Time Out of Mind (Suncoast Society #43)(58)

Now Mevi didn’t give a shit what Erique heard. “He roofied you. That’s rape. He needs to be reported to the cops.”

“I don’t f*cking care, dude. I won’t put my kid through that. Like they’re going to listen to a guy. I’ll get laughed out of there and you know it, and that shit will be all over the goddamned news.”

Erique stood there, arms crossed, a smug smirk on his face.

Mevi strode over to the door and stuck his head out, located Clark, and waved him in. “What’s Tilly’s number?” He’d forgotten to program it into his latest phone.

“Huh?”

“Tilly. Get her on the phone.”

Clark seemed a little slow on the uptake. “You’re talking…Tilly Tilly?”

“Yeah. That Tilly. You know who I’m talking about.” He held his hand out for Clark’s phone after the man pulled up a contact and hit call.

Mevi took it and walked over to the corner of the room, plugging his left ear with his finger while holding the phone up to his right.

She answered. “Hey, Clark. What’s up? Man, it’s freaking early.”

“This isn’t Clark. This is Mevi.”

There was a pause before she replied, her tone concerned. “Mevi? Why are you calling from Clark’s phone? Is Doyle okay?”

Mevi walked out of the room and into the hallway. “He’s fine. How fast can you get to Chicago?”

“Um…oookaaay. Here’s a dumb question. Why?”

“You’re a friend of Doyle’s, right? He trusts you that means I trust you.”

“Seriously? You damn well know he’s a friend. I consider you a friend now, too, kiddo. What’s going on? Where’s Doyle?”

He struggled not to get subbie at her Domme tone. “He’s at the hotel and working with clients on the phone and I promised not to interrupt him. I’m at the venue for practice and sound checks. I need you here.”

“Okay. This is, again, a stupid question. Why?”

He sidestepped into a handicapped accessible bathroom just off the main hallway, where he locked himself in. He gave her what info he knew, what they suspected, including Erique’s name and particulars. When he finished, he followed up with, “I need a personal-attack Tilly to blow this guy out of the water in your very special way, and I can’t call the cops into it. Help. Please?”

She audibly sighed. “While I sympathize with you, I can’t work for you full-time.”

“I only need help with this. Now. Help us get rid of him in a way that means he can’t get revenge.”

“Why not ask Doyle to go Dom on his ass for you?”

“He’s not in the entertainment business, for starters, and I don’t want to expose him professionally.”

He detailed his ideas but told her she was free to…improvise.

She sighed again. “Fine. Far be it from me to derail the karma train when it looks like I’m the engineer. But you tell Doyle he owes me letting me take a few whacks at your ass at some more appropriate time. Hold on.”

She left the line for a moment before coming back, and he heard keys tapping. “I’m not familiar with Chicago. Where am I flying into, and how the hell do I get to where I need to be?”

He almost burst into relieved tears. “I’ll send a driver to pick you up. They’ll hold up a sign and have your full access credentials. I’ll have Erique moved to another hotel. The driver will take you there first and then bring you back here later.” She booked the flight and he gave her his personal cell number. It buzzed in his hand a moment later and when he checked, he found the text from her with flight information. “Got it.”

“Text me the hotel info as soon as you have it because I need to set up some plans. And you owe me, buddy. Plan on playing private kid-friendly birthday parties for the next several years.”

He laughed. “Ma’am, I’ll do whatever you ask.”

She hesitated. “You need to tell Doyle.”

“I will, but I promised I wouldn’t bother him. He’s doing phone sessions with clients. That’s why he’s there and not here yet. They’ll bring him over later, closer to show time.”

“I’m also acquainted with a little girl who’d probably love guitar lessons. Her name’s Laurel, and I might or might not have accidentally set her on course to becoming a super-villain by letting her watch the original Batman movie with me one too many times. Music might help channel her evil powers for good.”

He laughed. “Deal. You drive a hard bargain, ma’am.”

“So I’ve been told. Let me get packed and get out of here so I can make that flight. Lucky for you, Landry’s here in LA this week and can take care of KC. Neither of us had left for work yet.”

“You can bring the paperwork and stuff?”

“If that little shit doesn’t shit himself by the time I get done with him, then I’m losing my edge. Let me get off the phone.”

Mevi hung up and returned to the room, giving Clark his phone back. He showed him his phone, the text from Tilly, and arched an eyebrow.

“I need a driver there to pick her up with full-access crew credentials.”

Clark’s eyes widened. “No. Shit. Dude, do not put me on her bad side.”