But then Kim grabbed Shawn’s hands, pulling him to his feet and kissing him. Triana thought she heard a few murmured words of love and acceptance, but she was too busy nudging her mother upstairs to be sure.
Kim called up from the bottom of the stairs a little while later. “I heard you two on the steps, so don’t bother acting like you have no idea what happened down here.”
Triana grinned and hurried downstairs, her mom right behind her. Kim was alone in the shop, a big smile on her face and a ring on her finger. Triana and her mother both hugged her and offered congratulations.
“I asked Shawn to go check on his parents and make sure everything is okay there,” Kim said. “He’s going to come back and pick me up later, so I still have time to help you two finish packing up.”
Instead of moving over to pack another box, Kim pulled out her cell phone. “I need to call Zane and let him know Shawn and I are back together.”
Kim didn’t try and hide her conversation as she called the British SWAT officer, so Triana listened in while her friend told Zane about Shawn. Zane must have handled it well because Kim laughed at whatever he said. After hanging up, Kim came over to help Triana pack a box of voodoo dolls.
“That guy is so amazing,” Kim said. “Zane actually said he’s happy for Shawn and me, and I believe him. I’m telling you, if I wasn’t already crazy in love with Shawn, I’d make a serious move on the man. Though something tells me it’s going to take one hell of a woman to win his heart. That guy is one of a kind.”
While Triana’s mother disappeared into her workshop to finish in there, she and Kim got the rest of the more delicate merchandise moved upstairs.
“Okay, so what’s the word on Remy?” Kim asked as they stood in the hallway making sure the stack of boxes was stable.
Triana told her about their date at the restaurant across the lake and what had happened afterward. “I assumed Remy was going to make the dumping official once we got back to the shop, but the break-in sort of got in the way. Not that it really matters. As far as I’m concerned, we’re done.”
Kim hugged her. “That sucks. Why’d he take you out to such a nice place if he was just going to break it off with you? Hell, he could have done it by a text and it would have been better.”
Triana snorted. “No kidding.”
She and Kim chatted about men in general and assholes in particular for a while, until Shawn came to pick Kim up. Kim hugged Triana again and told her to call if she needed to talk, then left with her new fiancé.
Triana was happy the two of them had worked it out, but she couldn’t help comparing Kim and Shawn’s relationship to her and Remy’s. She told herself it was silly to contrast the two. Kim and Shawn had been together a long time and had merely run into a rough spot. She and Remy had only gone on a couple of dates and slept together a few times. It had never been anything more than that, and if she’d let herself think that, it was her own damn fault.
When her mom came down a little while later, Triana was staring out the window at the rainwater running down the street outside like a little river. Her mother walked over to put her arm around her.
“I know some stuff happened last night with Remy. Do you want to talk about it?”
Triana shook her head. “Not right now. Maybe later.”
Her mom nodded. “Whenever you’re ready, dear.” She pressed a kiss to Triana’s cheek. “I’m going to check on some of our neighbors and see if they need any help. You should stay close to the shop. The weather people said it shouldn’t get too bad out, but the winds will probably get worse over the next couple of hours.”
Triana gave her mother a hug and told her to be careful, then locked the door behind her. She was wondering what she could do next to keep herself occupied when her cell phone rang. Her heart leaped, hoping it was Remy, but it quickly sank when she looked at the number and didn’t recognize it.
She answered anyway, immediately knowing from the rough voice on the other end that it was Dominic. It kind of reminded her of a sink disposal chewing on gravel.
“My timing is lousy with this storm, but I think I’ve found the guy I heard bragging about killing your dad,” he said. “I thought you’d want to know, even with the hurricane coming.”
Triana was so stunned she almost dropped the phone, but she recovered quickly enough. “How’d you find him so fast? Where is he? Do you know his name?”
“Whoa, slow down, woman,” Dominic said. “I haven’t slept since we met yesterday, so one question at a time.”
Triana took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down. “Okay, since you said you haven’t slept since yesterday, does that mean you’ve been looking for this guy the whole time?”
“Yeah. I spent the entire night dragging my ass through every lowlife bar and dive in this city, and let me tell you, there are a lot of them. An hour ago, I met a guy who knew exactly who I was taking about. Said he’d heard this shithead named Shelton Quinn mouthing off about taking out this big dude who owned a jazz club and thought he was a real badass. Even described the same tattoo I’d seen.”
Her hand tightened on the phone. “Quinn—that’s his name? Do you know where he can be found?”
The guy laughed, a sound that quickly broke up into a fit of coughing. “I can do you one better than that, lady. Meet me on Royal Street near the old Architect Alley and I’ll point him out to you.”
Her pulse raced, eagerness warring with concern. She knew the place. It was in the Marigny, which was a really nice part of town. But getting there would mean driving down a lot of streets that were probably close to flooding by now.
“You want me to meet you right now, with the hurricane coming in?”
“Hell yeah, lady. How the hell else we going to do this?” Dominic demanded, clearly pissed she’d even asked. “I’m sitting here in my car right now, across the street from the warehouse I tracked this guy to. He walked in a few minutes ago, but I got no idea how long he’s going to stay here. And I sure as hell ain’t going to wait around until he comes out so I can get a picture. Besides, I found him; now I want the money you promised me.”
