Page 57

“Victor,” she slurred. “I’m so sorry, but I need to go.” She stood up quickly, feeling the room spin. Panic raced through her system as her thoughts immediately turned to Al. Something was wrong with her. Was she dying? Shit, she was dying, and she’d never be able to tell him howshe really felt. Why hadn’t she told him? She could blame her brother’s situation, but that wasn’t the truth. The truth was she was scared. Scared of losing the most important person in her life. If she could get to him now, she would tell him. So what if he’d proposed? He could un-propose. That happened all the time. “I’m gonna need to reschedule,” she mumbled, struggling to form words. What the hell was in that drink?

“Oh no, darling.” His voice sounded far away. “You’re not going anywhere.”

Chapter 37

“You know I’m not a real cop, right? This is a prop car, and I put on this uniform so I could interview the girls on their way to the final arraignment,” Shane, who had apparently worn a cop costume to work, said after Al had climbed into the SUV and explained the situation to Jazz.

“Well, I am a real deputy, so we’re fine. Follow the GPS and keep your mouth shut.” Al took deep breaths as he turned to stare out of the back seat window, struggling to calm his mild hysteria as they traveled across the city.

“Not bad, Al,” Diane said from the front passenger seat, where she aimed her camera at the pair in the back. “We might actually pull this off.” She’d told Lindsey that Al was having second thoughts and needed to spend a little time with Jazz before proposing.

Jazz shook her head. “Have you called the actual NYPD? You may be a sheriff’s deputy, but you’re about six hundred miles out of your jurisdiction here. If anything is wrong—”

Al sucked in a deep breath.

“And I’m not saying there is anything wrong,” Jazz continued. “They’re probably having a late-night dinner.”

Al nodded, trying to ignore the look that passed between the women.

“Anyway, if, and that’s a big if, something nefarious is going down, a half decent attorney will throw out any evidence you collect. And from the sound of it, this guy has an amazing attorney. And obviously you can’t arrest him. So I will repeat the question. Have you called the NYPD?”

“And tell them what? That the love of my life is meeting a guy about a job, and I think he’s creepy? This may not be myjurisdiction, but I’m pretty sure they don’t send an officer for that.”

Jazz blinked. “Your who now?”

“My best friend.” He looked at Jazz’s surprised face, then over to Diane, whose mouth hung open. “What? You knew that already. We share a duplex. We’ve been friends forever.”

“That is not what you said.” Jazz shook her head slowly.

He looked back at Diane who grinned and licked her lips. “Not at all. Damn, Lindsey is going to freak.”

The fuck was wrong with these women?He just wanted to get to Jeannie as quickly as possible. What was with all this talking?

“I’m a little stressed at the moment, obviously. What, did I get my verb tense wrong or something?”

Jazz rubbed her hands together and narrowed her eyes. A chill ran down his spine. Fuck, her lawyer pose was back. “When referring to Ms. Knight, you said—and I quote—‘the love of my life.’”

“What? No, of course I didn’t.” Al rested his head in his hands. “Shane, how much longer?”

“Ten minutes. And you totally said ‘love of your life.’”

Shit. He looked back at Jazz. She’d probably already planned their honeymoon, based on all her questions about vacations. He needed to be gentle and not shove his love for another woman in her face. “I meant love in a friendly kind of way. Because we’ve known each other almost all our lives, and we have this kind of familial like—” Al cringed. Definitely not familial. “Like a platonic-ish—” if platonic meant his dick got hard every time he thought of her. “You know there’s another language. Greek maybe. Or could be Korean. Anyway, they have a bunch of different words for love that are based on the relationship you have. I meant one of those loves. Actually, I’ve been studying that language on my phone. I guess at this point I’m so fluent my brain got confused.”

Jazz’s lip turned up. “You’re fluent in another language, but you don’t know if it’s Greek or Korean?”

“I mean, yeah, that’s, yeah. Exactly.” Al nodded, surprised she was buying this. Maybe he should be a real actor, not just the reality TV kind. “It’s like, I know what language I’m fluent in, I just don’t know the English word for it because of how immersed I am. It’s as natural as my first language.”

Jazz licked her lips, nodding. “Your first language being …” she prodded.

“English.” Al’s face scrunched as he realized his mistake. He snapped his fingers. “I guess I’m like, ninety-nine percent fluent in the other one. But hey, only one more word to go!” He leaned back against the chair with a sigh of relief. That was close. Hopefully they were almost at Wonder Tower.

Jazz looked at him, then over to Diane. “I sure hope you got all that.”

Diane burst into laughter. “Oh, I totally did. It’s a good thing you switched sides from delinquent to deputy because you are a shit liar.”

“Seriously, buddy,” Shane added with a laugh. “I’ve seen extras act better than that.”

Fuck.Al took a deep breath and twisted his body to face Jazz. “Look, I’m sor—”