Bad Things(121)

“You a fighter? You pro?” he countered.

I ignored that completely, even though I knew they were trying to trump up the chargers. “Phone call,” I said stubbornly. I needed to call her as soon as possible, and start with the apologies. I was already f*cked. Giving her more time to stew about it would only make things worse.

“Fine. You can make a phone call. Just answer some questions for me first.”

I zoned out again, only hearing that he wasn’t giving me the only thing I was interested in.

Nothing really got me out of my own head until I was being led into a room, and sitting at a table, was James Cavendish.

He raised his brows at me, waving a hand at the seat across from him.

I sat, eyeing him up suspiciously. We’d met several times now, but I still wasn’t sure what to think about the pretty boy billionaire. My first inclination was not to like him, but he made that harder almost every time we talked.

“What are you doing here?” I asked him.

He gave me an enigmatic smile. “Frankie called me. You had my dearest friend upset, which I take strong exception to.”

“She’s my friend too,” I said defensively, “and I didn’t mean to upset her.”

“Yes. I see that. You went Hulk smash, and the rest is history, but let me get to the point here.”

“Please do,” I said tersely.

“I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but I’ve backed your band financially.”

I sure hadn’t been aware of that.

“I’m not even directly involved in that industry, but I’m not a man who sees a good investment and just watches it walk away. I’ve been working on a record deal for you, a solid one, but another incident like this, and you will tank all of your chances. This can’t happen again.”

I didn’t mean for it to happen this time, I thought. “Got it,” I said. I wouldn’t blow it for the guys if there was a chance I could help it.

“Unfortunately, I’m not convinced. You see, I saw the other guy. I’ve posted your bail, and I’m paying all of his medical bills. But what you did to him…the injuries he sustained, those are not the actions of a man in his right mind. I hear they had to pull you off, or you would have kept going, but the damage was already very substantial, as it is. I’m not pleased.”

“Join the club,” I growled, because I was as disgusted with myself as anyone.

“I’m going to need some insurance from you that your behavior will change. My lawyers can get your sentence down to probation, they’ve assured me, but you will be attending anger management. You doing coke?”

I glared at him. “Excuse me?”

“Were you on something tonight?”

That was the sad part. I’d done coke before, and it hadn’t made me act half as crazy as my jealousy had. I knew he was onto something, with the anger management. “Nada. Fine, I’ll do anger management.”

“I’ll be happy to put you up in a rehab facility for substance abuse, if that is an issue, as well.”

“It’s not,” I bit out, done with the conversation.

“Okay, then. I’ve posted your bail, as well, so you are free to go right after we discuss one more thing.”

I glanced around, as though it was a prank. I knew for a fact that you couldn’t do that to a guy, and then just walk out of jail that night. “Are you shitting me?”

“Not at all. I’ll add it to your tab. I just wanted to talk to you about your magic tricks. Danika has told me about your sleight of hand. I’m asking unofficially, you understand, because I have my old act under contract for two more years. But when his contract is up, he’s out. He just doesn’t have his heart in it anymore. Sometime between now and then, I’d like to see some of your tricks. We are looking for something different, so keep that in mind as you prepare.”

I nodded, totally stunned that, after all the time I’d spent at that, having nothing happen, now something huge was happening, and it was all because of Danika.

“Okay, that is all,” he said, rising from his chair. “I’ll send someone in to take your cuffs off and get you out of here.”

I smiled at him, a purely ornery smile, because, in a purely ornery mood, I’d stolen one of the cops handcuff keys.

I unlocked myself with a few swift, quiet motions. This was the cheapest kind of trick, the kind where you weren’t even doing a trick, you were just performing the unexpected, but I was in a mood, and I didn’t really care that it was cheap.