I threw myself out of the car almost before the handbrake caught and ran straight up to the door, my gun already in my hand, my eyes searching. The lights were all on, but I could hear nothing as I slipped into the foyer.
Fuck stealth. If there was someone in here coming after Miller, I’d be a willing distraction.
I sucked in a deep breath, and hollered: “Miller!”
“Holyfuck, dude, you scared thecrapout of me!” squealed a voice to my right, and I whirled around. A dark-haired man flung his hands straight up in the air. “Omigod, please don’t shoot me—omigod, dude, seriously, take whatever you want—”
It was Miller’s friend, Nate. “Where’s the pantry?” I demanded.
Nate stared at me, his mouth open. “Thepantry?”
The most welcome voice I’d ever heard called, “I’m here!” from deeper in the house, echoing out of my phone, which I’d shoved in my pocket. I hung it up as I heard footsteps approaching, and Miller peeked around the side of the wall, his face pale. “I’m here, JJ.”
“Youknowthis guy?” Nate squeaked, his hands still in the air.
Miller and I exchanged a glance. “Uh, yeah,” Miller said slowly. He moved a little way into the room, one of his hands still behind the wall, and waved the other in a gesture of introduction. “JJ, meet Nate. Nate, this is JJ. He’s…uh…”
“I’m Miller’s bodyguard,” I supplied, then looked at Miller. “You two stay here. I’m going to check the place. Any problems, you run like hell and you don’t stop. Understand?”
“What the fuck?” I heard Nate say faintly.
Miller’s reply followed me as I moved into the next room. “He does this sometimes.”
The house was clear, although I could see a lot of lights and people out in the grounds as I passed by windows. When I got back to Miller, who was standing there with his arms behind his back as though determined not to get into any more messes, I holstered my gun. “You want to tell me what’s going on?”
Nate was angry by now. “I saw you at Milly’s pool party. What in theactual fuckare you doing, breaking into my house?” he snapped at me, and then glared at Miller. “And where the fuck wereyou, asshole? I’ve been yelling for you all over the damn place!”
“I…” Miller began, and paused to lick his lips. “You went running out back in the dark, and I was worried, so I…went to grab a baseball bat from the sports room.”
I was just thinking what a good liar the kid was when Miller brought his hand out from behind his back.
In it he held a baseball bat.
“You went. And got. Abaseball bat?” I asked slowly, staring at him.
He started to flush. “I was worried about Nate,” he insisted.
Nate was staring between us with an expression of astonishment. “Since when do you have a bodyguard?” he demanded from Miller. “And why did you freak out like that?”
“Yousawsomeone creeping around outside,” Miller snapped back, losing patience now. “Of course I freaked out!”
Nate pulled an incredulous expression. “There arealwayslosers fucking around outside. YouknowBrent has all those cam guys in the guest house for the livestream show. Sometimes they come up to the house if they need more lube or something, so I went to check on them.”
Miller opened his mouth and left it open as comprehension dawned on his face. “Oh,” he said. “Yeah.”
“So whowasoutside?” I broke in. As for Miller’s lies tomeabout hiding…well, we’d have words over that later.
Nate shrugged. “I went down to the bungalow to ask if anyone needed anything, but they were all good. Said they’d been in there all night. Maybe some of them snuck out to do some blow. Brent always warns them to keep that stuff off-camera.”
“And who,” I asked softly, “opened the front door?”
Nate frowned, and walked by me, eyeing me slightly as he did, to look out into the foyer. “I dunno,” he said at last. He turned back to me with suspicion. “You, I guess?”
It was like trying to reason with an idiot. “The door wasajarwhen I pulled up outside.”
“You must’ve imagined it.”
“I didn’t imagine it. And obviouslysomeoneopened it, because otherwise how wouldIbe able to unlock it and get inside?”
