I grinned because her response was so typical Sticks. It made me miss my friend. But my grin fell when the system didn’t respond to my command.
“And the plug-in,” I started, only to stop when Remy sent me a glare. “Of course you checked to make sure it was plugged in,” I answered for her, checking the cord anyway. “Maybe the connection came loose at the other end or something.”
I had a feeling she’d already checked the connections at the other end as well because she sighed and folded her arms over her chest as she watched me grasp the plugged-in end and follow the cord to—shit.
The cord came off in my hand, the rest of it...not there.
“Holy fuck,” Remy murmured in surprise, leaping forward to see the neatly cut wire I held. “Okay, that I did not see.” I looked up into her shocked eyes as she shook her head as if apologizing for missing it. Then she gasped. “Omigod, you don’t think I did this, do you?”
“What?” I shook my head, not expecting that conclusion at all. “No.”
Her shoulders fell with relief. “Good, because I totally didn’t.” Then a thought struck her because her forehead crinkled as she studied the cut cord. “You know, this is just like the fuel line to your motorcycle, cut neatly in two.” Eyebrows lifting, letting me know she had another conspiracy theory brewing in her head, she pointed. “Someone is clearly out to mess with you. I still think it’s your dad.”
I sighed. Yes, she was definitely Sticks in there, paranoid about my old man and everything. “How is this out to get me?” I lifted the cord. “This was done clearly against Pick.”
Oh, shit. Pick. He needed music at his reception, or he was going to flip out because his vision of dancing with Eva to “Baby Love” wouldn’t happen. We needed music. Fast.
“But Pick is your brother.” Remy seemed determined to argue with me. “And he’s like...” She waved out a hand. “Close to you now. The worst way to hurt you would be for someone to go after the ones you loved, right? And Pick is about the only person you really love, isn’t he?”
The question made me pause. I did love Pick, didn’t I? And I’d loved Mozart, who was now gone, and I was more certain now than ever that I hadn’t left his cage open. But were those really the only two people I loved? My gaze traveled to Remy’s concerned brown eyes, and I couldn’t answer.
“Not that it really matters who cut the damn cord right now,” her cousin spoke up, making me blink back to reality, “Because we have other problems, like how’re we going to get this party started? Is there another kind of speaker around here? I can run home and get my guitar if I need to.”
I glanced at him, my mind racing. He, Remy, and I might just be able to pull out a quick band, but then Remy snapped her fingers. “The karaoke machine,” she said. “It’s got a small speaker on it. That’ll work.”
Shaking my head, I blurted out a laugh. “What? You’re just going to sing karaoke all night? This reception could go on for hours.” She’d wear herself out.
She shrugged, already turning away to open a nearby closet and roll out the karaoke machine. “If I have to,” she answered as she plugged it in. Then she straightened and brushed her hair out of her face. “Besides, Big T can fill in when I need a break. His voice isn’t half bad.”
Her cousin snorted at that, but didn’t argue any of her claims.
I sighed and glanced skeptically at the karaoke machine. I usually hooked it up to the sound system, but it was also designed to play on its own if it had to.
Apparently, tonight, it was going to have to.
Remy and I bent at the same time to turn it on.
“Sorry,” we murmured together when we nearly bumped foreheads. Then we shifted an inch apart, but still both going in to get the machine up and running.
“Holy shit,” she murmured under her breath, turning toward me slightly. “You smell really good.”
I didn’t want it to, but my body reacted, remembering every touch, lick, and kiss she’d ever given me. I glanced at her face, and her eyes flared as if she was in trouble for saying such a thing.
“Sorry.” She lifted both hands in some kind of surrender. “It’s just...it’s new. You’ve never smelled like that before.”
Lust stirred through me. I tried to bite it back, tried to cling to the fact I was mad at her, but a need unlike any I’d ever experienced with any other person roared through my blood.
I had to shake my head and blink myself back to the present, remind myself where I really was and what I was doing. And that was most definitely not Remy Curran.
“It’s, uh...Eva gave it to me as the best man gift. I figured I should wear it today.”
She nodded, agreeing. “Well, it’s amazing. I think I just got pregnant.”
I snorted out an amused sound, not meaning to smile, but smiling anyway.
She leaned in closer to me as I set up the karaoke, and suddenly I could smell her too. Something girly and not at all like Sticks’s masculine shampoo.
She smelled like...Elisa.