Time Out of Mind (Suncoast Society #43)(61)

“Uh, scalpel set?” Mevi asked. “How’d you fly with that?”

She grinned. “Checked baggage. You can check a lot of shit. And so I did. Oh, that reminds me, there’s a prop guy here in Chicago I owe a set of Hamilton Broadway tickets for use of the prop gun. Man, was it realistic. He met me at the hotel and let me borrow it, as well as brought me a few more supplies I needed.” She made a note on her phone.

“How much bail are you going to need?” Clark asked. “Prison orange isn’t your color.”

Her smile widened, maniacally pleased. “I won’t. Hey, I’m a trained professional, thank you very much. Never piss off a sadistic Domme with anger issues, who also happens to be a nurse and who works in a Hollywood film production office, by f*cking with her friends. I have a feeling your two security guys won’t tell what they saw. Although, heh, they might have a few nightmares. Sorry. Collateral damage.

“And I didn’t ‘harm’ the guy. He’ll wake up to a note warning him that I’m only giving him one chance since he begged so hard and that my ‘employers’ gave me discretion to allow him to…you know…continue breathing. I did the worst of the scaring before I drugged him, so he should remember all of that. Also, the note directs him to the Tor site with the pics and videos. The note also makes it clear that if he starts any shit, he will…not be happy with his future. Heh. Stupid little f*cker. He really thought I was going to kill him. He’ll probably be shocked to realize he woke up.”

“Thank you!” Mevi wrapped his arms around her, wishing he could clone her.

She hugged him back. “Hey, when you told me you thought he’d been trying to drug you, that pissed me off.”

“What?” Clark said, sounding angry. “Since when was he doing that?”

“Doyle wasn’t sure that’s what he was doing, but we think from day one. I was really careful. Had I known what he did to Pasch, he would have been gone by the end of the first day.”

Clark looked like he was working on a good ulcer. “Fuck. Why the hell didn’t anyone tell me this shit?”

“Because Pasch didn’t want it known. Garth spilled the beans.”

Poor Clark looked like that ulcer was eating him alive. “Okay. Tilly, are you here for the show?”

“Absof*ckinglutely!” She smiled. “Just give me a place to hang out and wait with Wi-Fi. I have real work to do.” She manically smiled again.

They parked Tilly in their dressing room area to wait with her and her luggage under the protection of a security guy who hadn’t been with her.

Mevi went off in search of the two security guys who had been with her and pulled them aside. “Look, I know Tilly. We’re good friends. Is she going to be okay…legally? I don’t want her getting in trouble with the cops. What’d Tilly do to the guy before she drugged him?”

The two men shared a glance, looked at him, and shook their heads.

“We didn’t see shit,” the first guy said.

“Not a damn thing,” the second one said.

They both looked terrified.

“Come on. It was an act. She’s not that scary. Just tell me.”

Both men snorted. “No offense, Mevi? But f*ck you,” the first said. “I don’t know where you found her, but keep her on speed dial as a fixer. I’ve been in this business a long damn time, and I’ve seen crazy shit before, but what I saw today launched the bar into orbit.”

“But…you said you didn’t see anything?”

“Nope,” they said in unison.

“Well, there was the corn starch,” the second said, and both of them started laughing.

As Mevi walked away, he wondered how the two men would react if they knew he’d not only survived, but reasonably enjoyed the time he’d spent at Tilly’s hands.





Doyle felt nervous tension flow through him once he was finished with his client calls. He’d been to concerts before, of course, but this was different.

Much different.

When he got a text from his driver that he was waiting downstairs for him to take him to the venue—and a reminder to make sure he had his credentials—he felt his heart race with excitement.

It’d been lonely without Mevi there with him. He’d missed his boy, as well as worried about him. Hoped he’d had a nice, calm, easy day before tonight’s big event.

He made small talk with the driver, who’d been working with them all week. “So how did today go, do you know?”

“Okay, I guess. Had to make the airport run earlier for that woman, and moving that other guy around. But I don’t ask questions, I just do what I’m told.”

“Um…okay.” He checked his phone but didn’t have any missed texts from Mevi.





When the driver had left to go get Doyle from the hotel, Mevi took a moment to seek Tilly out and speak to her in private.

“Can I ask a stupid question? Just between us?”

She smiled. “Sure.”

“Was there something about corn starch?”

She grinned and leaned in. “Mixed right, looks just like semen on camera.” She leaned out again, nodding as if he was in on the joke. “As much as he was covered in when he woke up, he’ll think he pulled a whole goddamned train. Especially when he discovered the zucchini I left in him.”