Making the Rent the Hard Way - 43

 

Luca and I took advantage of the pandemonium to slip out of the room. Rocky joined us as we made our way to the building's exit.

"That was as successful as I'd hoped," Rocky said gleefully.

"Yeah, it was. There might be some backlash from humans who hate shifters, but we've dealt with that before." Luca put his arm around my shoulders. "I say we celebrate."

Gino and Jack—one of the shifters who'd been at the meeting last night—joined us. They'd been at the press conference as backup in case of trouble.

"Did I hear the word 'celebrate'?" Gino asked, grinning.

"Go ahead," I said. "Me? I still have a business to run if I'm going to make next month's rent."

"You can…" Luca started to say, until I shook my head.

"I can't, and I won't. I've been away from it for too long." I grimaced. "I probably have a million messages from potential clients. Or at least I hope I do." I never had gotten around to putting a message on my machine saying I'd be out of town for a while.

Luca sighed. "All right. Do you want a lift to your car?" He didn't give me a chance to reply. Instantly we were beside it, in the parking lot of my apartment building. "I'll call you before you leave," he said. "We can do something tonight to celebrate." From the leer he gave me, I knew exactly what he meant. I had no problems with that. We kissed, then he took off and I drove to work.

*****

I spent the rest of the day exactly as I'd suspected I would—returning phone calls. Well, not the whole day. Two people who had wanted my help came in to talk and then sign contracts. Both of them had heard the news about Tipton's press conference, so, naturally, they asked about it. I filled them in on my ability to know who was or wasn't human. Neither of them seemed the least bit fazed by that.

Then there were the calls, not too surprisingly, from reporters wanting to do a follow-up on their press conference stories. I put them off, telling them Tipton and Farnham were who they should be focusing on, if they could find them to talk to. I had the feeling Tipton was long gone from the city by now. And, of course, Farnham would be a no-go, all things considered, but I didn't tell them that.

Luca called around four to ask if I wanted to go out to dinner or eat at his place. Dumb question and we both knew it. I told him I'd be there soon after five and was about to hang up when I heard something in the waiting room. I turned to see what it was then hissed in a breath.

"What's wrong," Luca asked.

"I have company, and they're not clients," I told him as I looked at Tipton and Mr. Bracco, the bruiser who had been one of Farnham's bodyguards.

"I'll be… Damn, I've never been in your office."

By then Tipton was standing in the doorway. He did not look happy. In fact, he looked like he intended to do bad things to me, with the bruiser's help. The only thing I could think to do was use my phone's camera to snap their picture then send it to Luca. With luck, it would be enough to give him a visual. So I did, just before Tipton strode over to grab the phone from my hand. He dropped it on the floor, crushing it under his heel.

"That's how you're going to end up when we're done with you," Tipton snarled.