Page 19 of Wild Oblivion

I didn’t know what the hell I was talking about.

She shook her head in disbelief, and her eyes squinted at me. “How’d you know that?”

“I just watched a show on quantum particle expansion. Fascinating stuff.”

She regarded me with doubt.

A douchey guy with cologne that overpowered the room rolled up to the blonde. He had wavy brown hair, a toothpaste smile, and a jaw made for television. He wore a navy DiFiore suit and a red silk tie. Somehow, the guy managed to flash his gold Rolex at every available opportunity. He looked me up and down. "Who's your new friend?"

The blonde was a little flustered. "Tyson was just helping me solve an equation.”

"Was he,” he said in a disapproving tone.

"It's funny how breakthroughs happen when you least expect it," the blonde said. "Tyson, this is my boyfriend, Ashton Rockwell.”

I extended my hand, and we shook. Of course, he tried to squeeze my hand as hard as he could, trying to establish himself as the alpha dog. I tried not to break the bones in his hand when I squeezed back.

With a smile, Ashton said, "I'm so glad you could help Emily out.” He wasn't happy at all. He asked her, "Are you ready to go?”

Her brow wrinkled with confusion. "We just got here."

"Change of plans. I told Todd we'd meet him and Marcy at Blue Ruin."

The bartender slid my drinks across the counter, and I dug into my pocket and pulled out a wad of cash.

Ashton took Emily by the arm and pulled her away from the bar. "It was nice to meet you," he said as he dragged her away.

Emily looked back over her shoulder at me before he hustled her through the crowd.

I chuckled, grabbed the drinks, and marched back to the high-top table.

JD had watched the interaction. "She was cute.”

“She was.”

“Too bad she’s got poor taste in men.”

“Who knows? He could be a great guy underneath all that possessive insecurity.”

We laughed.

Ashton and Emily hadn't even made it across the bar before the two started arguing with each other. I don't think she liked being told what to do, and Ashton didn’t like her talking to strange men. No doubt a woman like that got hit on all the time. She had plenty of options. Why she settled for that ass-nugget was beyond me.

They left the club a few moments later.

We hung out at Skyline for a little while. The guys met us up there, then we made a venue change to Red November and ended up at Vibe to catchTube Snake. They had a blues-influenced rock thing happening. Good old-school music with vintage gear and greasy guitar tones that had more sizzle than bacon—a trio of guitar, bass, and drums with the soulful vocals of a man who had bled every word.

We enjoyed the show, then headed back to theAvventura.All things considered, it was a pretty tame night. After the day we’d had, that was fine by me.

The next morning, we headed over to the hospital to speak with Jürgen again. I hoped he’d be a little more coherent, but that wasn't the case. Just more ramblings about things that didn't make sense. He kept muttering something about Von Markov.

"Who is Von Markov?" I asked.

"The butcher. The butcher is here.”

"What do you mean?”

Jürgen summoned all of his energy and looked at me with fierce eyes. "He must be stopped!”