A Dirty Business (Kings of New York #1)(7)

“What? No!” Yes!

She snorted. “I took him in for only a few seconds, and I could tell right away that that is not a dude who comes to Easter Lanes for bowling. He’s here for you. He totally knew you were coming, and that means he asked around about you.”

I was shaking my head. “No way. That’s—”

“Totally what’s going on. He wants you.”

“I’m a cop. That’s an issue for him. I don’t want to fuck someone who has a problem with that.”

Kelly snorted again and turned on the water. After wetting her fingers a bit, she turned it off, took my shoulders, faced me toward her, and then began running her fingers through my hair.

I knocked her hand away. “What are you doing?”

She ignored me and went right back to shifting through my hair. “Giving you a little bit of a ‘wet’ look. Guys love that shit.”

“Agh.” I twisted away from her.

He came here. Here. I was always happy here. It was my happy place, and he had invaded it. I was in the bathroom, stewing and avoiding him, and that wasn’t me.

Kelly took my groan the other way. “Totally. You go out there and show him who’s boss. Just make sure that extends to the bedroom, and”—she lowered her voice because I was opening the door, and whispered loudly—“tell me all about it in the morning.”

I shook my head because none of that was going to happen. Raising my hand up, I gave her the middle finger over my shoulder. Kelly just laughed. When we went back out, bypassing the arcade section, I saw the two girls that I’d barked at hadn’t left. They stood off to the side, whispering with each other, and had joined a whole other group of teenagers. Boys and girls. A few of them looked like future delinquents, but maybe that was just my profession coming out of me.

I refused to look at his booth, even though I felt his attention as soon as I cleared the teenager section. Yep. Totally refusing. The back of my neck was getting hot, but still refusing.

I marched up to Molly, who was behind the counter tonight. Five five. I would’ve classed her weight at 116. To me, she was tiny. A few freckles on her face. Strawberry-blonde hair. Wide blue eyes. Molly was so pretty, but it was almost wasted since she took care of this bowling alley with most of her time. I knew there was bad blood between her and her dad, but we weren’t the type of friends who shared that kind of personal stuff. It was mostly bowling, lighthearted laughs, though Molly was a kind soul. There were stories about how she could overreact. Her staff called it “the switch.” But I’d not seen that side of her. Sometimes she manned the bar; tonight it was the bowling section. She took one look at me, and her eyebrows shot up to her forehead. Her gaze trailed behind, and she asked Kelly, “Do I want to know?”

“No,” I answered.

Kelly came up to the counter beside me and breathed, excitedly, “Yes.”

“Now I really want to know.”

“It’s so exciting.” From Kelly.

I was going to ignore both of them, except I pointed at my usual shoes. “Please tell me you haven’t rented those out to anyone this week?”

Molly didn’t move at first. She stood back, her hands still holding on to the counter, and her gaze went from me to Kelly, who I could tell from the corner of my eye was nodding her head, and Molly sighed, reaching back for the shoes I always wore, the ones I bought specifically for me. She placed them on the counter. “You know I wouldn’t. These are yours. I just hold space for them.”

“I want mine too!”

Kelly’s exuberance was getting on my nerves. I knew this was how she’d react, the ever romantic she was. She also just really liked sex, and good sex. I heard porn sounds coming from her room on a regular basis, and I was pretty sure she just had it as background noise sometimes.

Molly was chuckling and shaking her head to herself as she set us both up. We’d play four games. It was our usual number, but I was tempted to say we’d only do two tonight, but then Kelly nudged my elbow. “Our bowling friends are here.”

It was time to bowl.





CHAPTER SEVEN


TRACE


We watched while she played three games.

“Not that I don’t mind a field trip every now and then, how many games are you going to wait—” I could hear Eric’s laughter in his voice.

“Shut up.”

He laughed, a bit darker than before, and began to slide out of the booth. “Fine, but whatever you’re hoping for here, I’ll need a ride home. I’m too far gone to drive myself.”

I gave him a look. “You have millions. You can afford a car service.”

He snorted, taking out some cash and throwing a wad of it on the table. “Yeah, but you have entire drivers at your disposal, and I’m here for you tonight. Trust and believe I’m going to be grilling Ashton on why I’m here and not him.” He began to turn away when he nodded to the cash. “I gotta piss. Next round is on me.”

I pulled my phone out and sent off a text.

Trace: Eric’s curious what’s going on. Don’t say a word to him.

We’d all been fraternity brothers in college, and while I shared that history with Eric, he wasn’t in the same world Ashton and I both were. Eric only knew about Wall Street. He knew that life, not the one Ashton and I kept hidden, and me asking him to meet me at a bowling alley was not in the realm of nightclubs and cocktail lounges that we usually frequented.