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“Fuck,” I muttered under my breath. I needed to get out of here and think this through. I couldn’t do it in front of him. I closed my laptop, unplugged it, and tucked it under my arm.
Maybe knowing there was nothing he could say to reassure me, Cope remained silent. Neither of us said another word when I walked out of his apartment.
“Want me to carry that for you?” Buck asked, pointing to my laptop.
I handed it to him without responding. My phone was in my pocket, but I’d left my bag and my key card behind.
“You can get into my apartment, right?”
He nodded.
As soon as the door closed behind me, I called Jessica.
“Someone is trying to kill Cope,” I said before she could even say hello.
“Yes. That’s one of the reasons Money wanted to wait to meet.”
“I need a face-to-face now.”
“Let me see what I can do.”
I heard a knock at the door but knew it wasn’t Cope. When I opened it, Rock handed me the bag I’d left in his apartment.
A few minutes later, Jessica called back. “I’ve been able to get a meeting set up in one hour at the Express offices.”
I went into the bedroom and looked for something that might be easy for me to put on. I couldn’t very well show up in Cope’s sweatshirt that I’d been wearing for the last couple of days.
I managed to get into a pair of dress pants and a sweater, but didn’t try to get my cast inside the left sleeve. The only thing I couldn’t do a damned thing with was my hair. I looked out the peephole of the door, relieved to see that Buck was still out there, not Rock. He stood when I opened it.
“Hey, Miss Ali.”
“Call me Ali.”
He tipped his hat. “Anything you need?”
“As a matter of fact.” I handed him my brush and dug a hair tie out of the pocket of my pants. “It looks like you might have some experience with this.” I motioned to the ponytail hanging down his back.
“Turn around. Where you off to today?” he asked while he brushed my hair back and wrapped the tie around it.
“I have a meeting.”
He handed me the brush. “Where?”
“Why?”
“I like to know where I’m goin’.”
“Do you really have to go with me?” I asked even though I already knew the answer.
Buck nodded.
I turned to go back inside to grab my bag when something occurred to me. “Do you, uh, need to use the restroom or anything?”
“Thought you’d never ask.”
I pointed toward the guest bath and went into the bedroom. When I came back out, Buck was waiting by the door.
“You must hate this part of the job.”