The Frame-Up (The Golden Arrow #1)(77)
I wrench my arm away. “I forgot about something I need to go do.” I reach the coat queue and dash my hands through my hair because the line is so long.
“What? That’s crazy.” Matteo elbows into line behind me. “We’re here to work.”
“We are; we were. But I need to go.” I grasp his arm, willing him to believe me. The crowd surges around us. I recognize Nina and Kyle, dressed as Wonder Woman and the Flash. I see Ryan over in the corner, deep in heated conversation with Lelani. This is where I wish I were staying. This is where I want to be. At this fancy party with Matteo in his hot costume, with my awesome friends. I feel an intense wave of longing that nearly knocks me off my heels. It’s odd how I feel like I belong with these people when I’ve spent so many years building up a wall. All it took was one hazel-eyed narcotics detective to turn my world on its head. But I have a killer and a drug lord to catch. And there are too many damn people gathered around this coat check.
“You stay here, okay? Free booze. Check into my coworkers. Steal the canapes. Lots of fun to be had. And look, there’s Ryan with my boss Lelani near the coat check. Maybe they’re leaving too. Quick, you can go meet her. Ask her about the date. Do your thing.”
Matteo’s face is frozen and impassive. “I know who she is.”
“You do? From researching Genius?”
Matteo clears his throat. “No, we were engaged.”
It’s like a punch in the gut. Engaged? Let’s go ahead and rain on my parade with my boss, who is my roommate’s girlfriend and hopeful alibi, is Matteo’s ex-girlfriend, and happens to be goddess-model hot and super-brainy smart.
Matteo clears his throat again. “I, uh, didn’t know she’d gotten a job here. I probably should go say hello.”
It’s as if everyone freezes for a moment as I absorb this, while inside my emotions run wild like Storm is wreaking havoc with my internal weather. What if he still has feelings for her? He might not be over her. She dumped him, right? And he planted an oasis for her at his house. And now I’m dealing with a wave of uncharacteristic jealousy. I don’t have time to deal with my complicated reaction to this. Better to stuff my feelings into a padlocked box and focus on my mission. I turn toward the coat check. If nothing else, Matteo talking to Lelani will buy me time to meet Lawrence. “Yeah. You go do that.” I’m going to go catch our killer.
Matteo hesitates, then takes a few steps toward Ryan and Lelani. My throat constricts—the locks on that padlock in my brain must not be very good. I can’t watch—my gorgeous Matteo standing next to gorgeous Lelani. They would have stupidly perfect children.
I turn, push through the line of the coat room and up to the front, where a different girl is now dutifully tearing off tickets. “I lost mine,” I announce.
“Some of us are in line here.” An elderly woman in a truly spectacular forties-era pantsuit tries to push in front of me.
“This is an emergency. A life-or-death one,” I say. That stops the pushing. A tad dramatic, but oh well.
“Do you remember what your coat looks like?” The girl chews her lip and looks unprepared for an emergency at the coat check. “I’m not supposed to let people back, but—”
I don’t even wait for more permission. I skirt the table and head for the door to the conference room that masquerades as the coat closet. Not two seconds later, the door opens again, and Matteo nearly falls into the room behind me.
“Jesus, it’s dark in here,” he says.
“The coats don’t seem to care.” I click on my phone flashlight to add meager glow to the few amber-colored downlights turned on in the room. How would anyone find any coat in here? Of course, mine is long and black, just like the hundreds of long black coats hanging against the walls. I start checking collars. Fewer fur collars, so that should help.
Matteo’s presence distracts me. I keep thinking about him with Lelani. It has me all tangled up inside in a way that terrifies me. We’re not even a real couple. I have no claim on him. I’m not the jealous sort. So why am I all bent out of shape just because Matteo’s ex is about as close to my opposite as the world can get?
Matteo’s voice emanates close to my ear, and I jump. “Where are you really going? You’re not off on another dangerous adventure without me, are you?” He intends it to be a joke, forcing a lightheartedness. I don’t laugh. “Seriously, MG. Is this about earlier? The dancing? Or the case?” He sounds hurt, but I don’t have time to sift through my emotions or his. Double-strength padlocks. I need to go. Now.
As if summoned by my thoughts, my phone buzzes. Lawrence. Five minutes out. I’ll swing by the front?
I punch in the thumbs-up sign and continue searching.
Coat Check Girl enters with a pile of coats over her arm. “Find it?”
“Not yet!” I try to sound cheery instead of panicked. She gives me a weird look and exits again, while I grin like a maniac.
Matteo watches me search in silence. Finally I find my coat, in the darkest corner of course, and yank it off the hanger. I turn to leave the room, only to find Matteo standing behind me.
He’s too close. I can’t think straight. The scent of him—cinnamon and probably his hair gel—is an aphrodisiac to the part of me that wants us to be real. The part that wants to throw caution to the wind, tell him where I’m going, what I know, and who I suspect. I have to restrain myself from melting into him. It’s an urge I need to resist. Until this drug lord, this killer, and this vigilante are behind bars, Matteo won’t stop. It’s his job to find them. And it’s my job to help him.