From Sanctum with Love (Masters and Mercenaries #10)(87)

“I have friends in LA,” Mia admitted. “Look, I don’t talk about this a lot, but my brother does some work for important people. He has connections and I used them to look into the new guys.”

“Paranoid, much? Not that I’m blaming you,” Sarah said, finishing her second shot. “It’s totally cool because your paranoia is the most interesting thing that’s happened all evening, but it’s weird. Normal people don’t investigate newbies.”

Mia shrugged. “Consider it a hobby. I think we should stick together while we’re hanging out with Jared and his crew. It’s fine to dance and everything, but maybe we shouldn’t wander off alone.”

“Okay, now you’re scaring me.” Kori stared at Mia, who suddenly looked like a girl who knew something she shouldn’t. “What is this about?”

“Look, I had a friend who knew Jared a couple of years back,” Mia replied. “We went to college together. She was murdered after she visited one of his sets.”

Sarah’s eyes went wide. “You think Jared killed her? Because I’m not seeing that. I was voted girl most likely to be murdered by my senior class and he’s not interested in me at all.”

“You went to a weird school,” Kori said with a shake of her head before turning back to Mia. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Mia’s eyes were clear and serious as she spoke. “About my friend? No. I’m not kidding. She really liked him and then one day I didn’t hear from her. A week later they found her body. I don’t know if it was him, but I started doing some research…”

The door opened and Mia’s mouth closed fast. Brad and Lena walked in, Lena’s head shaking as she walked toward the bar.

“I told you, I’ve already got everything set up,” Lena was saying. “My mother is going to be producing several high-quality, Oscar-worthy films and I’m going to get Jared in them. He’s leaving the whole TV shit behind him and he won’t look back.”

“Lena, don’t push this. You know how this goes. If he moves out of superhero shit, he won’t need me,” Brad argued, his face florid.

Lena waved that worry off. “He’ll always need a trainer.”

“But he’ll get one of those easygoing ones,” Brad argued. “Look, no one trains this hard if they’re not taking their shirt off five times a day. Do you have any idea how long it’s been since that man had carbs? No one wants to live like that. They have to because their careers depend on it. You want to make him over into some bullshit actor. Have you seen him really act?”

Lena rolled her eyes. “I have more faith in him than you do. He’ll learn, and yes, I’m going to make sure he gets a new trainer. And a new agent because your brother sucks. He spends all his time hitting on women when he should be managing Jared’s career. Now get away from me. I’m going to the ladies’ room. Alone. Because I’m an adult.”

Sarah shot her the finger, which Lena ignored.

“Bitch,” Brad said before slamming out the door.

“Okay, so we’ll keep an eye out for each other,” Kori said. She wasn’t sure she bought Mia’s theories, but people who lost friends didn’t always see things clearly.

“I’m going to find a hot stud and dance the night away, and Jared can kiss my juicy ass good-bye,” Sarah stated, holding herself regally. “This house of pleasure is closed to him.”

“I guess we should head back out,” Mia said.

Kori let Sarah go first and held Mia back. “Give Case a chance.”

Mia glanced to the door. “I want to. He’s so…overwhelming and I worry about his family.”

“The Taggarts are some of the most amazing men I’ve ever met in my life.”

“I’ve found appearances can be deceiving,” Mia said quietly.

“How do you know if you don’t try? I’m going to ask you something. What’s going to make you happy? Trying and failing with Case—who could honestly use some happy things in his life right now—or being too scared to try at all?”

Mia frowned, thinking for a moment. “I worry that I’m crossing a line I can’t come back from. Kori, I haven’t told you everything, but now isn’t the time. Let’s say I have an ulterior motive for being here.”

“The stuff with your friend?” It wasn’t a hard leap.

“Yes.”

“Case has nothing to do with that.”

“He might,” Mia replied. “McKay-Taggart has worked for some interesting people.”

“I assure you Case Taggart would never do anything to hurt you. He’s not that kind of guy. If he’s interested in you, it’s because he wants to spend time with you. He’s not working. The man wants a dance. I wasted so much time with Kai. I didn’t read the signs. I held off showing him I was interested and I did it because I was scared. Then we lost Theo. I think that made every single one of us realize how short life can be.”

“I’ve lost a lot of people in my life. I lost my parents when I was very young. I lost my brothers for a long time after that.”

“What would your parents want for you?” It felt good to be helping someone. She couldn’t help Sarah and Jared, but Mia and Case were a different story. If they liked each other, there was zero reason for them not to try.