“He wasn’t killed,” he said. “He came forward, and Sanctum protected him. Which is wild since nobody actually got the bounty. I think whoever placed it must’ve been smaller business since Mercy is loyal.”
“Are you guys taking about Theodore Cortland?”
“Yes,” I answered to him.
Artemis wavered, ultimately resting on the protruding shapes on the wall. “I think I need a chair,” he said.
“Theodore now works at Whitespire in their technological innovations,” he added.
I knew Whitespire ever being mentioned sent shivers through Artemis. Something must’ve happened there for him to hate it so much, to the point he was shivering and taking some measured squats just to the point he was sitting on his ass—it was perfectly cushioned.
“I think we need to take a break,” I told Jinksy—and Artemis. “You haven’t eaten much today.” He’d been so giddy about getting the bad guys, he’d forgotten the most essential thing—breakfast, and now lunch. “I’ll order room service.” I knocked on the bedroom door for an FBI agent. It was only nice to offer billionaire expensed room service.
***
The hotel room came with it’s own dining area. It was nicer than Aurora & Ash, but maybe that was because I wasn’t focused on all the men in the room—to which Artemis didn’t answer. I should’ve known something was up—he’d been quiet, submissive, and hadn’t eaten. This was taking a lot out of him, and I should’ve pulled it there and then—hand it over to someone else. He wasn’t ready for this. I knew Artemis well, although probably not the new Artemis, I knewhim, and I knew when he wasn’t doing well.
Six of us at the table. A large selection of food from the menu in large bowls with tongs. It cheapened the expensive feel to the hotel. This buffet style meal, and most of it was deep fried—Maya’s choice, she was also still drinking wine.
“In pain?” I asked Artemis, he stabbed at fries on the plate.
“I just—” he let out in a gasp. “It’s fucked up.” I leaned in to listen. “We’re all just doing nothing, we’re running around and we’re not stopping anything.”
Patting his back and giving it a rub. Nobody was paying attention to us. We were just there, on one side of the table with our whispers.
“Mercy wants to know if Artemis would like a infusion to pick him up,” Jinksy said.
“No,” I said for him. “He’s just going through something. You should take a nap.”
He nodded weakly, stabbing his fork into the fry finally but then losing it with a dip into the ketchup. “I need to keep it together,” he whispered. “My head is—”
“I get it,” I said, giving him some assuring squeezes. We weren’t the Artemis and Donovan of the past, we were something else right now. Not quite a couple, but still with all theheart and love a coupe could have between them. I loved him, and I didn’t want to see him sick—or suffering. Standing from the table, the chair squawked. “Artemis needs to rest. I’ll stay. But he needs a bed.”
Maya stood, wine sloshing around in her glass. “He can nap in my room until my friends are done with their work.” She gestured over them with her hands, as they all seemed to dip and dive beside each other to keep the wine from hitting them. “And I know you’ll keep me safe in the meantime.”
Artemis’s eyes were rolling around—not rolling with sass, but he was fully disassociating. I thanked Maya and took him to her room. Her bed was more comfortable than the other, and as soon as Artemis’s face touched the silk pillow, he was asleep. I pulled his comms from his ear and placed it on the nightstand.
“Artemis is sleeping,” I told Jinksy. “What else did Mercy want me to do?”
“Mercy wants you to stay on post, make sure Maya isn’t telling any secrets, and the moment she mentions her benefactor by name, then we can worry,” he said.
“So, you know who it is?”
“I know what I’m allowed to know,” he said. “Come on, Donovan. You know the rodeo. Protect the asset, that means making sure they’re not blabbing to the FBI right now. Her friends.”
She called everyone her friend, and would spill her guts to them. She guarded the secret of her benefactor, but with just the right amount of wine, that could be dangerous.
Walking back into the dining room, one of the agents was filling her glass with more wine. “You should really take a water break,” I told her.
“No way,” she laughed.
“Come on, there’s probably enough wine in your body—”
“Are you policing a woman’s body?” she said almost immediately.
“Absolutely not, Ms. Chen,” I said, lowering my head like we were in the animal kingdom and I needed an escape route from the conversation.
“I was joking,” she said as the agents chuckled. “I know, today has been a bit of a wild day, but tomorrow is going to be—”
