David was painfully aware of the audience tucked under his arm, two pairs of eyes pinned to his face. “I mean, I don’t want you to pay me for this. No per diem. No contract. As of right now, I’m taking that vacation you were harassing me about.”
“But I don’t need to send someone else to look after them?”
“No. I’ll keep them safe and coordinate with you.”
“For free? On your vacation?”
“Yes.”
David could picture Chance working it out in his head. It only took a few seconds before he started laughing.
“Are you kidding me?Which one?”
“Both.”
“Oh, Jesus,” Chance said, cracking up.
“You mad?” David asked with a little internal wince. He wouldn’t change a damn thing, but it would be better if Chance wasn’t pissed about it.
“No. You sure you know what you’re doing?”
“No. You got any advice?”
Chance hummed thoughtfully. “You’re not as young as you used to be, so don’t pull anything?”
“You’re a huge fucking help.”
Chance chuckled, and David heard him typing. “Okay, I’ve got a new hotel booked for you.”
“About that…I’ve got all this stuff.”
“I know you’ve been getting your Martha Stewart on, you weirdo, so I booked you into a larger suite with a bigger kitchen. You can have Marcus help schlep it all across town.”
“Oh, thanks. But I was thinking of something else,” David hedged.
“A different hotel?”
David bit the bullet. “My place, actually.” This was met with prolonged silence. For the first time in ages, he felt the need to explain himself. “It’s secure, no one will look for them there, and I can work in my own kitchen—”
“Which is obviously critical to their safety,” Chance inserted dryly.
David ignored him and plowed on. “I thought we could keep the hotel room and their phones can stay here, turned on, to see if anyone shows up.”
“Huh,” Chance said. “That could be interesting.”
“I thought so. Hopefully nothing comes of it because no one is looking, but in the meantime, they can lay low at my house.”
“Versus any of the fine hotels we have here in the city.”
“Right.”
“Because?”
David looked at their beautiful, confused, concerned faces and told Chance the truth. “Because I want them there.”
“Okay.”
“Really?”
