea what you’re talking about?”
“I want to pay you what he owes. All of it, right now.”
Interest fired in Cricket’s dark eyes. “I’m curious. How did you get my number?”
“Off his phone, while he was in the hospital. He’s out now. Your thugs didn’t manage to kill him.”
“If I wanted someone dead, you can rest assured they would be.”
“Right, because you’re so fucking dangerous in your expensive suits you buy with the money you make from other people’s misery.” Jazz sipped her tea to keep from throwing the contents on Cricket’s seductively tousled hair.
“On the contrary. I make people happy. Why, you should’ve seen how happy I made Gray. Happier than I bet you’ve ever made him.” Cricket smiled. “Though I’m sure you’ve tried.”
Jazz set down her glass and counted off the beats to “Ripcord” in her mind in a vain attempt to stave off her fury. She hadn’t come there to get into a bitch contest with Cricket. Whatever the other woman had done or hadn’t done with Gray was the past. All she cared about right now was the future.
“How much does he owe you? I want the entire figure.”
“Some big man he is, sending his girlfriend to pay off his debt.”
“He didn’t send me. He hasn’t even told me he still owes you anything. I just assumed.” Especially when she thought about the ring he’d bought Jazz just before he got hurt. She’d added up a lot of things and perhaps she’d reached the wrong total, but she figured she couldn’t be too far off. If Gray had paid in full, Cricket’s thugs probably wouldn’t have messed with a lucrative cash cow.
“If you don’t tell me, I’ll walk away and you’ll never get your money.”
“Right. I’ll just forgive the debt your boyfriend incurred because you told me to. Little drummer girl, trying to act all tough.”
“You think I’m acting?” Jazz asked in a low voice. “I’m a product of the state of California’s foster care system. I had men feeling me up before my breasts had fully developed. I’ve been on my own since sixteen. You don’t scare me, and I don’t give a shit if I scare you. I just want to pay you what Gray owes and pretend I never saw your motherfucking face.”