“How’s the catfishing going?”
Ah, my latest time sink. I’ve spent an insane number of hours over the past few weeks trying to get more information on Cedar Orlog.
“My plan was to track him down and I figured I’d send the authorities after him—since there’s no way that guy’s paid taxes in his life. Either that, or I was going to slip the information to one of the demon gangs he owes money to, since I’m pretty sure my mother has a bunch of their numbers on speed dial.”
All part of her messy brand of chaos.
Too bad Cedar Orlog is proving more elusive than I expected.
“He’s a slippery fucker,” I continue. “I think I offered him too much money, and he got spooked. He stopped replying about a week ago.”
I haven’t been able to get a location on him either, since he’s still making videos but is clearly hiding out somewhere. I even got Elara involved in the search for him, along with my own guy who tracked Elara down in the first place, but they’ve both come up empty-handed.
“Are you going to tell Sin about what you’ve been doing to try to track him down?”
I shake my head before bashing it against the doorframe. “What? You think I should?”
Dorian shrugs. “Otherwise, what’s the plan? You just wait for him to get audited and arrested or have his eyeballs plucked out and then explain that you had a big role in it all going down?”
I shrug. “I don't know. You don’t think she’ll think it’s... a bit much?”
He lets out a full laugh, once again at my expense. “Oh, I know she will. At least it’ll give her an idea of how far gone you are. You’re a little intense and obsessive, dude. You can’t hide that side of you or keep it locked down forever, or you’ll only scare her away once she finds out.”
Pushing his hair away from his forehead, he lets out a long-suffering sigh. “It’s scary as shit, man. Putting yourself out there and hoping like hell she’ll accept you.”
I blink at him. That sounds... strangely terrifying.
But I’m up to the challenge. Hopefully.
I take a step back, fully intending to charge to her room and lay myself bare to her. But before I can move, Dorian puts his hand on my arm.
“It’s late, man. Unless you want to walk in on her getting eaten out by Cal, I’d leave it until the morning.”
I cock my head, not seeing a downside to that visual. “Is that why you're here alone? Can’t cope with seeing your mate with someone else?”
Dorian scoffs and rolls his eyes. “Not a problem, man.”
Since Dorian seems to know what he’s doing better than I do, I guess I’m going to take his advice.
I’ll hold off on talking to Sin until tomorrow, then.
And since I don’t sleep, I’m going to have a damn long night ahead of me.
Chapter 29
Sin
Gig day has finally arrived, and Hawk Arena is like an anthill in motion.
Everywhere I look, people are whizzing around with clipboards and headsets or are hefting equipment around to finalize the set up which the team has spent the past couple of days working on. It’s a chaotic mess of noise and movement. People are yelling from one side of the massive stage to the other and I don’t know who’s in charge, but it seems like everyone has a job and they’re getting on with it.
There’s a buzz to the air that’s contagious. Part nerves and part excitement for what’s ahead.
I spot Julia at the side of the stage, dressed all in black. She’s also wearing stilettos, sharp enough to pierce flesh and a hard expression that seems to soften to be slightly less murderous when I head over.
“Two hours to finish setting up and then we break for lunch. This afternoon, we’ll do a full run through without the boys. That work all right for you?”
I nod. I’m better with a deadline than if I have endless time to tweak and tinker with my creations. I’ve worked with the stage managers and the lighting guys enough that every one of my devices is cued up to hit specific beats of the show.
