Manaconda(45)

The story was just getting worse.

“Right, you know. High five on the hookup with that hottie.” She held up her hand. When I didn’t slap her five she shrugged. “Oh, are you pissed because of the Vic thing? She says he’s the love of her life. I mean I can see why. You got a taste of that Manaconda, right? I wouldn’t want to give that up either.”

Listening to Bethany on a roll was like trying to understand a drunk toddler. It was just best to let them babble it all out. And if I hyperventilated a little she wouldn’t notice.

“Anyway Reed—personally, I like his nickname Bats, but Vic hates it—Reed seemed surprised to see us. They had a little fight, but then they made up and we were doing these crazy shots called, A Kick in the Crotch. Oh my God, they’re delicious. I think I had like four.”

“But like out of nowhere Hunter came in and there was this epic battle on the bar. But you saw that part. Wasn’t that awesome? I got some really cool shots.” She pulled her phone out of her pocket. “My phone’s been blowing up since I posted them.”

My phone beeped and our Uber car pulled up. I opened the door for Bethany and got inside after her. She was still talking when we pulled away. Then I got a play-by-play of her replies to the pictures of Hunter and Reed slugging it out.

“Oh, someone made a GIF.” She held it up to me. “You think that’s real blood or someone added it?”

I winced at the punch Hunter took. Again and again, the swing and connect played in a loop. The raw anger on Bats’s face was nothing compared to the temper in Hunter’s eyes followed by the shock of pain.

She pulled her phone away. “There’s tons of footage of the fight. Oh, handcuffs. That’s not good.”

“What?” I plucked her phone out of her hand.

“Hey!”

“What handcuffs?”

She pointed to the top of the screen. “Scroll up.”

It was a video on Facebook of Hunter was being lowered into a cruiser with his hands behind his back. My phone started buzzing in earnest. I handed Bethany hers back and dug out my own.



LS: What the hell happened?



I blew out a breath and answered Lila.



KM: The fight already started when I got there.

LS: And you left him there?



My thumbs shook over the keyboard. Yes, I left him there. I couldn’t focus on anything other than him fighting over another woman. Oh, the professionalism was just at its height here.



KM: Patrick was handling it.



I waited for the text message bubbles that she as answering, but she didn’t. It wasn’t exactly my responsibility, but it sort of was at the same time. The girlfriend ruse was supposed to keep Hunter in a good light, not devolve into this madness.

But as per usual, anything to do with Hunter had me peddling uphill in first gear. I had another client to worry about. One that I was terribly afraid had brought the trouble to Hunter’s door.

Bethany wasn’t stupid, but she was caught up in the fame game. And that included a shocking level of bad choices. From her rambling story, I was pretty sure I’d fucked up royally.

Time to talk to Indie.



KM: What can I do?

IW: I do believe you’ve done enough.

KM: I didn’t know anything about B bringing V to the club.

IW: Then you need to take better care of your clients. I have a $30k mess to deal with and bailing out Hunter and Reed.

KM: I can do that.

IW: Why?

KM: Girlfriend duties evidently.



Indie’s text reply dots flashed forever. When one finally came through I was pretty sure she’d edited a few dozen times.



IW: Meet Noah at the station.

KM: Who’s Noah?

IW: H’s brother. He’s bailing him out now. Reed’s in the drunk tank overnight.



Hunter had a brother? Most of the details I’d read about his family had been sketchy at best. Siblings had definitely not been in the initial recon.

An address for the precinct came through a minute later. I leaned forward. “Can I add a dropoff to the route.”

The driver shrugged. “Sure.” I gave him the address and he punched it into his iPad mounted on the dash.

“You’re not taking me home?” The hopeful gleam in Bethany’s eyes made me uneasy.

“You’re done for the night. I’m serious, Bethany. If you want to continue with my services you’ll turn in early tonight.”

She crossed her arms. “Lame.”

“You’re lucky you didn’t end up arrested.”

She waved her hand. “Whatever.”

“I’m serious.”

“Fine. I’ve got a million blogs to hit anyway. I got three e-vites for interviews.”

I sighed. “I don’t suppose you said no to any of them.”