“Asset?” The judge looks over at me.
I shrug. “Did I or did I not tell you this was a matter of national security?”
“Did he or did he not tell you,” the general yells, “that this was a matter of national security?”
“Cease fire!” Lucille yells. “I mean,” she stammers. “Call it off. Call it all off now!”
The judge bangs his gavel again, then starts pointing. “You, you, you! In my chambers! Now!”
His points were for Lucille, the general, and Alec.
There is some order to rise, but people are way too distracted to give a shit. And then, moments later, they are gone and the whole room erupts in a cacophony of chatter.
CHAPTER THIRTY – DAISY
“What the hell just happened?”
But I’m talking to no one because I’m sitting at the table alone. My eyes immediately go up to Vic, who is still on the stand. He stands up, wide grin on his face, and walks himself back over to the table. I expect someone to stop him—the bailiff, or one of the cops assigned to security, or hell, maybe even the prosecutor. Who wasn’t called into chambers, even though his witness—Lucille the Liar—was.
But no one does. He slides into Alec’s chair next to me. And then… then we’re kissing.
I vaguely notice that Veronica and Spencer are behind us asking questions. But we don’t pull away.
It’s been two weeks and I have missed him so much more than I realized.
It’s a soft kiss. No hands. His are in cuffs, but also I’m thinking getting hands-y in a courtroom is probably bad form.
Finally, after what seems like an eternity, but also like no time passed at all, we pull apart. Reluctantly. Foreheads touching.
I speak first. “Are you OK?”
“Fine,” he says, still grinning.
“What was all that up there? Need-to-know?”
“Yeah, well. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you either.”
“So it’s true?”
“Did you see the general who came storming through here?”
I did. But it all feels very surreal. I look over my shoulder and sure enough, his mighty band of escorts—six very big men in a serious kind of uniform—still line the aisle near the door.
“I can give you a hint though,” Vic says. “I’m not a terrorist. It’s just a job that my friend and I kinda fell into because his little brother, Trev”—Vic nods his head towards the soldiers—“is that guy in the middle on the right.”
I look over at the soldier. He does not look at me. Doesn’t even move his eyeballs. But I catch a wink, like he knows we’re watching him. His uniform is special somehow. These men are not wearing fatigues or any other kind of daily uniform one associates with soldiers. They are dressed up in… regalia. That’s the only word I have for it. They have lots of medals on their chests and braided gold cords hanging all over them. They even have swords.
“Who are they?”
“Top-secret shit,” Vic says. “And I’m not being a dick about this, but I don’t actually know what’s going on up in the mountains. All I know is that every once in a while, Bobby gets a phone call and we get our asses up there. We provide high-tech security and land. That’s about it. We don’t even get to watch what the military is doing. Our cameras and drones only scan the perimeter of the property and we have been given permission to shoot after failure to respond to one verbal warning.” He pauses to look me in the eyes. “We haven’t shot anyone. No one comes up there. Or so we thought. Obviously, people know something is up. And by people, I mean Lucille. She’s in a lot of trouble for this court hearing because this general is not fucking around. This is all black-budget stuff. That’s why we get cash.”
“Oh.” I nod. Because things are starting to make sense. “This is where you got the money for the property?”
“Most of it. But never mind that. Those charges are bullshit and that judge is getting his ass handed to him in those chambers as we speak. To be honest though, that general will be screaming at me tonight too. Even though I didn’t do anything wrong, this is a huge fuck-up in his eyes and our easy-cash gig is probably gone now, thanks to Lucille. Why is she being so insane?”
“Oh, my God,” I say, swiping some hair out of my eyes. “She’s trying to steal Vivi! Because she’s jealous that we’re in love.”
Vicious Vaughn grins like a teenage boy. “We’re in love.”
“Mmhmm.” I nod. “We are. And she hates it. She’s trying to steal my life, Vicious. She’s the one who told me you were a bad person back when I was first in school. Remember? She was my TA?”
“I remember. And let me guess. You turned in that sketchbook with the picture of me in it and she lost her mind.”