I didn’t want to risk that. Not now. Not when I was falling in love with my life and my world. And, a tiny voice in my head added, with Cole.
I found Sloane destroying the punching bag in The Drake’s gym.
“Getting a workout?” I asked. “Or working something out?”
“Both,” she said, then landed a hard punch. “Or maybe neither. Shit, I don’t know.”
She got in one final blow, then stood back, breathing hard. After a moment, she held out her hands to me and I helped her off with the gloves.
“Are we ladies who lunch now?” She glanced up at the clock. “Correction. It’s cocktail hour. Are you here for a drink?”
“I wouldn’t turn one down.”
“Come on.”
I followed her to the service elevator and then into the ornate suite she called home.
“This really is primo,” I said, looking around at the classy, well-appointed living area.
“It is,” she agreed as she moved to a small fridge by a wet bar. “Although I’m starting to feel boxed in. I’d like a yard. Flowers. My old partner is actually refurbishing his house. It’s pretty cool. I keep bringing it up with Tyler and he keeps changing the subject.” She scowled a little. “It’s starting to get on my nerves.”
“He just sick of owning real estate?”
“I don’t know. I’m letting it go for now. Our caseload is too intense to do the house-search thing anyway. But it’s a conversation we’re going to have to have eventually. The trials and tribulations of being a couple,” she added with a sigh.
“You love it,” I said.
“I do,” she agreed, and smiled so brightly she lit up the room.
“Well, if you have a whim to paint, feel free to come over to my place. Anything I can do to contribute to the peace between you and Tyler.”
“That’s right,” she said, bringing a bottle of pinot noir to the coffee table in the living room. “Tomorrow’s the big day.” She opened the wine, poured us each a glass, and lifted it in a toast. “To home ownership,” she said, and I laughed.
“Thanks. I can’t believe it’s really tomorrow. It’s a huge deal for me. This will be the first house I’ve lived in that wasn’t a rental.”
“Seriously? Did you move around a lot as a kid?”
“An insane amount,” I admitted.
“That makes tomorrow all the more special.” She took a sip of her wine. “So did you come over because of pre-house jitters? Or—oh, shit—did I forget something about the wedding?”
“No. Honestly, I just wanted to hang out and catch up.” I shrugged. “And I was wondering if you knew where Tyler was. And if he’s with Cole.”
“Misplaced the new boyfriend already?” she said with a laugh.
“Did you talk to Flynn, too?”
“No, I talked to Angie. She talked to Flynn.”
I rolled my eyes in mock irritation, but I had to secretly admit I was enjoying myself. My friends cared about me. About Cole. They were cheering for us.
That was pretty damn cool—and it reinforced my determination to tell Sloane the truth. Because the longer I waited, the more entrenched the lie would be.
And, frankly, I’d waited too long already.
“But to answer your question,” Sloane continued, not realizing my mind had wandered off, “no, I don’t think Tyler’s with him.”
“You don’t think?”
“Cole called here this morning and they talked for a while, and I overheard Tyler ask him if he needed help. Cole must have said no, because Tyler said that was good because he had plans today. Which, frankly, surprised me because I thought he was just catching up on paperwork at Destiny today.”
“What did he say he was doing?”
“I overheard the call,” Sloane admitted. “I didn’t feel right about asking.”
I watched her face. “But you have an idea. What are you thinking?”
She sat back. “Nothing good, I’m afraid.”
I cocked my head. “Are you worried it’s something that’s going to get the cops looking at them?”
Sloane glanced at me, surprised.
I rolled my eyes. “It’s not like I don’t know what they do.”
“I’m supposed to know what they do,” she said with a sigh. “I didn’t insist Tyler go squeaky-clean, but I do want to be in the loop. And, honestly, he was laying low for a while, and I liked it.”
“Laying low to avoid Kevin?” I asked. Kevin Warner was an FBI agent who had once dated Angie, and who now had a chip on his shoulder. His attempts to nail the knights for all sorts of nasty stuff he believed had been going on at Destiny had fallen through—primarily because the knights weren’t the bad guys there, but the good ones.
But Angie had told me the rest of the story. It turned out that Kevin had continued to press, and he’d let Sloane know just how dirty he believed they were. And that he would push to take them down.
“He’s backed off,” Sloane said. “He was transferred to D.C., and so the guys are off his radar as far as I can tell. At least for the time being. With any luck, he’ll get over his broken heart and forget Angie and Evan and all the rest. But to answer your question, yes. That’s why the guys were more careful for a while. But now I’m pretty sure Tyler’s got some sort of jewelry scam going—”
“Jewelry scam?”
“I found out that he’s been spending a lot of time in the diamond district.” She pressed two fingers to the bridge of her nose. “Just another issue we’ll be talking about.”