“We ain’t missed your show yet, have we?”
“No.” Odie smiled again, and this one almost looked genuine.
Oh, gross. Junior had a crush.
“I know you’re quite busy,” Alistair said, “but dear Noah here had some questions for you. I would very much appreciate a few moments of your time.”
Raking a hand through his hair, Odie groaned. “Right, okay. No, I don’t know who stole his keys, but yes, I did take some of his money because he ruined my shoes.”
“Wait, what?” Noah nearly choked.
“That’s what this is about, isn’t it? The night at Nocturnis?”
“No!” Noah scowled. “I wanted to ask you about my uncle and Jason Carbone.”
Junior tensed, and he glared at Alistair expectantly.
Alistair shook his head.
“Well.” Odie’s eyes widened then narrowed. “What exactly do you want to know?”
“Anything.” Noah leaned forward. “Please, look, I’m real sorry about throwing up on you and all that. Really. But I’m trying to help my uncle out. Everybody thinks he killed Carbone, and I’m looking for anything at all that would prove he’s innocent.”
“Shit.” Odie crossed his arms and cocked his hip, sighing loudly. “Look, like Ialreadytold Mr. Star, I stopped seeing Patrick and Jason weeks ago. I dumped both of them the same night I met you at Nocturnis.”
“Why?”
“Look, it’s well known that I don’t do ‘exclusive,’” Odie replied dryly. “I have a lot of boyfriends, okay?”
The longing expression on Junior’s face indicated he wanted to be one of them.
“I keep them for a while, we have some fun, but if they start getting weird?” Odie snapped his fingers. “They’re gone. And Patrick and Jason were getting fucking weird.”
“You gotta be a lot more specific,” Noah said. “I’ve experienced a whole bunch of weird this week.”
“Okay, my boyfriends always know that I have other boyfriends, right?” Odie arched his brows. “But when Jason and Patrick found out about each other, they got all salty. Patrick told me Jason was trying to fuck him out of some deal, Jason said Patrick was trying to do the same to him, and I didn’t want any part of it.” He popped his tongue. “Like I already told Mr. Star.”
“Come on,” Noah urged. “There has to be something! If you were, uh, dating Patrick, then you know he couldn’t have killed Jason.”
Odie frowned.
“Please.”
“All I know is Patrick said he was gonna find a way to get Jason out of the deal,” Odie said quietly. “I don’t know what he meant by that, and I never thought he’d actually hurt anyone.”
Noah’s heart dropped.
That couldn’t be it. There had to be more. He was disappointed, desperate, and pissed off. Odie had been his last chance to prove Patrick was innocent, and now Noah was left with absolutely nothing.
“Come the fuck on!” Noah snapped, jumping up to his feet as his temper flared. “There has to be fuckin’ something you’re not telling us! Patrick didn’t do this! There had to be someone else who wanted to kill fuckin’ Jason, and you were fuckin’ him. Come on!”
“Noah,” Alistair warned firmly as he grabbed Noah’s arm.
Junior stepped forward, getting in between Noah and Odie.
Odie hadn’t budged, and he did not look bothered by Noah’s outburst at all. In fact, he seemed excited, and he was eyeing Noah like a tiger about to pounce and devour its prey.
And not in a sexy way, but like… a creepy, scary way.
