Wicked Force (Wicked Horse Vegas #4.5)(15)

“I get that.”

His expression turns hard. “She’s too young anyway.”

Not really. “I know.”

But he is right. I can’t get involved with her.

My ears train onto the sound of her voice, which is just as good as looking at her. The timbre and the huskiness drive deep into me. I get joy listening to the raucous applause after every song she finishes. That moment on her face after her last number when she realizes she killed it out there and can breathe easy again.

Yeah, even her fucking insecurities are a turn-on to me.

But I can’t have her. Someone can’t shine that bright and not be noticed. I know when that happens, Vegas will not be big enough to contain her.

A sense of loss hits me deep in my gut, and I wonder how I can miss something that I never even had.

“Everything set for your trip to Montana?”

His abrupt change of subject relieves me. “Yeah. It’s all good.”

Joslyn and I leave in a few days for her charity concert event. We’ll be in Cunningham Falls for two nights as she wanted to relax a little and see some local friends.

“How many men are you taking?” he asks me.

I turn and regard Jerico curiously, wondering if he’s going to be this up in my business on every single case I handle. “Just me and Jayce. It’s a very small event and the sheriff there seems to have pretty tight security protocols in place. There is a high tourist population in the summer months so there will be a lot of people to watch, but between the sheriff’s department and Jayce and me sticking close to her, she’ll be fully covered.”

“Is her mother going?” he asks. “Does she need some protection?”

I shake my head. “She’s going to New York on a shopping trip but I think it’s in protest.”

“How do you mean?”

I give him a quick glance and turn back to the stage. “Madeline didn’t want Joslyn to take this job. It interfered with a big deal she was putting together and it pissed her off.”

“And you know that how?” he asks with a raised eyebrow.

My voice is too damn tight and defensive when I reply, “Because Madeline told me. She asked me to convince Joslyn not to do the concert because of security concerns, but I couldn’t do it. It would be lying.”

That was a completely awkward conversation two days ago. Madeline was waiting for me out in the hallway when I came on duty. After Jayce left, she told me point blank that she had a better deal for Joslyn just there for the taking if she’d forgo the Cunningham Falls concert. She didn’t think I had any sway over her daughter, which meant she wasn’t as observant of us as I had surmised, but rather wanted me to come up with some bogus security concerns. I apologized profusely because I just couldn’t do it. We’d sent a guy to Cunningham Falls to scope it out and meet with Sheriff Hull to ensure Joslyn’s safety. It would be tight and well-run, so I had no qualms about her going.

Moreover, I’m glad I could deny Madeline because this concert was important to Joslyn on an incredibly personal level. I wasn’t about to dash her dreams to participate in this as a means to connect with her father’s spirit wherever it may be.

“She wasn’t happy I wouldn’t go to bat for her,” I tell Jerico, because I need to disclose to him that I pissed her off. “She tried to remind me she was the client, and not Joslyn, but sorry, mate... I don’t agree with it and wasn’t about to cow to her.”

“Tread careful,” Jerico warns. “Because Madeline Meyers is the client in that she controls everything. If she wants to fire us, she can easily and hire someone else. Don’t make it easy for her to do so.”

That makes me feel like shit. That I’d put Jerico’s business in jeopardy, and yet, I can’t be fully abashed.

“The concert has deep personal meaning for Joslyn,” I tell him, knowing that it does nothing but reveal that I know Joslyn better than I have a right to and everything he suspects about me is true.

Jerico stares at me with worry in his expression.

I dig my grave deeper as I continue to defend Joslyn. “I’m just saying... she told me about her dad dying of cancer and this is going to benefit a memorial wing of the hospital named after him. He was a beloved town doctor. I guess I can’t understand how her mother doesn’t get that. Or how she thinks something else should be more important.”

“She’s a business manager as much as a mom,” Jerico says in a low tone. “Her job is to focus on career, money, and opportunity.”

Funny. I thought her job was first and foremost to be a mother, but apparently not. I hold my tongue, though, as I’ve painted myself in a bad enough light with Jerico already.

Jerico places a hand on my shoulder and I’m forced to give him my attention. “Joslyn is business, not pleasure.”

I shrug his hand off but lean in closer to him so he can hear me clearly. “If you don’t trust me to do the job, then by all means... put someone else on it.”

Jerico stares at me a moment before replying, “I trust you.”

“Then let me do my job.” I turn away from him and look back out over the crowd. Joslyn has two more songs to go and then we’ll be able to wrap things up for the night.

“I’m headed out,” Jerico says and I throw a hand up in acknowledgment.