“One day, you said. You said you invited him to visit one day, not necessarily the next day.”
“True,” Blayne said, picking up one of the sofa pillows and hugging it to his chest. “I couldn’t leave a friend in need. Even if it’s a friend I only know virtually.”
“When am I going to meet him?”
“Tonight?” Blayne asked. “After you get your car back, come on over. I’ll have dinner waiting for you when you get here. If you are scared of him, I’ll let you round up a lesbian mob and throw him out of my apartment.”
“Lesbian mob?” Kira questioned, raising an eyebrow. “Since when do lesbians do anything as a mob?”
“Melissa Etheridge concerts?” Blayne said with a grin.
Kira picked up a pillow and threw it at Blayne’s head. Blayne was about to throw the one he clutched to his chest when his phone vibrated on the coffee table. He put the pillow back in its place and grabbed the phone.
“Speaking of Roy, he just texted to let me know he’s on the plane and can’t wait to meet me at baggage claim.”
“I still don’t like this idea. If there is anything fishy about this guy, you leave him at the airport.”
“Yes,Mother.”
“You best be glad I’m not your mother. I’d spank some sense into you if I was.”
“Okay, let’s get you to work. I have a serial-killing mobster to pick up.”
Kira narrowed her eyes at Blayne, setting her mouth in a thin line. Blayne stared right back, going wide eyed and shaking his head back and forth, trying to get Kira to laugh. After a couple of seconds, Kira rolled her eyes as the corner of her mouth lifted.
With the half-smile, Blayne knew he’d won the ‘argument’, so he stood up and headed toward the door.
“You coming?” he asked, grabbing his keys off the hook next to the front door.
Kira stood, grabbed her briefcase and followed Blayne out of the apartment. Blayne pulled out the key fob and opened the doors. Kira slipped into the passenger seat as Blayne buckled in and pushed the start button. The vehicle quietly roared to life.
Kira and Blayne talked about nothing specific as he drove her to her office. He pulled up right in front, and Kira unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car. Before shutting the door, she leaned back in and said, “If he’s crazy, leave his ass at the airport.” And without waiting for a response, she closed the door.
Blayne smiled, looked over his left shoulder and pulled out into traffic as he pointed his car toward Houston Hobby, since Roy was flying in on Roadrunner. If he’d flown in on almost any other airline, he would have picked him up at the George H. Bush Intercontinental Airport, which was actually closer to Blayne’s home. The trip would take about forty-five minutes at this time in the early afternoon, so he should make it there a little faster, as long as there weren’t any major backups on the 610.
Blayne plugged in his iPhone, keeping one eye on the road and one eye on his phone as he scrolled through and found the audiobook he’d been listening to. With his audiobook playing, he sat back to enjoy the drive.
* * * *
Zach
Zach pulled out his phone and shot Ethan another text.
Where R U?
The band had been sitting in the Peregrine Airlines First-Class Lounge when Mr. J. had asked about Ethan’s location. The band had looked at each other and realized they had no idea. At first, everyone figured Ethan was in the bathroom, so Zach had gone and checked it out, but when he hadn’t found him anywhere in the lounge, Zach had broken the news to the group.
The bodyguards immediately started working with airline security to track Ethan down. They’d given everyone a general description of their bandmate and what he was wearing. The security people had even let Ms. Z. scroll through the internal security feed to see if they could find out what had happened. Of course, everyone’s biggest fear was that Ethan had been abducted.
When the airline came to escort the group to the plane, Rawlins had decided to re-book until they had Ethan safely back. Peregrine had been very accommodating and worked with Rawlins and Hightower to arrange tickets for a flight later that evening. With those logistics in order, Hightower had called Seattle to give Sally Higgins and the backup dancers a heads-up about Ethan’s disappearance.
Zach watched the front door of the lounge as it opened. A uniformed NOPD officer walked in and purposefully made her way to the group. “Hello, I’m Officer Petty. I was alerted you have a missing person’s problem.”
“Yep,” Zach responded. “Ethan Bond has been missing for almost sixty minutes now.”
The officer wrote something in her small notebook, then asked, “Has he ever disappeared before?”
“No,” Zach responded flatly. “And before you ask, he’s not the type to up and run away without telling anyone.”
