“And you got mad about it, said Tommy was an asshole to desert me and his kid and leave us high and dry. So you said you’d marry me instead.” She gave kind of a sheepish shrug, staring up at him, and apparently completely oblivious as to how insane that sounded.
“I know you’ve got a thing for being the hero to a damsel in distress,” Kade said, “but damn. That’s a bit much. Even for you.”
No shit.
“And you just decided to marry a complete stranger?” Blane asked. “You had no idea who I was. I could’ve been some serial killer for all you knew.”
“Really? That’s what you find objectionable about this?” Kade asked. Blane ignored him.
“I wasn’t going to stay married to you—” Amy said.
“Told you,” Kade muttered. “Shoulda got a prenup.”
“—I just thought that if Tommy saw me with another guy, marrying another guy, maybe he’d get jealous and decide we should be together after all.” She smiled brightly. “And it worked!” Her grin faded. “But he kinda got in a fight with you when he found out. So…sorry about that.”
Blane scrubbed a hand over his face. What a clusterfuck. “The marriage isn’t legal,” he said. “I wanted you to know I took care of the paperwork.”
Amy brightened. “Good! Then me and Tommy can get married right away!” She gave Blane a hug, her pregnant belly getting in the way, but she tried anyway. “Thank you,” she blurted. “If we have a boy, I’m going to name him after you.” Then she seemed to rethink that, glancing down the hallway where Tommy had gone. “Maybe not your first name, but I could use your last name—Kirk—and just tell Tommy it’s a Star Trek thing.”
Blane forced a smile, giving her an awkward pat on the back. “That’s great,” he said, gently disengaging from her hug.
Kade was already handing her a card. “Be sure to send us the birth announcement,” he said. He glanced at Blane and must’ve read the murder in his eyes, because he changed the subject real quick. “So what happened after Tommy showed up to save the day?” he asked her.
She shrugged. “Me and Tommy left. I didn’t think I’d see you again.”
Blane heaved a sigh. This was going nowhere. “Okay. Well, good luck and we’ll just be on our way.”
He headed for the door, but she stopped him.
“Oh wait! I do remember something!”
Kade and he both turned back.
“There was this guy. He was Asian—Chinese maybe—he was talking to you when we left,” she nodded at Kade. “I remember thinking it was weird because he had four security-types with him, all huge and in black.”
Péng, Blane guessed.
“Thanks, that’s helpful,” he said. “Take care of yourself.”
“And don’t forget to let us know about little Blane, Jr.,” Kade added. Blane shoved him none too gently out the door.
“Let’s get out of here, Mannie,” he said once he’d squeezed back into the car.
Mannie obliged, stepping on the gas. The car took longer than it should have to speed up, the additional load of Blane, Kade, and Ray weighing it down.
“Should I get out and push?” Kade asked.
“Fuck off. It gets good gas mileage,” Mannie retorted.
Blane worked the wedding band off his finger and pocketed it. “We’ve got to get rid of Ray,” he said. “I’m sick of sharing space with a corpse.”
“Time to go visit his partner,” Kade said. “He owes me money. Hope we can get past his security while toting a dead guy.”
“What guys are you talking about?” Mannie asked. “The same ones you were trying to get away from at Cirque?”
Blane remembered now what Mannie had said about how they’d met him. “Yeah, maybe,” replied. “Did you see any of them?”
Mannie nodded. “Yeah. There were four of them, tracking you guys.”
That jived with what Amy had said about the number of security guys flanking Ray’s partner.
“So maybe not the best idea, to go there if we were running from them last night,” Blane said.
“We don’t have a choice. Why were we at Cirque de Soleil anyway?” Kade asked, frowning. “I hate shows.”
“You weren’t really at the show,” Mannie said. “It was after and the cast was hanging out, chilling. I think LeeAnne had a thing for you.”
“LeeAnne was there?” Kade asked. “No shit?”
“You know someone who works at Cirque de Soleil?” Blane asked. “Really? How?”
Kade shrugged. “I know a lot of people.”
“She’s our lead choreographer,” Mannie said, near reverence in his tone. “And damn good at what she does.”
“Yes, she certainly is,” Kade agreed emphatically.
Somehow Blane didn’t think Mannie and Kade were talking about the same thing.
“We still don’t know where the device is,” Blane said. “Though obviously you were using it last night.”
“Which is weird because I gave it to Ray. So why did I have it and why was I using it?”