The Revenge by Tijan

His head jerked back up. “Are you saying we got nothing?” His voice went hard.

“Where’s the trust? Where’s the Team Batt faith?” I nudged his shoulder. “I got the data already downloaded, which is here.” I clicked on the window, showcasing it. “And…” I pulled up the other window and then we were watching in real time as Quinn was setting up a date.

“Whoa!” Matt leaned in toward the screen. “Who’s that?”

The number wasn’t saved, so there was no name.

hotel at 9 again?

Unknown number responded immediately.

yes.

Matt grinned at me. “Wonder who gets the room? Who’s the bitch in this relationship?”

Three minutes later:

Quinn: Called. Room 314

Unknown number: I’ll be there.

Snorting, Matt shoved up, his bag still in hand. “Guess we’re doing another stakeout.” He put his hand in the bag, then paused. “Wait. What hotel? She didn’t say.”

I was already on that, too. “Again, where’s the love, brother? The Team Batt fai—”

“Yeah, yeah.” He was back and peering over my shoulder.

I was pulling up the call history and looking back. Matt had his phone out. He was putting the numbers in and giving me a nod, then he hit Dial and we both waited.

“Coastal Hotel, this is Amanda. How may I help you?”

Matt hung up. He pivoted around, facing me square, and his head cocked to the side. “Who owns that hotel?”

I turned back to the computer and typed it in. A simple Google search and I looked back at him. “According to this company’s name, the real CEO is Edward Nathans. Do you know him?”

He was frowning, and his hand came up. He began idly itching his cheek, thinking. Then his eyebrows surged even lower and he looked at me. “You’re not going to like it.”

I sat up, my stomach falling at the same time. “What?”

“I don’t know the name, but … I think Kash might.”

I pulled my phone out and dialed.

“Please tell me you’re not already in trouble.”

That was his greeting. Talk about—

I sighed. “Um. Maybe?”

“What’s happened?”

Matt’s eyes were bugging out, but I gave Kash the entire rundown, except, you know, about stealing the phone or hacking the phone. We didn’t need to start this call on a bad note. Okay. I vagued-up a lot of it, saying we got an alert Quinn might be at this hotel, meeting someone.

“Do you know Edward Nathans, and if you do, please tell me this isn’t going to be a problem?”

“I should ask how you got this alert, but in this instance, I’m not, though I’ll probably regret not asking. As for Nathans, I do know him, but not well enough to call him about one of his customers. What are you guys planning?”

Matt had been eavesdropping, and he grabbed the phone from me, hitting the Speaker button. “We’ll just do a stakeout. They have a bar there. We’ll have a drink and maybe see who shows up. The guys will be around us. No one will be in danger. Just a stakeout.”

“You won’t engage?”

“Uh…”

“Matt.”

“Nope. Just a new spot we’ll try out for drinks. We’ll go incognito. Disguises. Maybe? Just hanging out. Nothing else.”

Kash’s entire voice was tight from his end. “Matt.”

“Hmm?”

“If you put yourself, the woman I love, or my guys in unnecessary danger, I will shoot you in the ass.”

Matt swallowed. “Got it.”

I snatched the phone back. “We’re good to go then?”

Kash sighed again. “I’m sure it’s five o’clock somewhere.”





TWENTY-EIGHT

Bailey


Dumb.

It was an adjective that described Matt and me. Our dynamic duo wasn’t so dynamic sometimes. Like now. We’d gone to the hotel, thinking we could grab a drink in the corner.

That was the problem.

We could not grab a drink and be incognito.

Scott was parked near the second entrance to the bar. Fitz was positioned toward the first entrance, but since he was sitting, I was supposing that was his helpful attempt at being incognito. There were two others in the lobby, but thank God they were new guys. Quinn wouldn’t recognize them—or I was hoping she wouldn’t.

But that reminded me of something. “Isn’t Quinn on house arrest?”

“No.” Matt said, as he lifted his glass for another slug.

He had the whole lounging look again, and I was noting that it worked. He looked bored, rich, and cool. I don’t know how they all correlated, but they did. It’s why there were three women eyeing him, because there were only three other women besides me in the bar. Wait. I caught the bartender eyeing him, too. Four women were eyeing him, four out of five.

“Ankle bracelet?”

“No.” Another drag from his glass.

“Why not?”

“Hmm?” Another drink. He started eyeing the redhead.

I was going to grab that glass and pour it over him in two seconds. “Hey.”

I got his attention.

“Sorry. I was slipping back to old and immature Matt. New Matt. Here. Mature Matt. What’s up?”