Manaconda (Hammered #1)(41)

“Oh, someone made a GIF.” She held it up to me. “You think that’s real blood or someone added it?”

I winced at the punch Hunter took. Again and again, the swing and connect played in a loop. The raw anger on Bats’s face was nothing compared to the temper in Hunter’s eyes followed by the shock of pain.

She pulled her phone away. “There’s tons of footage of the fight. Oh, handcuffs. That’s not good.”

“What?” I plucked her phone out of her hand.

“Hey!”

“What handcuffs?”

She pointed to the top of the screen. “Scroll up.”

It was a video on Facebook of Hunter was being lowered into a cruiser with his hands behind his back. My phone started buzzing in earnest. I handed Bethany hers back and dug out my own.



LS: What the hell happened?



I blew out a breath and answered Lila.



KM: The fight already started when I got there.

LS: And you left him there?



My thumbs shook over the keyboard. Yes, I left him there. I couldn’t focus on anything other than him fighting over another woman. Oh, the professionalism was just at its height here.



KM: Patrick was handling it.



I waited for the text message bubbles that she as answering, but she didn’t. It wasn’t exactly my responsibility, but it sort of was at the same time. The girlfriend ruse was supposed to keep Hunter in a good light, not devolve into this madness.

But as per usual, anything to do with Hunter had me peddling uphill in first gear. I had another client to worry about. One that I was terribly afraid had brought the trouble to Hunter’s door.

Bethany wasn’t stupid, but she was caught up in the fame game. And that included a shocking level of bad choices. From her rambling story, I was pretty sure I’d f*cked up royally.

Time to talk to Indie.



KM: What can I do?

IW: I do believe you’ve done enough.

KM: I didn’t know anything about B bringing V to the club.

IW: Then you need to take better care of your clients. I have a $30k mess to deal with and bailing out Hunter and Reed.

KM: I can do that.

IW: Why?

KM: Girlfriend duties evidently.



Indie’s text reply dots flashed forever. When one finally came through I was pretty sure she’d edited a few dozen times.



IW: Meet Noah at the station.

KM: Who’s Noah?

IW: H’s brother. He’s bailing him out now. Reed’s in the drunk tank overnight.



Hunter had a brother? Most of the details I’d read about his family had been sketchy at best. Siblings had definitely not been in the initial recon.

An address for the precinct came through a minute later. I leaned forward. “Can I add a dropoff to the route.”

The driver shrugged. “Sure.” I gave him the address and he punched it into his iPad mounted on the dash.

“You’re not taking me home?” The hopeful gleam in Bethany’s eyes made me uneasy.

“You’re done for the night. I’m serious, Bethany. If you want to continue with my services you’ll turn in early tonight.”

She crossed her arms. “Lame.”

“You’re lucky you didn’t end up arrested.”

She waved her hand. “Whatever.”

“I’m serious.”

“Fine. I’ve got a million blogs to hit anyway. I got three e-vites for interviews.”

I sighed. “I don’t suppose you said no to any of them.”

“What? Are you crazy? This boosted my followers again. I just hit three million on Instagram. I gotta ride this out.”

I sent a quick text to Carter to watch Bethany’s social media accounts.



CR: What the hell is going on? You’re face is all over the paps, K.”

KM: Enigma blow up. I have to go put out Hunter fires.

CR: Didn’t you do that last night? Or was that flame them?

KM: Har-har

CR: Babbles is Tweeting by the minute. Can we take away her charger? Hot dress on you tonight tho.

KM: Thx. Too bad it was a wasted dry cleaning bill. I’m fielding too many texts. Should I be worried about B?

CR: Nah, Babbles is just name dropping.

KM: Thank God.

CR: Why did you take her as a client again?

KM: Suicidal tendencies.

CR: I’m doubling up on your therapy sessions this week.

KM: No more Shiraz, we’re breaking up.

CR: Moscato it is. I’ll have it in the fridge.

KM: Bless you.

CR: I expect details tomorrow. You’ve been distressingly light on them, woman.

KM: Did we know H had a brother?

CR: There’s more of him? Sweet mother of God.

KM: Down boy.

CR: Is he as hot?

KM: Why do you care? I don’t think Felicity is up for a threesome.

CR: Are you kidding me? Felicity thinks I’m the bomb. I’m not showing her some Manaconda Sr.—or is that Jr?

KM: Not sure.

CR: But my sister is driving me crazy. Hook a brother up and I’ll work OT without complaining.

KM: Like that would ever happen.

CR: True.